MJ Mulligan

This is Hans Scheil from the Finishing Well Podcast. On Finishing Well, we help you make godly choices about Medicare, long-term care, and your money. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds.

Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now.

Welcome to the masculine journey. We're glad that you're with us this week, and I'm glad to be back this week. I missed seeing you guys last week. I know you're not glad that I'm back, but I appreciate being back myself. And we are missing a couple of our key people that's normally with us.

We're missing Robby and Rodney. So I guess your name began with an R. You couldn't be here this week. Yeah, you'll catch on to that later, David. Oh, wow. You can get straight out of the gate seconds into the show before you start. Yeah, that's longer than I thought.

Yeah. But anyway, we're glad that you're with us, and we're not that far away from our boot camp. It's coming up next week.

This time next week, we're going to be right in the middle of it. So if you've been to a boot camp before, if you've been to an entrenchment, you do qualify to come to the advanced boot camp. If you didn't qualify for the advanced boot camp, we have good news. We have another boot camp coming up in November, but we also have an entrenchment coming up probably at the end of April. You know, we're going to get more on that after the boot camp's over.

But you're more than welcome to go to masculinejourney.org to look up any information, and it's got the most up-to-date information. If we have more, it's there. But if you go look right now, it's not there. Well, there is for the boot camp. There is for the boot camp, but there's not anything else at the moment. So I wasn't here last week, so this is a topic that came up when I was gone. So Andy, you want to tell us a little bit about this topic? Yeah, so not too long ago, we did a series on the stages of the masculine journey. And you may get a little bit of this at the next boot camp. And we always try to go into our boot camps and do some radio shows related to that. So what we're talking about today is in these stages of the masculine journey, which if you go back and listen to the shows before, there's six of them.

Well, I'll go ahead and go through them because it makes sense to go through. You got boyhood, younger boy starting out. Well, younger boy, that's a new stage. No, I said boyhood. It's younger boy.

Yeah, it's preteen. Anyway, I'm just going to say the names of the stages and get myself out of this. And then the warrior, a little bit older boy. We're not going to put the ages. And then king, lover, king, sage. So just go back and listen to the show.

That's the oldest boy. Golly, that's what you get. Let's move right along.

Good deed goes unpunished. So if you didn't get a chance to listen to the masculine journey, honestly, I would say the more that we dig into that topic, the more that that's really what our walk is, is God's taken us constantly back into some of these stages. One place or another because we're always in some of them. That's one of the things I think that we've really come to understand deeper this last year is you don't ever really get out of a stage. Just because you get older doesn't mean that you don't want to be the beloved son. There's still something in you that wants to be the beloved son. There's still something in you that wants to be the cowboy ranger and go on adventures.

There's something in you that wants to be the warrior or lover. And all those stages stay with you your whole life. So getting through those stages without getting wounded, that doesn't really happen.

And I think that's the thing, too, is you usually identify a major wound, your primary wound, I guess, during the wound talk of the regular boot camp. But this forces you to go back to these different stages in your life and identify what was going on there. And you can pick out wounds that you hadn't seen before in that particular stage and then ask the Father to come in, initiate you in that stage, heal those wounds. So we're going to talk a little bit more today about the mulligans, the opportunities of having the Father come back and initiate you and to heal you in these various stages. And truly allow God to do what He's been there for all along, is to ultimately be our Father, not a backup plan for our earthly father, but really the primary plan. I mean, you know, John 14, Jesus really identifies that father-son relationship and how close they were, and that's all available to us as sons. Yeah, so if you don't know what John 14 is, what is that? Well, it's a book.

It's just a lot of... Here we go again. I was asked to write these chapters.

They are ready to pounce on me. No, no, I was... All right, it's a book that... Sam started it. No, I... It's a chapter of John that Jesus... Well, I know what it is.

It's chapter 14. I get that. Yeah, I get it. But what's in it? Okay, if you all will let me talk, can I have the floor, please?

You can. And the wall of the ceiling. Yeah, thank you, thank you. It's really Jesus talking about his intimacy with the Father and the unity that they have and also how that's available to us as well. Yeah, and someone would ask me and say, yeah, it's in the Bible. I would not have known it was in John 14.

So I realize that I give you a hard time, but I wasn't actually doing anything like that. I mean, one of the Scriptures, the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father but by me. That's, you know... Yeah, I've heard that one. A time or two, right?

Time or two, yeah. Okay. Danny, you're looking around the room. You're like the closest to an athlete we have with Rodney not being here. Well, this is a sad day.

