Set yourself earnestly to discover what you are made to do, and then give yourself passionately to the doing of it. – Martin Luther King Jr.

 

She was blessed with a gift

And that gift was a blast

She loved writing stories

They were ones that would last

Loved rhyming words

Loved how they sounded

Loved all the lessons

They kept her so grounded

 

Many people would read them

They loved all the tales

But one day she stopped

Like wind taken from sails.

 

The gift of her words

Were not hers alone

People depended

The words, they had grown

A way of reaching many

God’s stories to share

But she just ignored

like she didn’t care

 

Other things took the place

Of the gift that she had.

New tasks, more important

But her ideas were bad

‘Cause there was no time

For God on this path

There were just things

So now do the math

 

Her life took a turn

and sickness crept in

She was sinking now slowly

in ignorant sin

She made the sad choice

to live a new way

To let Jesus go

let him fade away

And all of the things

that He gave her to write

Were forgotten so fast

No more Christian fight.

 

What is wrong with me God?

she started to scream!

What is wrong with me God?

can I wake from this dream?

My body is sick

My life is a mess

I feel so depressed

I feel so much less

than I did before

But I’m doing so much

I am superwoman!

fists white, they’re so clutched

around this new way

of life as she drew it

and drowning around

was her family, she blew it

Lost in a world

She’d thought would be more

She forgot God

So He settled the score.

 

 

 

His answer was slow

and in His great time.

His voice was so patient,

“You forgot about rhyme.”

 

 

 

I gave you a gift

and you think that you know

What is better for you?

So I had to show

You answers to problems

Created by you

So you sit and you listen

Remember Jonah? You do?

that Bible lesson

you learned as a kid

what happened to him

when he ran and he hid

when I gave him the job

of sharing my love

now look at your life

remember me up above?

as a child you learned

If you’re given a task

you do it right now

don’t wait and be asked!

 

and what is more,

 

You asked ME!

remember that day?

“Lord, please use me”

is what you did say.

 

And so now, dear reader,

like Jonah of old

I learned my lesson

to do what I am told.

 

The lessons you learn

while you walk astray

Will stick in your head

A special kind of way

The shepherd will lead you

Right back and then say

Bad little sheep 

 

Stop wandering away

Like Jonah. I accepted

The path I must take

And now I feel better

So fully awake

Accepting the path

That I must now lead

Cause the words in my head

Are given to read.

 

Out of the whale

Second chance

Get to writing

Don’t glance

At the mess that you made

When you didn’t obey

Look to the future

and do just what I say.

 

He wants us to know

That he loves us all so

And if he tells you something

You get up and go!

Don’t say, yeah Dad, someday

I’ll do that, I will

Get up and get doing

Or the whale might just fill

Up his ol’ belly

With silly lil’ you

Don’t ignore God

this lesson is true.

 

The stories from the Bible

relate to today

It gives us understanding

when we’ve lost our way

Answers to questions

We have while we’re here

The results are right there

And they are written so clear.

 

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Jonah 1 New International Version (NIV)

Jonah Flees From the Lord

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.”

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.

⁴ Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 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 so that we will not perish.”

⁷ Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

⁹ He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

¹¹ The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

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.”

¹³ Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, 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.

Jonah’s Prayer

¹⁷ Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

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