The Journey 302
Read: Jonah 1
A state of emergency has been declared in certain parts of the country here in United States. This is because it is estimated that the lives of more than 50 million people is going to be affected by a storm named Sandy which is going to hit the eastern coast today. Tens of thousands of people who live along the coast of Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been asked to evacuate. Sandy storm is considered more powerful than Hurricane Katrina that devastated the country in 2005. This is because on Monday it is full moon and this brings in tide and with the resultant rain and strong wind along with the merging of winter storm system, the meteorologist considers the effect of Sandy could be devastating. The city officials in New York and New Jersey are worried about possible flooding, and also due to heavy surge of rain and strong wind, there is dangerous possibility of trees being uprooted and power lines coming crashing down. The subways in both New York and Philadelphia have come to a complete stop with trains and buses also getting cancelled. Most tragic is plight of people who were supposed to fly from New York to India and other gulf countries with more than 2000 flights being cancelled. People are also living with a fear psychosis since life here without the basic necessities like water, electricity is unimaginable and if power line gets tripped then it could spell total disaster. With this impending natural disaster looming large, the people have taken precautions and most of the citizens were in a mad frenzy trying to stock their house with essential items like water, and other food items and also with emergency equipments like torch, candle. With this mad frenzy of stocking ones house with essential items, most of the super market have totally sold out their stock of water, milk, fruits, meat and other essential items. Generators are the most sought out item of all with people desperately trying to procure one so as to tide over a possible power crisis. People who has experienced power cuts on a daily basis in India may find the steps taken by the people in the country a bit far fetched. But then that is the situation. A storm that is coming and the whole nation getting prepared to face the storm and taking all emergency measure to creatively face the effects of storm. When I think of how people have taken precaution to face Sandy my thoughts goes as to how prepared we are to face the storm that comes in our life. Preparing for life storms are more difficult and is more rigorous. Just as preparing to face Sandy storm is essential, more essential is our preparation for the storm in life so that each storm in life leads to higher level of qualitative Christian living and to greater and abiding relationship with the Lord and His plan. How can we go about doing this type of preparations and living?
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Jonah 1. The context of this portion is when Jonah runs from the away mission of the Lord, runs away to not to do His will but to consciously rebel against the will of God and also may be to an alternative plan to which he considers more worthy than the plan of God. God had specifically asked him to go to Nineveh to preach the good news, but he was a self righteous person who would rather see the destruction of the Ninevites rather than the repentance and transformation of the people of Nineveh. Jonah has no guilt feeling to catch a ship to Tarsus and more strange is that though he knows that he is running from the presence and plan of God he goes to the lower deck and has a nice nap. Jonah represent those type of people who takes the will of God so casually that they have no issues in rebelling against God and also trying to relax and sleep as if nothing has gone wrong. It is at this juncture that a storm comes and the people in the boat panic and they do not know what to do. They find Jonah and the captain ask him to call on his God so that their life could be spared. Jonah tell them about how he has rebelled against God and he asks them to throw him to the sea. When the sailors does this, the sea becomes calm. Some storms are natural, while some storms in life are due to once conscious rebellion against God. As we all prepare to face Sandy, let take time to examine our lives and give priority in doing His Will rather than permitting storms to come in our life or sometimes forcing God to bring storms in our life to so as to make us realize that we are rebelling against God and His plan. Just as Jonah realized that to conquer the storm one had to get back to will and purpose of God, let us also take a decision that we shall always live by submitting to God’s plan and purpose. When we do that even if storm comes, our Lord is there to take care of us and our lives will never be uprooted. What types of storms come into your life and how prepared are you to face it?
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
A state of emergency has been declared in certain parts of the country here in United States. This is because it is estimated that the lives of more than 50 million people is going to be affected by a storm named Sandy which is going to hit the eastern coast today. Tens of thousands of people who live along the coast of Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been asked to evacuate. Sandy storm is considered more powerful than Hurricane Katrina that devastated the country in 2005. This is because on Monday it is full moon and this brings in tide and with the resultant rain and strong wind along with the merging of winter storm system, the meteorologist considers the effect of Sandy could be devastating. The city officials in New York and New Jersey are worried about possible flooding, and also due to heavy surge of rain and strong wind, there is dangerous possibility of trees being uprooted and power lines coming crashing down. The subways in both New York and Philadelphia have come to a complete stop with trains and buses also getting cancelled. Most tragic is plight of people who were supposed to fly from New York to India and other gulf countries with more than 2000 flights being cancelled. People are also living with a fear psychosis since life here without the basic necessities like water, electricity is unimaginable and if power line gets tripped then it could spell total disaster. With this impending natural disaster looming large, the people have taken precautions and most of the citizens were in a mad frenzy trying to stock their house with essential items like water, and other food items and also with emergency equipments like torch, candle. With this mad frenzy of stocking ones house with essential items, most of the super market have totally sold out their stock of water, milk, fruits, meat and other essential items. Generators are the most sought out item of all with people desperately trying to procure one so as to tide over a possible power crisis. People who has experienced power cuts on a daily basis in India may find the steps taken by the people in the country a bit far fetched. But then that is the situation. A storm that is coming and the whole nation getting prepared to face the storm and taking all emergency measure to creatively face the effects of storm. When I think of how people have taken precaution to face Sandy my thoughts goes as to how prepared we are to face the storm that comes in our life. Preparing for life storms are more difficult and is more rigorous. Just as preparing to face Sandy storm is essential, more essential is our preparation for the storm in life so that each storm in life leads to higher level of qualitative Christian living and to greater and abiding relationship with the Lord and His plan. How can we go about doing this type of preparations and living?
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Jonah 1. The context of this portion is when Jonah runs from the away mission of the Lord, runs away to not to do His will but to consciously rebel against the will of God and also may be to an alternative plan to which he considers more worthy than the plan of God. God had specifically asked him to go to Nineveh to preach the good news, but he was a self righteous person who would rather see the destruction of the Ninevites rather than the repentance and transformation of the people of Nineveh. Jonah has no guilt feeling to catch a ship to Tarsus and more strange is that though he knows that he is running from the presence and plan of God he goes to the lower deck and has a nice nap. Jonah represent those type of people who takes the will of God so casually that they have no issues in rebelling against God and also trying to relax and sleep as if nothing has gone wrong. It is at this juncture that a storm comes and the people in the boat panic and they do not know what to do. They find Jonah and the captain ask him to call on his God so that their life could be spared. Jonah tell them about how he has rebelled against God and he asks them to throw him to the sea. When the sailors does this, the sea becomes calm. Some storms are natural, while some storms in life are due to once conscious rebellion against God. As we all prepare to face Sandy, let take time to examine our lives and give priority in doing His Will rather than permitting storms to come in our life or sometimes forcing God to bring storms in our life to so as to make us realize that we are rebelling against God and His plan. Just as Jonah realized that to conquer the storm one had to get back to will and purpose of God, let us also take a decision that we shall always live by submitting to God’s plan and purpose. When we do that even if storm comes, our Lord is there to take care of us and our lives will never be uprooted. What types of storms come into your life and how prepared are you to face it?
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla