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It has been almost a week again that i last made my entry here again. I guess its pretty hard at times to make an entry every single day considering things at hand that causes me to delay my entries. one thing led to another and here am i writing my one week blog, again! so please bear with me...it could take very long!!!

19 February 2004 : Bible Study on the Book of Jonah

i came to this week bible study prepared, having read chapter 3 and 4 before coming. last week, we manage to cover chapter 1 and 2, which was pretty interesting showing of how Jonah was called by God to go to the city of Nineveh to warn the people there that God would destroy them in 40 days if they do not repent from their sins. The people of Nineveh were so evil that every place they went to conquer, they would not spare the people. they would bring back the heads of the people they had slaughtered and lined them up at the entrance of the gate into the city. it was a horrible sight. jonah didnt want to go to Nineveh and decided to go against God's will and went as far away as he could to escape the task that has been given to him. However, God has other plans for him and decided to cause a big fish to swallow him after he was thrown off the boat that he was sailing that brought him to Nineveh.

Chapter 3 and 4 was a continuation to that journey. he entered to the city of nineveh and began to let the people know that God had seen their terrible act and was about to smike them off the face of the earth if they did not take heed and repend from their ways. immediately, everyone including the kings responded by wearing sackcloth and fasting without taking any food or drink so that they can be spared from the wrath of God. Looking at their response, God decided to spare them. Jonah was furious. He wanted to see the end of Nineveh and waited on top of a cliff for God's destruction to happen but it never did. God in turn decided to let a plant grow to give him shed and on the same day let it died. He was making a clear comparison between Him and Jonah with Jonah and Ninevittes. It was to show that God is the one who decides who to save and not man.

As we were recounting the story of Jonah, it was rather humourous that we did it my acting out the scene that has been told. my groups, being the first group were kind of blur as to what happened. but as the second group came, they manage to see what really did happened during the scene. im not comparing to see who is better in terms of acting but their depiction was quite clear regarding the story of Jonah. Coupled with jokes and laughter, it seriously made things alot more fun when it comes to bible study.

throughout the whole session, i was pretty serious about the whole bible study, mainly pondering, thinking and putting my shoes into the character so that i could obtain the real gist of the book of Jonah. i could observe that many of us were pretty had a ball of a time, laughing and cracking jokes all the way that sometimes leads us away from the real truth of the story. i wanted to be focus on it thats why i decided to remain quiet and just ponder. it was quite surprising that annette too took notice of my quietness, considering the fact that quietness has never been a norm for me among people. i was always considered the loud one or the crazy one so being quiet did make a difference.

as i pondered upon the book of Jonah and also the different response of the people there towards this story, i began to see Jonah as not only a book about man who strayed away from God and got swallowed up by a big fish. i saw Jonah as a book about CHOICES. CHOICES that God, Jonah and the people had.

1. God HAD A CHOICE to either destroy the people of Nineveh of their sins OR pour out His grace and give them a chance to repent of their sins
2. Jonah HAD A CHOICE to follow Gods command and go to city of Nineveh easily OR rebel against God and go through a whole load of things before he finally got to Nineveh
3. The people of Nineveh HAD A CHOICE to deny God and be destroy by God OR repent and be spared of the wrath of God.

it was all about decisions. decisions that would either bring ur further or nearer to God. who decides? u and me