004 - Just Call Me Jonah

August 2004

I didn’t realize it at the time, but there’s a bit of irony in last month’s journal being focused on water.

Not long ago, my wife and I had her parents over for dinner. What started as a typical evening turned into a conversation I didn’t see coming—one that left me thinking I might have more in common with Jonah than I ever expected.

Yes, that Jonah—the one with the fish.

Let me explain.

My father-in-law, Jack, and I go way back. I first started dating his daughter in 1986. We didn’t exactly hit it off then, but over time, we became friends. So there we were, prepping dinner, when out of nowhere he says, “I think you should go into ministry.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You heard me. Not like you don’t have enough on your plate already, but we need more people who can speak up about creation and evolution.”

Now, to be fair, years ago I did spend time studying origins—comparing evolutionary theory with creation science. Jack and I had a lot of conversations back then about what I was learning. But that was a long time ago. I haven’t done any serious study on the topic in years.

Still, Jack’s been reading about it again lately, and he’s feeling stirred. He told me he thinks someone needs to say something. “But not me,” he said. “I’m not smart enough.”

That made me laugh—because Jack is absolutely smarter than I am. Why he thinks I’m the one for the job, I don’t know. But I digress.

We ended up talking for over an hour. About ministry, about frustration, about the noise of competing voices all claiming to speak for truth. I told him how overwhelmed I’ve felt by it all—how it seems like no one’s really listening anymore. Everyone's speaking. Everyone's sure. But with so many “truths” floating around, who has the time to chase them all down? You could spend a lifetime just fact-checking people’s claims.

Yet logic still demands that Truth exists. And in laying out all my objections for why I shouldn't add my voice to the chaos—I started to hear myself. And yeah… you can probably see where this is going.

Jonah was told to go to Nineveh with a message from God. He didn’t like the assignment. So instead of going right, he went left—ran toward Tarshish and ended up inside a fish.

I might not be a prophet, and God hasn’t spoken to me audibly, but Jack’s words were a wake-up call. There’s still a world that needs Truth.

And God has given me something—a talent for writing.

So no, I’m not planning to become a full-time creation apologist. But consider this my official retraction of what I said a few months ago about not writing. I may not be ready to jump into the deep end yet—but staying silent is no longer an option.

My doubts and concerns are still there. The noise hasn’t gone away. But Jack helped me hear God’s call again: speak the truth… in love.

He also reminded me of something I’d rather not think too hard about—just how nasty Jonah must have looked and smelled after being coughed up by that whale. No wonder the Ninevites paid attention. I’m not sure what the 21st-century equivalent of being swallowed whole is—but I’d rather not find out firsthand.

Regardless of who’s listening, or how loud the world is, I have a responsibility to speak the truth—carefully, humbly, and in love. That doesn’t mean I own the truth. I don’t. I’m human, and by nature I resist truth. That means I’ll probably get some things wrong along the way.

But hopefully, by owning that from the start, I can stay grounded. Stay humble. Keep searching.

The Psalmist wrote:

That’s the goal.

I don’t speak a truth I define.I speak a truth that defines me.