Lessons on The Road

One of the things I love most about God is that he calls the junk out of your heart. I've been on quite a spiritual journey these past few days, which all started with 1. a sleepless night and 2. a book.





In the past two years, when God has been speaking to me it has been through: His Word or a book by some Christian author. This has been a good thing for me because in my Spiritual journey up until about 2.5 years ago, I never read much(except for classes...but really, I never REALLY read). God in His sovereignty has been using books to Sanctify me through and through (1 Thes. 5:23 NIV or "sanctify me completely 1 Thes. 5:23 ESV). Some of you have asked me: "why do you read so much" and my answer is because that is a place where I meet with God.





Back to the point...God has been teaching me a lot about myself these past few days. One night (as mentioned above) I just couldn't sleep. I was tired, but my heart kept being tugged by God. He was challenging me, forcing me to do some introspection (which isn't always fun or pretty). He kept calling me to examine who I am, what I'm about and how I got there.





He then called me to do something new for me (which is between Him and me). God cleansing me and healing me through it.





God loves me (and you) so much that He desires to call out the junk in our lives. Here's what He's doing in me:





The book I'm reading that is ripping me up is called: Fathered By God by John Eldredge. The premise is that there are () stages in a man's masculine journey that make him a man. They are: Boyhood; Cowboy; Warrior; Lover; King and finally Sage.





Each stage has its own things that God has pulled out of me, but the most significant are the Warrior and Lover (in particular the Lover).





First, God is a WARRIOR (Exodus 15:3 NIV) (or "Man of War" ESV)! He has given us men a desire to wage war, to fight battles to conquer and to subdue. I have noticed that the warrior inside of me has not been fighting the battles set before me. I've been taking temptations and circumstances as problems to overcome rather than battles to fight and WIN with the help of My Father and King. Eldredge says that a Warrior stops fighting and loses heart when he begins to forget who His King is and who/what he's fighting for.









I desire to fight and Win the battles that are set before me. I want to train with the King and defeat that which may get in my way of doing His will.



The Warrior thing is easy for me to connect to, so when I was reading about it, I was convicted then converted to change.



It's the Lover one I had the most difficult time with. Stay with me if you're getting a bit bored...this is where God has really been working in me, changing me and challenging me...so perk up your eyeballs...


I realized that I have not allowed myself to see when God is wooing, pursuing and loving me. I have been able to "cognitively" understand that God loves me. I've read about it, I've sung about it but I haven't FULLY grasped that God is a Lover and has created me to be a Lover too.

This is not as Mark Driscoll calls it "a Prom date Jesus" statement or idea, it is an honest look at the Masculine God. God is a Warrior, God is a Cowboy God is King, God is a Sage and God is a Lover. He made this world as a gift. The Bible is a letter of love, and a letter of pursuing. God has been chasing my heart and I have failed to see it.

His love notes are in my sons eyes, my sons smiles, my wife's hugs and in my cats affectionate hair gel cleaning. God's love notes are also in the wind...that gentle breeze that comes at the perfect time, that cooling rain when the sun is just too darn scorching. God's love is also in trial and hard times. Sometimes those are battles that the Warrior in us must fight, but in the end, we are closer to God because of that trial.

For the longest time, this concept alluded my heart. I got it in spurts, but never have I allowed it to capture me the way it has been recently. There is tons of junk in my heart, left over baggage, battle scars from many, many defeats. Yet, God, the Lover pursues me with all His being...because He loves me.

This brought me to another realization (if you're still with me)...I am a tool used by God to be the Lover that He is to my family! Being that I am God's image bearer, he can and will use me to pursue His daughter's heart (Hilary's Heart). He can and will use me to pursue his sons heart (MJ's Heart). So, when I am not loving them the way I should, I am not being the Lover I should be, nor am I portraying the Lover He is for them.

God has been teaching me a lot recently. There is more and maybe I will get the urge to write them...for right now though I'm tired and feel I have give you the raw, real skinny on what God has been teaching me...What's God been doing in you??

