When a finance manager in a large organization goes through the accounts at year end—or when an auditor works through the books to prepare the audited report—there can sometimes be a stray item in the accounts (an unfamiliar or unexpected line) that needs to be identified, explained and put in the right column. Is it an asset or a liability? Should it be coloured red or black? Similarly, there will come into our lives situations that arrive as a surprise to us. They will come as something unexpected and, frankly, unwelcome.

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 many 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.