Have you ever tried running away from something? At one time or another, I suspect we have all triedrunning away. Maybe it was a task we really didn’twant to do. Prior to becoming a pastor, my father and I were in private business. We owned and operated truck stops and gasoline stations. One of the hardest things for me was to tell an employee that we no longer needed them. I would procrastinate (run away) from that although I knew it had to be done. As a pastor, I have been called several times by law enforcement to go with the officer to break the bad news that a loved one had died. Several times it was due to a motor vehicle accident. I remember oncewhen it was a gunshot wound. It’s hard and nobodycan deny that.
Sometimes we try to run away from God, especiallyif God is calling us to do something we don’tnecessarily want to do. Remember Jonah? God wanted him to tell the people of Nineveh that unless they repented, (turned their lives around) they would be destroyed. Jonah chose to run away on a ship. That did not deter God. A great storm arose and Jonah was thrown overboard. Then a great fish swallowed him and then vomited him up (you knowwhere)….Nineveh. God said, “Now, will you do what I asked you to do?” Jonah did what God wasasking him to do and both he and the people of Nineveh were saved.
It is entirely possible that there is someone God wants you to talk to about His love, His grace, His forgiveness and his power to change lives.
Who is it? A friend, a co-worker, a family member? Whoever it is, if God leads you to it God will lead youthrough it. That’s the power of God’s love for all of us Jonah’s.
