The book of Jonah ends in such a strange way. It’s similar to sitting down and watching that movie you’ve been anticipating, but instead of the superhero saving the day or the man and woman falling in love or the main character coming out on top, the opposite happens leaving you confused and speechless. Despite the strange ending of Jonah, the last chapter in the book provides the opportunity for us to reflect on our own life, and also to decide how its message will influence our lives today and in the future.

Imagine waking up tomorrow and the top trending internet story and the headline of every newspaper read: “The people of Parker County believed in God!” This may seem hard to imagine, but something like this actually happened in the city of Nineveh. After Jonah preached in Nineveh, the Bible tells us that the people of the city – from the greatest to the least – turned to God from their wicked ways. Many consider this one of the greatest spiritual awakenings of all time.

“Who knows better?” is a rhetorical question my wife and I use with our children. This is because sometimes they hear our words or see our actions as a stumbling block to their own plans. Similarly, Jonah saw God’s plan as a stumbling block to his own plan. We will continue to walk through the book of Jonah to see how he discovered through an unbelievable miracle that God’s plan is not a stumbling block but saving grace.

Summer is here! And to kick it off we are going to spend the month of June studying together the book of Jonah. For many this familiar Old Testament story is a cute, cartoonish tale about a whale that swallowed a man. But the story of Jonah is so much more. It is filled with shock and awe as tragedy, salvation, jealousy, desperation, fear, violence, hate, revival, and anger are all mingled together!