Fetal position in the back of a semi-stranger’s car, frustrated, angry and lost in thoughts of WHY AM I HERE? WHAT AM I DOING? I was begrudgingly headed towards some “Bootcamp” for men in Texas. Greeeaaat… some crazy “kumbaya” singing excursion that keeps me away from my wife, daughter and two boys for an entire weekend. I didn’t have time for this. I didn’t need this crap right now. Everything was good with me and the family.
Little did I know…
Praise God, for a true friend Darrell. If he hadn’t paid for me to go, signed me up and practically threw me into the car….my numb-to-the-battle self would still be wandering through life clueless. I mean that….CLUELESS to the hostilities that unceasingly rage on around and against me. So, if someone asked you to these events or kidnapped yo’ butt to get you there….you have someone you need to keep close in your life. Thank them for being a REAL friend.
Oh! How the scales were removed from my eyes the light bulbs flashed and warning sirens screech at me alerting me to the warfare of both God AND the enemy, trying to win me over.
Wait, I was a “Christian”. I went to church every week…or so…Ok! OK! occasionally. Church never really clued me on to the “other side of the stories”, the spiritual battles that really were happening in my life. Battles like…
- Why were other women such a stumbling block for me, when I am married?
- Why was I angry all the time?
- Why wasn’t my marriage working?
- Why didn’t my kids listen?
- Why was my career feeling like a hamster in a wheel?
- Why did it feel like a “black cloud” followed me at times?My luck, frankly- SUCKED. Why was that?
John 10:10 Read it. All of it. (The best part is the second half of that verse.)
That weekend forever changed my life by ripping off the comfy couch of life that I was sewing my butt onto week-in, week-out for selfish reasons that I thought would change the world (my participation in ALL the Tennessee football games as an armchair coach through my TV, my life-can’t-go-on without me watching the movie’s about someone else’s adventures, the action-packed life lifting news shows ((insert sarcasm)), the half-hour comedies that were adding to my cooler conversations on Mondays at work) —was any of this worth it? I needed to lead my family…not waste the time I have with them before they were gone.
What I learned was the “true” meaning why God put me here: to raise my family up having a meaningful life with Christ as their guide, to become warriors for His Kingdom. I want my children to learn now what I learned that weekend, not when they are 36 years of age, how to wield the power of Christ and fight for themselves, to fight for their futures. That weekend unlocked so many things I had packed inside my head and heart, that it was like a damn breaking loose and freedom spilling out through my heart. I had held onto so many bad things that shaped me into the miserable man I didn’t know I was, but everyone else suffered because of that.
Until, by opening my spiritual eyes and putting me on the path to spiritual strength, this journey was the domino effect to change for good I needed. It was time for me to step up and do what I had been born to do.
See, men are ordained to lead. I want my boys to know they are soldiers, leaders, strong and loved, for them to live each day with Integrity and Honor full of Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide them in each of their endeavors. The mistakes I made are lessons to pass along, to encourage my boys to walk a better life of adventure with Christ. That’s why I am still here, to take my boys on this passage to manhood with God-given truths and promises, not feelings or circumstances the world wants them to believe. We now stand on God’s word every day, in all things.
Wake up! Join this fight. Go now. Sign up. I continue to live this out and participate at every camp, every call that takes place, to be the best example of a husband, a son, a father, a friend, a real WARRIOR with Christ. It’s been one of the best things that ever happened to me.
For those with daughters, don’t you want to have a great example to show her how to be truly pursued, loved, cherished, and maybe show her future spouse these skills? I pray you would.
My passion now, is to help other men, wandering lost in their day-to-day activities, come to life, and see the battles before them and train to fight for all that is important to them in their lives. I want my boys to know these skills. Looking back now, I know God was walking with me the entire time, training me. Now I get to do the same thing…for my boys!
