Advance Spring Boot Camp 2023

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This is the Truth Network. The heart of every 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 and we're so glad you're here with us this week. This is our favorite show live from boot camp. I'm here with my brother Harold here.

Oh yeah, we're coming to you live and in color. I'm just outside downtown beautiful Mocksville, North Carolina. The big city of Mocksville.

At Carolina Bible Camp. Absolutely, absolutely. Well, we're here with Benny. Benny, how are you doing? Very good, very good. Thank you. Where are you from, Benny?

Right now from Fort Myers, Florida, originally from Long Island, New York. It's a little bit of different weather for you here, huh? Oh yeah. So, you know, how has God been coming after your heart this weekend? It's been very impactful listening to all your stories and how it started out with Robby up on there.

And one of the things I've been actually texting my wife and talking is, is everything that's happened in this man's life that he can have the outlook that he has. The laughter that he has is very inspirational. It's definitely a laughter that, you know, very, what's the word I'm looking for? Infectious. Infectious laughter. There we go.

Infectious, infectious. And trust me, all the stories you've heard, he's got a lot more to go. I want to hear more. So, which talk has came alive to you?

I believe it was Danny when he was on talking about, you know, the father, wounds of the father, being raised by the father because of my childhood. What I will say is, is doing the work that I've done and the other boot camps, it has allowed me to listen to that story and not send me into that downward spiral that it used to send me because of my childhood. It's the work that you guys have started here and taken from John Eldridge. That's made a big difference in my life the last two years. That's awesome. Praise God.

Praise God. So Harold, how's this weekend been for you? For an old guy, it's been really good. Yeah. I try to tell people that if they think they're too old to come, they're not because I'm going to be 82 in July and I'm here.

Yeah, definitely. So age is not a limitation either on the bottom or the top. And just in case you guys were wondering, it's just not for older guys either. You know, I'm on the younger end of the spectrum.

So not too young, not too young. But, you know, I know when we were talking with Sam earlier and asked us if we wanted to host, he was like, you mind having a host, you and Harold. Harold being on the older end of the spectrum and you being on the younger end. And I was like, sure, no problem.

I'll do anything with Harold. So Chris, Chris, how are you doing this weekend? Doing well, how are you? I'm doing great.

Thank you. So tell us where you're from, Chris. I'm from Alabama. Alabama. Home of the Crimson Tide. Oh, and the Auburn Tigers as well. That's what I was going to say. I mean, we can talk about the Crimson Tide, but we're Tigers fans around here. We can love one another in spite of that.

That's right. So anything you'd like to share about your experience so far this weekend with us? Yeah, last night was interesting where we went out to pray and we just listened to God. The words that kept popping up in the last word, I believe it popped up, was rose. And it was interesting that the few words before that, there was yellow. And I'd never really dealt with it, I guess. But years ago, my first wife and I had a miscarriage and we planted a yellow rose bush. And I guess God just, it was just a matter of God saying, you need to deal with that. You need to grieve that and allow me to heal you from that.

Because, I mean, it's something I've never really talked about, never dealt with. So that was very, very eye-opening for me to hear how God could just speak to somebody. And it just, something in your life has quickly brought the light.

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, a lot of times, I know in my personal experience that when we take those wounds that we've had throughout our life and we just lock them down deep because they hurt, that God will not let us keep those locked down forever. Whether we're going to let him come in there and pull it out or he's going to start using our friends and people around us to do that. That's why a listening prayer is a great option to do, to be able to start listening. Because sometimes he doesn't necessarily come right at you. Maybe he puts a thought in my brother over here Harold's mind.

That's something that I'm just like, oh wow, I didn't even think about that. Well, Chris, I'm curious. You're at least seven hours drive away.

Right. What inspired you to come? Well, actually the fellow that was just down before me, me and Benny had met at a conference in Texas a little over a year ago. And we do Zoom meetings every Saturday or Sunday evening, me and him and another guy from that conference.

And he came, I think he came to the one in September or October in Ohio. And he invited us to join him with this one because he wanted us to experience it. And I'm very thankful that he, you know, allowed me or asked us to come because that's, I mean it's just, it's been something that's really helped me.

God solidifies some things in my life. Well, great. That's good to hear. Well, so Harold, you know, as we're talking about the listening prayer and stuff like that, how did the listening prayer go for you this weekend? Well, I was in with a different group and it turned out that it touched Sam greatly. And that was quite an experience that we had in our group. Yeah, that's awesome. I was in a different group too.

