To compare Jonah's situation to my situation is an understatement but in some ways I believe I know how he felt when God asked him to go and preach to the whole city of Nineveh. Jonah was asked to go to a city that hated his people, sought to kill his people, and he was told to bring a message of bad news:
"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah 3:4
There wasn't even the promise of hope, just a message of judgement and perishing and for me and my family we were just traveling into a country of the unknown to blend in and pursue our journey to Belize (and these people weren't even against me), but when the flesh is weak and grieved it is very easy to come to the end of yourself and even so much so that I laid out a fleece before God. In the book of Judges God asks Gideon to rescue his people, and in Gideons distress he comes to God for a sign, twice.
"And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground." Judges 6:36-40
Laying out a fleece and asking for a sign from God is very infrequently seen in the Bible and therefore should be something that is very infrequently done in the christians life (this was the first time during our calling and the first time in my christian walk that I had ever been to a point to ask for a clear cut sign). You can see Gideons fear in verse 39 regarding God's anger towards his request, and recall that Jesus even rebuked the jews for there need for a sign:
"But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." Matthew 12:39-41
Early in the morning on the day we were to cross into Mexico, while my soul was feeling like a "grasshopper", and as I looked at my family I asked Jesus, if this is your will for me please show me a sign, a sign of reservation at the border, whether it be our side of theirs. I knew God has the power to control a mans heart (we even witnessed this first hand in the court room at Mo's custody hearing), so I asked for a sign of reservation from someone regarding our travels into Meixco.
God answered very clearly. Our time at the border was about as smooth as it could have possibly been and all the people were helpful and hospitable. We paid the toll on the US side, drove right through customs on the Mexico side with no vehicle check. Then we needed to get our tourist cards and register our vehicle for travel. I thought this process would be confusing and time consuming, but our crossing had small lines and all the resources we needed all in one place. There was a bank, a copy place, immigration, and vehicle registration all in a well kept building that looked like a airport check in lobby. God had answered and we were on our way to his calling.
Our first day was about 560Km and in our car that was about 7hrs. The first town we entered into was on the border and was called Reynosa, and our first experience coming out of immigration was a guy running a stop sign and almost hitting us, but after that it was a clean vibrant city with, color and life. People were not in fear they were just living normal lives as they walked the streets and went about their busniess. There was even real horse power, horse drawn truck beds, it was awesome. Our travels took us on toll (cuota) roads the entire way to our destination. In between we saw a large precense from the federal police and military, which is the governments way to create authority and fear against the rising crime. Most of their questions were conversations about our car, our dogs, and Mo. Nice people just doing their job to make Mexico an even more beautiful country. We learned about the roads, turn offs, gas stations, towns, and the culture as we passed each Km throughout the day. Their are villages, people, children, goats, cows, bus stops, bicycles, horses, and donkeys all along the side of the highway. The things we saw would make american moms gasp at the potential danger. All of these things plus huge speedbumps are why they don't recommend you to drive at night through Mexico.
Anyway we made it safely and timely to our first destination in Matehuala, which was a nice resort called Las Palmas with an rv park, villas, putt putt golf, and a pool for Mo.
Praise Jesus for our first day.
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