It Was A Jonah-Like Experience

As I penned down the topic for this post, a funny joke about the man Jonah (in the Bible) came to mind.

This teacher was teaching Christian religious knowledge in a secondary school classroom. The class was studying a prophet in the bible called Jonah.

"God asked Jonah to go down to a city called Nineveh to preach His word" began the teacher. "Rather than go down to Nineveh as commanded by God, Jonah escaped to Tarshish in an attempt to abandon the assignment. On his way down to Tarshish however, there was a storm and Jonah was thrown into the sea" continued the teacher. "….and Jonah swallowed the whale; ……and Jonah swallowed the whale" (not like steemit whales anyway….lol).

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Meanwhile, there was this brilliant young chap in the class. He observed an error and quickly raised his hand to ask a question. Yes! Said the teacher, giving the young boy a go ahead. "Sir, was it Jonah that swallowed the whale or the whale that swallowed Jonah?" The teacher, quickly realising his error but not wanting to admit it, tried to explain his way out. Ughnm! Ughnm! the teacher coughed out. "It doesn’t really matter who swallowed what. What’s important is that there was a swallow."

I hope I succeeded in cracking you up.

Well, that was just by the way. On this note however, I share with you my own Jonah-like experience.
I had just secured a new job in a research-based organization in Nigeria. I was very excited because the salary was good and the career path was awesome. I was enthusiastic about the present and had great hopes for the future.
I soon embarked in a three hour journey with high spirit to the state I was posted to as state representative for the organization. However, I began to notice some series of negative events that began to take place from the very moment I started out.
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The first of them was this strange feeling of “don’t go on this journey” that I began to have. I shrugged it off saying to myself “this is a great offer, why won’t you take it”?
Secondly, I arrived at the park but just before take off as I tried to take my seat inside the bus; my trousers got torn in an embarrassing manner.
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It was as if some force was trying to warn me about going that way.
The third experience broke the camel’s back and it came at the same instance I arrived at my new station. It’s somewhere in the southwest of Nigeria. I had left for that place with some thousand bucks in my wallet sufficient enough to keep body and soul together for at least two months. Since the organization had no accommodation arrangements, I had arranged to squat with my younger cousin who was a student in one of the tertiary institutions in that state at the time pending when I’ll get to secure an accommodation for myself. Little did I know that I had boarded the wrong ship and that a heavy storm was imminent.
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On getting to my destination (where my younger cousin was to pick me from) I alighted from the bus and the bus driver zoomed off. My younger cousin sighted me immediately and we exchanged greetings and pleasantries. We were walking down to his house when I suddenly discovered my wallet which contained all the cash I had in the world was gone. All efforts to recover it proved abortive. Instantly I became anxious and confused with many questions running through my mind. I couldn’t tell them back at home I had just thrown away 40k. “I just have to handle this my own way” I told myself. After all, in about thirty days or so, I should get my first salary. But how will I survive the next thirty days was the latest question on my mind.
I resumed at my new job but with less zeal as I had to walk some fifteen kilometers to and from work every day and many times without food.
It was one kind of a storm. I had thought I would be responsible for feeding my younger cousin and his friends for as long as I stayed with them, even beyond, but the opposite became the case. Nothing can be more stormy than the situation I found myself. The experience was so battering and shattering that I almost lost my self esteem. Hopefully in a couple of days , salary will be paid and this pain will be relieved. Guess what Steemians, I was wrong. The salary never came.
The organization came up with so many explanations as to why they couldn’t meet up with their obligation. We were asked to wait a couple of days within which the pay would be released. Steemians, days soon turned to weeks and yet there was still no show.
The first day came in April of 2012. I had to sit down and to prayerfully seek the way out of my present situation. I discovered I was not in the right place. I knew I was running my own plan and not God’s plan for my life. I knew I had to retrace back my steps because just like Jonah, I had been on the wrong ship and probably swallowed up by the ”whale” already.
Many folks today are probably on the wrong ship heading the wrong side of life. They are into a career they are not fulfilled at. They are running businesses they are not passionate about. Many are yet to retire but already tired of their vocation. Their interest and zeal has soon diminished like the bandwidth of a minnow. They are stagnated and therefore frustrated.
Folks in this category have got to prayerfully take a look at their lives. Someone said and I agree that “no matter how long you travel in the wrong direction, you can’t arrive at your destination except you make a choice to turn around”.

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Like Jonah, I think its time to make a U-turn. The beauty of every profession is fulfillment. No venture is worth pursuing that you won’t be fulfilled at.
Jonah made a U-turn, got to Nineveh, did what he was assigned to do and fulfillment came.

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I also made a u-turn, found God’s plan for my life and today, I’m fulfilled.
It’s never too late or too early to make this turn and it’s better late than never.
Pause for a moment or even take a day off. Ask yourself some sincere questions. Am I passionate about what I’m doing right now? If not what I’m I passionate about? Do I derive joy and fulfillment doing what I’m doing right now? If not, what have I derived joy and fulfillment doing? What giftings do I have? What talents do I posses? Be sincere with yourself during this self examination. Write down your answers and discoveries immediately.

Believe in what you have just discovered and pursue it until it sees light.
Doing these little things will bring you out of the storm of life and set you on the path to fulfilling your glorious destiny.

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Thank you for reading.

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