Life can indeed be a perilous journey. John Newton’s famous hymn, “Amazing Grace”, speaks of "dangers, toils and snares" that he experienced firsthand. On one occasion, he was thrown from a horse, narrowly missing impalement on a row of sharp stakes.

In many Hollywood movies, there is a hero or heroine who comes to the rescue of others at the very end. Think of your favorite movie and identify the hero or heroine. It is almost always a human being. In contrast, the hero of Biblical stories is not the human actor but God himself.

How powerful is God? How far is his reach and how vast is his presence? These are questions that many people tend to ask. A prophet named Jonah put these very questions to the test several years ago.

A phrase has become quite common in several professions: “compassion fatigue”. Pastors or counsellors or nurses are reporting “compassion fatigue” in staggering numbers.

Have you ever needed a second chance in life? There is hardly anything more wonderful than a second chance – and we all need one from time to time – in big ways and in small ways. But a second chance is not what we expect the prophet Jonah to receive.