Men are hungry. No, not for the next latte or the latest iPhone. No, not for 6-pack abs or a corner office. Men are hungry for initiation - for a call into the battle and adventure and beauty that is crying out from their hearts.
One of the reasons I love the Psalms in Scripture is that David, a complex and interesting model of masculinity, tells it like it is. He's not going to speak to God through a filter, through a mask, and he's not going to sit there and beg for a plate of milk and cookies to make everything alright when his soul is being crushed and he doesn't see a way out. Shepherd, warrior, king...and, yet, he craved a deeper initiation, a more pressing closeness through prayer with God.
Today was one of those days when I wanted to just hide in a favorite part of my man cave - namely, the bedroom, blinds drawn, covers pulled tight, eyes shut tighter, phone turned off. Hiding. When I was called out...pushed out, dragged out by a Power greater than myself...I was led to Psalm 142 (written, by the way, when David was hiding in the cave):
"When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life." (142:3-4 NIV)
Not exactly the way "a man after God's own heart" should act, huh? Not very kingly, huh? Not exactly the poster boy for the warrior spirit, huh? But how true this is of men's hearts today, wouldn't you say? Or maybe you wouldn't...
Maybe it's your heart that longs for refuge - longs for someone to care. Masculine initiation is about men caring for the hearts of other men fiercely enough to go into battle for them. The hidden snares of evil plague men's hearts at every turn - you know the ones you get trapped in. I do. But the initiatory journey is created...whether secular or faith-based...to offer a man a way out of the cave, an opportunity to stop hiding, and a chance to go into battle surrounded by a legion of men who will fight until blood, sweat, and tears have been spent in the glory of victory!
The month of March offers two such opportunities for men in the local Kentucky/Indiana region to step into the containers of the masculine journey, to be deeply initiated in ways that their hearts are hungry for.
One is called the New Warrior Training Adventure and is sponsored by the ManKind Project of Kentucky (http://www.kentucky.mkp.org/). It's a 3-day experiential men's initiatory adventure designed to challenge a man in ways, perhaps, that he's never been challenged before to look at himself and step into a life of vision, action, and mission. It will take place from March 30-April 1, 2012 in Bedford, IN (for more info, you can contact MKP Kentucky by calling 502.939.4333).
The other is called the Men at the Cross weekend and is sponsored by The Cross Ministry Group (http://www.crossmg.org/). It's a 3-day intensive men's experiential weekend where men come to experience a unique encounter with God and other men. It will take place from March 16-18, 2012 in Underwood, IN (for more info, you can contact The Cross Ministry Group by calling 502.216.1942).
Who do you know that's hiding in his man cave? Maybe it's a cave of money, power, sex, deceit, anger, sadness, shame, fear, busyness, despair, or wounds from a time long ago. It's time to light a torch, take up the sword, cry out for the strength, and invade the man caves around you and rouse the hearts of the men hidden in darkness. It takes courage to invite a man into the deeper journey of initiation...and it's never too late!!
One of the reasons I love the Psalms in Scripture is that David, a complex and interesting model of masculinity, tells it like it is. He's not going to speak to God through a filter, through a mask, and he's not going to sit there and beg for a plate of milk and cookies to make everything alright when his soul is being crushed and he doesn't see a way out. Shepherd, warrior, king...and, yet, he craved a deeper initiation, a more pressing closeness through prayer with God.
Today was one of those days when I wanted to just hide in a favorite part of my man cave - namely, the bedroom, blinds drawn, covers pulled tight, eyes shut tighter, phone turned off. Hiding. When I was called out...pushed out, dragged out by a Power greater than myself...I was led to Psalm 142 (written, by the way, when David was hiding in the cave):
"When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life." (142:3-4 NIV)
Not exactly the way "a man after God's own heart" should act, huh? Not very kingly, huh? Not exactly the poster boy for the warrior spirit, huh? But how true this is of men's hearts today, wouldn't you say? Or maybe you wouldn't...
Maybe it's your heart that longs for refuge - longs for someone to care. Masculine initiation is about men caring for the hearts of other men fiercely enough to go into battle for them. The hidden snares of evil plague men's hearts at every turn - you know the ones you get trapped in. I do. But the initiatory journey is created...whether secular or faith-based...to offer a man a way out of the cave, an opportunity to stop hiding, and a chance to go into battle surrounded by a legion of men who will fight until blood, sweat, and tears have been spent in the glory of victory!
The month of March offers two such opportunities for men in the local Kentucky/Indiana region to step into the containers of the masculine journey, to be deeply initiated in ways that their hearts are hungry for.
One is called the New Warrior Training Adventure and is sponsored by the ManKind Project of Kentucky (http://www.kentucky.mkp.org/). It's a 3-day experiential men's initiatory adventure designed to challenge a man in ways, perhaps, that he's never been challenged before to look at himself and step into a life of vision, action, and mission. It will take place from March 30-April 1, 2012 in Bedford, IN (for more info, you can contact MKP Kentucky by calling 502.939.4333).
The other is called the Men at the Cross weekend and is sponsored by The Cross Ministry Group (http://www.crossmg.org/). It's a 3-day intensive men's experiential weekend where men come to experience a unique encounter with God and other men. It will take place from March 16-18, 2012 in Underwood, IN (for more info, you can contact The Cross Ministry Group by calling 502.216.1942).
Who do you know that's hiding in his man cave? Maybe it's a cave of money, power, sex, deceit, anger, sadness, shame, fear, busyness, despair, or wounds from a time long ago. It's time to light a torch, take up the sword, cry out for the strength, and invade the man caves around you and rouse the hearts of the men hidden in darkness. It takes courage to invite a man into the deeper journey of initiation...and it's never too late!!
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