That was close
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” Jonah 1:2 KJV
When you do a lot of traveling for work, two glaring issues stand out. The first issue is the traffic, especially if you have to get on an Interstate. The second issue is the expense of that travel. Wear and tear, tires, oil changes and, of course, gasoline all drain your pocketbook.
One of the ways to deal with traffic is to take a shortcut. Back roads can become your best friend. Some of these country roads can also take your mind off the hectic day you just experienced. Seeing a farmer in the field might bring up a wish that your life could be so void of traffic.
One of the biggest expenses when you put a lot of miles on your car is gasoline. When gasoline prices rise you review your choices. Such was the case with me. In an effort to help lower our expenses, my wife and I decided it would be a good idea if I started using our little Toyota Echo for work. It was very small, but it got really good gas mileage.
I have a little road I turn off on that I simply call “My Shortcut Road.” My little shortcut road is very narrow. Once you travel down it a little ways you climb a little hill. You can’t see what’s coming the other way until you get to the very top of the hill. Just as you hit the peak of the hill there are two giant oak trees that literally stand right next to the road.
One day I turned off onto my little shortcut road and I was on my way up that little hill. Just as I climbed over the hill I saw a tractor trailer speeding down the road toward me. The tight space between the trees, the truck, and my little car was very tight and I was holding my breath that the backdraft of his truck wouldn’t suck me into him. Then a dog jumped out of nowhere. The dog saw the truck and decided to chase it, but now the dog was straight in front of me. I did, what most normal people would do, I slammed my brakes to miss the dog. My brain never focused on the fact that the truck was right beside me and if my slamming the brakes so quickly had swayed the car less than a foot, I’m sure I would not be here today to write this story. I truly understand the expression of having your life flash before your eyes. The dog was okay, but it never did catch the truck.
St. Ann’s Episcopal Church overlooks a river and the Atlantic Ocean in Maine. It was built in 1887. There is a stone chapel and lush gardens on its grounds. Their website invites everyone to join them for worship. His Mom and Dad were married here in 1921. When he was eighty-five years old he made a grand entrance on a return visit. He then pledged he would be back in five years, when he was ninety, to do it again.
He was perhaps the nicest guy to ever be President. He owed a lot of that to his Mother, Dorothy. His family was very well off. Despite that fact, Dorothy never allowed any of her children to get proud. Yes, it was her “cardinal rule,” one must never brag about one’s self. One time, he came home from a baseball game and his Mom asked how his baseball game went. He bragged, “It was great. I hit a home run.” His Mother chimed in, “But how did the team do?”
Dorothy also taught her son the importance of telling the truth. Throughout his life he carried this teaching with him and his word was as good as gold.
It was one of the three cities that could claim to be the capital of the Assyrian Empire, at one time or another. At one point it was the largest city in the world. It sat on the Tigris River which was a very important commercial route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Today there is no evidence left of its greatness. Across the river sits the city of Mosul, Iraq. You may say you have heard of Mosul before. That might be because that is a stronghold, today, of the terrorist group ISIS.
The city of Nineveh was a great city indeed. It had a great wall that surrounded it and fifteen great gates that allowed people to come and go into and out of the city. These great walls would also be the ruin of this great city one day. When the Babylonians entered the city to destroy it, they went house to house killing the people. These great walls kept the people penned in and they could not escape.
Nineveh was also known as the city to invent some of the things we take for granted today. Locks and keys, paved roads and flushing toilets are just a few of those inventions. They were also the first to have a postal system, use iron, and have a library. They were also famous for the eighteen canals that brought water from the hills into the city where there was an aqueduct system to distribute the water.
But the Assyrians keep the people in line by ruling them with terror. They also worshiped false gods, one of which was Ishtar, the fertility goddess. They were probably much like a big city today. They had their culture, their ideas and they focused much of their lives on bettering themselves and their families. But the Bible called it a city filled with evil.
When George HW Bush turned eighty-eight years old, he entered the hospital for several months. He developed pneumonia. Sadly the family prepared for his funeral. He would surprise them all and survive. He still needs a wheelchair to get around, though.
When President George HW Bush turned eighty-five he took to the air for his seventh sky dive attempt. He landed just outside the property of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church where his parents were married. After he touched down he promised he would do it again on his ninetieth birthday. Now after being confined to a wheelchair and suffering from pneumonia just eighteen months before his ninetieth birthday, it looked like the man whose word was as good as gold was going to have to back out of his promise.
Anyone who knows George HW Bush knows that the only way he wasn’t going to keep his word was if he was six feet under the ground. So on his ninetieth birthday he was wheeled into the plane. He was strapped to a skydiver and they jumped from the plane. As you can imagine, everyone was much more worried than George WH Bush was. As they approached the landing target, they came in a little stronger than they would have hoped. They came crashing to the ground. George HW Bush’s face was pounded into the ground. Everyone was breathless and scared. Soon President Bush let them know he was okay and a wheelchair was brought over for him to climb into. He went home, took a nap and woke up. He attended his birthday party later in the day. President Bush made no more promises about another skydive.
God was very upset about the city of Nineveh and he planned to destroy them. He sent his prophet Jonah to let them know they had forty days to change. They did repent and they did change and God spared them, or at least He spared them for a long time until they returned to their old ways.
There are times in our lives when we are doomed. A dog jumps out in front of us. Our face is filled with dirt from a sky dive. Or our city just won’t listen and obey God. Aren’t you thankful that our God is a God of second chances? I know I am.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Thank You for another day. Thank You for the second chances You give us. Amen.