Yeah, it is a sad day. Well, could you explain Mulligan? Because he just threw it out there like everybody that's listening knows what a mulligan is. It's in John 14.

I was interrupted before I got to it. Oh, Dost has a mulligan. Dost has a mulligan. It's called grace. It's called grace.

Yeah, it's called grace. That's what it is in golf. You don't see the pros getting a mulligan where someone would like it, but in us duffer golfers, it's a do-over. In other words, I hit that ball in the woods, so I put another one down and hit it in the woods usually, but it's just a do-over.

Yeah, it might be less deep in the woods. And with God, salvation is a do-over. Yeah. As you're reborn, you're coming back to, and as Andy laid out pretty well before we badgered him pretty good, that the masculine journey is God taking you back in there and goes, hey, let's have a do-over. Not just the younger boy, but the rest of the stage. And the older boy and the oldest boy.

It's because he hadn't got his hat on. Well, with the whole mulligan thing, and we're going to get to your clip here in a second, with the whole mulligan thing, you know, in golf, yeah, you get this free shot. So, how does that apply in the masculine journey? It applies because God will take you back to that same, yeah, basically, yeah, the place where you left a big divot, right? And he's going to come back and say, we're going to swing again and try to get this one right and try to help you work through it. And we've had lots of opportunities for that, but we need to get a clip in before we go to break.

So, if you want to tell us a little bit about your clip. So, sticking with a golf theme where this is from Bagger Vance, and this is Juna who has been wounded in, you know, warrior king stage. He was in World War I. He led a group of men.

They all died except him. So, he has survivor's guilt, and it kind of interrupts his life and just takes him out. So, he's fully wounded there. And this is, he was a good golfer before he went off to war, won tournaments and stuff.

He totally laid that down. And he's been enticed to cut back into golf, and there's this, you know, godlike figure, Bagger Vance, that comes into his life. And this is a dialogue.

He's shanked one into the woods, you know, and he's not necessarily a mulligan, but he's getting an opportunity to improve on his, where he's, his score by getting out of the woods. And this is the dialogue between Juna and Bagger. You don't understand. I don't need to understand. Ain't a soul on this entire earth ain't got a burden to carry, he don't understand.

You ain't alone in that. But you've been carrying this one long enough. Time to go on, lay it down. I don't know how.

You got a choice. You can stop where you can stop. Start? Walking. Where?

Right back to where you always been, and then stand there. Still. Real still. And remember. It's too long ago. Oh no, sir, it was just a moment ago. Time for you to come on out the shadows, Juna. Time for you to choose. I can't.

Yes, you can. But you ain't alone. I'm right here with you.

I've been here all along. I played a game. Your game. The one that only you was meant to play.

The one that was given to you when you come into this world. You ready? Take a stance. Strike that ball, Juna. Don't hold nothing back.

Give it everything. Now's the time. Let yourself remember. Remember your swang. That's right, Juna. Settle yourself. Let's go.

Now is the time, Juna. Yeah, what I love about that is really how, I mean, it's not just a story of him going back in the stages and doing something by himself, but you actually have God there walking him through that process. God being back advancing this. And it's, you know, that's the way it happens. You can come and try to use self-improvement, self-help to go back and use psychology or counseling or whatever. But unless you have God in it, you're not really going to get, you're not going to be initiated, you're not really going to be healed in these stages and get what you were supposed to out of those stages. And what's cool about it is he's taking him back to something he loved to do that he had lost heart in, and he's using that thing to help him get his heart back.

And that's what he does a lot of times. The things that we loved in that boyhood stage, the young boy stage, the things that we loved to do then in the cowboy ranger and stuff, a lot of times whenever I, you know, been separated a while, looked really just frustrated with my job, and I go back to that a lot, but this is a little bit different story. I talk a lot of times about the adventure I started experiencing my trip to Yosemite.

Before then, I actually went to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone and just loved this time. I really was just diving into this message, and it was so cool that God took me on this hike. And I'm on this hike, and I took a boat across this lake, and then I needed to get back, and I tried to take a shortcut. And it actually got me off base, got me behind, and it was like, okay son, don't always try to take the shortcut. Sometimes you just need to go the right way. When we come back, we're going to talk more about that.

Go to masculinejourney.org. Talk to you in a minute. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger, and it gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. The first one, I had no clue what I was walking into, and then realizing that other people were in the same boat, and how open everybody was to share their struggle. It was a great group, and a lot of contacting was able to be done. It is a tight bond of men.

