On an every-day level, I remember meeting someone when I was a lot younger who had come from the old Soviet Union, Petrograd I think. I don't think he had ever known what it was to have faith in his countries leadership, or to have great optimism about the direction of his country. What stood out to me was his attitude - to live well despite all these things.
I identify very strongly with Jonah here. He didn't want the message God gave him, in fact he went the other way. Years ago, when the things we see on the news were just in the colourful imagination of end-times writers, deep down I felt a powerful emotion in the other direction. Put simply, I didn't want God to
rain on my parade and I didn't want to have to do or say anything about it - I just wanted to live
my life (despite being a Christian).
It took a series of incidents for me to get over myself and look at what was really going on in the world and to face up to the possibility that time may be shorter than I wanted it to be.
Perhaps the best analogy I could offer to my present state of mind over these things is this...
Imagine me being sent a letter that made me aware that something serious was about to befall England and that I was to be permanently evacuated to New Zealand.
This kniwledge would give me a whole mixture of emotions - I would grieve the country I love, feel anxiety for my friends and neighbours and feel excited at the same time for myself. I have never been to NZ but I believe it is a much nicer and fresher version of where I am now...
Anyway, the letter informs me that there will be a transport coming by to pick me up, but doesn't specify
when. The only wise action I can take is to be ready for the event as and when it happens.
In this "just so" story, the idea is to live well in the place you are, with your bags packed in advance. From an eternal perspective, what you do about the
Gospel is something akin to what you do to be prepared.