In the book of Jonah, God calls Jonah to preach to Nineveh - Israel's sworn enemy - but Jonah runs the opposite way. There are times we want to do the same thing.

But Jonah's story reminds us that God's love extends to all, even those we struggle to love. So how will we respond when God calls us to love those we'd rather avoid?

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday with crowds cheering "Hosanna!" and welcoming Jesus like a king. But by Good Friday the cheers of "Hosanna!" were replaced by calls to "Crucify him!" So what happened during those 5 days?

The crowds realized that instead of being who they wanted him to be, Jesus was different. And Jesus wanted them and us to become more like him.

In the book of John, a woman named Mary annoints Jesus' feet with a bottle of perfume that costs about as much money as the average person makes in a year. And Mary was willing to do that because of everything Jesus had done for her (including raising her brother from the dead).

Jesus laid down his life for us. So what are we willing to give for him?

Every kid may dream of winning an Olympic medal or a Super Bowl ring...but no one dreams of coming in last. But Jesus tells us, "The first will be last and the last will be first."

And this isn't just something Jesus said, it's something he did when he laid down his life for us on the cross. So, if we want to be more like Jesus, we have to learn how to put ourselves last and to put God and others first.

We all know that our world can be a messed up place filled with violence and hatred. But none of us want the world to be that way. So is there some way that we can overcome violence with mercy? Is there some way that we can learn to love instead of hate?

Jesus tells us there is. But just because there's a way to do it, that doesn't mean it's easy...but it is possible if we practice what Jesus preached.

We’ve all experienced things that have caused us to lose our temper or hold a grudge. We've all experienced things that have made us bitter.

But, if we want to be more like Jesus, we have to let go of our bitterness. Instead, we need to learn to be more kind, more compassionate, and more forgiving.

In Acts 8:29, we're reminded that God wants us to "be like his Son" Jesus. But we all have times when we don't really act like Jesus. Things happen in life that make us angry, or jealous, or greedy. Or, to put it another way, we get dirty.

So we need to clean up. And that's what Lent is all about. Lent reminds us that we need to clean up to become more like Jesus.

Sometimes it feels like there are a million things to get done on our to-do lists. And all of the things we want to get done are important...they wouldn't make it onto our to-do list if they weren't.

But, in our busyness, we need to make sure we don't let things that are important get in the way of things that are imperative. 

No matter how hard we try to keep up with all of our commitments, things always end up on the back burner. Sadly, our relationship with God tends to be one of the first things we put on the back burner when life gets busy.

So what can we do to make sure God remains a priority in our lives when life gets busy? We can slow down and remember who God is.

Many of us struggle to tell other people "no." Because of this, we fill up our time and schedules with things that aren't that important to us.

So if we want to overcome our busyness, we need to learn to set boundaries. And we need to learn to make sure that all of our yeses count.