Nineveh or Bust!

We all know the story of Jonah and the whale. You know, the one where God called Jonah to spread His word to the Ninevites, but Jonah just wouldn’t listen. Remember what happened when Jonah tried to run away? He got thrown into the sea and swallowed by a whale. That whale carried him for days in her belly and bowels before delivering Jonah to where? That’s right, Nineveh!

What’s remarkable about this (besides being carried in the belly and bowels of a whale for days on end) is that Nineveh was located in modern-day Iraq and any map will tell you that Iraq is land-locked. So how did Jonah end up being spit to shore from the belly of a whale in a land-locked country, you ask? Because God wanted him there.

Now I realize that Nineveh was actually located on the Tigris River, a major highway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. And, okay, the story doesn’t actually specify that Jonah was swallowed by a whale; it could have been any large ocean and river-dwelling fish, but the moral of the story stands. When God calls you to do something, you do it.

Michael and I have found ourselves in our own Nineveh, of sorts. We were swallowed up by a 777 and spit out on the shores of the Danube. It’s not that we were resisting God’s call, but there is a bit of a feeling of bewilderment as to how we ended up here in Tisovec (pronounced: tee-so-vets), Slovakia. It’s a beautiful place, albeit isolated, situated in a valley in the low Tatras mountain region. It is here that we have been called to continue to serve the world.

We are all called each and every day to love one another and live in harmony in this world. This is no easy task and we don’t always want to listen, just ask Jonah, but whether we are called to be with men experiencing homelessness in the United Kingdom or communities affected by HIV and AIDS in South Africa, or students learning to speak English in Central Europe our answer remains: Ninevah or bust!