Wednesday Word: Do you have a Jonah spirit?

Yes another week of Wednesday Word is here. It’s been a very successful feature here at DALANEL. No reason to try to spice things up. If you’re new here, Wednesday Word is where I grab a short sermon from the internet; about no longer than 10 minutes long, and then I write some commentary.

Are ya ready?

Those of you that have been following this blog for several months now know what my Jonah spirit is: Lighting director of my church’s cantatas and plays. I don’t really want to do it, but I know I have to. In fact, I talked about such an event where I was swallowed by a “whale” that God sent.

Anyway, running away from what God wants us to do is rather foolish. Anything that God wants us to do, it’s for our benefit. God is God. He doesn’t need you. He would rather have you play a role, but, He’ll go to somebody else if need be. He may not always send a whale to bring you back.

Like the pastor said, let’s do a better job of embracing/accepting what God calls us to do.

-DALANEL

Dante vs God Part 1

Before we start, this isn’t a headline ploy to drag you here. This year, I’ve literally called God out on a few things. Considering how great and powerful God is, this probably isn’t the best thing to do. But, I’ve been doing it big time this year. There’s a few things I’ve challenged God on. Let’s take a look.

Round One: Foodbank

I mentioned how I finally found my role at Foodbank. I briefly mentioned how I told God that I wasn’t gonna go back unless certain things happened. Okay, so, I’ve gotten used to talking to the clients at foodbank who sit in our “waiting room” waiting for their number to be called so they could get their food. Right now, it’s me, and a couple of…er…older gentlemen. One guy tends to engage the crowd while the other does this sort of sermon. Me? I always tend to do a little of both. I’m all about the future. And I understand that, at some point, I’ll have to step in as the head…I don’t even know what to call it.

But, like I said before in my original post, going to foodbank is a pain more times than not. And, a lot of times, I just go there and sit there while the other two guys handle it. There have been a few times where I’ve been the only one so I would step in to handle the “service”. As usual, the rubber band that I am, there was eventually one incident that set me off. See, one of the clients ended up shoving one of our volunteers in their quest for food. The victim? A ten year old girl. This girl just so happened to be Nia, one of my assistants for the cantata. I’ve grown attached to her so hearing about this hurt. She’s 11 now so time has passed but, it was then that I was ready to tear heads off. Considering that both of my little sisters volunteer there, I considered what would happen if some fool pushed my sister.

And it was then that I had to call it a day. See, I used to help people carry their food to their cars. It got tiring because they would do this towards me. They also played mental games. My favorite was how they would ask me if they were supposed to get meat of a canned good or type of produce. For the record, we prepare each bag the same. Each thing has the same stuff. Exceptions? We do give extra for families of the larger size. Also, seniors get a little something every once in a while. There’s a program for them that I forget what it’s called but it’s something from the state. Other than that, you get the same stuff. Some people try to get over though. No problem with that; I expect them to do that. Just don’t drag me along for the ride. They would turn to me as if I’m supposed to storm the castle on their behalf for them to get something. I never went for it. I always claimed ignorance. Whether I knew or not didn’t matter.

Anyway, I had to get away from it and the other stuff. So, I went to the other side. And it’s kinda cool. They are a different people on the other side, which amazes me. I’m the only person to have done both sides so I see both sides of the people. They are so nice and calm on the waiting side. It’s amazing. But, still, I was on that side when I heard about the shove. So, I called it a day. I tried to convince my mom not to let my sisters go back. No avail. Me? I was out.

But God was like “Nah”. I knew what I had to do. But I didn’t want to. I’m Jonah like that. So, I decided to hand it over to God. Here was my offer to Him: I’ll come back when I need to. If there’s a need, then I’ll step in.

What I am about to say might put God in a bad light, especially if you’re not a big fan of His.

One of the gentlemen had a stroke shortly after my offer. Now, some might say God did this. Me? Nope. I figured God was letting me know that I was needed because He saw the stroke coming. I just have to be ready because both of these gentlemen are…over 60…ish. And, males in this country don’t hit 70 on average. Just saying. Anyway, I embraced this incident and go to foodbank as a way of training myself for my eventual emergence as the head…guy…or something.

The key for me is that God wants me there. I think I know why now. Oh, I’m still Jonah about it. I usually go there kicking and screaming. But, I have to be ready to do God’s will. I have to suck it up and move on. If God wants me to do this, I will.

So, that’s part one. I’m not going to let you know how many there are yet.

Daily Good Stuff 147

Just a heads up, apparently I didn’t label a DGS post and so I’m behind one number. So you’re going to see me skip a number. Instead of 148, tomorrow will be 149. Just me fixing a mistake.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. Henry David Thoreau

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” Jonah 2:8

One day, there was this lawyer who had just bought a new car, and he was eager to show it off to his colleagues, when all of a sudden an eighteen wheeler came out of nowhere and took of the driver’s side door with him standing right there. “NOOO!” he screamed, because he knew that no matter how good a mechanic tried to fix it, it never would be the same. Finally, a cop came by, and the lawyer ran up to him yelling. “MY JAGUAR DOOR WAS JUST RUINED BY SOME FOOLISH DRIVER!!!” he exclaimed. “You’re a lawyer aren’t you?” asked the policeman. “Yes, I am, but what does this have to do with my car?!?!” the lawyer asked. “HA! You lawyers are always so materialistic. All you care about is your possessions. I bet you didn’t even notice that your left arm is missing did you?” the cop said. The lawyer looked down at his side and exclaimed “MY ROLEX!”

Yikes, those things are expensive! I’d bet arms are too though…

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Daily Good Stuff 108

Saturday. The last weekend of the month and it’s been a great month for DALANEL. As you saw yesterday, I’ve got some stuff going on so these post for today and tomorrow are gonna be abbreviated. A joke, image, quote, and scripture. Trust me though, the first two days of July are gonna have posts up with all types of angles including the normal daily good stuff, exactly how great June was, what to expect for a grand celebration for July babies, and more. Just two days. Gonna be wild. But let’s get through this.

A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though they were a very large mammal their throat was very small. The little girl stated Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The teacher reiterated a whale could not swallow a human; it was impossible.

The little girl said, “When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.”

The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went to hell?”

The little girl replied, “Then you ask him.”

OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH, BURN!

And now here’s a comic of a really unrealistic but funny situation:

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