Hey Guys. Start getting your legs and hearts ready. I'm starting to put a hike together for this coming April! If you haven't allready, add your email address in the box to the left where it says "subscribe" so you can get updates. Leave a comment if you read this post. Interested to see who replies if interested. Thanks.
Lets face it, if we are even a touch bit honest, we will openly admit that this picture can describe just how life can feel sometimes.
Everything these days seems to be that much harder. Maybe it's the times, maybe it's just perspective, but nevertheless, life's load can feel pretty heavy most days.
Trying to balance out being a good husband, being a good dad, being a good friend, being a good man, being a good.... (well you get the point) can all be a fine art and hard to master.
In Acts, Paul shares with us about living in community with one another and sharing all of our resources. I think it's a balance between being there for each other, no matter what, and not so much about living in a commune. Helping each other out financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically etc. But there is a catch in order for this to be able to happen. We, especially as men, need to stop fronting, and be able to have some humility and ask for the help. We need to stop pretending that everything is okay because we don't want to seem weak.
I have had the pleasure of talking with some guys lately who are at different places in life. Some are divorced or going through divorces, some are trying to keep their business afloat, some are trying to keep their families together, some are trying to help their children with drug addictions, and some who have wives or family members with chronic illness or sickness. The list goes on and on and you can probably add to it. This is the kind of stuff I am talking about. These thing start to weigh on us and, I don't know about you, but it sure does feel great knowing that there are other guys in the trenches with you and that you will take a grenade for each other at any point. It sucks being in the trenches with a guy who will throw you on the grenade to save his own ass.
So, back to balancing out all these things in our life. How do we do it? What is important? What are our wives, friends, brothers, children, employees, and anyone whose opinion you cherish in life saying to you and I? Can you read between the lines of what's coming out of their mouth in the middle of the passion to hear what their heart is saying? Have you and I remained open to what those closest in our life have to say? Today, I challenge you to seek out what humility is. Look it up in a dictionary or whatever. Ask those in your life where, how or what YOU could do better. Where can you and I grow? This, my testosterone filled brothers, is how we will be the men our families and the world needs. Men of Love, who will fight in this way to rescue a broken world, in humility. See ya.
Alright fellas, I need everyone's email addresses and cell phone numbers who are definitely going on this April 13-16th hike. Troy Mangum will be setting up a Fishmouse group for all of us to interact on and if you don't know what Fishmouse is, than you don't know what you're missing. If you message me your email addresses on facebook, than it won't be made public and if we aren't on each others friend list, just subject the message "April Hike" and I won't think your a hacker, lol. Peace. Getting siked!
This is just a quick update for the April hike. The dates for this hike, and these are solid are as follows.
April 13, 14, 15, 16, 2011. Arrive on Wednesday, leave to go home on Saturday.
The best place to fly into is Atlanta Airport. I wanna start getting some definite numbers of who will be coming and/or interested. Start exchanging emails, phone numbers etc. So far, there are 8 of us who are definitely going.
Physical aspect: Looking at about a 15 mile total over two solid days of hiking, moderate. Start getting those legs in shape if you haven't already. It could be more or less than 15 miles, but you never know what's gonna happen on one of these hikes.
I have been thinking a lot lately about initiation. What it is, and especially what it isn't. Is it a one time thing that one goes through (like a right of passage in a lot of tribes etc, going from boyhood to manhood), is it an ongoing thing, or is it a personal encounter that one has with God, throughout their life, at different stages? A process that only He knows exactly how to meet in a way that only He can meet? Or....maybe it's all the above.
I remember freshman year of high school. Taking the big yellow bus to school and dreading the first Friday of the year. It was called "Freshman Friday".On that one day, if you were a freshman, you had the choice to start at the front of the bus and try to run and make it to the back of the bus and touch the red light above the emergency door. It was called "Red Light". On your way to touch the red light, all the upper class got to punch you and beat the living crap out of you. Hopefully you would make it to the red light, but either way for the rest of the year, every Friday, you were left alone.
If you chose not to partake of this ritual on "Freshman Friday" than you had just chosen to be picked on and ridiculed every Friday for the rest of the year. Needless to say, I opted to go for that red lighted hope at the end of the bus but happened to catch a good old fashioned right hook to the eye. I left the bus bleeding, bruised, and with a ripped off shirt. All the upper classman kept cheering me on that I was "The Man". They thought it was great that a guy 5 feet 2 inches tall just manned up. They thought I would have chosen differently. Man, I wish I did! Needless to say, At The Volk Trade School, I was initiated. Funny, to me, this is so not what initiation is, it's called "Hazing!". LOL
Fast forward to now. I feel God initiates me more each and every day. As a husband, a dad, a boss, a friend, a mentor, a disciple, as His son, and simply as a man. Sometimes, as we can all relate, life, in general, can feel like "Freshman Friday" every single day. Every one is at a different place, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Everyone's wearing a backpack full of burdens that may not seem heavy to someone else, but feels like the weight of the world ontheirshoulders.
