Hey Everybody! Sure am glad to see all your smilin faces again! Did you have fun yesterday??

Eh? Ohhh! Good! Well, welcome back to Vacation Bible Ship! For those new faces I see out there, my name is Captain Zebediah. Thats rightCaptainCaptain of this Vacation Bible Ship! I told you kids yesterday that I was a lot of different things, but I also told ya my favorite thing to be is a storytellerand thats what I am today! This story is not about a desert, thoughits about an ocean journey.a voyage. Different than Noahs but no less of an adventure. Imagine yourself back in a time when many big boats sailed the ocean to go from far away place to far away placea time when there were no planes, no trains, no fast sports cars, no Lance Armstrongjust horses, camels or boats. And there was this guy, Jonah. Well, Jonah was a prophet of God. Did you know that a prophet is a person like you and me whom God speaks to when He wants to share some message with His people? Well, thats what Jonah was, a prophet. And sometimes God would give his prophets a job to do or a message to deliver and, because His prophets love Him, they obey God and do what He asks of em. Well, this story is about a time that God asked Jonah to do something just like that. Jonah was a good guy and all, or else God would never have given him a job like this one. What was the job? I heard that and Im glad you asked! You see, there was this group of people called Ninevites you know, people that live in Nineveh? and God loved em.but they had forgotten about God and they were livin livesoh, like you wouldnt believe!! They were doing, and saying and believing things that God just couldnt accept. Stinkin thinkin and behavin thats what it was!! They were behaving more like nincompoops than Ninevites! But God still loved them and He wanted them saved and livin right agin. So, longstory-short, he told Jonah to go and give those people a message. {JONAH IS SITTING AGAINST A TREE (?) EATING AN APPLE (?) until JEB SPEAKS THE COMMAND, which sits Jonah up and thinking}

Jonah was just doing what Jonah did on a bright sunny day like today when suddenly there was a message from God. God said Jonah, Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh! Announce my judgment against the whole city because I have seen how wicked the people are. The message was a warnin, a warnin to the people to change their wicked ways and come back to the God who loved them. He wanted them to REPENTto say theyre sorryand to never do those things again. It was a good message for Jonah to take to the Ninevitesbut there was a BIG PROBLEM! You see Jonah? He didnt like the Ninevites. I mean, look at all the bad things they were doinwasnt like they were real likeable people, if you know what I mean. And Jonah didnt think on it long before he decided that he didnt agree with Gods plan. He knew God wanted to save those people and Jonah thought he knew better than God. So youll never guess what Jonah dideh? Yep, youre righthe ran the other way. {FOG HORN AND SEA GULLS FX} Actually, he didnt run, he went and bought a ticket on a boat goin in the opposite direction! Yep, he was headed away from Nineveh and towards Joppa. In fact, he bought a ticket on MY BOAT. Can you believe that? A man on MY BOAT believin he could outrun God! Well, Ill tell ya, this is where Jonahs adventure REALLY begins! He got on my boat and we set sail for Joppa, just like we meant to. But thenthe storm began{STORM FX} Oh, it was a doozy of a storm! Lightnin, and thunder and WAVES!!!! Oh my, waves that musta been a thousan foot high! Why, Id NEVER in my whole life as a Captn seen a storm so wild and crazy! And, believe it or not JONAH WAS DOWN IN THE BOAT SLEEPIN!!!! He never even heard the storm! All the other men on the boat were praying to their Gods and fearing for their lives and there was Jonah SLEEPING! I tell youI was NOT a happy Captn! I went down and told Jonah to get up and start prayin for mercy and prayin to his God for our lives.

Well, you would not believe it, but Jonah told us that HE was the reason for the stormthat he was running from God and the job he was given by God. And that the storm was sent to punish him! Jonah told us that WE NEEDED TO THROW HIM INTO THE SEA TO SAVE OUR LIVES!! THROW HIM IN!! Well, we were pretty scared but we werent thinking Jonahs plan was the best idea, so we tried to row harder to shore but it was no good and the storm just got worse. So we threw him in and OH MY! That stormit stopped right away. And we were all so amazed at Gods power that we vowed right then and there to serve the true and Almighty God forever! Praise God!! Well, it was all good for me and my men, but not so cushy for Jonah! {JAWS SOUND FX} As we stood there praisin God, a GIGANTIC AND MIGHTY FISH SWALLOWED JONAH UP! SWALLOWED HIM WHOLE! Talk about stinkin thinkin! Fish guts, dead fishes, seaweed swirling around his feet and a big fat mushy tongue to kneel on! EWWWWWW! What do you think Jonah was thinkin then?? Believe it when I tell you, he was NOT A HAPPY GUY! In fact, he was sorryREAL sorry. For 3 days in that fish, Jonah talked to God, {JONAH SPEAKS HIS REPENTANCE AND FINDS GODS LOVE AND FORGIVENESS Jonah prays to God, praising and giving thanks for being alive, vows to do exactly what God is asking of him.} When the Lord heard Jonahs pleas and his promise to do exactly what God commanded him to do, God showed him mercy and commanded the big fish to spit Jonah onto the landAND IT DID! (I tell ya, sometimes fish seem smarter than some people I know!) Well, Jonah was astonished. But when God repeated his command for Jonah to go to Ninevah, Jonah did it! It took him 3 days to go around that big city with Gods message, but when he was done, all the leaders and the people of Nineveh fasted and prayed and cried out to God for forgiveness. They gave up their wicked ways and prayed once again to the Almighty Lord. And our wondrous God granted them mercy and did not destroy them.

Youd have thought this situation would make Jonah happyafter all, he had followed Gods command, he was alive to tell about it and now Gods people were once again following the right way. But NOOOOO, Jonah was mad. MAD! He thought God shoulda destroyed those people for their wicked ways. That afternoon, Jonah built himself a shelter to sleep in. God was watchin over him and He grew up a nice cozy and cool vine to shelter Jonah. Jonah got all comfy under that plant. The next day, God made a worm that ate that vine and it withered and died and soon after, Jonah started to get hot and blown by the winds. Jonah cried out to God again, Oh that I might die! Pitiful thing. But God had another message for Jonah himself Why is it, God asked him, that you care more about that plantwhich you had nothin to do with growin but you cant care about thousands of my people? You see, friends, God does care about his people. He knows we make mistakes, but He loves us anyhow. To stay right with God, we need to confess our sinstell God what weve done wrong and ask for His forgiveness. And hell treat us right. Jonahs adventure had some mighty important lessons for Jonah and for all of us. Youre probably wonderin how I know the true story of what happened to Jonah after we threw him off our boat. Well, he told me himself! And here he is to talk to all of you! Give him a big welcome back to the Vacation Bible Ship! Hey, Jonah!