A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and be sent into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that swine ate, and no one gave him anything. - Luke 15:11-16 NKJV. 

You will be excited to know that there is a new world champion in the sport of Bog Snorkeling. Philip John from south Wales completed a 60-yard course snorkeling through a four-foot deep trench of mud dug out in a peat bog. There were 90 brave individuals who competed in the contest, and they were allowed snorkels and flippers. One of the competitors who is from Ireland, Julia Galvin, said, “Its an unforgiving sport. You get bitten by insects, very dirty, smelly and you are wet all day.” 

While working in the oilfield, I once was unable to get to the drilling rig location because of a muddy road. But they had a huge bulldozer pull my truck two miles through the mud and into the location where we walked around in mud knee high. I noticed something about the mud - it slows everything down. Just like the competitors snorkeling in the bog, would be unable to swim as fast as someone in clear water, it's not easy to pick up your boot and take a step with mud clinging to it. The prodigal son experienced the bogging down effect of sin. The farther you are from the Father the more difficult it becomes. 

Whenever you sin, it complicates your life and slows down your progress spiritually and delays the fulfillment of God’s will in your life. Spiritually living outside of God’s will is like being in a bog of mud or walking around in knee-deep mud. Thankfully, there is a solution for us when we become all bogged down. The solution is the same one that the prodigal son found. The only solution is to return to the Father. Turn back to God! When the prodigal son came to himself, he remembered that even the servants in his Father’s house had it better than he had it. 

Are you all bogged down? Don’t be like the Israelites, who because of their disobedience took 40 years to reach the Promised Land when it should have only taken 9 ½ days. Turn to God because only He has the power to lift you up and clean you off. Only God has the power to forgive you and give you a new beginning.