Finding Your Nemo

Whale

"Wooooooooo." – Whale

Struggling to trust the peace

Marlin and Dory is in need of direction again and Dory spots a "little fella" in the open waters in front of them. She starts calling out to him but Marlin does not want any of it. The whale swims away but suddenly reappears behind Marlin and Dory. Marlin and Dory tries to swim away but they were too late and got sucked into the whale's mouth. Marlin tries everything he can to get out of the whale's mouth because he is convinced that he and Dory just turned into whale food. Dory on the other hand is enjoying the trip inside the whale's mouth. Marlin knows that he is so close to finding Nemo that he tries to fight the whale instead of trusting in the fact that the whale sucked them in for a reason other than being an easy meal because whales do not eat clownfish and regal blues. Our interactions with people makes us cautious for everyone that comes our way and we kick and fight those who are actually busy helping us because we find it hard to trust the peace. We are trying to pull the wool off of each lamb because we are convinced that underneath the snowy white wool lurks a vicious wolf ready to devour us!

Unexpected kind of help

Marlin and Dory only wanted directions but the problem was that they had to ask it from a whale and as we saw in the film, whales do not speak English. Luckily Dory could speak a little "whale" and managed to communicate with the whale. Instead of giving them directions the whale gulped them up and swam them all the way to Sydney. If Marlin was a little more trusting and relaxed, like Dory, he too could have rested for a while and recovered from their long journey and regained his strength. Marlin and Dory's help came in an unexpected way, they were gulped up by a whale. Who can blame Marlin for being angry and worried that their journey might just have come to an abrupt end inside a whale. We too encounter such moments in our journey when we find it hard to believe that the people we are interacting with are actually helping us because all the signs point to a different outcome. We sometimes need to sit back and trust that everything will work out like it should. Accept the help, no matter how strange or unexpected it might be.

Makes your journey easier

Being trapped inside the whale's mouth actually made Marlin and Dory's journey a lot easier. They did not have to fight the ocean's currents, face any other predators nor did they have to swim for some time. But Marlin did not enjoy any of these benefits because he was preoccupied with getting out of the whale's stomach. Marlin's journey was made easier but he could not enjoy the full experience which the whale had in mind because he could not trust that the whale did not want to eat them but only wanted to help them get to Sydney. Marlin was pre-occupied with thoughts of all the previous experiences they have had with the carnivores of the big blue sea! We too should be cautious not to judge everyone based on the experiences we have had with one or two other people. Judge each person on their own character and behaviour.

Elijah – Fed by ravens

Scripture: 1 Kings 16:29 – 1 Kings 17:6

Israel saw a regime change. Ahab, the son of Omri became the king of Israel and ruled over Israel for twenty-two years. Ahab was not a good king as he did more evil during his reign than any other king before him. He had a number of actions and deeds which was displeasing to God including his conversion to Baal after he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal. King Ahab even went as far as to build an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal in Samaria. The erection of an Asherah pole amongst other deeds provoked God's anger more than any other action of any of the kings before him.

Elijah came to king Ahab and told him that there will be no rain or dew for the next five years, until he instructs it to rain or dew again. This was as punishment for the wickedness of king Ahab. After Elijah delivered this message of doom to Ahad, God instructed him to leave his home and go find shelter and refuge in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. God made a promise to Elijah that he will not have to worry or scavenge for food as He will send the ravens to feed him bread and meat twice a day. Elijah obeyed God and left. The ravens brought Elijah bread and meat, twice daily, just like God had promised.