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Guard Against Lorena Bobbit Pt.3

Part 3 of the Lorena Bobbit series and the last segment. I've discussed how this series was spawned in my heart and mind by reading Wild at Heart by John Eldridge and how I was simply taking some ideas he brought up in the book ad interacting with them here. This is the same as all the other three entries. His third "man-need" was every man needs a Beauty to save. John talked about the innate desire we men have to rescue the damsel in distress, search out a worthy woman and rescue her. This is why he says that in most "man-films" not only is there brutal, bloody battles, there is a romantic twist where the hero must save the woman, or must love a woman...Somehow, somewhere in these "man-films" this is true. Take for example Troy, Helen of Troy is the catalyst for the fighting. Gladiator has two woman, one is the dead wife of Maximus that he is romantically avenging, and the other is the Princess of Rome who has an attraction to Maximus. The list goes on and on.

My point is this: I agree that this is an innate piece of manhood. However, it's hard for us to detect it and more often then not, it gets men in trouble. It gets men into trouble because when it comes to a Beauty to save, our brain overlooks all things but the beauty we wish to save. This s both highly romantic and highly stupid. For example, a young boy who loves a young girl. The young girl hates her house and wants to be rescued away. The young boy, seeing his opportunity to free the young girl, steals her away one night on a romantic whim, they move in together and...usually the story doesn't end with "and they lived happily ever after..."

You see, I got lucky! There was no real BIG issue of rescuing I did for my wife Hilary. we started dating when we were 16...I stupidly broke up with her TWICE during our relationship. She took me back both times and now we are happily married, with a son on the way! However, I learned early on that I could be her hero in serving her, loving her and treating her right. We men have an innate saving complex so much so that when our woman have troubles, we try to rush in and fix it. I'm slowly learning when this is OK, and when I need to simply listen...

What's my point? Where is Lorena Bobbit in here? Well, Lorena doesn't want to be rescued. She doesn't let the man be a man and save her. I said I got lucky, because my wife let's me save her, she allows me to be her hero and tells me I am such. But so many woman try to do it on there own all the time. Pushing away their husbands, not letting them be their hero.

This is not to say at all that woman are weak and can't help themselves...I'm simply saying that when the World of Woman tell the World of Men: "I don't need you...EVER!" it emasculates them. Feminism is good and feminism is bad. The past 25 years, woman have been standing up for themselves more and more...which is good and needed...but they've also been emasculating men more and more. In feminists attempt to have respect, they've slashed at the men who truly wanted to rescue them, love them and be there hero. Men need to hear the words: "You're my hero" and when they don't they shut down.

This world is full of emasculated men wandering around looking for the thing to make them men. They don't step up to rescue even their own children...it's sad.

I am thankful that my wife lets me save her. Has she ever told me she doesn't need me? Yea, but she lets me be her hero. I'm a lucky guy!

This is why fathers who have daughters love to be the hero to their daughters...they feel manly in the protecting role. This is why men call out their boys to protect their sisters. Men, it's OK to be men ad want to rescue your ladies. After all, the ultimate MAN, Jesus rescued us all, who are His Bride!




If you are interested in reading Wild at Heart whether you are a man or woman, I encourage you to do so. Trust me it will help you understand manhood and boyhood with a clearer picture than without reading it. Either go to the library and pick it up, or click on the picture below, it'll take you to a link where you can buy it.

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Guard Against Lorena Bobbit Pt.2

If you haven't yet, read "The Emasculation of Men" and "Guard Against Lorena Bobbit Pt. 1" before proceeding.

Satan loves the spirit of Lorena Bobbit. He enjoys watching men be stripped of manhood. If he could, he would emasculate all Christian men making them fearful beings who never put up a fight. What we all (woman included) forget is that every day, we are in a violent, bloody war against Satan. If he could make us calm, little puppies instead of fearsome lions, he could make a HUGE negative impact on our lives, our churches and our world.

In the movie Troy Brad Pitt plays an ego-centric, violent, angry, frustrated warrior named Achilles. He is an amazing warrior, who has a following of the Mermadins (the most feared warriors in all the known world at this time). On his way to wage war on the city of Troy, he gives his men a pep-talk. He reminds them how much the people fear them. He revels in their victories and he then says: "We are Lions". He says this with such passion and strength that after the men remember they are lions, they start shouting and getting violent.

