DISCOURAGED BY DECEPTION
During the siege of Milan in the twelfth century, the inhabitants filled grain bags with sand and used them to reinforce the battlements. The besiegers under the German Emperor, Barbarossa, thought the bags were filled with grain and became disheartened. Actually the city was starving, but Barbarossa didn’t know that. Some years later, Barbarossa besieged the Italian city of Alessandria. A peasant took his cow out of the city for pasture and was captured by Barbarossa’s forces. When they slaughtered the cow for food, they saw that its stomach was filled with good grain. The peasant explained that hay and fodder were in short supply in the city, but there was so much grain that it was fed to the livestock. Barbarossa again became discouraged and lifted the siege. Actually the Alessandrians were starving and the peasant and the cow were a ruse. Despair and ill-fortune often attempt similar deceptions. In Christ – who is our reality, we can overcome any…
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