What Happened to February?

Even as I sit down to write this blog post, I have a "Coaching a Disciple Through Trials" article pulled up, my email account open, some music blaring, my medical reimbursement in front of me and my daily To-Do list staring me in the face. And, doesn't it seem like the vindictive nature of a To-Do list that each time I cross something off, something else takes its place?

I just re-read my previous blog post, and my first thought was, what the heck happened to February? 
Not literally, of course. I mean, I know what happened to February and what I did and where I was.

I mean that thing that happens when time suddenly has that uncanny ability to run a 5 minute mile and you can barely manage a 20 minute light jog.

Which is probably why we had a planned conference in Puerto Plata this February with the specific purpose of pulling back from ministry, resting and refocusing our minds on the next five months. 

It was great, and not just because they passed out chocolates. It really was a time to be refreshed and to process a cultural misunderstanding that had occurred between our team and some students in the ministry. We needed coaching. We needed encouragement. We needed to remember Who is more important than all else...that would be Jesus. 

The team keepin' it real at the beach.

Bird's eye view of Puerto Plata.

Hi there!

On a bridge in Puerto Plata.

One thought that stuck with me from the talks during that week was the idea of "faith content." The idea that our faith in Jesus is always built up by the evidence of what God has done in our lives. The idea that faith is an exercise of the will. The knowledge that faith is based upon the person of Christ.

I like to think of my past that way...as God using it to give substance and flava to my faith.

It reminds me of Jonah.
The awkward prophet to Nineveh.
Awkward because he was God's prophet but didn't want to do what God asked him to do (namely tell the Ninevites to turn from their horrible actions and seek God).

I think Jonah was afraid of God's compassion (yes, really). I think he was afraid of surrendering his life to God, that "the Father of all compassion" (2 Cor. 1:3) would squish him into dust. I think that his fear caused him to forget the content of his faith and the true character of God.

So, he tried to run from God by boat (unsuccessfully) and was reluctantly thrown overboard by the ship's crew to calm a raging storm and to be swallowed by a gigantic fish for 3 days and 3 nights (successfully).

--> a cool side note is that as a result of God saving their lives and calming the storm, all of the ship's crew believed in the Lord...talk about their faith content!

Now, to my favorite part of the whole story. What the heck does Jonah do while in the belly of this fish?
He prays.
He was drowning. He was swallowed by a fish and, literally, lived in the belly of death. He had hit rock bottom. He despaired for his physical life. He despaired for spiritual reconciliation. He thought he was beyond compassion's reach.
BUT then, he calls on God to rescue him. 

"Then I said, ‘I am driven away

    from your sight;

yet I shall again look 

 upon your holy temple.’" (Jonah 2:4)

⁵ 

 

Jonah lifted his eyes to God and fixed his hope on the only One who could save him from physical or spiritual death. Fear causes us to forget God. It warps our thoughts about God, ourself and others. True repentance refocuses our eyes, heart and mind on Jesus. God redeemed Jonah's circumstances. 

It causes me to pause and ask myself, where am I looking for the content of my faith? Am I allowing my fears to be the content of my faith too?

[um, yes.]

So, I make a choice. I read the unchanging truth in Romans 8:38-39 about how nothing can separate me from the love of God in Jesus and know that those fears are as unstable and fleeting as a wisp of smoke. I choose to put my hope in Jesus, "the author and perfecter" of my faith.


Hope that this has encouraged you as it has encouraged me!


xoxo,

kme