Love Fiercely - It's A Safer World!

Hard to believe it's been 9 weeks since I've posted...but it is what it is.

The inspiration to return to His Grace Amazing was what happened to me this past Thursday through Sunday in Bedford, IN.

It was there I had the privilege, blessing, and honor of being a staff member, along with 36 other men, on the New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA), a 3-day experiential masculine journey of discovery and initiation sponsored by The ManKind Project of KY (http://www.mkpky.org/), of which I'm also a member.

Back in the "real world," getting only 17 hours of sleep between Wednesday and Sunday, with a heart so overflowing with fierce and authentic love for men's work, I can say it's a safer world out there today because 16 men came to do their NWTA with a willingness to step into the unknown and travel through to the other side.

Staff members came from Kentucky, Missouri, the Carolina's, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, and Canada to support these men in a journey that Western culture has all but forgotten -- the process of masculine initiation and mission building.

Why men's work? Why, as a man perhaps reading this, should I care about such an organization as MKP?

I found MKP and the NWTA in 1996. I grew in the work for 6 years - then actually walked away. When I returned 6 years later, I found two things to be true: the men who I knew originally who stayed were stronger, better, safer, and more authentic men AND the new men who had joined in my absence were powerfully impacted, as I was, by the NWTA and its follow up path of integrating men's work into our lives with purpose, mission, accountability, and integrity.

But over this past weekend, I saw something, a blessing from God Himself, a measure of grace unmeasurable, a love so fierce it hurt my heart to take it all in, a power, a courage in men, a truth of spirit, and a vulnerability and nakedness so honorably exposed that it made me realize that His grace is amazing and that I, as a man, have a responsibility to stand in such truth - whether standing on the mountaintop or trudging through the valleys below.

So, go ahead - LOVE FIERCELY!! It's okay to do so...it's a safer world out there today. Men are working, men are loving, men are changing. This world is hungry for authentic masculine energy, leadership, and love. I do so by living out my Mission: My Mission is to manifest the glory of God by serving others with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. Don't have a Mission? Need one? Desire one? Want one?

Come join us! It would be an honor to watch you, as a man, discover yours - and encourage mine!

*MEN IN KENTUCKY: Our next NWTA is scheduled for October 23-25, 2009. Check out our Website for registration details. We also host a monthly Intro to Men's Work gathering at the MKP KY Lodge (1728 Mellwood Avenue in Louisville) running from 7:00-8:30pm the first Thursday of each month.

For more information on The ManKind Project, visit us on the Web @ http://www.mkp.org/