“Hope Redirected”

Jonah 1: 5a, 6, 14-16 “Then the sailors became afraid, and every man cried to his god … So the captain approached [Jonah] and said, ‘How is it that you are sleeping? Get up and call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish’ ... Then they called on the Lord and said … Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.” People have always looked for hope, yet easily lose hope of finding it. Nonetheless, all they need is a single wisp of evidence that it exists, and they will again embrace the search. If even Jonah, a man in conflict with God, could stir up the hope in a crew of rowdy sailors, surely we in today’s Church can inspire hope in a generation so desperately lacking in it!