go attack your nineveh!

so i recently watched Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie and it made me think about the story of Jonah. so here is the link to watch the movie and here's a selection from the first chapter of Jonah :

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: ² "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." ³ But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. ⁴ Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶ The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish." ⁷ Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" ⁹ He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land." ¹⁰ This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) ¹¹ The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" ¹² "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." ¹³ Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. ¹⁴ Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." ¹⁵ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶ At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

this is the part of the story that i want to focus on. this is the part that makes me think the most.

in this story we have jonah and in this story jonah is one of the biggest prophets of the time. he is popular and when he has something to say everyone drops what they're doing. he has total respect of the people and when he speaks they believe (and it is) coming directly from the Lord. so one time God tells jonah that he needs him to go to nineveh. during this time nineveh is the bottom of the bottom. it's horrible. the city is full of greedy people that don't know right from wrong. anyway, jonah is like yeah right.. i would go anywhere but there.. i can't save those people they're horrible people. God insist that jonah make the journey, but the next day jonah heads out of town to tarshish. (the opposite direction of nineveh) and from there we all know the story.

but in this story jonah is a big part of the faith of the people at the time. they believe what he said to be the word of God. and jonah was a leader for God and a follower of God. he was a prophet because he had a sound relationship with God. but this great relationship failed when jonah didn't want to go to nineveh. for lack of a better term, jonah "rocked the boat" on the great relationship he and God had because he was afraid. he didn't want to waste his time on people he felt we're already a lost cause.

this story makes me reflect on this weekends youth leaders conference. we talked a lot about "servant leadership" and i think that jonah's story is a story of a leader who was afraid to be a servant leader. see jonah was happy in the town he was in. he was even comfortable leaving and going to anywhere in israel. but was afraid and unwilling to travel to nineveh. jonah was afraid to do "God's dirty work" he didn't want to travel to tell people unwilling to listen that they would perish.

i believe that God often puts our faith to very similar tests. tests of servant leadership. God knows when we are faithfully following him and he knows when he can test us. so he sends test to check our faith. in these tests he has a do things outside of our comfort zone. maybe it's that feeling you get inside that says you should go talk to them. or maybe it's a call to stay in the kitchen a scrub a pot.

now those examples aren't examples exactly like jonah's but they are still a call to something that we are uncomfortable with and a call to be something bigger than ourselves.

so maybe the next time you'll think twice about that person you thought was a lost cause. jonah thought nineveh was a lost cause yet the city changed their ways and turned to the Lord. the story of jonah tells all about grace, mercy, and forgiveness, but i think that the bigger lesson is in his leadership.

we can be comfortable in our own leadership positions, but we need to comfortable anywhere. God calls us to be more than leaders. he calls us to servant leadership. it's a big concept but if you can grasp it and, more importantly, but it in to practice you'll be a better person. God is calling you to go sit at the other table in the cafeteria. he is calling you the kid sitting by himself. but the question is how will you respond?

will you be jonah? will you turn and run the other way in fear or will you willingly accept the challenge? will you be a servant leader for God? the choices are yours. do what you please, but just remember you could end up inside a fish for three days!

go attack your nineveh! much love and peace, dmaloney

my teeth: update number 2

today i visit the dentist who sent me to the orthodontist who sent me to the endodontist who sent me back to the orthodontist. after all this running around and x-rays at all the specialists the orthodontist decided to put braces on. along with an appliance so i can bite down comfortably. so i'm back to brace face. and absolutely no physical activity for one month. i'm also not allowed to play any instruments until the orthodontist clears me. it was a pretty crazy afternoon and evening, but i'm on my way to a long recovery.

dentist report: x-rays, the one tooth may have some nerve damage.

orthodontist: x-rays, pictures, mold for the appliance, visit the endodontist to check for viability on the two teeth.

endodontist: x-rays, cold temperature test, teeth are viable!!

orthodontist: put braces on, fit appliance, took more pictures.

so that was my monday. much love and peace, dmaloney

my teeth: update number 1

i'll give a solid post tomorrow hopefully after i visit the dentist. if you haven't seen or heard what's going on i'll fill you in.

saturday i took the sat's after i headed over to softball practice. we started warming up the pitchers and a couple minutes later i took a wrist flick to the mouth. fortunately my teeth didn't fall out and there not loose, but they did shift back. so tomorrow i'll visit the dentist so they can assess what can be made of this situation. i'll let you all know more as soon as i know.

prayers for a speedy and relatively pain-free recovery would be greatly appreciated. thank you to all! much love and peace, dmaloney

what's on t.v tonight? joy or suffering?

this came up in bing images when i typed in nj hspa. haha! hspas are finally over. and i'm relieved. i'm pretty sure that i've mentioned how much i despise standardized testing. and after 3 days i was done. and i'm done complaining now.

