{"id":768,"date":"2015-08-01T12:18:52","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T12:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=768"},"modified":"2015-08-01T14:04:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T14:04:25","slug":"couldnt-fight-gods-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=768","title":{"rendered":"Couldn’t Fight God’s Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"05-28-15<\/a><\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Prodigal, where are you going?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I am taking a journey.\u00a0 I have decided to see where this path leads me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 We are all on\u00a0a path and sometimes we don’t know where it is going to lead us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Charles Swindoll in his book Living on the Ragged Edge shares a true story about a monk who lived long ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the fourth century there was an Asiatic monk who spent most of his life in a remote community of prayer, studying and raising vegetables for the cloister kitchen.\u00a0 When he was not tending his garden spot, he was happily fulfilling his vocation of study and prayer.<\/p>\n

Then one day this monk, whose name was Telemachus, felt the Lord was leading him to go to Rome, the political center of the world–the busiest, wealthiest, biggest city in the world.\u00a0 Telemachus wondered why he was being drawn to Rome.\u00a0 He didn’t fit Rome.\u00a0 He fit this little, quiet place, this cloistered community, this sheltered little garden where his convictions were deepening and his faith in God was strong.\u00a0 But he couldn’t fight God’s direction.\u00a0 So he left.<\/p>\n

By and by, he found his way to the busy streets of Rome, and he was stunned by what he saw.\u00a0 The people were preoccupied.\u00a0 They were angry.\u00a0 They were violent, in fact.\u00a0 And on one occasion the bewildered little monk was swept up in the group, pushed along by the crowd.\u00a0 Finally he wound up in a place he didn’t even know existed–the coliseum–where animalistic gladiators fought and killed one another for little reason other than the amusement of the thousands that gathered in Rome’s public stadium.<\/p>\n

He stared in disbelief as one gladiator after another stood before the emperor and said, “We who are about to die salute thee.”\u00a0 He put his hands to his ears when he heard the clashing of swords and shields, as one man after another fought to his death.<\/p>\n

He couldn’t stand it any longer.\u00a0 But what in the world could he do?\u00a0 He was nothing!\u00a0 Still, he ran and jumped up on top of the perimeter wall and cried, “In the name of Christ, forbear!”\u00a0 He could not bear this senseless killing.\u00a0 “Stop this now!”<\/p>\n

No one listened.\u00a0 They kept applauding the fight as it went on.\u00a0 Another man fell.\u00a0 Finally, unable to contain himself, he jumped down onto the sandy floor of the arena.\u00a0 What a comic figure he must have appeared to be–of slight build, a small man in a monk’s habit, dashing back and forth between muscular, brutal fighters.\u00a0 Again, he shouted, “In the name of Christ, forbear!”<\/p>\n

The crowd looked at him and sneered, and one of the gladiators, with his shield, bumped him aside and went after his opponent.\u00a0 Finally, he became an irritation to the crowd as well as the gladiators.\u00a0 Someone in the stands yelled, “Run him through!\u00a0 Kill him!”<\/p>\n

The same gladiator that had pushed him aside with his shield came down against his chest and opened his stomach with one flash of the sword.\u00a0 As he slumped to his knees, the little monk gasped once more, “In the name of Christ…..forbear!”<\/p>\n

Then a strange thing occurred.\u00a0 As the two gladiators and the crowd focused on the still from on the suddenly crimson sand, the arena grew deathly quiet.\u00a0 In the silence, someone in the top tier got up and walked out.\u00a0 Another followed.\u00a0 All over the arena, spectators began to leave, until the huge stadium was emptied.<\/p>\n

There were other forces at work, of course, but that innocent figure lying in the pool of blood crystalized the opposition, and that was the last gladiatorial contest in the Roman Coliseum.\u00a0 Never again did men kill each other for the crowd’s entertainment in the Roman arena.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

God’s is calling you.\u00a0 Yeah he has heard the excuses.\u00a0 You are comfortable where you are at.\u00a0 You will not make a difference.\u00a0 You don’t have the strength or knowledge.\u00a0 Your life is comfortable.\u00a0 You don’t wont any changes.<\/p>\n

You don’t have to know the whole journey.\u00a0 You don’t have to have it all figured out.\u00a0 Just stop fighting God’s direction right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Psalm 31:3<\/p>\n

For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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

Me:\u00a0 Prodigal, where are you going?   Prodigal:\u00a0 I am taking a journey.\u00a0 I have decided to see where this path leads me.   Me:\u00a0 We are all on\u00a0a path and sometimes we don’t know where it is going to lead us.   Charles Swindoll in his book Living on the Ragged Edge shares a … 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-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCouldn't Fight God's Direction - 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=768\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Couldn't Fight God's Direction - 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