Where is the risk?
God loves adventure. God is a warrior. God does not have a "plan B" - He only has one plan and His plan will be fulfilled exactly how He ordains it. Nothing surprises God. So in all this, I ask, "where is the risk?"
Where do I risk myself when it comes to my faith? Where do I spread my wings and soar unafraid of failure with my faith? God delivered the Jews out of bondage with great miracles and when trapped against the sea, God parted the sea to let them cross and then destroyed Pharaoh's army. No sooner than they were out on the other side did they resume their grumbling and complaining. Why on earth would they do this? Why on earth do I grumble and complain? Why am I unwilling to be bold with my faith?
God is calling each of us. Rise up. Reach. Soar. Don't settle for the status quo. Seek God at every turn - find Him because He is walking the garden looking for us - and we hide.
God is waking me up to my boredom and my longing for a close relationship with Him. God is showing me that He loves adventure, He loves risk taking with faith, He loves us to reach outside our comfort zone. Men are made in this image - we love adventure but life/society/church has dumbed down that sense of adventure into a mode of safety/sureness/comfort.
I want out. I'm tired of the status quo. I am sick of convention. I'm tired of safety. Someone once said, "A ship in a harbor is safe but that isn't what ships are built for."
God is calling us to soar.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Men's Fraternity
Part of the "covergence" occured for me at the funeral of a dear friend. All of this was going on with the reading of the Why Men Hate Going to Church and meeting Bill Shorey and re-reading Eldredge's Wild at Heart and suddenly, I find myself sitting at this funeral by a friend I haven't seen in a while. We had been members together at another church and both had left for similar reasons. Suddenly, we find ourselves sitting next to each other and he says, "What has been happening with you?" Usually, you say, "Oh, everything is fine, how 'bout you?" But, I hit him with it all - "let me tell you what God is doing in my life..." and I proceeded to tell him about Call of the Wild, Wild at Heart, etc. He says, "Oh really, well, let me tell you about Men's Fraternity..." Is that a coincidence? Hardly. Can you explain it? Yes. I can explain it because it can't be explained. When God is moving, man has a hard time explaining it. That is exciting.
A lot is happening in Columbus in the lives of men. There is a real convergence of events. My friend Keith Cowart at Christ Community has already started a Men's Fraternity and has 30-40 men in regular attendence. This friend from the funeral told me that First Presbyterian is "all over" Men's Fraternity and is hoping to get one up and running downtown soon. Chuck Hasty is a good friend, a good man and a brother and he is very excited about Men's Fraternity.
He has shared the first 2 DVDs with me and here is the takeaway for me so far:
Part of the "covergence" occured for me at the funeral of a dear friend. All of this was going on with the reading of the Why Men Hate Going to Church and meeting Bill Shorey and re-reading Eldredge's Wild at Heart and suddenly, I find myself sitting at this funeral by a friend I haven't seen in a while. We had been members together at another church and both had left for similar reasons. Suddenly, we find ourselves sitting next to each other and he says, "What has been happening with you?" Usually, you say, "Oh, everything is fine, how 'bout you?" But, I hit him with it all - "let me tell you what God is doing in my life..." and I proceeded to tell him about Call of the Wild, Wild at Heart, etc. He says, "Oh really, well, let me tell you about Men's Fraternity..." Is that a coincidence? Hardly. Can you explain it? Yes. I can explain it because it can't be explained. When God is moving, man has a hard time explaining it. That is exciting.
A lot is happening in Columbus in the lives of men. There is a real convergence of events. My friend Keith Cowart at Christ Community has already started a Men's Fraternity and has 30-40 men in regular attendence. This friend from the funeral told me that First Presbyterian is "all over" Men's Fraternity and is hoping to get one up and running downtown soon. Chuck Hasty is a good friend, a good man and a brother and he is very excited about Men's Fraternity.
He has shared the first 2 DVDs with me and here is the takeaway for me so far:
- Manhood is in a state of confusion. (Amen)
- Confused men create problems. (We see it all around us)
- Confused men settle for less. (Mediocrity abounds)
- There is no lofty vision of manhood today that is compelling to men (This one is crucial in my mind).
- The Bible has insights and solutions to all the above.
The 2nd DVD focuses on the 4 faces of a man
- The King - usually men get this through parents or heros but it is a love of the right, strong convictions, a servant spirit, righteous leadership.
- The Warrior - the warrior in a man says "Let's roll" - the warrior is the most honored face of all the man's faces - the warrior is what stirs a man's soul.
- The Lover - this part is unnatural to men - here we pick up our wife's needs, we drop our front and open up and share our feelings (it's hard for us to do).
- The Friend - most men don't have true friends because we don't have the time to give to build friendships but this one is important - "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" Proverbs 27:17
Men's Fraternity is coming to Columbus in a big way and it is, in conjunction with everything else happening, going to make a real difference in the lives of men.
