Dramatic!

I guess Jonah had a flare for the dramatic! I mean, in Chapter 4 he actually told God he "angry enough to die." Not angry at an unrepentent people, not angry at sin. Jonah was angry at God's compassion and then that anger was compounded by a vine that God gave and took away.

It seems like such a limited perspective that Jonah has there at the end of the book but I can relate. When I pray and things don't go the way I thought they should I get upset, angry and hurt.

On Sunday my brother Casey, for the first time in years, went to church with us WILLINGLY. I was so excited that he might experience a bit of God's love and be moved to accept God's gift of grace and eternal life that I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen.

Casey endured the service uncomfortable all the while. And at the end with tears in his eyes he looked at me with a soft heart. My eyes teared up a bit, too. Whether his tears were from joy or pain, I didn't know. I just told him I loved him.

Without all of the details, something stirred Casey's heart and spirit. Was it the Holy Spirit knocking at the door of his heart? I don't know. But when I felt hurt by Casey's words in the car my heart's response was much like Jonah's. I was limited in my perspective and did not understand what had happened. I still don't. But what I do know is that God has a plan. I know a little of what Jonah was feeling when God said to him, "You have been concerned for this vine, but you did not tend it or make it grow."

My job is now what it was before. To love Casey, stand firm in God's word and truth and pray for Casey to feel that love and accept the salvation God's trying to give him.