Jonah
The Point: Obeying God.
The Message: I'll follow His call because I'm tired of messin' up.
The Scoop: God wants all true Christians to reach out to the world around them. God has a purpose for all of our lives, and we will someday in some way touch somebody's life, if we are following God's plans for our life. If we reject God and try to go our own way, we will find ourselves in a very bad position. In the case of Jonah, that place was the bottom of the ocean.
The Tale: Jonah was a prophet of God, called to preach in the city of Ninevah. Jonah, because of his hatred of Ninevah, decides instead to run away. While out on the ocean, sailing away from Ninevah, a great storm develops. The crew of the ship cry out to God for the answer of who might have caused their turmoil. When God showed them that it was Jonah, they threw him overboard and the storm ceased. Jonah spends three days in the belly of a whale lamenting about his bad position, then repents and decides to go to Ninevah. When the whale spews Jonah out on dry land, he goes to Ninevah as was instructed and warns them that if they don't repent, their city would be destroyed by God. The city is shocked to hear the words of Jonah, and repent immediately. Jonah is unhappy with this, as surprising as it may seem, so God tells Him that he shouldn't be dissatisfied with the results, but be joyful because God's plan was carried out fully.
The Idea: On Thanksgiving Day 2001, I started writing this song. I sat on some rocks with a lake on one side and my friends playing football on the other side. I had my Bible sitting open to the book of Jonah, and I read aloong, then stopped and rewrote what I had just read in rap form. The story of Jonah is important, for it shows how someone else failed and the results of that failure. I started Jonah the same day I started The Prodigal Son.