We have lost our lofty vision of what we are supposed to be. Where are our heros? Men need other men they can look up to, men they aspire to become. Men of driven, Godly purpose. Men of deep integrity, deep character. Men of deep faith who teach their sons how to hunt, how to fish, how to throw a curve ball, shoot a basketball, how to respect women, how to always strive to do the right thing.
This is what is churning in me - this is what God is calling all of us to become and it is very exciting. Soar.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Braveheart - "All men die, few men really live"
Ok, so what then? Where does this quest for adventure with God go? Is it a rebellion? No. Is it to create a para-church organization? No. Is this about getting the Pastor to change the way he preaches? No.
This is about my heart and the longing of my soul for a true relationship with God. It is about finding the man God intended me to be and enjoying the fruits of the gifts He has given me.
I happen to believe there are a lot of other men that feel exactly like I do. They are bored with their religion, bored with their church, tired of being "nice" - they want adventure.
Braveheart is one of my favorite movies. At the bottom, when the Scots had been humiliated by Longshanks, Wallace stepped forward. In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge captured the moment, "He rode in with his band of warriors, ready for battle. Ignoring the nobles, Wallace goes straight for the hearts of the fearful Scots. "Sons of Scotland...you have come to fight as free men, and free men you are and dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" Later he says, "All men die, few men really live."
This is where I am. I am not willing to roll over now and accept the boredom I face for the next 40 (hopefully) years. I'm not willing to ride my ticket to Heaven dulled down, bored and nice. That is not what God intended for me.
God intended for me to really live. To live boldly and to take each day as a new marvelous adventure - an adventure He put in the making - opportunities to reach others He puts in my path. If my faith is on fire and bold, I will not shy away from sharing it. That is what I want.
We are all going to die. I choose to not "coast" satisfied with mediocrity. I choose to really live for God. That is what this quest is all about.
Ok, so what then? Where does this quest for adventure with God go? Is it a rebellion? No. Is it to create a para-church organization? No. Is this about getting the Pastor to change the way he preaches? No.
This is about my heart and the longing of my soul for a true relationship with God. It is about finding the man God intended me to be and enjoying the fruits of the gifts He has given me.
I happen to believe there are a lot of other men that feel exactly like I do. They are bored with their religion, bored with their church, tired of being "nice" - they want adventure.
Braveheart is one of my favorite movies. At the bottom, when the Scots had been humiliated by Longshanks, Wallace stepped forward. In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge captured the moment, "He rode in with his band of warriors, ready for battle. Ignoring the nobles, Wallace goes straight for the hearts of the fearful Scots. "Sons of Scotland...you have come to fight as free men, and free men you are and dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" Later he says, "All men die, few men really live."
This is where I am. I am not willing to roll over now and accept the boredom I face for the next 40 (hopefully) years. I'm not willing to ride my ticket to Heaven dulled down, bored and nice. That is not what God intended for me.
God intended for me to really live. To live boldly and to take each day as a new marvelous adventure - an adventure He put in the making - opportunities to reach others He puts in my path. If my faith is on fire and bold, I will not shy away from sharing it. That is what I want.
We are all going to die. I choose to not "coast" satisfied with mediocrity. I choose to really live for God. That is what this quest is all about.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
A new day
A new day - today, I kick off my blog. I hope you enjoy my ramblings.
Much has been happening in my life over the course of the past 3 months. God is moving. One of my favorite lines from Narnia by CS Lewis is when it is the darkest and the children are most afraid. The beaver says they shouldn't worry because, "They say Aslan is on the move". The very mention of Aslan's name brought an unexplained calm and excitement to the children even though they did not know who Aslan was.
God is on the move in my life. I feel it. These moments occur in my life every now and then and when I get a taste, I am totally free, totally liberated ... It is a taste of heaven. Sometimes, God converges events in our lives that we cannot explain. The convergence usually leads up to a culmination when only so briefly, we get to see Him and feel Him and be really near Him. That has happened to me in the past month. The peak was a few weeks ago and already, I am dying of thirst to taste it again.
It started for me by seeing a friend with a book, Why Men Hate Going to Church. I asked him about it and he encouraged me to get a copy. I tore through that book and was blown away by much of it. It hit me dead on where I was. I was bored with the "church". Not necessarily my church itself but "church" in general. I had stopped going to Sunday school and the sermons seemed so basic. Nothing was hitting me.
A few weeks into that book, I read an article in the paper about Bill Shorey at Morningside Baptist and how he had started a men's group called Call of the Wild. I had read most of John Eldridge's work (Wild at Heart) so some of what I read about COTW struck a familiar note. I had never heard of Bill Shorey and knew nothing of their COTW ministry. The very next week, I ran into Bill with a friend at Panera Bread. God was converging events in my life.
The next week, I scheduled a lunch with Bill. I knew this was a man I had to meet. I soaked up what Bill had to say. He talked about his visit to Eldridge's Boot Camp in Colorado (I'm hoping to go this fall) - 3-4 days in Colorado with other men trying to reconnect with the real man God intended them to be. All of this connected back to the Why Men Hate Going to Church for me.
