There were hundreds who came for the wake service yesterday. Some were there from as far away as Iowa and Minnesota. None of them were relatives. They looked on quietly as the corpse was moved to it's final resting place. The concluding burial was scheduled for today.
It has been a long while since a burial has attracted so many people to the seaside town of Port Aransas, Texas. It was all for a forty- foot long baleen whale which washed partially ashore early Monday. The whale had been spotted several days ago off Sabine Pass. It was already dead when first seen. How do you bury a forty foot whale? Deep! It's size prohibits it's removal from the beach. A thirty foot deep trench is being dug for the body. A field necropsy was done yesterday to try to determine the cause of death. It was inconclusive. The whale's stomach was empty. It was partially decomposed making close-up pictures not so popular.
Try to imagine a forty-foot long whale! We traveled several summers in a thirty-two foot RV and both of us lived comfortably. We had all our basic needs inside that vehicle. Could a person live inside a forty-foot fish for three days? One certainly did. His fish was custom- made so it may have had some conveniences a normal fish of that size would not have had. I doubt if there was a picture window or kitchen. The stay was only for three days. Just long enough to help any guest inside realize he didn't want to do that again! Here is a part of the story:
..."they took Jonah and threw him overboard and the raging sea grew calm....the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God.......and the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." (Jonah 2) The fish was sick of Jonah and Jonah was sick of the fish. An obedient Jonah headed for the wicked city of Ninevah to preach. Anything would be better than where he had been. Where would you prefer living today? Where you are, or Haiti? Had you rather be inside a fish, or trying to catch one? Had you rather be running from God or with him?
A-men.
