Give Attention To The Sailors In The Story Of Jonah

If you look at the common steps to problem solving you will find some combination of these steps.

• Define the problem

• Analyze the problem

• Analyze the solution

• Make a choice

• Check your solution

So, before you’re ready to take steps to solve a life problem, you have to be sure that you are working on what the problem really is. If you’re dealing with more than one problem at a time, if there are several things going on, you’ve got to be sure that you’re dealing with the one that’s causing the most difficulty or how it ties into the rest. Then you can deal with them individually and quit trying to take on everything at once.

These sailors were in the middle of a storm. They’re in the middle of chaos. They’re all trying to row.

We’re going to be more concerned with getting out of this thing than we are really determining what is causing this; discovering the reason that this is happening. We start trying to deal with all of the circumstances that are going on around the problem and don’t stop and listen about what the real problem is.

Give attention to the sailors in the story of Jonah. What could we do about this? Jonah was very blunt about this. He told them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” But they’re answer was evidently, “No. We will find a way. We’ll do something

Jonah was clear when he stated that he was the problem. They never even heard him and certainly did not feel he understood the ways of the sea. So, they decided to protect him. They decided to do what they knew to do...row the boat. That did not change the truth that Jonah was the source of the problem. TRUTH: If you don’t deal with the root cause of something, all of the storms and trouble will just keep happening.

It can be easier to get distracted by working to relieve the consequences of the problem than it is to resolve the problem itself. Did you hear me? We can spend more time trying to relieve the consequences of the problem than we do spending our time on resolving the problem itself. So, we bail them out of jail… We work to try to control them at school… We cover for their tardiness and irresponsibility... But all we’re doing is dealing with the consequences. We’re not dealing with the problem. Just keep on rowing.

Maybe we just don’t know how to deal with the real problem but we know we need to do something so we find something to do that we know we have control over. “I know I have control over this so I’m going to do this and I’m going to do this really hard. And it’s going to change everything. I’m going to be better. I’m going to try harder. I’m going to work