Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale

Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale

by Dan Albergotti

Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days.

Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires

with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals.

Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices.

Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Look each way

for the dim glow of light. Work on your reports. Review

each of your life's ten million choices. Endure moments

of self-loathing. Find the evidence of those before you. Destroy it. Try to be very quiet, and listen for the sound

of gears and moving water. Listen for the sound of your heart.

Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope,where you can rest and wait. Be nostalgic. Think of all

the things you did and could have done. Remember

treading water in the center of the still night sea, your toes

pointing again and again down, down into the black depths.

"Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale" by Dan Albergotti from The Boatloads

What comes to your mind when you think of the prophet Jonah? Most likely Jonah wrote autobiographically about what had happened to him.

He tells us that he is the son of Amittai (Jonah 1:1). His name means "dove." The name is decisive. Most of the other prophets had heroic names. (Isaiah means "God has saved") He belonged to the Ten Tribes of Israel, grew up near Nazareth (where Jesus was from) at the village of Gath Hepher, and lived about 800 B.C. or a little after during the reign of Jerobeam II, the king of Israel (2 Kings 14:25).

While Jonah flees, God pursues. While Jonah falls, God lifts up. God even used a reluctant prophet as a vehicle of his grace. Jonah becomes a “type” for Jesus. Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish; Jesus spent three days in the ground. Jesus even compares his generation to the people of Nineveh.

Ironically the reluctant Jonah becomes one of the most effective of all prophets, turning the entire population of Nineveh (about 120,000 people) to God. So, the greatest insight of Jonah's story is that God desires to show mercy and grace to us all. This is a Good News of salvation for all of us, even those that are contemplating running from God!

Memory Maker

I want to be a memory maker for my children. I want their memories to be a part of their happiness. It's through experience, they learn to love, learn about the world around us, learn about themselves. I love it when my boys, who are 5 and 3, say, "Mom, you remember when we ...." that means that we did something memorable, something worth remembering.

We've taken trips, explored local places of interest, done science experiments at home, enrolled them in classes...all to make memories, to make everyday extraordinary!

One day that I love to make extraordinary is Easter. It's one of our families favorite holidays. I first took my husband home to meet my friends and family at Easter. We like to celebrate Easter to relive the moments, to think about the memories. We do community Easter Egg Hunts, make a special bunny cake, hunt eggs at home - over and over again, watch videos about Easter, dress in our "Easter clothes" and go to Easter Services. All in the hopes of making memories and creating traditions.

The one thing that I want them to remember more than the bunny cake or the piles of candy is the saving knowledge the Jesus is their savior (John 3:16). He loves them more than anyone. He has a plan for them (Jer 29) - and what a great memory living a life in Christ will make! That is one of the fabulous things about Easter, remembering the sacrifice the Christ made for us - to die for our sins so that we can have eternal life. That resonated with Clayton this Easter Sunday.

And a week later, today, our oldest son told our Pastor that he'd like to be baptised. To make a public profession of his private commitment to live a life set-apart. I know that he doesn't understand everything it means to live a life in Christ, but you know, neither do I.

One of my favorite Bible stories is of the man born blind. After Jesus heals him, the Pharisees question him about the miracle. He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" (John 9:25) I have a masters degree and find everyday there is more that I don't know than the day before. How much more comforting is it to cling to those things you know for sure?

What is more sure, more memorable than Christs' love for us, His resurrection and His saving grace?

Cookie Dough

Clayton came home from pre-school with another round of order forms for a fundraiser. We did our first fundraiser as parents in October, selling pies and winning a slew of prizes I'm not sure that we could even locate today. This time we are selling tubs of cookie dough and microwave pretzel's. The coveted prizes are glow in the dark toys mostly, but the one the Clayton has set his sights on is the portable DVD player. And he only needs to sell roughly $900 worth to get it!

Isn't it funny how hard we'll work to earn prizes that are exciting only for a moment and how much we are willing to pay and sacrifice to "win" something? I do it all the time. Working to keep the house, the kids, the car extra clean, extra happy, winning their approval and their love. Planning and organizing and participating, keeping my name in the church newsletter...for more information contact...winning their appreciation, their admiration- and maybe His love.

Thank God my salvation, my grandest prize, does not depend on the amount of cookie dough I sell or the number of people that attend the church functions I plan.

Ephesians 7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

But if you want some cookie dough, let us know!