Me: Prodigal, where are you going?
Prodigal: I am taking a journey. I have decided to see where this path leads me.
Me: We are all on a 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 true story about a monk who lived long ago.
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. When he was not tending his garden spot, he was happily fulfilling his vocation of study and prayer.
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. Telemachus wondered why he was being drawn to Rome. He didn’t fit Rome. 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. But he couldn’t fight God’s direction. So he left.
By and by, he found his way to the busy streets of Rome, and he was stunned by what he saw. The people were preoccupied. They were angry. They were violent, in fact. And on one occasion the bewildered little monk was swept up in the group, pushed along by the crowd. 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.
He stared in disbelief as one gladiator after another stood before the emperor and said, “We who are about to die salute thee.” 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.
He couldn’t stand it any longer. But what in the world could he do? He was nothing! Still, he ran and jumped up on top of the perimeter wall and cried, “In the name of Christ, forbear!” He could not bear this senseless killing. “Stop this now!”
No one listened. They kept applauding the fight as it went on. Another man fell. Finally, unable to contain himself, he jumped down onto the sandy floor of the arena. 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. Again, he shouted, “In the name of Christ, forbear!”
The crowd looked at him and sneered, and one of the gladiators, with his shield, bumped him aside and went after his opponent. Finally, he became an irritation to the crowd as well as the gladiators. Someone in the stands yelled, “Run him through! Kill him!”
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. As he slumped to his knees, the little monk gasped once more, “In the name of Christ…..forbear!”
Then a strange thing occurred. As the two gladiators and the crowd focused on the still from on the suddenly crimson sand, the arena grew deathly quiet. In the silence, someone in the top tier got up and walked out. Another followed. All over the arena, spectators began to leave, until the huge stadium was emptied.
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. Never again did men kill each other for the crowd’s entertainment in the Roman arena.
God’s is calling you. Yeah he has heard the excuses. You are comfortable where you are at. You will not make a difference. You don’t have the strength or knowledge. Your life is comfortable. You don’t wont any changes.
You don’t have to know the whole journey. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just stop fighting God’s direction right now.
Psalm 31:3
For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
