Hide and Seek

Friday nights are pretty much always cause for celebration. We are ready to get wild and crazy.

Flashlight hide-n-seek wild and crazy! After all, that was one of the girls' most favorite Christmas gifts... travel sized LED flashlights, perfect for hiding under the covers with.

The best is that the girls truly think we can't find them as they giggle and yell, "You'll never guess where we are!" Or that we will never figure out the toddler sized humps on the couch are, indeed, our two daughters.

Picture it: Joe and I walk around hollering, "I bet they're on... the front porch?? Oh, I know it now, they're in the pantry???" Boy, they must be thinking as they're all crouched and "hidden," our parents are real dummies.

Reminds me of a study a thoughtful friend invited me to in the fall. A study of Jonah, of a life interrupted (Priscilla Shirer=awesome). It came at such a crazy right time, I can just imagine the Lord looking right down through the roof of our house and saying to me, "I see you there... now GO!"

One night, in fact, I was quite late to the study. It had just been one of those days, one of those days that you almost give up. Almost. Until I realized that BECAUSE it had been one of those days, it likely meant I really should go.

I had to park what felt like a mile away, further complicated by the fact that Alysse needed to nurse before I would be home so I had her with me. She had fallen asleep, and I had to haul her 18 pound self along with the infant carrier. Those things are not for sissies, by the way. They transform small bundles into lead-like bicep builders. I digress.

No sooner had I gotten in, out of breath, when they were about to start prayer time. Asking folks, if they felt led, just to thank God for whatever was on their hearts. I had no intention of saying anything, my mind still a whirl from just getting myself to that seat.

Yet I found myself utter out loud the words, "Second chances. I thank God for do overs, for second chances."

Wouldn't you know our topic for that night... Jonah 3:1-2 . Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah THE SECOND TIME, saying arise , go to Nineveh.

Jonah's second chance.

Jonah ran from God, ran from his calling. He was in a good calling before that. He was a prophet to God's chosen for crying out loud! But even still, God had another plan for him. A plan that he ran to the proverbial couch, threw the covers over his head, and somehow convinced himself... "Oh yeah, He'll never find me now!"

A storm came, a whale came, and finally out Jonah came ready to go. His second chance of obedience led to what some scholars say is the greatest revival of all time.

Our Maddie loves the Bible story of Jonah. In fact, 9 times out of 10 it is her requested story at bedtime. But it's not just a lesson for her. Right now it is a lesson for our whole family. When God moves us on out of our comfort zones, even on from good things, will we obey? Will we go?

Will the cry of our heart be, no matter what we "feel" by our own standards...

Ready or not, here we come?

~Katrina