100 years before the mast... or turn to God?

Who is this? This is the legendary Davy Jones as depicted by Disney in DEAD MAN'S CHEST. I did some research for those of you who haven't seen the movie so you can know who this guy is supposed to be. Not the movie character, but what the sailor's term "Davy Jones's locker" is all about. What follows is what I have discovered:

"'Davy Jones’s Locker' is an idiom for the bottom of the sea — the resting place of drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea. Davy Jones is a nickname for what would be the devil of the seas... the fiend that presides over all the evil spirits of the deep."

So... devil not man. Spirit thing, as he would have to be to carve out his heart and put it in a box.

There is a scene in DEAD MAN'S CHEST where five survivors of a shipwreck sit lined up before him. It is a very...eerie and spirit realmy scene. None of the captives look exactly what you call at ease, but there's one man shivering in his shoes and whimpering - quite afraid. Davy Jones kneels to his level and says in his slippery, scary, slow voice, "Do you fear death?" Through his violent shaking, the man nods. "Do you fear that dark abyss?" Jones continues. "All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished?" The man shakes even harder and continues to nod. "I can offer you an escape." Jones says. The man stops shivering and looks up with a ray of hope. From farther down the line comes a voice that has evidently surprised the owner of the voice. "Don't listen to him!" the voice says. Davy Jones whips his head in that direction and the owner of the voice is a man who immediately looks down again. Dangling from his shaking fingers is a cross. Jones's takes two steps and grasps the neck of the one who had spoken with his crab claws . "Do you not fear death?" he says, in a tone that would make most people say anything he wanted them to. The christian man looks straight into Jones's eyes, still fearfully, and says, "I'll take my chances sir.""To the depths with him" commands Davy Jones, and the man is hurled into the sea."Cruel Blackguard!" another man cries."Life is cruel." replies Jones harshly. "Why should the afterlife be any different?" His footsteps thud on the deck as he walks backs to the first man, saying, "I offer you a choice. Join my crew and postpone the judgement. One hundred years before the mast. Will ye serve?""I-I will serve."If you don't know, this is just wrong. You cannot postpone your judgement. You know what you deserve. To put it bluntly, the fires of hell. But the afterlife doesn't have to be cruel. Jesus and only Jesus can offer an escape to all those who fear that dark abyss. What is it? Acts 16:31 states it clearly: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." Saved from eternal death and torture! "Oh, no!" you say. "With all the things I'VE done wrong it doesn't work like that." Oh, yes it does! No matter how many things you've done. Jesus, fully God came down to earth as a man, took all the sins anyone could ever commit and died on the cross as a sacrifice for those sins so we all could have a chance to escape death and be with Him forever in heaven. But what happened then? He rose from the grave three days later to show us that He was God and not just some guy that died! "Wait, so that's all I have to do? Believe?" YES! It's as easy as accepting the gift! Sure beats one hundred years of hard labor before the mast, huh? God offers you a choice. Do you choose life or death?

Jonah

Everybody knows about Jonah. His claim to fame was his escapade with a great fish that swallowed him whole when he tried to sneak out of going to Nineveh to warn the people of God's destructive might aimed their direction. THEN we know he prayed for forgiveness and said he would go to Nineveh if God would let him out of that fish. He did. And Jonah went! He delivered his message and told them the city would be destroyed in 40 days. And the Bible says that the Ninevites believed God! They put on sackcloth and the king proclaimed a fast, hoping God would see their repentance and change his mind. And God did. And they all lived happily ever after!

Ok, not quite. Our friend Jonah still wanted the Ninevites to be destroyed. Jonah 4:1-3 says, "Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, 'O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.'" Yes, folks it's ok to roll your eyes at this silly little speech. But God just said, "Have you any right to be angry?" Then Jonah went a ways off from the city and waited to see what would happen. But it's pretty hot there. I think he was probably one of those people who don't like extreme temperatures like my mom. Basically, God's assessed the situation in Nineveh, and had decided to spare the city, and had pretty much said as much to Jonah. But this stubborn prophet is waiting for God to blow people to bits just because he doesn't like them. This guy is THICK-SKULLED!!!! But God made a vine grow over him for some shade while he's waiting for something bad to happen to people!!!!!!! Jonah was happy with that, but during the night, God killed the weed. Then Jonah got so mad he wanted to die again! This guy is acts like a toddler through the whole book. He definitely doesn't come close to being a Samuel or a Moses!!!! But over and over, God showed love to Jonah. If it's a father showing love to a whiny baby, we know that the father loves that baby as something that is his own, and can still love the baby even with some screaming. When I see God in the Bible showing love to King David or one of those great people, it's almost like they deserve it. Or at least they didn't do anything that we know of to NOT deserve it. But it wows me that God shows the same love to Jonah, the whiny prophet who would do anything to get out of a little thing like so many of us, as he showed to great kings and messengers who went through thick and thin to do what He wanted. With all this love God shows us when we whine every day, don't you think HE deserves to at least get a heartfelt attempt at obedience?

Temptation

I like to play a game where somebody says one word and the next person says the first word that comes to their mind. Such as:

1 - "Hot"

2 - "Cold"

1 - "On"

2 - "Off

And the like. Let's play it! I say the word TEMPTATION. What's the first thing you think of? Tell me in the comment section. Maybe "Eve". I think of SUGAR! I verily believe everybody likes some sugary thing. Starch too! You just feel an urge to move your hand over there and pick up that HERSHEY'S bar and put it in your mouth. Of course everybody has their own area where they are tempted. Maybe sleep, or money, or drugs. But what IS temptation? It feels like an invisible star wars-like force or you're wearing a mind controlling bowler hat like in MEET THE ROBINSONS. When you think about it, it's creepy! I mean, how much are you tempted to have the power to do that to people? We can't do it to people. But everybody is tempted - even Jesus was. Who was the author of the temptation? That's right! Satan. The being scorned and accursed by which fury hell hathno himself. And the same Satan that tempted Jesus tempts us today. "I was always told it was my flesh" you may say. What is your flesh? It is the sinful nature inside of you. The little (or big) part of you that wants worldly things and power and money. The part fueled by the devil thanks to (yep) Adam and Eve. Satan first used his tempting powers on them. "You want it.... you know you want it... you need it... a little's fine... God doesn't know what he talking about... MUST HAVE THE PRECIOUS!!!!!" Yikes. When you think about it, we're all a bunch of Gollums. So how do we resist this creepy, mind and body controlling, power? Here's the sad part: We can't. But here's the good part: God can! God is the only One who EVER outsmarted the devil or beat him. And he's on our side. It's like having your little brother shoot you repeatedly with his annoying NERF crossbow. Of course, the smart thing to do is just run to Dad. Dad can tackle him in a minute and get a wrestling match going with all the rest of your brothers so you can just saunter off unharmed to do whatever. Why let Satan pick on you when you've got his boss around? Just run to him and state the situation. After God takes care of it that time, work on ways to lessen your temptation next time. But one thing about Satan (and little brothers) he NEVER GIVES UP! But (like... certain little brothers) he's faster than you. You can't chase him down and beat him on your own. You need God to help you! Just ask every time!!!!