The basic takeaway for me from that book was the feminization of the Church -- that men have been driven away by the church not hitting the missing mark. Churches want "nice" men. Men who attend potluck suppers or go to lunch with the Sunday School class or men who will serve passively as deacons and sit in mindless meetings for hours on end boring themselves with the "business" of the church.
This was exactly what I have been feeling but have been unable to put my hand on. I am most alive outside. I feel God when I am in the woods working. My screen name is now "HawkSoars" because I love watching red-tailed hawks work their magic above the forest floor. We have two nesting on our property and I have watched with fascination lately as they have been training their young hawk to fight and fly.
I want to soar in my relationship with Christ. The Good news isn't good news --- it is amazing news and I want the boldness and passion to openly express my love for what Christ did for me on the cross and in the power of the resurrection.
I've formed a "band of brothers" and one of my partners said last week, "The church doesn't talk enough about the resurrection. We stop at the cross. Once we get to the cross and believe we are saved but I don't want to sit back for 40 years after I am saved and do nothing and ride my ticket to heaven. The resurrection is the picture of how I want the rest of my life to be lived - in the power and fullness of what God intended me to become." What a great picture this is.
This is a good introduction to my blog and my walk. I will use this blog to fill in the blanks and bring my reader along the path I am taking. Hopefully in a few weeks, you will have a good idea of what all is happening and can, perhaps, help me along this path.
Life with Christ is an exciting adventure (at least, it is supposed to be). Here is to "chasing the adventure" as the hawk soars.
In Him.
Much has been happening in my life over the course of the past 3 months. God is moving. One of my favorite lines from Narnia by CS Lewis is when it is the darkest and the children are most afraid. The beaver says they shouldn't worry because, "They say Aslan is on the move". The very mention of Aslan's name brought an unexplained calm and excitement to the children even though they did not know who Aslan was.
God is on the move in my life. I feel it. These moments occur in my life every now and then and when I get a taste, I am totally free, totally liberated ... It is a taste of heaven. Sometimes, God converges events in our lives that we cannot explain. The convergence usually leads up to a culmination when only so briefly, we get to see Him and feel Him and be really near Him. That has happened to me in the past month. The peak was a few weeks ago and already, I am dying of thirst to taste it again.
It started for me by seeing a friend with a book, Why Men Hate Going to Church. I asked him about it and he encouraged me to get a copy. I tore through that book and was blown away by much of it. It hit me dead on where I was. I was bored with the "church". Not necessarily my church itself but "church" in general. I had stopped going to Sunday school and the sermons seemed so basic. Nothing was hitting me.
A few weeks into that book, I read an article in the paper about Bill Shorey at Morningside Baptist and how he had started a men's group called Call of the Wild. I had read most of John Eldridge's work (Wild at Heart) so some of what I read about COTW struck a familiar note. I had never heard of Bill Shorey and knew nothing of their COTW ministry. The very next week, I ran into Bill with a friend at Panera Bread. God was converging events in my life.
The next week, I scheduled a lunch with Bill. I knew this was a man I had to meet. I soaked up what Bill had to say. He talked about his visit to Eldridge's Boot Camp in Colorado (I'm hoping to go this fall) - 3-4 days in Colorado with other men trying to reconnect with the real man God intended them to be. All of this connected back to the Why Men Hate Going to Church for me.
The basic takeaway for me from that book was the feminization of the Church -- that men have been driven away by the church not hitting the missing mark. Churches want "nice" men. Men who attend potluck suppers or go to lunch with the Sunday School class or men who will serve passively as deacons and sit in mindless meetings for hours on end boring themselves with the "business" of the church.
This was exactly what I have been feeling but have been unable to put my hand on. I am most alive outside. I feel God when I am in the woods working. My screen name is now "HawkSoars" because I love watching red-tailed hawks work their magic above the forest floor. We have two nesting on our property and I have watched with fascination lately as they have been training their young hawk to fight and fly.
I want to soar in my relationship with Christ. The Good news isn't good news --- it is amazing news and I want the boldness and passion to openly express my love for what Christ did for me on the cross and in the power of the resurrection.
I've formed a "band of brothers" and one of my partners said last week, "The church doesn't talk enough about the resurrection. We stop at the cross. Once we get to the cross and believe we are saved but I don't want to sit back for 40 years after I am saved and do nothing and ride my ticket to heaven. The resurrection is the picture of how I want the rest of my life to be lived - in the power and fullness of what God intended me to become." What a great picture this is.
This is a good introduction to my blog and my walk. I will use this blog to fill in the blanks and bring my reader along the path I am taking. Hopefully in a few weeks, you will have a good idea of what all is happening and can, perhaps, help me along this path.
Life with Christ is an exciting adventure (at least, it is supposed to be). Here is to "chasing the adventure" as the hawk soars.
In Him.
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