Monday, February 22, 2010

Choosing Not Tarshish

What is Lent, if not a season to trudge around in our own wretchedness for a while, to remember to what depth His long arm had to reach to get us out? I don't want for this year to pass me by without a real acknowledgment of my shortcomings and the ways in which I am constantly running from God's simple request for repentance.

That is why I am joining with these folks to do a study through Jonah - a fellow fugitive.

Like me, Jonah would rather skeedaddle than deal with sin.
Like me, Jonah wanted to control the path of his own life, because he thought he knew better.
Like me, Jonah opted for easy.

If you think otherwise, don't be fooled for a skinny minute. Me and Jonah, we're pretty terrible human beings. What is Lent, if not a time to remember that ---me and Jonah ---we're kin. Disobedient punks to the very core.

But, like I learned last year, realizing this should not be my final destination. To dead end at the rebellion and hardness of my heart would be to miss the point entirely. Easter means that Christ has come to bring the Green Hope. His death is the sunshine at the end of our seemingly hopeless dark tunnel. We can't appreciate the light until we've come to terms with what it is to be without it.

*If you'd care to join in the study, find a Lent experience calendar here and a study guide here.

2 comments:

Annie said...

Thanks for sharing these links. I think I'll be joining you in this study~ looking forward to Thursday!

Amber said...

This study is so cool and the calender is so sweet! I love it when God gives us a creative spark (we should give our creative abilities to him more often).