We often cast our judgement of how we need to be met and initiated onto others as well. We think that they need to be initiated the same way we do, or would. We often see the people in our lives through our lenses of inadequacy and brokenness. "That frikkin piece of sawdust in their eye keeps tickin me off" mentality that always gets nothing in return except for three fingers pointing back at us and the fat piece of wood in our own eye. So we extend more grace, more mercy, more Love, more humility, and more Christlikeness to each other.
So what is initiation? How do you view it? What has your experience been? When is someone, if ever, done being initiated? I can't imagine anyone having to play "Red Light" every Friday of Freshman Year. When and how does someone get recognized and acknowledged for moving from one stage in life to another?
So the dates are all set for this hike. The approximate region (GA) is all set too. I need someone who can, and wants to look into some good trail descriptions and map out some hikes for this area. Being from Boston, not being familiar with that area is not a plus. The internet only allows me so much information. So leave a comment, and I can start setting up phone calls between all of us who are interested in going and we can start to get some form to this thing.
Also, what is the best airport for people to fly into? After that detail is worked out, it will be up to each individual to work out their flight details and all that jazz. Let's get talking on the phone at some point. I have a conference call number we can use, so let's keep the ball rolling.
The dates: Wednesday, April 6, 2011 through Saturday April 9, 2011.
The Location: Somewhere in Sky Valley, Georgia.
If you can guess who is in the photo on the left, than I will share with you, a piece of beef jerky that I found in my pack, from over a year ago.
Don't worry, it's great stuff. Jeff Goins gave it to me and it still smells great.
I am excited to see what Holy Spirit is gonna do with this. God is gonna lead it in spite of our planning, but nonetheless, a little planning never hurt. The dates and location will give this thing some form, and out of that form, will flow freedom! Who's in?
You really just never know what you are gonna be in for on one of these hikes. Rain, snow, altitude, baptism, and/or just about anything out of our control to help stir us, or shake us up a little in our walk.
There is something going on inside you, and me. There is a restlessness that is not willing to be suppressed. It arises and needs to be fed. It beckons you to the wild, the wilderness. It draws you. It is happening to you now as you read this. Some may try to discourage it in you. For it is the uncontrollable, unknowing reliance upon the comforts of this world and society, that we, the tender warriors, beloved sons, will never rest and take refuge in.
There is but One that we find our true worth and fulfillment in. It is here, in this tension in which we dwell. Never settling for what is sold to us, or put forth in front of our eyes. There is something going on in me. There is something calling me to the wild again. How about you? There is something stirring? Can you feel it? If you can't, then I would do a comfort check. I would challenge you to ask, if you and I haven't let the gears slip back into neutral. Some haven't. Some have. Wherever we are, as of now, it is now, the moment that you read this, that will determine your future and calling. Get back into gear. If you can't do that alone, allow others to help get you into gear. Step on the frikkin clutch at least. Grinding gears is painful to the ears and drivetrain, but sometimes needed to move forward. It will be hard to make time for this. It should be. The fruit that comes out of theses hikes is of The Kingdom. They can't and won't be put in a box. They have never looked like what we thought they would, or should. I love that about them. Whadda ya think? Ready?
Neil just posted this on his blog and shared it with me. I'm passing it on to you guys. He asks a good question at the end:
Traveling has its ups and downs.Most likely the corrupt is Dengue Fever, a tropical virus
pasted through the pesky mosquito.Me and 9 other people from the trip to Haiti seemed to have been struck
by that same darn mosquito.This
weekend was the worst with a fever, muscle aches, headaches, and bloody
noses.Fortunately though, I think
I have passed through the valley of shadow of death and getting closer to the
quiet streams.
Last night I was getting antsy after being sickly for so
long and needed to get out of the house and connect with God.I grabbed my Bible, journal, ipod and
headlamp and went down to the shore.The grass was still damp from the rain.I stood for a moment looking out at the black water and felt
drawn to take the kayak out.I
don't think I have ever gone kayaking in the dark before but it seemed like a
good way to shake off the lethargic haze my body had been submitting to.
