Day 11 (3/1)
WEEK 3: Written by Beth Patterson
BETH PATTERSON is a reasonable woman of wobbly faith… and that is faith.
She delights in her family, friends, spending time outdoors, a good book, and an even better pot of coffee.
Fun facts about Beth: She earned a Ph.D. loooooooong ago (20+ years!), she met the Pope when she was a toddler at the Vatican,
and she likes to think she hasn’t changed much since high school.
Day 11: God Speaks to Us
Scripture Reading: Jonah 1:1-13
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.
God speaks to us. The Book of Jonah opens with these words: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’”
Almost nine years ago, my beloved father died of cancer. We lost him during a chaotic season of change, when we were preparing to move from Kansas City to Minnetonka. Joe had just been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, Bobby had moved up here ahead of us to begin his new job, and I was pregnant with Clara and so, so overwhelmed. The night of Daddy’s death, I lay in my bed, weeping. I cried out, “Oh God, how will I ever survive losing Daddy??” At that very moment, Baby Clara completed her first full flip in my belly. I saw my belly move for the first time. God spoke to me! Through Clara’s movements, God gently said, “Your dad is with me now. And your baby is with you, inside of you, growing, turning, readying herself. You will survive your dad’s death by bringing forth this new life.”
Clara James, my father’s namesake, was born later that year.
How has God spoken to you? Through His written word? His creation? His people?
God speaks to us. Let’s listen.