Is it true that Jesus Christ wants to be your personal Savior?

It is the case that the Son of God wants to deliver you personally from sin and death,

but it is certainly not the case that you have some personal claim on him

or that you have a say in who else he decides to deliver.

This is a story about an autonomous God,

a God who does whatever he wants, even if we disagree with him.

It's a story about parenthood, about unorthodox parenting tactics,

pranks almost, that one father employed to reorient his wayward child.

And it's a story that father wanted told to his other children in the hopes that they too

might see the light.

I'm Justin Gerhardt. Welcome to Holy Ghost Stories.

...you know. The azure waters of the Mediterranean are not azure.

A brownish, yellowish, grayish, blackish, stew has replaced them and now laps at Jonah's feet.

Squid beaks and half-digested shark cartilage, bits of shrimp carapace and lobster claw

and octopus tentacle stick to the newly rescued prophet's shoulders and thighs and cheeks

pasted to his skin by a slimy mix of bile and amber grease.

Jonah gasps, so glad to breathe the open air that he barely notices the marine fecal stench.

He is lucky to be alive.

No, not lucky.

Blessed. What an amazing God, Yahweh is.

Jonah blatantly disobeyed, and still, Yahweh saved him,

rescued him from drowning, brought him out of a watery grave and up to dry land.

...