Running on empty

Monday January 23rd, Jonah 1: 1 One day long ago, GOD's Word came to Jonah, Amittai's son: 2 "Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They're in a bad way and I can't ignore it any longer." 3 But Jonah got up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from GOD. Nineveh is an ancient city near the present town of Mosul in Iraq. Jonah did not want to go there. He did not like the people in Nineveh and they most likely would not have liked him. Sometimes God leads us to go to places and to do things we don’t want to do. It is not about being mean, it is about growth within the kingdom and within ourselves. God had compassion for all of creation, including this little part of the world called Nineveh. Jonah could only see what he thought he saw and was not able to see the potential God could see. A people created be God and called good, in spite of their wayward ways, just like in our lives. Sometimes we need to follow God’s leading in spite of our opinions. What if we say all of creation as a gift from God? With that image of God, could you invade Iran? Iraq? Pakastain? Labor unions? LGBT’s? Lob missiles into Israel? Our God view affects our world view. Thus far in the history of humanity we have been a dismal failure in this area, perhaps hope is on the way. Perhaps we can learn this without ending up smelling like fish.