Jonah and the Whale

Jonah was a prophet, a person who spoke God's messages. One day God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, a faraway city, and tell the people there to stop doing bad things. But Jonah didn't want to do what God asked. Instead, he tried to run away from God by boarding a ship sailing in the opposite direction of Nineveh.

While Jonah was on the ship, a big storm came. It was very scary, with huge waves crashing onto the ship. The sailors were frightened and threw heavy boxes and equipment overboard to try to make the ship lighter. Still the storm raged on. Jonah knew God sent the storm because he had disobeyed.

Finally, Jonah told the sailors to throw him into the raging sea, knowing it was his punishment. When they did, the storm stopped, but now Jonah sank deep down into the water. As he sank, a huge whale-like fish came up and swallowed Jonah into its belly whole.

Inside the belly of the whale, Jonah prayed and repented. He said he was sorry for running away from God. After three days, the whale spit Jonah out onto dry land. This time when God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, he obeyed. The people in the city also obeyed God's message and changed their bad ways. From this story, we learn that we should always obey God, even when it's hard.