Jonah

One of the greatest evangelistic messages in the Bible is the book of Jonah.

Most of the book of Jonah is about how much difficulty God had in getting His godly messenger Jonah to go the people of Nineveh. Jonah tried to run away from the presence of God. God brought a great wind and there was a great storm. The men on the boat decided that Jonah’s running away from his god was causing his god to make the great storm, so they threw him overboard.
The great fish swallowed Jonah and he was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Jonah prayed to God from the belly of the fish and God listened to Jonah and caused the fish to spit Jonah out of his belly.

God charged Jonah again to go Nineveh, and this time Jonah went. His message was simple: “In forty days Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Bible gives us no indication that the people of Nineveh rejected Jonah in any way or questioned his message. Why? God was already working in the hearts of the people of Nineveh convicting them of their sin and their need for repentance. Once God finally got Jonah to Nineveh, his work was very easy. The interesting part of this story is that God had more trouble getting godly Jonah to go than he did convicting the sinful hearts of the people of Nineveh.

This is true today in our lives. God is working in the hearts and lives of many people with whom we will have contact today and tomorrow. He convicts them of their sin; He makes them have special feelings in their hearts for wanting to know more about a right relationship with God; He prepares them for a messenger to come to them to help them. God is in the business of preparing people to receive His message, and He is in the business of calling out the messengers—but He sometimes has more trouble getting us to go than He does in convicting the hearts of the lost. 

God has ordained His Kingdom in such a way that human instrumentality is indispensable—God uses people to reach people. He doesn’t need us, but He has chosen to use us to carry His message to all those who have never heard of the Good News of Jesus. How much trouble is God having with you?

Dark

When I was seven years old my family took a vacation to west Texas to visit my uncle, aunt and cousins. They had moved from Mississippi a couple years earlier, so our family went on our longest road trip ever. It was a very long trip for our ’55 Plymouth, but it was exciting for me as I was in the wild west for the very first time. I have always loved Westerns—movies about the wild west. That very summer I recall collecting six RC Cola bottle caps, so I could get free admission into our local movie theater on Saturday afternoon and watch a double feature of Westerns. Now I was going to go out west where all those movies took place. I was a bit disappointed because I did not see many “real” cowboys, and the Indians that I saw were at roadside souvenir stands.

I was more fascinated with the gila monsters and jackrabbits that were featured at tourist traps along the highway.  It was a good thing there was an occasional oasis along that highway as there was not much else very exciting to see in west Texas.

After visiting with the cousins, we all went on a road trip to Carlsbad Caverns. I was fascinated with the stalactites and stalagmites—although I had no idea what those were called at that time! Our tour guide led us deeper and deeper into the cavern, and when we reached a certain point all of a sudden the lights went out. I was scared. It was pitch black.

I didn’t want to be a baby and grab for my mother’s hand because my cousin who was a year older than me would have laughed at me, so I toughed it out. But, I was sooooo afraid. If someone had said, “Boo!” I would have screamed. Our guide said, “Don’t worry. We know where the light switch is.” That did not make me feel better. While the lights were out they played a recording of Rock of Ages and many of the tourists joined in singing.

All of us have been in similar situations where it was so very dark, and some of us will admit that we were actually afraid.

Darkness is something to be feared by many, but it is a friend to those who seek evil. Statistics bear this out, but most of us would realize without knowing the stats that many more crimes are committed during the nighttime than in the daytime. Darkness harbors so much evil in our world today.

While we talk of the despicable things that are done in the dark, we followers of Jesus are guilty of committing sins in the darkness of the moment—when we get mad for something someone says or implies, or when we return spite for spite, or when we have that thought that is not pure and holy before God.

I was playing golf in Florida years ago and my friend and I were placed with two strangers for our foursome. The two guys found out that my friend and I were working for a church, and one of them started cussing after a bad hook. He quickly said he was sorry that he had cussed in front of “holy men.” I said, “That’s OK because you can say anything in front of me that you can say in front of God.” He did not like that comment—granted it was a bit smart aleck. But, he got the message. We don’t do anything in the darkness that God doesn’t know and care about.

“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” ESV, Luke 12: 2-3

Born Leaders

Our Sunday School lesson today was on Deborah, the judge and prophetess. I thought a lot about positional versus influential leadership as I wondered if Deborah would have led from her God-given appointment as a judge or was she a leader who led by influence. That discussion will wait for another day. I am wondering more about the expression “born leader.”

Believe it or not but I was rather shy growing up. Like most kids I had a fear of getting up in front of people. Treon Jackson broke me of that fear. She and her husband, J.L., were the leaders of my Training Union class for ages 10-12 year olds. She literally made me get up in front of my peers and read a “part” in Training Union one Sunday night. She told me that if I did not do it that she would tell my mama and daddy that I was not listening to her, and she was sure that I would receive a very severe punishment.

I read that part out of fear, but once it was done, I discovered that I liked to do things like that. From that point on in my life, I have not been afraid to get in front of people and talk. In high school I enjoyed parts in school plays and participated in student government.

We all have regrets from college, but one of mine is not something I did, but rather something that I did not do—major in speech or drama. I changed majors so much in college that when I was a junior I had to find a major where I could use some of the hodgepodge of courses that I had assembled in my transcript.

