Manic Street Preachers?

So let's say you're an average chap in ancient Israel, and your pal (Shepherd #2 - you're Shepherd #1 in this cast list) tells you what he heard from some prophet in the city yesterday:

In the same way that a shepherd
   trying to save a lamb from a lion
Manages to recover
   just a pair of legs or the scrap of an ear,
So will little be saved of the Israelites
   who live in Samaria—
A couple of old chairs at most,
   the broken leg of a table. 

Well not only would it be weird him quoting word-for-word from the Message version of Amos 3:12, but it would also strike a chord with you as a shepherd.
Now I'm not one for wrestling anything off of a hungry lion, especially not its lunch - if this is too difficult to think off, imagine trying to wrestle an onion bhaji off Ben...

I love the graphic imagery in the prophets - I guess they knew how hardened people were to God's voice, so they needed to be shocking to get through...not that the people listened much!
It strikes me that we need to be the same today, but that it also isn't that hard sometimes. We got Agape's latest newsletter through the door this week, and on the front cover is the headline 'Reckless Love for a Reckless Nation'. Reckless love in today's society can be as simple as talking to a lonely person, giving time to someone, or buying the Big Issue - and it marks you out as different.

Different can be a dirty word, especially in the teenage years, but it's also the paradox - something a lot of people strive for, and end up all looking the same anyway (go to Old Eldon Square on a Saturday and you'll see...).

The prophets were people ready to stand for God (some more willingly than others), represent Him in a world hell-bent on ignoring Him and live lives dedicated to Him, free from the ways of the world.

Is that something you could sign up to?