I love stories. Everything we do, see or experience is forever in our memory. The following story is one of those precious memories.
One afternoon, I was spending some quality time with my two oldest grandsons. Chance was 5 and Boston was 2 ½ at the time. We were going to the park to play and as little boys of that age tend to do, they were getting restless during the drive to the park.
My attempts to divert their attention were not being successful. I was running out of ideas when I asked if either of them wanted to tell me a Bible story. Chance immediately shouted “Me, me, me”. I call this story – “A Dude named Jonah”.
“There was a dude named, Jonah. Jonah worked for God – kind of like a preacher. One day, God told Jonah to go to Nevada and tell the people about God. The people in Nevada were mean and did a bunch bad stuff.
Jonah didn’t want to go to Nevada. I don’t want to go there either because it gets really hot there. So, Jonah ran away from God and he bought a ticket on a cruise ship.
Well, God was mad at Jonah and he made a big storm like a hurricane. It was really bad – thunder, lighting and wind blowing really bad. The sailors on the ship got really scared. Jonah told them it was all his fault. So they threw him in the ocean.
Jonah was going to drown but a big fish saw him and saved him by swallowing him. Jonah was in the belly of the fish. It had to be really yucky and gross. After three days the fish spit Jonah out and he landed on beach.
Then he decided to go to Nevada like God told him to and all the people in Nevada believed in God.”
Then with more wisdom that a lot of grown men Chance said, “Mimi, if Jonah had done what God told him to do instead of running away he could have saved himself a lot of trouble”.
We can all save ourselves a lot of trouble and time if we run to God instead of running away when He calls.
