Jonah

Every year we celebrate and dread the autumnal equinox, OK 1st day of fall! One way to make things fun is to find a person to associate the day with. For those of us who are Christian we could think of Jonah on this day when the day and night are in balance, each are 12 hours long and when the sun rises due east and sets due west.

Jonah is always remembered as being swallowed by the whale and then spit out by said whale on the shores of Nineveh. But, the question is why. This story is appealing to tell to young children since they have the vivid imaginations that lets them wonder at a person being swallowed by a whale and living in its stomach until one day the whale burps and there he is on a shore.

God called Jonah to go to Nineveh to warn the people to give up their selfish ways, to straighten out their lives or there would be drastic repercussions. Jonah did not listen to God’s call because he felt the people of Nineveh weren’t worth saving, he decided to sail away on a ship. While he was on board the ship a terrible storm came up and the ship was in danger of capsizing. Jonah new the storm was because he was trying to run away from his responsibilities so he told the crew to throw him overboard and was promptly swallowed by a huge fish. Jonah ended up on the shore of Nineveh when the fish spit him out. And because of this sign Jonah followed God’s plan for him. He did not succeed in convincing people the 1st time around but did succeed the 2nd time. We can learn a lot from that, especially if we fail at something we try we need to ask God for help and try again.

Take some time and read the book of Jonah to follow his journey to being God’s spokesman, (prophet).