A prelude into the Whale Belly Experience
A certain young man whose name is recorded in the annals of fresh history as Jonah was busy minding his own business and living a
relatively fulfilling life when he got a heavenly visitation. During this encounter, he was asked to drop what he was doing to go to a
different city. In the city, he was supposed to tell the residents including the reigning king, that they were doing wrong and they
needed to change their ways as a matter of priority. True to human nature, Jonah figured that this was for one an interruption on
his life and two, there were people better suited to handle that task. He absolutely knew that the heavenly visitation was not by
angels. He knew all too well that the God of Israel, He whose name is YAHWEH, He who would make fully matured adults fearful
at the very thought that He was around – was the one who had asked him to go to the city with bad mannered inhabitants.
Yet, despite knowing who was issuing instructions, Jonah decided to take off in the opposite direction. He got into a ship and in his
brilliance, figured that God would get someone else. Lo and behold – soon after setting sail, the fine weather turned into a storm
whose wrath could only be countered by having Jonah tossed into the raging sea. At the end of the near-death experience, Jonah
went to the city and did what he was created to do and as a result, the city was saved from destruction.
So one Saturday morning my daughter and I were watching a cartoon that reenacted Jonah volunteering to jump off the ship and
there was a slow motion act of being swallowed by the whale. Amazingly, God didn't send a shark (did you know whales use their
4-inch teeth to only kill their prey, not to crush & chew it!). As I was answering the numerous questions - including the difference
between whales and sharks - I realized that while a cartoon can reenact that scene in 5 minutes, the entire episode was a lifetime of
teaching which any man on a TRUE mission needs to learn. Over the next few pages, we will explore Jonah's journey in this mindboggling chapters of The Whale Belly experience.
As with all those who have heard The Call, Jonah was quick to inform God that he was doing
just fine and his life did not need any disrupting. God insisted, Jonah refused and eventually,
through the most incorrect deductive reasoning, figured that he could run away from God.
Am almost sure you are thinking like I did the first time I read and heard about Jonah,
“Foolish man, God is Omnipresent & omniscient. How can you run away from Him?"
- Whale Belly Experience -
A quick read through the
Bible, the book of Jonah
will give you the
foundation of our sharing
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