What's My Mission?

"God, what's my mission?"




I asked the men who are with me in the book study of Wild at Heart by John Eldredge to stretch and ask that question of God -- and wait on the answer, because there is a purpose, a mission for each of us as men.



What's my mission?



I have a Mission statement: "My Mission is to manifest the glory of God by serving others with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love."



This covers a lot of territory, much like a shotgun blast. But as I thought about the question last night while waiting for sleep to wrap me in its arms, I was spoken to by God's sweet Voice: 'Your Mission, for Me, is to be My Warrior and to fight for the hearts of men!'



As I sat in the cool of the Kentucky morning, letting the warm sun God put into the sky splash across my face, I smiled as I thought about dying. Naturally, this Holy Week, many will think about Christ carrying the Cross. I do. And I'm dying, every moment of every day, getting closer to His moment when He will choose my end and bring me into His eternal presence. It's a good day to die -- and live!!



Mission makes it so. A warrior for Christ? I've always enjoyed a good fight -- not in the physical, rock 'em sock 'em sense...but in the mythical, the inspirational, the emotional. And in being His warrior, I have a cross to bear -- every day. Jesus came to go to war for my heart -- and paid the battlefield sacrificial price, the ultimate -- His life for mine.



Men's work, for me, is about life and death, war and victory, bearing the cross and laying down my life for my friends. It's mythical, poetic, and real. Sadly, I worship at a church that has too many sleeping men -- men who have fallen in love with formula instead of relationship. But I smile, too, knowing that the war for their hearts -- no matter what their age -- is still a battle worth fighting, still a cross worth bearing. And God has given me a mission -- His.



Christ put His body on the Cross for all the broken and lost bodies of men that walk this earth. I see them, out there, so much pain, suffering, violence, emptiness. I have my moments, still, where that illusion offers me another mask to wear instead of manifesting His glory. Nowhere along the way did I ever think that war was easy...but it is beautiful. There is beauty in the fight, beauty in the victory...and beauty in being His warrior.



So as I live my mission, I offer the invitation to join me in the fight. Bear the cross. Fight the war. Offer your heart to Him and watch how He'll put you on the front line of His Great Battle. And, if you're sleeping, sleep well, sleep deep...and know that I will risk waking you up to take your place in the line. No one else can take your place in the line of battle...for another man would have to leave his place to do so.



My Mission is not to leave my place in the line for yours. My Mission is to be a warrior for the Lord, and to battle for the hearts of men.



*For more information on men's work in the Louisville, KY area, visit The ManKind Project of KY, Inc. at http://www.mkpky.org/

*For more information on John Eldredge and Ransomed Heart Ministries, visit them on the Web at www.RansomedHeart.com