Jonah, a big fish, Mexico, and a sovereign God. What do they all have in common? Well they were all a part of my past week. For the past three years Love God Love People has gone to Mexico for the full week of spring break. We continued the tradition by going this year as well. With all of the reported crime this year our group was much smaller than the typical number. If I’m being honest that was fine by me. Not that I wouldn’t have welcomed more people down, but the more intimate size provided an opportunity for some great discussions and quality interactions. Additionally, it was nice to have a trip that was a bit lighter on the logistics side, especially with everything I still need to get done before leaving for Rwanda.

A side note on the Crime in Mexico:

I, along with most of you, have kept an eye on the escalating crime situation in several towns and cities in Mexico. I would encourage you all to continue to pray for peace and resolution to this situation. As I currently understand it, this is primarily a battle between rival gangs and drug cartels. That said, it is dangerous for everyone in the vicinity. To this point, no one we talked to  had seen any evidence of the crime spilling into Rocky Point. It appears to be safe, keeping in mind that common sense is usually always a prerequisite to safety!

Overall, the trip was great. I will soon be posting a more in depth summary of the trip, along with a video that I shot while there.

For this post I would like to breakdown thoughts I had as we went through the book of Jonah. To make this easy to navigate I’m just going to divide the comments by chapter and reference the different verses I’m addressing. This will probably make more sense to you if you read Jonah before reading the rest of this post! If you don’t have it readily available here is a link to read Jonah.

Jonah, Chapter 1

v.1-3 God calls Jonah, a known profit, to a city that he loves and desires to see restoration. What does Jonah do? He runs. One of the volunteers on the trip pointed out how silly it seems to physically run from God. We had a good conversation about this, what are your thoughts?

v.4-6 I recently heard a sermon in which the speaker used this section of scripture as an analogy for the current state of the church in the world. In the illustration Jonah was representing the Church. The pictures is this. While the world is coming down all around us, the man of God, the one called to be a light, he is asleep in the bottom of the ship. Hmmm…strike a chord at all? This is something I had to really ponder.

v.17 This verse and verses like it tend to be a stumbling block for non-Christians, often saying,” I just can’t by into a religion that believes a man could be eaten by a fish, survive 3 days, then be spit out.” This isn’t the only story in the bible that raises the same question. How am I supposed to believe something that seems so far fetched? Noah built the Arc and survived a flooded world for 40 days with 8 people. Daniel lived, unscathed by the lions when he was thrown into the den to be devoured. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego were thrown into a fiery furnace but survived. And Christ, he was crucified for the sins of all man kind, then resurrected 3 days later to the right seat of the Father. It is in Christ that the answer to this is found.

Matthew 12:38
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Christ himself seems to claim that he believed Jonah was literally 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of this fish. So one has two ask themselves. Do I believe Christ? Josh McDowell boils this question down to three possible answers. Either you believe that Jesus was the Lord, a Liar or a Lunatic. These are the only three options. Christ claims on multiple occasions to be the living God. So, he is either crazy, which doesn’t seem to be supported by historical evidence; he is a lunatic, which doesn’t seem to hold weight in the presence of evidence, especially that of the fate of the apostles; or, he was who he claimed to be: God, the great I AM.

If you do believe Christ was who he claimed to be. That he is the creator of the universe and that in him all things are held together (Col 1:17), it becomes easier to understand the miraculous. Or if not understand, to atleast find a certain amount of peace in these accounts.

To keep things concise and easy to reference, I’ll continue to post the rest of my thoughts and observations in Jonah in separate posts, one per chapter.

Last night I went and saw a special screening of “A Powerful Noise.” The movie is a documentary which follows the lives of three different women in three different parts of the world. Each woman is in the midst of a battle, fighting for or against something (poverty, HIV/aids, social justice, education etc.). The screening was part of an event that was nationwide. The event was put on by a collaboration of several different organizations, most notably ONE.org and CARE international. After the film was shown there was a live discussion by a panel which commented not only on the documentary but on the current state of poverty in the world and what the implications/solutions are.

Overall I think the film was good, it was worth seeing. But it really made me think hard on several different points. First, this film advocates the power of lifting up women around the world and how they in turn can lift up the society around them. I think this is incredibly powerful, and I do believe it to be true. Time and time again women have shown to be resilient and strong, holding on to hope and forging through the most utter despair to bring life back into their communities. BUT, what struck me in this conversation is how much this idea was hoisted as a savior to poverty. Now I could be slightly exaggerating the statements made by the film and the panel, but I don’t think I am.

I need to be careful, because my point isn’t that there isn’t power and truth in this process of empowering women. I recognize the current state of women world wide and acknowledge (don’t want to say understand, that would probably be overstepping) that there are major issues with gender inequality today.

What I am commenting on his how often we find some truth and then hold it up as THE TRUTH. This happened and is happening with micro financing, another great tool against poverty. Before that child sponsorship was the buzz. I find it interesting that we continue to latch on to these ideas and make them more than what they are, perhaps we lose sight of the greater balance needed in the situation. Perhaps we lose sight of how truly interconnected everything is in this day and age.

Further reflection makes me think of how much the poverty of this world represents the brokenness that accompanies sin. If you look at the situation of poverty (someone recently commented that poverty is essentially broken relationship…interesting) and then look at what we are called to be as Christians and then allow God to take you down the implications of everything. You may come to the point of realizing that if the Church was what it is supposed to be, we probably wouldn’t have NGO’s. If the body of believers was what it is supposed to be we wouldn’t have the issues of lost hope and dependency that exist in such a powerful and crippling manner across the world. But then again, that is the effect of sin. That is the reason we so desperately need God’s grace. And that brings hope.

“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” -Romans 5:2-5

I really do think the film is worth seeing. Definitely check out the site by clicking on the name of the film above. Also, below is a cool video that has been out for a while, it is on this same subject. If any of you and any thoughts or insight on this I’d love to hear it!

P.S. In the film, the woman from Mali, “Madame Urbain,” totally reminds me of “papa” in the The Shack!

As part of my preparation for my time in Rwanda I am doing my best to expose myself to a wide variety of resources and information. I want to learn about the country, the people and the history. Of course, one can hardly think of Rwanda today without the reminder of the genocide. So, though it is a difficult topic, I am doing my best to understand that time in Rwanda’s history as well. It seems this kind of history is more than the extreme trials of a country and a people, but it is also a deep representation of the ultimate evil and brokenness that is expressed through our sin in this world.

I want to invite anyone who would like to join me as I watch a PBS frontline documentary about the genocide entitled, “Ghosts of Rwanda.” I will be watching the documentary Sunday, March 8th at 1:30. If anyone is interested in watching this and then perhaps discussing it further after, please contact me (chris.lglp@gmail.com).