Jonah

Jonah found himself in the belly of a whale - did he cause a riot inside? NO!

Sometimes when I remember a Bible story all that flashes into my mind is the words to a song I listened to about a billion times on our old red tape player while growing up. My sister is coming to stay for a few days today and she really gets going on some of these songs. So I usually cringe to even hum a few bars of any song we used to listen to together for fear of her running with it and firmly implanting those kid voices into my head until something equally annoying replaces them. (By the way, does anyone who watches America's Got Talent still get flashes of "Studio" running through their inactive brains? )

Anyway, back to Jonah, the sound sleeper.

I can seriously fall asleep anywhere and do so often but I don't know if I would be quite as much of a sleepyhead as Jonah.

A massive storm moved over the sea seeking out Jonah on his cruise with destination as far away from God's will as possible. The seasoned mariners ran around throwing cargo overboard and using all their muscles to keep the boat afloat and where did Jonah find to make himself useful?

The bottom of the boat, sound asleep.

"But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep." (Jonah 1:5)

Really, asleep? Maybe the roaring waves lulled him into a sleep that was much needed after fitful nights when he arguied with God about not taking a saving message to people he didn't want to be saved.

I find sleep to be the best way of avoiding things I don't want to think about and I too choose sleep over a mind that races in a direction I don't want to go.

And I'm wondering if there's some area of my life where I'm asleep? What am I choosing to block out of my mind so I don't need to think about doing something I want to run away from?

Sleep, oh blessed sleep. Please God don't allow me to use sleep as my drug of choice.