Everybody's the same, and each and every time that I've come to boot camp, I've learned something different. And not one man that's ever been there neglects not to take time out to talk or to share. It's serious business, and you need to come one time to break bread with the men and fellowship.

Feel the atmosphere, hear the people pray, and get down to earth about what's going on in life to get real. Register today at masculinejourney.org. Welcome back to Masculine Journey. That is Riley Clemons. I had not heard that song. I actually was trying to find a bump and just looked up the word, songs about healing. I guess that's three words. Songs about healing.

Yeah, that's three words. And I looked that up, and this was one of the first hits, and I was like, oh, let me listen to that. And so I really did like the chorus, and I know it's hard if you haven't heard a song before to pick up the words, but what she's singing there in the chorus is, now I'm healing, says it again, now I'm healing.

I'm here unashamed. I found strength through the pain. What was broken is standing again, and I'm healing.

Now I'm healing. And that's what we're talking about today is God going back in and giving you the mulligan and saying, okay, I know you missed something or something was stolen back at this time from you, and I want to go back and give you that. And I want to take you back into that place, and there's no reason to be ashamed.

Because that's what the enemy wants to do. He wants to shame you, and that's what his first attempt always is. And guilt and shame, and they're packaged together. And so I love that about that song, and what was broken is standing again, and that's what God's goal is, is to restore and put us back into that. And when we left, our friend Andy was on an adventure during the shortcut.

Yeah, I was rushing that. And just to back up a little bit, I know I go back a lot of times and talk about, you know, what got me into this message and all, to, you know, just the whole wild at heart masculine journey message, and I feel like I've become kind of repetitive. But adventure really was the first thing that probably, I can remember the first boot camp. And, you know, I had become very sports-oriented, just watched a lot of sports, hadn't been out in nature much, and that's one of the first things they started talking about.

Hadn't done, you know, shooting or anything like that. And I realized that my heart really needed that. And as I began to open up, I got to travel some, and I could have just went and did my work and came back. Every time I had an opportunity, I was like, this is an opportunity for an adventure with God. And he met me. I mean, he met me, and here I thought I was working something out to be able to go on these trips.

It was all him. But stuff like that, that trip to the Tetons and doing that, I mean, it was so cool because I was, I had a lot of driving to do. I listened to like 80 wild art podcasts during that time. I mean, I was really immersed. So it was so real to me, but it was like God was there. And like I say, I was taking that hike, and I really was getting tired, and I wanted to make it quicker to get back. And when I did, I think I actually got lost. And in doing so, that was an opportunity of God to teach me in that.

But it was that whole thing of being out there, an adventure, being tested, doing something. Being around beauty is something that John talks a lot of. My talk that I'm going to be doing at boot camp about the stages is just how much a man's heart craves beauty, and not just feminine beauty, but all of God's creation. So anyway, God really did a job of just helping me walk through that and heal that part of my life. I mean, my dad had put that, instilled that love of beauty in me, but I'd gotten away from it. Yeah, I know we're going to move on here in a second, but before I do that, you had said something in the pre-show about Bagger's story is, tried to rise up and got taken out. And that happened to you.

Yeah, that was more on the warrior. Just 20s, 30s, really got reconnected to God and didn't really have context for everything. I still had some character flaws. I still wanted to serve God with all I had. And then through lust, porn, anger, a variety of other things, I realized, well, I'm not really a fit soldier for this. And every time I tried to rise up, the enemy would come against me.

Finally, it was like, shoot, this is much easier. If I don't fight, then I don't lose, but that's wrong. It's open wars upon you, whether you would risk it or not. And I realized this when I got back in this message, but again, God reinitiates you. He brings you back into that. And I feel like I truly am. That's one of the first names I got was warrior, mighty warrior.

And I think all of his sons are mighty warriors. Thank you. Well, may I jump in and take him all the way back to the very beginning of his clip. There's something that if you don't see it, you don't pick up on. But when Bagger Vance is saying, you're going to be wanting a different club there, Juno, Juno is about to take the mistake of driving into the woods to the point of cheating, because he's reaching down to touch his ball, which would be an adjustment of the lie. And rather than, you can't do that, that's wrong. You know, it's against the rules.

You can't do it. He gives him an opportunity to get out of that. He's already broken.

