{"id":50576,"date":"2000-06-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2000-06-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/gods-gentle-call\/"},"modified":"2000-06-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2000-06-06T00:00:00","slug":"gods-gentle-call","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/gods-gentle-call\/","title":{"rendered":"God&#8217;s Gentle Call"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the movie, <em class=\"citation\">The Horse Whisperer,<\/em> Tom Booker, played by actor Robert Redford, employs his special gift of &quot;gentling&quot; horses.<\/p>\n\n<p>A tense, New York magazine editor can&#39;t believe her eyes as she witnesses the gradual transformation of her daughter&#39;s horse from traumatized to tamed. In one telling scene, the horse, frightened by the editor&#39;s ringing cell phone, gallops off into the far end of a large pasture. Booker walks into the pasture and sits down, where he waits for what appears to be hours. The horse, drawn by its curiosity, inches closer and closer. Finally, it cautiously approaches close enough to touch the &quot;whisperer,&quot; and allows itself to be led back to the safety of its stall.<\/p>\n\n<p>That&#39;s the way it is with God, as he &quot;gentles&quot; the untamed or traumatized people who run from him.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3538,4048,4156,4159,4573,4612],"tax_ctp_topics":[384,393,396],"class_list":["post-50576","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-calling","tax_ctp_tags-gentleness","tax_ctp_tags-holy-spirit","tax_ctp_tags-holy-week","tax_ctp_tags-ordination","tax_ctp_tags-patience-of-god"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>God&#039;s Gentle Call - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/gods-gentle-call\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God&#039;s Gentle Call - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the movie, The Horse Whisperer, Tom Booker, played by actor Robert Redford, employs his special gift of &quot;gentling&quot; horses. 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