What's With the Blog Title?: An Introduction

I chose this particular title because it best describes my journey to this point in life.  It is a metaphor used in the bible by the apostle Paul when he is retelling the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:14).

When retelling his conversion Paul says he heard a voice asking him "Why are you persecuting me" and in the Acts 26 version he adds the phrase "It is hard for you to kick against the goads."  So what is kicking against the goads?

Goads were quite simply "prods" that were used by those who moved livestock in biblical times.  The "herders" would get behind the livestock and literally prod them forward by jabbing them with the goad (probably a pole or a stick)...if the herder prodded them too often the livestock would resist the prodding and kick their hind legs backward to ward off any additional prodding.  So the livestock were literally, "kicking against the goad."

Paul uses this image as a metaphor for people who "kick against God's prodding" to move in a specific direction.  If ever there was a living example of this...it is me.  My parents obviously had no foresight when I was born or my middle name would be Jonah.

It has never been an easy journey...but by the same token, it has never been overly boring.  I continue to "kick against the goad" and God continues to bless me in spite of my resistance.  I have given up trying to understand it all and have now convinced myself that I am a "spiritual addict"...so now I stand before God each day, confess who and what I am and try to avail myself to His direction...rarely do I go willingly. To quote Luther, "Here I stand, so help me God I can do no other,"  My motto for this journey is simple, "I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).