And I'm pretty sure it touched a guy in our group too. I think he was breathing a little heavy, maybe taking a little nap and talking with God through that. So Jayden, how are you doing today? It's been a little while since we've seen you.

It has. I'm doing pretty good. How are you guys doing? Doing great. Thank you. Thank you. How's things been going for you? Pretty good.

Just been busy the last couple of months going through training and stuff, but yeah, it's good to be back. I'm going to jump in, which I normally don't do, but this one's kind of special because Jayden came, I'm going to guess, five years ago? It was 2016 was the first boot camp. Yeah. And he's known to us as the legendary skunk killer because we played Airsoft and apparently his skunk came out. And maybe you can tell the story, Jayden, as only you could.

Yeah. So we were out there playing Airsoft and it was kind of a nasty wet day, but we were having a good time. And I guess one of the guys scared a skunk out of a burrow somewhere and I saw it running and all the guys started screaming skunk. And for some reason I decided that the best course of action was to chase it down and catch it.

So that's what I did. I ended up getting it with a stick and killing it and then decided to pick it up and bring it on up for everybody to see. And ended up making everybody smell like skunk for the next couple of days.

Oh, I'll never forget it as long as I ever lived, man. Here comes Jayden out of the woods. He's got this skunk. He chased everybody.

He's trying to get away from Jayden and the skunk. And like, wow. But it is so cool the journey that God has you on. And when Jayden says he's in training, just talking about an honor of serving his country, he's not just any training. He's in training to be a Green Beret and still in North Carolina at Fort Bragg, right?

Yeah, that's right. So I spent a few years in the regular army out in Fort Bliss, Texas. And then last summer I made it through selection for Green Beret and now I am about six months into the course.

I have ten weeks left until I will actually get to where I need to go. That's awesome. And it's amazing. God provided this week. And it's the only weekend you're going to have off? That is correct, yep. And you chose to spend it with us. We're honored beyond that measure, really. So, thinking back, you probably came to four or five boot camps, right?

I think there were three or four of them, yeah. So of all those that you shared with us, what sticks out that made you want to maybe come back and join? Just the environment to grow spiritually and mentally. I think every single time I came back there were new challenges to face.

There were new things brought to light. It was a great place to reflect and to kind of build those challenges to work on the next year on myself. Especially with some of the father wounds and things that I had growing up. This was definitely a big part of my growth and my journey to going from kind of not sure where life was taking me and a lot of insecurities to having a plan and goal in my life.

So, yeah, it's definitely helped a lot. That's so awesome, man. I can't tell you what it means to us that you would come spend this time with us. It's just like, wow.

Yeah, we see clips of heroes, but it's different sitting across the table from one. 100 percent, 100 percent. Well, thank you, Jaden. We appreciate your time and appreciate you coming up for this weekend to hang out with us, man. Yeah, thanks for having me. So, Harold, you know, I've been asking you a lot of questions.

Is there anything you would like to ask me? Yeah, how did you happen to choose to go down to the Caribbean recently? Oh, well, you know, it was my wife's 40th birthday and, you know, for my birthday I got a crossbow and for her birthday I took her to St. Lucia.

And, you know, it was great. It's really cool going. Yeah, I haven't been to too many other countries. I'm kind of not like our brother Andy that travels all the time. You know, I don't get to travel that often, but, you know, going down there, St. Lucia is an extremely strong Christian community.

Like, every single one of their taxis had different scriptures posted on the back of it, you know, churches, every other corner. I mean, it was just amazing to see God's presence down there. So, Kenny, back with us again. Welcome back. I think this is, what, your second boot camp, third? Oh, third boot camp.

That's right. Wow, I'm sorry about that. I enjoyed it so much I brought my son to one so he could come to the events with me. That's awesome. It's been a privilege. And I want to thank all you guys for all the hard work you put into this encouragement and all.

And I also want to take a little time, I got some M&Ms at home, M&M&M, Michelle, Maddy, Mia, and then little Lily and Evie. The ladies keeping our forts clean. I know y'all got ladies behind you because I've met Ms. Lynn.

I've heard the other ones. And we're thankful for this group and the ladies that are standing behind us that help us be even stronger men, you know. But I thank you for disguising these opportunities for us to come and encourage each other in this. I was just going to say, apparently God's given Jan a new name. Oh, I'm sorry. It's Lynn. I'm sorry.

No, no, no. It's okay because Kenny comes to Christian business so he knows Jan very well. Yeah. It's just kind of funny. But you can tell, Lynn, that she's got a new name.

