I have been thinking about this blog for a long time. I named it God in the Belly of the Whale because of the picture painted in the story of Jonah. Jonah was called by God to be a prophet to the city of Nineveh. He was to call them to repentance. This was something that Jonah didn't want to do. Why? Well Nineveh was seen as the arch enemy of Israel. As the capitol of the Assyrian Empire, they were trying to conquer Israel and take everyone into captivity. So, Jonah, being bright like many of us, decided to run from God. He caught a boat heading to the "ends of the earth," Tarshish. He really thought that he could run away from God.
Well, Jonah found out that God knew exactly where he was, what he was doing, and why he was doing it. When Jonah boarded the boat, he went down as low in the vessel as he could and went to sleep. Meanwhile, topside, the Lord sent a violent storm. The ship was tossed around and was in danger of sinking. The sailors were terrified. The captain went down and awakened Jonah with the plea, "Help, we are sinking, call on your god to see if he can help us." As a sailor myself, the thing that puzzles me here is how on earth Jonah was able to stay asleep down there -- and keep from getting seasick -- but that is really not part of the story. The sailors decided to cast lots to find out who was to blame for this storm. The lot singled out Jonah. "What did you do to offend your god," they asked. Jonah answered first by testifying to the power of Yahweh -- the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land Then he told the story. He told them that if they threw him overboard, the storm would calm down. They threw him overboard and the storm was over.
Then the story gets interesting. God created a large fish (actually not a whale -- even though that's how we usually picture it -- or title a blog for that matter) and that fish swallowed Jonah. He was in the fish for three days and nights. It was here that Jonah really found God. He prayed for deliverance and then surrendered. After his surrender, the fish spit him out on to dry land. Now Jonah was ready to do what God had told him to do in the first place. Of course the story of Jonah doesn't end there, but this is where the story stops in how this affects my life.
I am a lot like Jonah. This blog is my story. It is a story of a long time of running from God followed by some tough times leading to repentance. The repentance led to surrender and life change. Ever since this life change, I have walked in God's blessings. Of course, the story is not a fairy tale so I can't say that everything that has happened since this change of life has been good -- but I have grown and have become more of what God has called me to be.
I intend to write regularly -- at least once per week. I will start with the call that God gave me while still a teenager. Then I will write stories out of my life to illustrate my run from God, the way God caught me, my dilemma, repentance, surrender followed by my change of life. The story is about God -- yet it is a very personal story for me for I was the one in the middle.
