{"id":3523,"date":"2021-06-24T01:27:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T01:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=3523"},"modified":"2021-06-24T01:27:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T01:27:45","slug":"running-with-jonah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=3523","title":{"rendered":"Running With Jonah"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"resource__header\"><em><time class=\"resource__date\" datetime=\"2014-06-02\">JUNE 2, 2014<\/time><\/em><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"resource__title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Running with Jonah<\/em><\/h1>\n<figure class=\"resource__image\"><em><img class=\"resource__image__img lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/dg.imgix.net\/running-with-jonah-en\/landscape\/running-with-jonah-51502b9c1924159e5fe19140b9a306e9.jpg?ts=1513795859&amp;ixlib=rails-4.2.0&amp;auto=format%2Ccompress&amp;fit=min&amp;w=700&amp;h=394&amp;dpr=2&amp;ch=Width%2CDPR\" alt=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/dg.imgix.net\/running-with-jonah-en\/landscape\/running-with-jonah-51502b9c1924159e5fe19140b9a306e9.jpg?ts=1513795859&amp;ixlib=rails-4.2.0&amp;auto=format%2Ccompress&amp;fit=min&amp;w=700&amp;h=394&amp;dpr=2&amp;ch=Width%2CDPR\" \/><\/em><\/figure>\n<div id=\"authors\" class=\"resource__authors js-ga-authors resource__authors--with-image\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-authors=\"tim-keesee\">\n<div id=\"modal-710-1\" class=\"resource__authors-image js-modal-author-origin\"><em><img src=\"https:\/\/dg.imgix.net\/tim-keesee-wotr0vqm-en\/square\/tim-keesee-wotr0vqm-d6ac7d11242e87c93dabfee2495b8bc7.jpg?ts=1556227575&amp;ixlib=rails-4.2.0&amp;auto=format%2Ccompress&amp;fit=min&amp;w=50&amp;h=50&amp;dpr=2&amp;ch=Width%2CDPR\" alt=\"\" \/><\/em><\/div>\n<p><em>Article by\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"modal-710-pxp5fyij\" class=\"resource__author js-modal-author-origin \"><em>Tim Keesee<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"svg\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"resource__author-role\">\n<p><em>Guest Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"resource__body js-highlightable\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cNot called,\u201d did you say?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cNot heard the call,\u201d I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burden, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father\u2019s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face \u2014 whose mercy you have professed to obey \u2014 and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>Two things have always struck me about the famous quote from William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. First is his politically incorrect preaching. His references to \u201cpulling sinners out of the fire,\u201d \u201chell,\u201d and \u201cthe damned\u201d have the smell of sulfur about them. True, it might be a bit outdated now, but each of those descriptors could come with a Bible reference. Yet Booth\u2019s words are not filled with anger and arrogance \u2014 his words run with tears, not unlike his Savior who wept over dark Jerusalem.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The second thing that\u2019s striking to me is that over a century ago Christians were waiting for \u201cthe call\u201d before venturing out for the sake of the gospel. Not much has changed. We continue to add so much mystery to \u201cthe call\u201d that it must be accompanied by a bolt of lightning, a voice from heaven, or multiple fleeces drenched with dew. No use moving from our comfortable, cul-de-sac Christianity if it\u2019s not necessary, if it\u2019s not clear, if we aren\u2019t \u201ccalled.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Jesus says, \u201cIf anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me\u201d (Matthew 16:24). So we already have a clear calling to begin with, and the specifics of what that looks like will follow in the path of radical obedience. God leads us in motion. In few other areas of life do we add such prerequisites to action.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 data-linkify=\"true\"><em>The Cost of Calvary Love<\/em><\/h2>\n<div class=\"linkified-heading\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<p><strong><em>Not long ago, when I was in gospel-destitute northern Iraq, I remembered a man, an Old Testament prophet, who had been there earlier. He, too, struggled with God\u2019s calling. Here is what I wrote in my journal:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>On the plains of Nineveh<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Erbil, Northern Iraq<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I feel a bit like Jonah \u2014 only instead of a great gourd, I have found a gnarly old poplar to shade me from the scorching noon-high sun while I scribble a few lines. From the citadel of Erbil, I have a commanding view of the plains of Nineveh, which in some ways seems to have changed little since Jonah dragged his briny sandals through here on his way to a late appointment in nearby Nineveh.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>From my vantage, it is just sand-brown houses, a vast jumble of mud-brick boxes that tumble out for miles until they disappear into the desert. Here and there the flatness is spiked with minarets and drilling rigs \u2014 oil and Islam, the two power centers in Iraq. The citadel here rises to an impressive height \u2014 in part, because it has been built and rebuilt on its own rubble. Ancient Erbil has seen more than 50 centuries pass \u2014 and has traded owners at least as many times. These battlements are layered with the bones of great empires. Even today the citadel walls shelter only the latest round of ruin.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The people here have a knack for making ruins. With al Qaeda back on the rise, car bombs and suicide bombers have shattered streets and shops, killing hundreds in multiple cities across Iraq this year alone \u2014 another sorry, bloody layer of ruin.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Yet, when I think of Jonah\u2019s journey here, it reminds me that Christ has long set his love on these people \u2014 people who have seen and made so much bloodshed. God loved to show grace to his enemies, even when Jonah didn\u2019t. Jonah didn\u2019t want to come here \u2014 it took a miracle to move him. Little has changed. On the flight here yesterday from Abu Dhabi, the plane was filled with Russians, Chinese, Turks, and Arabs \u2014 all looking to do business, and the country seems ready to receive them. Billboards line the roads offering happiness in a cell phone, a car, a bucket of KFC, or a Coca-Cola \u2014 and I am pretty happy with the Coke I\u2019m drinking now, a definite improvement since Jonah was here! I wonder, though, if more people in the world know the name \u201cCoca-Cola\u201d than the name of Jesus Christ.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m staying at a brand-new hotel in Erbil, built and managed by Chinese, although the staff come from all over. This morning at breakfast I chatted with Ilda, a young waitress from the Philippines. She came here on a two-year contract to wait tables and wash dishes. She has the promise of visiting her family once during that time. Promises like that don\u2019t always come true, but it\u2019s a risk a poor village girl from Mindanao will take for the chance to make money. Ilda is a long, long way from home \u2014 vulnerable and alone in the bleakness of northern Iraq, but hunger and hope outweigh such risks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>As I sit here looking out over the plains of Nineveh, I think of Ilda \u2014 her bright eyes, winning smile, and the unknowing rebuke she is to me simply because she is here. Her motivation is certainly compelling, but shouldn\u2019t the gospel, shouldn\u2019t the King\u2019s command, be even more compelling? Too often I have run with Jonah, away from the risks that Calvary Love demands.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<footer class=\"resource__footer resource__author-blurb\"><strong><em>Tim Keesee\u00a0is the founder and executive director of Frontline Missions International. He has traveled to more than ninety countries, reporting on the church. He is the executive producer of Dispatches from the Front and author of\u00a0A Company of Heroes.<\/em><\/strong><\/footer>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JUNE 2, 2014 Running with Jonah Article by\u00a0 Tim Keesee \u00a0 Guest Contributor \u201cNot called,\u201d did you say? \u201cNot heard the call,\u201d I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=3523\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Running With Jonah<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3523"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3529,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3523\/revisions\/3529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}