Jonah’s Dialogue
“I have a job for you.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“It’s just what you should do.”
“I think I would fear it.”
“I want to send you east.”
“There’s nothing there for me.”
“You imagine fearsome beasts?”
“Father, just leave me be!”
“That city will repent.”
“I long to see a beach.”
“Their hearts are sorely bent.”
“I am not fit to preach.”
“You will regret this choice.”
“I want to go out west.”
“The sailors won’t rejoice.”
“I think I know what’s best.”
“The sea can get quite rough.”
“There’s something fishy here…”
“You really all that tough?”
“My stomach’s feeling queer.”
“Shall I condemn these sailors?”
“No, I’m the one who’s bent.”
Acknowledge human failure?”
“Yes, Lord, I do repent.”
“You need to take a break.”
“Inside a monster fish?”
“It is for your own sake.”
“Won’t you grant me one wish?
“Father, I want to live!”
“I promise that you will.”
“I want praises to give!”
“Jonah, I mean no ill.
“Ready to travel east?”
“I will try not to cry.”
“They are not wicked beasts.”
“Is that where I will die?”
“Tell them they must turn back.”
“If You say so, I’ll do it.”
“Or else their future’s black.”
“But somehow I intuit,
“That if they hear me well,”
“Yes, go ahead, say it.”
“You won’t send them to hell.”
“Even donkeys bray it!
“I am a loving God.
Lots of children know me.
Why would you think it odd,
That these ones also owe me,
“Gratitude, obedience?
You need not be so mad
That I offer presence.
Sit with me and be glad,
“My mercy is so great,
The children gather round.
This hill on which we sit,
Is also holy ground.”
July 21, 2026