In this Spiritual war, we men need to step up as the Lions we were always meant to be. Not neutered lions either! When a lion is neutered, he loses all passion, all desire and he's content to be tame, docile and lazy. Jesus is called the Lion of Judah and believe me...he's "No Tame Lion" (C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). He's a Lion ready to pounce on the enemy, rip his guts out and spit them on the ground!

Men, we all have a battle to fight! A great pastor named Mark Driscoll reminds us men of this on his blog (http://theresurgence.com/). He has soldiers, boxers and other such men appear on his blog, talking about being violent men...for the Kingdom. Why have we lost our desire to go into battle and wage war on the enemy? Lorena has been in the Church too long.

Men! The Armor of God is ours to wear! Jesus is our commander, reminding us of how he has won battle after battle. We are Lions and we don't have to be "tame"! Let's meet Satan head on, let's be with people who need Jesus and fight for their souls as you would a dying comrade on the battle field. Why have we lost this vigor? We've been tame for far too long.

However, don't go into battle blindly! Read Ephesians 6:10-18. Keep Your Swords Sharp!

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Guard Against Lorena Bobbit Pt.1

In my post "The Emasculation of Men" I discussed my recent reading of Wild at Heart by John Eldridge and how it positively effected me. I also stated that I would be writing a series of post on the topic, this is the first one in that series. Just for reference, Lorena Bobbit was the woman who angrily emasculated her husband back in the 90's. Guarding against her is guarding against anyone, or anything that would attempt to emasculate men today.

Men are adventurous, not saying woman aren't but we men have an innate desire to live an adventure. All of them look differently of course, but needless to say, we are adventurous. I'm, reminded at how ingrained this is into our manly core when I watch my nephew Evan. He loves adventure, discovering new things and exploring. One of his adventures I saw recently was the adventure of jumping from my coffee table onto the couch or into his dad's or my arms. He gets a thrill from jumping, which to him would probably seem like a near death thrill, since the coffee table is his height. Again, we men are adventurous, it's in our being, it's the way God designed each one of us. We desire the thrill of adventure, the joy of jumping off coffee tables, not really knowing what's going to happen but flinging our arms wide open embracing what may come.

Some of you men may be thinking that you aren't adventurous and you never have been. I would challenge that and say that at one point you were...something just changed your cerebral desire to do so. Most likely what happened is somewhere along the way and adventure went bad. You stepped out, you flung your arms wide and hit the ground...you completely missed the couch, or the person you trusted to catch you seemingly dropped you. What your brain did then was redirect your desires away from adventure because it's scary or it hurts too much. Let me challenge you to GET BACK UP! Allow God to banish fear, because deep inside you, deep inside me is an adventure that only we can live!

My friend "Greg" (not his real name) is getting ready to live his adventure. He loves graphic design, he's good at it and wants to make a career of it, yet he has a job that pays really well and can't afford to lose it. He is now married and wants to take care of his wife...yet he hates his job. He recently told me he's going to quit his job soon and begin the adventure of graphic design. He doesn't know when, or how or any of the details but he wants to live this adventure.

My other friend "Jordan" (not his real name either) wanted to live his adventure of being an officer in the United States Army...he is now in OCS (Officer Training School).

Both of these guys seem CRAZY to us, dropping their lively hood for a what? An adventure? That's just selfish we say, or that's silly "childish" thinking. YET, inside of us men, we're secretly thinking: Why can't I live that way? Why can't I live out my adventure? The answer is...we CAN!

Lorena Bobbit wants to bring the knife and say: "That's not responsible"; "That's foolish"; "You're being such a kid"; "Wise up" or whatever the phrases may be.
Most of the time, the criticism comes from within the church. Lorena lurks in the halls of your Church. Thankfully in my friends "Greg" and "Jordan" lives, their pastors prayed with them and actually encouraged and are encouraging them down these adventures!

I'm no great adventurer, but recently I've taken the plunge of trying to get a book published. I've been trying for over a year now and have about 6 rejection letters so far. I feel like giving up most days. I feel like throwing in the towel on this adventure because it is so discouraging to have your hard work rejected...BUT it's an adventure I'm going to continue to take. There are others I shy away from that someday I will face, but Lorena can't touch me with this one!

What adventure is your heart screaming for men? Has Lorena been bringing her knife? If so, allow God to give you the strength to live the adventure he's given you. He's sparked your heart, now take the plunge!

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