I'm sorry. Yeah, God's given her a new name. There you go. So which talk this weekend, Kenny, has came alive to you? Well, I love the way they build on each other and help us look inside. When we realize it's not just one area Satan's attacking us at. Oh, no.

I love the way you do it, Robby. A herd, a horde coming after us, a demon, a legion that's coming from any angle they can get us and they're outside just waiting for the opportunities to try to get back, bring us back, or pull us out of what God's doing in our hearts and lives. And he don't want us in his fellowship either. He don't want us in a band of brothers, you know, true disciples of Christ.

People is taking up their cross daily and following Christ. He doesn't want us with that because he knows when we get together, we come stronger and stronger and stronger. Because the spirit in us, I love the way y'all amplify it in each other. Even though you knew some shenanigans to do some of that, you know, but that's part of that brotherly love that comes on. Yeah, it is.

It is. Well, thank you for your time, Kenny. We appreciate having you here as always. And, you know, speaking of our shenanigans, I mean, that's what keeps the weekend going and us picking back and forth each other. Yeah, I provide plenty of opportunity for that because not only am I the shortest, smallest guy in the group, I'm also the oldest. So I get jokes about being ancient, like, you know, well, Harold, how was it on the ark between you and Noah and so forth. But I love it because it lets me know they love me and they welcome me in spite of my age into a group of younger.

They're all younger than me. So it's a pretty unique position that I occupy and I'm happy for it. It's a great thing in my life.

Well, I mean, we wouldn't want to have it any other way, Harold, that's for sure. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and 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. I've been coming regularly and it's just such a blessing. When you guys invited me, I was at the worst time of my Christian walk. I was going through some things. The first time I came, I don't know if you remember, I was going to walk.

I couldn't stand up straight and I'm walking now. I ain't running around the lake yet, but you know. The greatest things is just being around a group of men that love the Lord and sharing His kindness and His love. All of you guys, I done sat and talked with all of you guys, different occasions, different conversations.

And it's all been unique and refreshing. You guys gave me a whole different perspective in life. And you can't hide the true, genuine love of God.

You can't hide it. Register today at masculinejourney.org. What kind of inspired you to come up this weekend? Oh my goodness, just my faith in general. My father has passed down that heritage of just that Christian life, that Christian faith. Just Godly mortals and principles and he's instilled that in my life.

I have children as well and I want to instill that in their life. When I get an opportunity to do something like this, I jump on it. I just want to be here and I'm glad to be here. It's a great opportunity.

We're definitely glad to have you here as well. So any talk that stuck out to you this weekend that's really just kind of made your heart come alive and put that fire back in you? It's hard to single out this one because each talk, I mean it applies to you. I mean it's something you can take back into your life and you can use it. I mean it just instills something in you that just makes you want to be that warrior, have that warrior mindset and really fight for Jesus.

But probably one thing that just stands out to me is John 15. It's just not being alone. Know that I have Christ on my side. I can't do anything without Him.

And I need Him in my life. And so many times I'm a very private person. I like to do things on my own. I don't like to ask for help. So that's hard for me, you know, to know I've got to ask Jesus for something and then also just to rely on a band of brothers that I can look to and turn to and say, Hey guys, I need help.

I can't do this alone. So that really just touched me and drove home to me that I really need to start doing that a little more. Yeah, I mean that's great. I mean, you know, I think it's almost two years now sitting in the same seat you're sitting in saying similar stuffs about letting it go and everything like that. And then the father gave me my first word of the year, which was relinquish and let it go. And I really followed through with that. And we're not going to talk about my new word of the year because I'm still working on that one.

But, you know, once you start letting that stuff go, man, things start just falling right into place. So Chuck, we're glad you're here. And, you know, I encourage you as well as our listeners that, you know, if you enjoy the talks and everything like that, check us out on MasculineJourney.org, listen to our podcast, share it with your friends. You know, that way, you know, we can encourage other men as well through God's work. Thank you. I really appreciate it. So Harold, you know, I know we were talking about it earlier with pickleball.

So I know that's the new craze going around right now. Tell me tell me a little bit about your pickleball experience. Well, I had an eye-opening experience just earlier this week. I was being a real jerk. I was griping because I was missing shots. I was overlooking the fact that at almost 82 years old, I'm running and catching balls that people didn't expect me to get to. And then griping because I couldn't make a winning shot. And, you know, we took a break and I thought, you idiot.

