Unfinished Story

My long-term Bible reading has brought me to the story of Jonah, the guy who ran from God's assignment and was swallowed by a big fish. You've heard this -- Jonah is trapped in the belly of the fish and realizes there is no running from God, so he apologizes and gets spit out to go and complete his mission. But then we get to chapter four, where Jonah sees the people of Ninevah repent and turn to God, and the city is saved.

          "Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life." And          the Lord said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?" 


          Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?" And [Jonah] said, "I have good reason to be angry, even to death."          (Jonah 4:3-4, 9)


Okay, so how is it that God didn't send lightning bolts to zap Jonah dead on the spot? Jonah is totally impudent, whiny, selfish, and snit-faced. The notes in my study Bible title this chapter, "Jonah Learns". All I see is Jonah having a temper tantrum. And this is the end of the story -- we don't get to see what he did next. Did he relent and have a complete change of heart? Even if he did, was he ashamed about this for the rest of his life? Or did God fully restore and heal him? Was it a long process over many years, or did God take him to heaven quickly?

Maybe the best answer we get comes from Jonah's statement here --

          And he prayed to the Lord and said, "Please Lord, was this not what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that Thou art a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity."          (Jonah 4:2)

Jonah knew God. He was really mixed up, but he knew God.

Someone dear to me is pretty mixed up, but I trust that he knows God, too. He recently set foot in a church for the first time in years, and told me his heart was pounding and his hands sweating.

"What, did you think God would strike you down for being there?"

He nodded.

My next response might not be theologically sound, but it was from the heart. "If I thought God was going to hit you with a lightning bolt for the stuff you've done, I would have disowned one of you by now."

One of My Favorite Things

When the ground looks like this, the birds come a-running to my feeders.

All right, not running. Flocking? Whatever, they love a free lunch.

I'd love to show you a "live" shot of feeding in progress, but my puny little camera phone can't do that. Besides, I don't think I could get any of the birds to sign a photo consent form. Anyway... I have two feeders. This one's in the back yard between the fir tree and the birch, and the other feeder hangs from a post on our front deck. It's great fun to see who comes to dine, from flickers to Steller's jays to juncos to black-capped chickadees. And starlings. And sometimes crows. Oh, and (I think) red-bellied sapsuckers, too.

Our neighborhood wetland used to be very large and varied, and salmon came to spawn. Then more development encroached, the wetland area decreased in size and scope, and I haven't seen a salmon in at least five years. The water levels had to be pretty high, though, and our little creek was often too little. There are owls and red-tailed hawks, and several coyotes, as well as many species of feathered things. Although I don't get to see everyone who lives at the wetland, it's wonderful to look out my windows and check out the birds. Rufus even knows what "birds" are and where to look for them. Blackie has never cared, even when the flickers peck so hard at the suet cake that it reverberates through the floor.

Watching the birds is something that calms me, takes me back to nature, and reminds me of that part of life that is less urgent but more important. Someone* once said,

"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?"

I need to be reminded. And, of course, that *Someone was Jesus.