I have to stop fooling myself.

Even though it may feel right doesn’t always make it right.

Is this a test God?

Please give me guidance and strength.

Focus: How BIG the mercy of God is towards a rebellious people.

Jonah represents us.

Jonah 1:1 – Average Joe runs from God.

¹ The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: ² “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

-Word of the LORD came to Jonah – typical when God is giving an assignment to a prophet

-God said “Get up and go to Ninevah”, but Jonah gets up and goes the other way

³ But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

-when we don’t like God’s assignment for us, we flee in the other direction (from God’s call upon our lives)

-we tend to rationalize – come up with excuses, running away from God’s call upon our lives

-hurt people, hurt people.

A good reason that Jonah ran away – Ninevites – were nasty people – proud of their cruel and terrible ways, they were racist

Heart of God pursues us, even though we rebel. How?

1) Pursues us through circumstances – should ask “God what are you trying to teach me through this difficulty?”

⁴ Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

2) Pursues us through other people

⁵ All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶ The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”

What does Jonah do?

¹² “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

Instead of repenting, wants to die. He doesn’t have the nerve to jump over himself get’s sailors to throw him over.

- when we go through a storm, we want to call it quits instead of repenting.

¹³ Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.

- You can’t thwart the purposes of God.

Praise God for his heart that pursues us even in our sinful rebellion!

At Jonah’s worst, God is showing his best. The heart of God responds with mercy to those who fear him.

¹⁴ Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased.” ¹⁵ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶ At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

God shows them mercy.

¹⁷ But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. Psalm 23:6

God will follow us no matter how far we run with his goodness and his love.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer: my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me;

the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

—

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me

—

You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless.

He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

For who is God besides the LORD?

And who is the Rock except our God?

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.

—

THE LORD LIVES! PRAISE BE TO MY ROCK! EXALTED BE GOD MY SAVIOR

What is it that I need to learn from all this?

Am I doing something wrong?

Is there something that’s keeping me from you?

Why do I feel this way?

What’s the right thing to do?

How long have I been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean’s shapeless form
Water’s getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing over my head

If I could just see you
Everything would be alright
If I’d see you
This darkness would turn to light

And I will walk on water
And you will catch me if I fall
And I will get lost into your eyes
And know everything will be alright
And know everything is alright

-Lifehouse

It is as if
I knew you before we spoke
Do our hearts know something we don’t?
Converging, conspiring, without giving us any say

You sing me to sleep
Talk down my walls
Look through my windows as I wait
You could be the thief
I give the key to

You’re ruining me
With secrets and gestures and looks
With sonnets in second-hand books
Playing the chords in me nobody knew how to play

You sing me to sleep
Talk down my walls
Look through my windows as I wait
You could be the thief
I give the key to

It fits in your hand like the water in rain
Unlocks our two different selves
And shows we are the same
Rather than wait til I
Put me out for the taking
You’re breaking
You’re breaking into my heart
and I’m letting you

Your eyes are full
Full of the future of us…

-Brooke Fraser

because you provide when the time is right

Let me be kind to your found and lost children

for to do unto you, I must do unto them first

Let me not envy and to jealousy succumb

to destroy the evil whispers of Satan in my ear

Let me not boast in anything but my shortcomings

for your power is made perfect in my weakness

Let me not be proud of my achievements

they were yours to begin with

Let me not be rude

but have respect to your creation

Let me not be self-seeking

so I can deny myself and take up my cross

Let me not be easily angered

let no words stemming from hate leave my mouth

Let me not keep a record of wrongs

but forgive an infinite number of times

Let me not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth

let me hate what is of the world, because my home is with you

Let me protect

those I love and those you love

Let me trust

in your good, perfect, and pleasing will

Let me persevere

in the race marked out for me

let me love let me love let me love

let me find love in him

but most importantly let the love be based in you

because you are love

and love can’t exist without you

and the greatest of all things is you

I’m sure everyone has just been waiting on the edge of their seats.. not..-.-

Anyways today is my last day in Korea after three weeks. I actually don’t even know what I did here.. pretty much eat, shop, spend hours on transit, and meet people I’ve never even heard of before and find out we’re somehow related. All in all, I’d say it was pretty great.