So I embarked with my headlamp and iPod leaving behind the
Bible and journal.With
worship feeding my ears I gently paddled out onto the still lake.The thought crossed my mind to
stay close to the shoreline in case I lost balance.But after a moment I was bored and wanted to venture out of
my cove.So I paddled onward
out of the cove into the vast expanse of liquid darkness.
I was singing along to some worship recorded back in the
past but enjoying it as though it was happening at that very moment in time
when I saw the sky light up.Lighting. My heart jumped a bit.That thought came again.Maybe I should get closer to shore.I lingered and watched another flash across the sky.It seemed to be in tempo to the
music.
I scanned the sky and checked the wind direction.Looked like I was safely upwind of the
storm.I was oddly drawn to get
closer.I began paddling to the
far end of the lake where the storm seemed to be hovering over land about 2
miles away.The music was
getting louder and I was too.Singing my lungs out because there was no one around to be embarrassed
of.
The concert of lighting was growing as I paddled in to
center stage.There were stars
directly above me but in front was a grand show.Burst of light lit up the billowing clouds.Streaks flashed down to earth
temporarily blinding my eyes.I
dare not venture any closer or become one with the ensemble.I began to back paddle
reestablishing a comfortable safety of margin.The storm subsided along with my heartbeat.
I was soon drawn to a dark patch of land where no lights
flickered.Paddling to the looming
trees I wondered what might lie on this foreign land.Was it an island?It was too big to tell.The
kayak beached on the flat sandstone.I stretched vertical and pushed though a thicket of branches to find a pine
needled covered trail.Did it
end to someone's house or did it make a circle on a desolate island?
The explorer was coming alive as I trotted down the trail. It
felt like I was now apart of a divine adventure with God guiding. After a
quarter mile I came to a sign marking my spot on a nature preserve peninsula.There looked to be miles of
trials.Following a trail along
the shoreline I made my way wielding a stick out front to keep the spider webs
from sticking to my face. Though it was dark and I had no idea where I was really
going I felt an immense peace over me.
I purposely had left my watch back home. How long had I been hiking for?Maybe 2 miles.Seemed like a good distance. I
turned around and headed back only to be encounter with a large orange moon
rising just over the tips of the pines across the lake.Praises flowed off my lips like a
warm breeze as I gave thanks for such a thoughtful and majestic God.
I reached my kayak with the thought that something still
needed to be done before floating home.Baptism.Bare, I slipped
into the cool lake and fully submerged.All the looming thoughts and feelings of tiredness and sickness were
washed off as I broke surface tension.Made clean and whole again I paddled home rejuvenated.
God all wants to connect to us in personal ways.I love nature and God knows it.
What do you love?Try connecting to God through it. Maybe it is art, dance, music, study,
people, service or something else God has naturally wired you for.
I ran into Neil in the office this week, while visiting AIM in GA.
I keep blowing off Marc's calls (unintentionally). He's a good friend; I am not.
It's October, and I'm thinking of the foliage of New Hampshire and the most ridiculous hike I, a novice outdoorsman, ever embarked upon. It's caused me to wonder -- wonder how you guys are doing, what's been going in your lives in the last several months, and what God's doing through you in this season.
So, let's do a little roll call -- How are you?
Here's a quick update from me:
Work has been taking up a lot of time and emotional energy, which is both good and challenging. I'm growing a lot through it, but it's not without its frustrations. I've gotten into the best shape I've been in since I got married two years ago (thanks to Insanity), which isn't fantastic shape, but pretty good. (I stopped doing pushups awhile ago, though.)
Ashley and I got a dog a few weeks ago. His name is Lyric (yes, we're music people), and he's a blast. Ashley went to Florida for the weekend with her mom, so it's just us guys being bachelors. Here's a pic of him:
Lets face it, if we are even a touch bit honest, we will openly admit that this picture can describe just how life can feel sometimes.
So the dates are all set for this hike. The approximate region (GA) is all set too. I need someone who can, and wants to look into some good trail descriptions and map out some hikes for this area. Being from Boston, not being familiar with that area is not a plus. The internet only allows me so much information. So leave a comment, and I can start setting up phone calls between all of us who are interested in going and we can start to get some form to this thing. 
You really just never know what you are gonna be in for on one of these hikes. Rain, snow, altitude, baptism, and/or just about anything out of our control to help stir us, or shake us up a little in our walk. 
Last night I was getting antsy after being sickly for so
long and needed to get out of the house and connect with God.
I purposely had left my watch back home. 