He doesn't need to get beat up while he's down. Right. And that was very significant for me. Yeah. Well, Danny, you are up next. So, you know, we always go to get in Andy Griffith and somewhere in the first show.

Hollywood Danny's here. Yeah. Yeah. The clip is from the Andy Griffith show and it's. I spoiled it by five seconds.

Yeah, you did. And the show is, there's a new kid comes to town and him and Opie have been in and out with, and he's somewhat of a bully and he's a troublemaker. And prior to the scene that we're going to hear, Andy and Barney are talking about what they're going to do with these kids because the market managers come in and they've hit him with his own tomatoes and, or maters and mayberry tomatoes elsewhere.

But I had to clarify. And so the, so they're discussing, so they're going, Andy and Opie were going to go fishing, but now he's got to straighten out this thing with this guy's dad. So Opie decides to take a stand. And so that's where we'll pick up.

So Opie goes to confront the bully and the troublemaker on his father's behalf, basically handling the problem. So we can play the clip. Yeah. Unless it's a wrecker, then it would be a toe mater.

If you watched. Toe mater. Yeah. Sorry. Well, look who's here.

Dopey Opie in person. You stole those tomatoes off of Mr. Foley. So? You going to make something out of it? No. So you want to fight? Okay. Just step across this line. All right. Knock this off my shoulder. I dare you. So you want to fight, huh? Just step inside this circle.

Just once. Boy. Lucky for you, I got my good pants on. Why don't you go home and change Opie away, won't you, Opie? Besides, we had a plan before you came. We were going back to Foley's and get us some peaches. Right, guys? Boy, you guys are sure no fun. I'm going home.

I'm going home. You know, one of the mulligans, if you will, in my life is that, you know, God has always given me this heart to stand up for what's right. And I didn't understand it because I was not a very big kid.

I was, as y'all heard me joke before, I was, you know, a skinny, curly haired boy, and I've overcome both of those things pretty well. But the reality of it is, is that, you know, in 1 Corinthians 16, you know, Paul says, be on your guard, stand firm in the faith and be courageous, be strong. And you're being standing firm in the faith is not just standing in a bunch of rules. You know, what we learn in the masculine journey is that we are fathered. We are, you know, standing firm in the faith that I am the beloved son. That's what's been really cool with, you know, diving into this masculine journey thing and beginning to tie it into the wound talk and tie it into the poser. See where those things are born in your masculine journey.

And God just kind of unpacking some of that stuff. And, you know, so it's OK to stand up. And, you know, Opie, they never fought because the guy back down because he had his good pants on.

Good reason not to fight. Sure. And I probably used that a time or two. I have a good pants on. So but those are the things that have been really cool in this. And I love this topic, you know, the mulligan, because God takes you back there because he's the God of yesterday, today and forever.

So he's not limited by what I can't go back and physically do, but he can take me there and help me unpack the stuff and and to speak into my heart and give me back what I lost in those moments. Makes sense. It's good.

It's good. We've got a couple more minutes before we end this particular show and then we'll go into the after hours. So if you don't typically listen to the after hours, you can pick that up on just about any podcast outlet that you go to. YouTube, Spotify, iHeartRadio, masculinejourney.org has it just about anywhere. If there's podcasts, we're probably there.

So you just look up the masculine journey radio and you'll find us there and you can go in and listen to the second part of this show. But as we wait to go to our end of this session, anything you guys want to add? Bueller? Anyone?

Anyone? Harold, you got something for us? Always a word of wisdom from Harold is good. Our sages and sage. Well, both my father and I had a problem with alcohol.

I had a problem using it and I had a problem that resulted from his using it. And so I had a lot of anger that stayed with me from that young cowboy ranger, warrior, whatever stage until I was quite old. And so the things that we get hit with in our youth can impact us even into our old age. Fortunately, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I have overcome a lot of that.

I no longer have that constant anger and a fuse that's an eighth of an inch long. But in thinking about how we get a mulligan or start over, God wants us to be better than what we are. And he will take us back and let us see what caused some of the problems that we face and how to get out of them. Yeah, thank you, Harold. What's really cool is God has the ability to take you back into those things where nothing else can. You know, and part of the frustration you may feel over a situation, it's good to kind of look under the hood and say, God, why is that frustration there? And he'll almost always point you back to something else.

Right. And that's where he wants to work. That's where he wants to take you into that. So anyway, go to masculinejourney.org for the upcoming boot camps. Anything coming up will be listed there. If you want to know more about this masculine journey, just reach out to us on social media. We're glad to answer it.