Have you ever had cold feet about God.  Where you’ve felt doubtful, wishy-washy, or hesitant that God is who he says he is?  If we are honest, I think most of us have felt this way, so today, I want to share a true story about how our loving God wants to gently warm us up.  

When we were kids, my brother, Mike, and I were rink-rats who walked to the hockey rink and played until the lights went off.  We played no matter how cold it got, even if the bitter temperatures dropped way below zero.  

Because our skates had steel linings to protect our feet from flying pucks, the steel acted as a cold magnet that could quickly turn our toes into ice cubes. We’d skate and skate until we simply could not take the cold for another second.  Then all the players would race to the warming house, where we’d painfully remove our skates and warm our feet – just so we could go out and play some more.

Our feet were literally frozen, so absolutely ice-cold, that our toes burned like they were engulfed in flames.  It’s a searing pain that makes you want to scream – and the pain even gets worse as your toes warm; when your blood starts to circulate back through them.

In the same way that God patiently waits for us to come to him in prayer, my dad patiently waited for us inside that warming house.  And when we finally stumbled inside, he’d sit in front of us and put our artic feet on his warm, bare belly to heat them up.  He did it even if we had misbehaved or caused trouble that day, all because he loved us so much.  

In the book of Jonah, we see God acting with the same kind of love for Jonah – even when Jonah ran from God and was tossed into the cold sea.

Like my dad’s belly warming our toes, God put Jonah inside the belly of a whale to keep him safe and warm.  Later, knowing how little and fragile Jonah was, God provided shade to keep him cool under the hot desert sun.  

But most of all, God showed both Jonah and the Ninevites his amazing mercy, thus giving Jonah himself an opportunity to grow in compassion for others.  Remembering my dad’s compassion for me as his son has certainly helped me to be a better dad.

The book of Jonah is only 4 little chapters but is packed with such big meaning.  Jonah’s story of faith, struggle, growth, self-righteousness, anger and a call back to faith is so much like ours.  Yet the big constant is the theme of God’s compassion which is always there.  Gently there, always calling us, beckoning us to be with him.

He is a God who wants to warm our feet and also our souls.  All we need to do is stop racing up and down the ice.  Stop playing the game for a moment.  Go someplace quiet and warm.  Take off our skates, put away our to-do list, and snuggle up to him so he can warm us up.  What an amazing God we have.