When was the last time you failed?

I know we aren't supposed to talk about these sorts of things, but let's face it…we've all failed before. We've crashed directly into the thing in life we were trying to fail. Last week, we talked about Big Missions and how sometimes we are tasked with projects or dreams that seem impossible. Some of us run headlong into them and others avoid. Inside of living a big life, the possibility of failure is always there.

And no one likes to fail.

For me, the worst failure isn't dropping a ball or trying to do something that is simply too big. It's when I realize I have failed to do what it totally in my own capabilities and totally do-able. And the aftermath is never pretty. When we fail we can get down. Really far down. Not leaving the house down. Not talking to anyone down. Eating delivery pizza and drinking straight out of the two liter down. We begin to think we are in so deep in our own failure we can't really every climb out.

Deep Doesn't Mean Done

Jonah is a story of failure. Big failure. Let's pick up from where we left last week.

17 Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah's Prayer 2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. 2 He said,

"I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me! 3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves. 4 Then I said, 'O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.' 5 "I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head. 6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death! 7 As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple. 8 Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies. 9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone." 10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

Jonah's own interior journey is one of realizing what happens when you actually get what you want. It's the worst kind of failure because you realize you are totally responsible for it. His prayer is one of recognition and journey. It is one that talks about slipping down to the very bottom…and making it out alive.