{"id":2355,"date":"2016-05-02T12:02:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T18:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/?p=2377"},"modified":"2016-05-02T12:02:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T18:02:24","slug":"arise-and-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/arise-and-shine\/","title":{"rendered":"Arise and shine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My wife and I both have college degrees in communication. They usually don\u2019t help.<\/p>\n<p>Kathy is emotional and intuitive, feelings-based with high levels of relational energy invested in every conversation. I\u2019m trapped in a perpetual viewing of Dragnet\u2026 I just want the facts, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n<p>This has lead to more than one episode of, hmmm, how shall we put it\u2026 marital imperfection?<\/p>\n<p>And, it\u2019s too bad, because when we fight we usually have no reason to be even upset. The problem is that we just don\u2019t communicate as clearly as we should.<\/p>\n<p>When my wife wants something, I wish she\u2019d just ask. But, instead, she wants me just to get it, figure it out, or perceive it because that would mean so much to her.<\/p>\n<p>Honestly, I\u2019m just not that smart.<\/p>\n<p>So, in this playful bantering of communication mishaps, Kathy has tried to train me by asking leading questions to see if I can figure out what I should apparently understand:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Kathy<\/strong>: \u201cWhat do you want to eat tonight?\u201d <strong>Me<\/strong>: \u201cI don\u2019t care.\u201d Problem: the answer was right, but I didn\u2019t understand the question. She wasn\u2019t looking for information; she was looking for me to help\u2026 strike one.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Kathy<\/strong>: \u201cCan you believe she said that to me?\u201d <strong>Me<\/strong>: \u201cYeah, it makes sense.\u201d Problem: Whoa, danger zone. She didn\u2019t want an answer; she wanted support. Not bright there big guy\u2026 strike two.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Kathy<\/strong>: \u201cAre these your underwear in the middle of the floor?\u201d <strong>Me<\/strong>: Well, they better be.\u201d Problem: It may have been funny, but\u2026 well if I have to explain this one to you, you are not trainable. Strike three.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em>The prophet Jonah did not have this problem. When he heard from the Lord, it was clear, distinct and undeniable.<br \/>\n\u201cArise, go to Nineveh,\u201d said the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>Jonah\u2019s response was also clear, distinct and undeniable: \u201cBut Jonah rose to flee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next time we see the word arise or rose is when everything has gone critical, and even a pagan sailor (can you even imagine the language on that boat) wakes Jonah up in the middle of a life-ending tempest and screams, \u201cArise, call out to your god!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was no three-hour tour where the weather started getting rough, and a tiny ship was tossed\u2026 this storm was God\u2019s wrath in undeniable technicolor.<\/p>\n<p>Well, we know what happens. Jonah becomes fish bait (or for you wealthy folks, sushi), suddenly has a change of heart from the belly of the beast and agrees to deliver God\u2019s message.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t give him too much credit. Most of us would agree to do about anything from the belly of a whale.<br \/>\nAnd after the most disgusting disembarkation in history, we see a rerun: the same word (arise or rose) is used three more times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArise, go to Nineveh,\u201d said the Lord. His message had not changed.<\/p>\n<p>Jonah\u2019s response was slightly different this time: \u201cSo Jonah arose and went.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This time, the third use of &#8216;rise&#8217; concerned the King of Nineveh, \u201cAnd he arose from his throne.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is a huge difference in a \u201cBut Jonah rose\u201d and \u201cSo Jonah arose.\u201d The first brought a killer storm into his life, and the latter moved a king off his throne.<\/p>\n<p>One risked the lives of sailors, and the other saved a nation.<\/p>\n<p>One was the result of disobedience and the other the natural outcome of obeying the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks be to God His word is clear. No guessing, figuring out or trying to understand.<\/p>\n<p>God has given us promises, commands, rules, laws, guidance, and direction. The only thing that remains is our response.<\/p>\n<p>Will we obey?<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re probably thinking about something very specific. Something you know God has communicated, without a doubt.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a word from the Lord my friend\u2026 it\u2019s time for you to rise up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/2016\/05\/02\/arise-and-shine\/image-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2378\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2378\" src=\"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/image-350x325.jpeg\" alt=\"image\" width=\"350\" height=\"325\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My wife and I both have college degrees in communication. They usually don\u2019t help. Kathy is emotional and intuitive, feelings-based with high levels of relational energy invested in every conversation. I\u2019m trapped in a perpetual viewing of Dragnet\u2026 I just want the facts, ma\u2019am. This has lead to more than one episode of, hmmm, how &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/arise-and-shine\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Arise and shine&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}