Life stinks

Y'all don't remember this, but it happened.

Jonah got an assignment from God that he didn't like: "Go to Nineveh and prophesy against it." Jonah headed for the ends of the earth, trying to get out of God's focus. It didn't work! Jonah found himself in the sea, where a huge fish swallowed him.

And that's when he started praising God. He was just thankful to be alive. He thought his life was over, that he would drown in the sea, but now he was inside a big, smelly fish instead.

Seems kind of strange, doesn't it? Can we praise God when the situation we are in stinks? Of course we should. We're alive one more day, able to interact with family and friends. We could look around just a little bit and see somebody whose situation stinks just a little bit more. We've got another chance to encourage somebody, or help another person head in the right direction.

It's very rare when we have a perfect day. It's very seldom that nothing goes wrong. In fact, most days could use a lot of improvement. Still, there's something good about every day. So, just like Jonah, when life stinks---praise God.