as i was watching the baby office tonight i was thinking about the gift of children. it's scary and i think that even though the office demonstrates the beginning of parenthood in a fun and laughing matter that it was really true. and after the office was the premiere of the marriage ref. now, i don't know if you're think what i am but does that even make sense.

welcome to the world baby. then bam why do you keep your ex-husband prosthesis in the closet? hmm. what are our priorities? what do we as americans value? do we value the birth of a child and the beginning of a new life or others problems?

this:

or this:

are there more shows on television about suffering and pain or about love and new life?

we need to refocus our views. focus on the joys of life. maybe watching suffering keeps us from realizing our own problems, but let's enjoy life. have fun. laugh and celebrate the day that new life enters your family.

much love and peace, dmaloney

the paralyzing novocain

so today i made the unfortunate trip to the dentist to have a cavity filled. not exactly the way i would generally want to spend my monday afternoon, yet i suffered through. and as i sat there with a dentist and a hygienist peering into my mouth with a ten inch needle i couldn't help but think about our fears brought upon us psychologically. did the needle actually hurt? no. not really. yet i had already convinced myself that it was going to be painful. our fear is paralyzing. it's the most powerful emotion. it trumps all. my biggest fear is not being in control. so leads to a lot of other fears. i need to be in control. and i often tell myself that i can deal without being in control yet as soon as the time comes my fear kicks in. it's horrible. it's more than paralyzing. so what can we do to conquer fear? how can we kick fear out the back door? well, truth be told i don't have a true answer. the best advice i can give is to trust. have faith. was the trip to the dentist actually painful? did die by going on the roller coaster? did that spider kill you? no. no. and no. so ask yourself these questions the next time fear knocks on your door. just go for it. slam the door in fear's face and walk away. because you've won.

just for your information i don't look like this anymore. super plus!

quote of the day:

'fear is not the natural state of civilized people.' -aung san suu kyi

joke of the day:

Jim and Mary were both patients in a Mental Hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom and stayed there. Mary promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.

When the medical director became aware of Mary's heroic act he immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital as he now considered her to be mentally stable. When he went to tell Mary the news he said, "Mary, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged because since you were able to jump in and save the life of another patient, I think you've regained your senses. The bad news is Jim, the patient you saved, hung himself with his bathrobe belt in the bathroom. I am so sorry, but he's dead."

Mary replied, "He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry.

photo of the day:

prove fear wrong. much love and peace, dmaloney

does love have a price tag?

so it's that time of year again... valentine's day. it's pretty well a love or hate holiday. am i right? i've always thought of it as a halmark holiday. a day to spend extra money as proof of love. chocolate. flowers. expensive dinners and wine. but maybe it's really a holiday to remind us to love. it's not the money you spend but the thought. the care. the love. so this morning i looked at one of my favorite pair of shoes and saw that they obviously needed to be loved. so i grabbed the crazy glue and i glued them back together and as i worked to get my shoes to look somewhat presentable i glued my fingers to the shoe. at first i didn't realize it but when i pulled my fingers away the glue ripped some skin off of my fingers and it hurt. now i know that this may sound ridiculous but i tried to revive my shoes out of love. right? so i caused pain on myself out of love. love is crazy and it makes people do even crazier things. people throw themselves in front of buses for the people they love. and when i think about the craziness of love i can't help but think of the life of Christ. i just think that he lived knowing it would all end on the cross, in pain. but it was out of love. so maybe, just maybe, the missing skin on my fingers is a small price to pay for love. does love have a price tag? no, it wants all of you. love calls us to give everything and love is paralyzing. so this valentine's day don't buy overpriced flowers or chocolates. just love with all you are because we all need love.

Quote of the Day:

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."-mother teresa

Joke of the Day: longer than usual hope it's worth the time.

Two friends are discussing the possibility of love. "I thought I was in love three times," one friend says.

"How so?" his friend asks.

"Five years ago I deeply cared for a woman who wanted nothing to do with me."

"Was that not love?" his friend asks.

"No," he replies. "That was obsession. And then two years ago I deeply cared for an attractive woman who didn't understand me."

"Was that not love?"

"No," he replies. "That was lust. And just last year I met a woman aboard a cruise ship to the Caribbean. She was smart, funny, and a great conversationalist. And everywhere I followed her on that boat, I would get this strange sensation in the pit of my stomach."

"Was that not love?" his friend asks.

"No," he replies. "That was motion sickness."

Picture of the Day:

try looking at things with a new perspective.

enjoy your friday night and valentine's day. maybe it's love or maybe it's motion sickness.

much love and peace, dmaloney