{"id":2850,"date":"2017-10-24T10:12:40","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T10:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2850"},"modified":"2017-10-24T11:46:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T11:46:49","slug":"flowers-outside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2850","title":{"rendered":"Flowers Outside"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Leaving class?<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Yep and we were studying about Gregory of Nyssa<\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Very interesting.\u00a0 I can share another story for you.<\/p>\n

This is from the book Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My roommate for two years at a Christian college was a German named Reiner.\u00a0 Returning to Germany after graduation, Reiner taught at a camp for the disable where, relying on college notes, he gave a stirring speech on the Victorious Christian Life.\u00a0 “Regardless of the wheelchair you are sitting in, you can have victory, a full life.\u00a0 God lives within you!”\u00a0 he told his audience of paraplegics, cerebral palsy patients, and the mentally challenged.\u00a0 He found it disconcerting to address people with poor muscle control.\u00a0 Their heads wobbled, they slumped in their chairs, they drooled.<\/p>\n

The campers found listening to Reiner equally disconcerting.\u00a0 Some of them went to Gerta, director of the camp, and complained that they could not make sense of what he was saying. “Well then, tell him!” said Gerta.<\/p>\n

One brave woman screwed up her courage and confronted Reiner.\u00a0 “It’s like you’re talking about the sun, and we’re in a dark room with no windows.”\u00a0 she said.\u00a0 “We can’t understand anything you say.\u00a0 You talk about solutions, about the flowers outside, about overcoming and victory.\u00a0 These things don’t apply to us in our lives.”<\/p>\n

My friend Reiner was crushed.\u00a0 To him, the message seemed so clear.\u00a0 He was quoting directly from Paul’s epistles, and was he not?\u00a0 His pride wounded, he thought about coming at them with a kind of spiritual bludgeon:\u00a0 There’s something wrong with you people.\u00a0 You need to grow in the Lord.\u00a0 You need to triumph over adversity.<\/p>\n

Instead, after a night of prayer, Reiner returned with a different message.\u00a0 “I don’t know what to say,”\u00a0 he told them the next morning.\u00a0 “I’m confused.\u00a0 Without the message of victory, I don’t know what to say.”\u00a0 He stayed silent and hung his head.<\/p>\n

The woman who had confronted him finally spoke up from the room full of disabled people.\u00a0 “Now we understand you, ” she said.\u00a0 “Now we are ready to listen.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Psalm 85:8<\/p>\n

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0 Leaving class? Prodigal:\u00a0 Yep and we were studying about Gregory of Nyssa Me:\u00a0 Very interesting.\u00a0 I can share another story for you. This is from the book Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey   My roommate for two years at a Christian college was a German named Reiner.\u00a0 Returning to Germany … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFlowers Outside - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=2850\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flowers Outside - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Me:\u00a0 Leaving class? 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