Honestly, the highlight of my trip must have been meeting the international students i met in calgary back at their home, korea. I love meeting old friends.. best feeling in the world I also met with Angela, it’s really great catching up.

I must say the food is excellent though. And even though everyone talks about ddukbokki this, odang that.. etc etc etc.. I have to say the best memory I have of food is the cafeteria food at department stores. It’s freaking nuts becuase like one meal is like 5000 won (i.e. 5 bucks) and it comes out with a whole bunch of side dishes, rice, and the main dish is like.. freaking amazing. Way better than any food at a restaurant in Calgary.

But anyways.. what was kind of interesting during my stay here.. was meeting all my relatives. My mom has tons of cousins. I met my dad’s cousins that i didn’t even know existed. It was kind of interesting, even though it was mostly adults (and lots of free money.. heh). But it just got me thinking how connected we are with the world. We truly are brothers and sisters with everybody.. because I mean think about it.. we are all related in some way or another.

Let me make an analogy…

Say you’re having a party, so you invite all your family members. This includes aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, neices, the whole shibang (on BOTH sides of your family so both mom’s relatives and dad’s relatives). And then you invite all those relatives’ relatives. For example your mom’s brother’s wife’s family, or your dad’s cousin’s cousins. And then you invite you’re relatives’ relatives’  relatives. And you’re relatives’ relatives’ relatives’ relatives.  Etc.. Sooner or later, your party would be filled with every single person that lives on earth. Think about it. For example if you’re asian, and you have a cousin that married an indian person, then all of india would eventually be at your party. Or if you have an aunt that married a Finnish man, then you’d have all Scandinavian people at your party.

I just had that thought while eating dinner with some of my mom’s cousins.. and listening to them talk about their grandchildren in the states. And it sort of blew me away. I don’t know maybe it’s a stupid thought.. but it was cool at the time. And it still is. Poo.

Anyways gotta keep praying for Esther in Thailand. And upcoming South Africa mission trip woot!

Lots of Love.

Jo

I was dreading Sunday. I didn’t want to go to church and I definitely didn’t want to lead worship. but I had a responsibility so ofcourse I went. But I was late.. about 20 minutes late. But not only me, but other members were late too. We spend a lot of time trying to restring the bass, and it was all hectic. And then Zeta wanted to talk to us before we started practice. By this time it was about 1:15, so I called Zeta when everyone was ready to go. He talked, spoke about amazing things that we definitely needed to hear:

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” John 4: 23-24

so by 1:20 we started practicing, and service started at 1:30. Usually with even 30 minutes of practice we don’t feel sorry and now we had 10 minutes. So I was just praying for the best and hoping we don’t mess up too badly.

But guess what?

We worshiped on Sunday, April 19. I thought it was one of the best worship sessions we’ve had as a band since i’ve come to lead and only with 10 minutes of practice.

The lesson here?

I was trying to do too much with my own power, and when that strength faded, there was nothing left to keep me from burning out. I asked previously for a miracle from God, and he gave it to me. He taught me that sure practice is great, it is good to give your all to God, but when it comes down to it, it is God that gives the strength and it is for God that we worship.

Happy day

OH by the way, I’m going to the Flames vs Blackhawks game 4 tomorrow and I’m STOKEDDDDDD!!!!! Thanks to my ridiculously cool brother.

And I’m having Mcdonald’s for lunch tomorrow and I’m STOKEDDDDDDDDDDDD! I haven’t had mcdees for about.. 4 months.

Yes I was counting.. not.

OH and God answered prayers for a bass player In an unconventional way I admit. But Deb’s going to be learning to play bass within the next month which should be a piece of cake for her to pick up as she’s the amazing violinist that she is.

Yay for Jesus

I’m reading this book right now, about this missionary in Mozambique, who is experiencing miracles like those of when Jesus walked on this earth. The blind being able to see, the deaf being able to hear, the dead being ressurected. So if those are the miracles in Mozambique, why can’t there be miracles here in Calgary? I think it’s because we don’t have enough faith. I tend to rely more on other people and things more than the power of God. Maybe that’s the problem. If that is the problem, I don’t know how to have more faith.. I can’t just say “I have more faith” and have more faith. What do I do!?!?

So right now, I’m desperate. I’m not just praying for a miracle, I’m crying out for one, I hope you are listening God.