So, the adage that we often hear is that leaders are born leaders. Do you think that is true? I don’t think leadership is a quality that you have to be born with. Leadership is not about being genetically lucky and being born into the “right” family. However, there are some characteristics that a leader must have that are part of their makeup. One of those is the courage to speak out and risk rejection. Mrs. Jackson threatened me to do that part, but I had to have the courage to do it without worrying about what my peers would do or say.

Another trait that a leader must have is the ability or the desire to challenge the status quo—to stand up for what you believe or to break new ground. Leaders ask questions like “why?” or “how?” They look for the desired outcome and how it fits with the mission.

Max Dupree wrote a little book years ago that remains my all-time favorite book on leadership. In “The Art of Leadership” Dupree says that leadership is about people awareness and a lot of gut. For me that means that a leader steps up to the plate when there is a defining moment that begs for a leader to emerge. That leader does not wait for that moment to ask what she needed to do to lead. She had been preparing for a long time for the right moment to exhibit her leadership skills. John Wooden was at one of our Chick-fil-A seminars a few years ago before he passed away, and I recall him saying something like this: “Once the opportunity to lead arrives it is too late to prepare.”

You don’t have to be a leader today to prepare to be a leader someday. Many people miss the opportunity to be a leader because they are waiting on someone to ask them to be a leader. It is like being “on deck” waiting for your turn to bat without ever getting up to the plate and taking a swing.

Go ahead—step into the batter’s box. Speak out and change the status quo!

Donkeys

Twenty five years ago we left West Africa. In many ways it seems like yesterday. We had some amazing experiences during our years in West Africa. Even after all these years there are a lot of things that I still miss. Among them is a simple way of life with virtually no media and no contact with the outside world except a trip to the capital city every 4-6 weeks. And then there is the opportunity to introduce first generations to following Jesus and starting churches—all those awesome experiences are greatly missed.

Among those things I miss are some of the animals of West Africa: hair sheep, guineas, and donkeys.

We have coyotes all along the creek across the road from our property. They don’t often come onto our property because of our dogs, the neighbors’ dogs, and so much activity going on. The cows are also a deterrent for the coyotes. Since my cows are away from our pasture for several months each year for their annual conjugal visit, I decided to buy a donkey to serve as a “guard” for the goats. From our days in West Africa, I really miss the loud irritating sound that a donkey makes. That braying brings back fond memories of life in the bush. Recently I bought a miniature jenny (female donkey) and named her Mugs. Some of you may have seen her already with one of my goats named “Cups” riding on Mugs’ back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaqhwK-Y0v4).

Donkey stories are found frequently in the Scriptures. John 12 tells us the story of Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus found a donkey and fulfilled prophecy: 12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"

While Jesus was arriving at the East Gate of Jerusalem, tradition tells us that Pilate was arriving at the West Gate in Jerusalem. I suppose that Pilate arrived on a stallion and was heralded by many people proclaiming him king. Jesus arrived on a donkey and was heralded with palm branches by some as a great teacher and healer and by others as a weirdo.

A simple dumb animal brought the King of the universe into Jerusalem to fulfill prophecy. Today we are the donkeys that God wants to use to carry Jesus to all peoples.

Praying them in

I am a firm believer in the power of prayer. When God's people agree on something and pray about it God honors our prayers. I had to get that all out on the table so I won't be misunderstood with the following comments.

Over the years I have attended a plethora of Wednesday night prayer services. Many of you know the routine: opening hymn, prayer, announcements, and then we get to the prayer time. However, we seem to regularly spend more time talking about the prayer requests than we do praying.

In our church prayer meetings we pray mostly for sick people who are members of our church, for the military, for family, for friends of the members of our church, and an occasional mention of “all the missionaries.”  There's nothing wrong with praying for sick people or family and friends. Recently while having my cancer treatments in Florida I relished the prayer support of our church members.

But this is what bothers me—we pray for the sick by name, but how many times do we pray for the lost by name? Interestingly enough we pray more to keep people out of heaven than we pray to get people into heaven!

Honey

When Amanda was a baby she had an inseparable playmate. Her name was Honey. She was a cloth stuffed doll with a plastic head, blue eyes and a perpetual smile. Honey was never far away from Amanda. Honey is still around, packed away in one of many memorabilia boxes.

It has been a long time since I have thought of Honey, but honey is on my mind today.

This is the second season that I have had a beehive. My first year was unsuccessful because the bees did not have enough honey in the hive to survive the winter. This year it is quite a different story.

I don't have all the paraphernalia that is necessary for removing honey from the hive and extracting it from the super, so I depend on a friend to do that for me, and he splits the honey with me. He extracted the honey this week and yesterday he delivered 6 quarts of honey to our house. I am excited about that – even though it will take me a long time to eat that much! So I will be sharing honey with some of my friends. Are you interested?

My best friend from college came over this weekend to bring me another hive. He raised bees for a long time while he was doing research for his PhD, so he came over and gave me and a couple friends some pointers on beekeeping. He and the local friend both dressed in protective gear, so I am the only one who got stung. I would try to get as close to the hive as possible, and then suddenly I was running around the pasture swatting bees.  They had a good laugh at me.

Bees are simply amazing! It is so impressive how committed the worker bees are to the queen. A honeybee spends its short six-week life serving the queen. When predators threaten the beehive (like me yesterday) they are willing to sting and give up their life to protect the queen. They were created by God to serve the queen.

God created us to serve the King. This question is playing over and over in my mind: How does my commitment to the King measure up to the worker bee’s commitment to the queen?