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Powhatan Mennonite Church P.O. Box 220, 3540 Old Buckingham Rd. Powhatan, Virginia 23139-0220
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Name Puzzle… (Find the names of the youth and youth leaders in the following story written by Leah Schaefer for a youth supper given by the Elders. The names, which may be part of more than one word, are Sidney, Mary Alice, Marie, Meghan, Renel, Rachel, Anita, Sharon, Palmore (for Phillip) Stephen, Aaron, Matthew, Jonathan, Dale, John (for John-Paul), Steve and Miles. Jona Now
the Word of the Lord came unto Jona saying, “Hey Jona, I want you to go to the
city of Nineveh and tell those people that their wickedness is making me sad.”
But Jona replied, “Bah, oh never.”
And he fled to Joppa to hide from God.
When he arrived in Joppa, he found a ship headed to Tarshish, so he
decided to go along with them. Jona
walked over to the ship’s edge and was met by the captain. “Greetings
friend. I am Captain Mathia A.
Rondesh.” Jona greeted the captain
and asked, “I was wondering if you would consider taking me to Tarshish with
you?” “Of course.
Step henceforth into my ship, kind Sir.
It would be our pleasure to have you aboard,” the captain replied. But
God was not happy that Jona tried to hide from him, so he sent a terrible storm.
The wind blew and the waves crashed against the ship.
The sailors were frightened, and the captain woke Jona up and told him to
pray to his God. They decided to
cast lots to see who was to blame, and the lot fell on Jona.
The sailors asked Jona what he had done.
He told them he was running away from God and that if they would throw
him into the sea, the storm would cease. All
of the men looked astonished and tried to row the boat ashore but to no avail.
No one wanted to throw him overboard. Finally,
the captain yelled to two sailors, “Hadasid, Neydaff, you heard this man,
throw him overboard before we all lose our lives!” So
they threw him overboard, and instantly the sea was calm.
Now the Lord prepared a big fish to swallow Jona.
Jona was in the fish’s belly for three days.
As Jona sat in the fish’s belly, he felt a sour ache- like pain in the
pit of his stomach. He slung a dead
fish off his lap and said, “Oh,
this is the worst evening I’ve ever had. Man,
it ain’t good to run from God.” After
the third night he was tired of the smell of the inside of a fish, and he wanted
out. So he prayed and told God that
he would go preach to Nineveh. So
the fish spit Jona out on dry land. Then
Jona arose and traveled to Nineveh. Now
Nineveh was about fifty miles from where he was, about a three day’s trip.
On the second day of his trip, he encountered an inn along the road and
decided to stop in. He paid the Inn
keeper and went to his room to sleep. That
evening the inn keeper came to him asking for more money.
But Jona replied, “I already paid you, you fool.”
The inn keeper said, “Give up alm or evacuate!”
So Jona had no choice but to leave. He
finally made it to Nineveh. As he
entered the city, he put on his coat and sash as were the customaries of that
city. He told the people if they
didn’t repent, God would destroy their city in forty days.
To Jona’s amazement, the children, elderly, and all that were in the
city repented. The King of Nineveh,
who had the name Ghana, proclaimed throughout the city that everyone was to fast
and pray to God. And the
Hittites, Nineveh’s customary ali, celebrated with them.
Did Jona thank God for having mercy on the people of Nineveh?
No, Jona was angry that the people repented, and he left the city.
He went and sat on the east side of the city beside a cluster of small
Rose of Sharon bushes. Then God
provided a leafy gourd, to shade Jona’s head from the sun.
But in the morning God had prepared a worm to eat the gourd and the plant
withered. The sun then scorched Jona’s head, and he wanted to scream at the
worm. Then God said, “Are you angry at the gourd which did nothing for to make
it grow? And should I not spare
Nineveh, that great city; there are more than 12,000 people living there that
were sinning. Do not be angry at the
people of Nineveh, Jona. For I
wanted them to repent!” |
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For questions or comments you may email the pastor at timbev2@yahoo.com or the webmaster at hffinc@i-c.net |