Here you are complaining about stuff when there are millions of people over the face of the earth that would dearly love to be able to go on a pickleball court and move like you can at your age. So I changed from being a griper to being thankful, forgetting about what I can't do and focusing on what I can do. And I did a Devo at church the other night and I used the old song, accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don't mess with Mr. In-Between. So that was a big change for me this week. That's awesome. I've had a tendency to focus on the negative because I had over 40 years as a computer programmer and to make a really good computer program, you've got to try to anticipate what can possibly go wrong and provide a way to deal with it.

I was an advocate of O'Leary who said that Murphy was an optimist. Well, I can tell you right now, at almost 82 years old, you move a lot faster on the pickleball court than I probably could. Richard, welcome back. How are we doing? Doing great. How things been going since last boot camp? It's doing good, growing. I've got growing pains. I came up here as a little boy falling down, getting up, and now I'm a cowboy ranger going into adolescent-hood.

It's a pleasure to be here. Awesome, awesome. Well, so you're speaking about cowboy ranger, so is that one of the talks that really came alive to you this weekend?

Yep. I don't want to grow up real fast. I had to do that a long time ago. I'm just taking baby steps along this journey, and I can't think of any place or group of guys I'd rather be with because you are appointed and accountable for me to learn and listen, and I've got a notebook full of good tools that's going to help me grow.

That's good. I'd definitely highly suggest. Keep a hold of those notebooks, and at your 10th and 20th and 30th boot camp, you can go back and look at them. I know Robby tells stories all the time on the air, and that boot camp's about going back and looking at his first journals because he has them all and then goes through them and stuff like that, and it's really cool to see. So is there anything else you'd like to share about your experience this weekend?

The movie clips and y'all sharing, and it's all about warrior mode, and you've got the inside out. Go from the inside out, and though Satan has always got a target on my back because I'm a little boy in Christ, and he's shooting every which way he can to stop me from coming up here or doing anything that's got anything to do with my father. I like carrying Psalms 19-14 with me every day of my life.

Let the words that come out of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your eyes, O Lord, my rock, my redeemer. I love carrying that with me every day. That's awesome. That's awesome. Just make sure when the arrows are coming, you're protecting using your high guard and your low guard.

You don't want to get some arrows shot where you don't want them shot at. Thank you. Thank you, Richard. We, as always, we love having you around.

Thanks for letting me be here. So Harold, you know, I mean, pickleball, man, I just, I've never played it. You know, my daughter is 13, almost 14 now, geez, and she always wants to go play. Any advice you give to me when I go out there on the pickleball court for the first time? Don't fall and get hurt. I think you said something about earlier about falling. You said a guy fell, but, you know, it's not so bad for you because you don't have too far to fall.

Yeah, we had a guy in our group that was really tall. He was like Robby, and he took a spill, and boy, he got some bad, bad injuries. He knocked some teeth out and busted his glasses, and he had some severe injuries from it.

And I've taken about two or three spills, but like I said, I don't have so far to fall, so I haven't really been hurt in mine. That's good. I definitely don't want you hurt at all. Well, welcome back, Tony, to beautiful Mocksville, North Carolina, for boot camp. Thank you. Thank you.

Glad to be here. How's things been going? Good, good. Always challenging, but, you know, not bad. Yeah, experience any challenges trying to get to boot camp this time?

Always, always. Yeah, the warfare is real, as Rodney said. It's not dummy training.

It's live fire training, and the bullets are real, for sure. Once you recognize it, you see them coming. Yeah, I can remember when I came to my first boot camp, and I'm not really going to go too much into it, but I always thought people would talk about warfare, and I'm like, what is this warfare we're talking about? Like, come on.

Like, are we really talking about this now? But now where I'm at in my walk with Christ now, yes, the warfare is real. It's all the way around us, and once you start to pick up on it, you can start noticing it. And I know my band of brothers see a text message all the time that I'm picking up on it and try to, you know, tactically do my path through it and get through it. So, how's God been coming after your heart this weekend? I want to read the dictionary meaning of vulnerability.

Okay. It says it's the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. At boot camp, I've learned a whole new meaning. I always had a negative aspect of vulnerability. But at boot camp, it's really different because we come and there's seven or eight guys here that speak, and they all get vulnerable with the rest of us. And what comes from that is encouragement, growth, you know, just building up and knowing that, hey, I'm not by myself in this battle and warfare and growing up stuff. You guys have all had similar experiences, and it's great to know that. That's one of the beauties of our band of brothers is that we're honest with one another.

Yes. And you don't get that everywhere. No, it's very unique, very unique. Well, you have to be authentic with one another about it. I mean, you know, if you're not authentic, you know, with Christ and authentic and vulnerable with each other, I mean, where is the help and the healing and restoration going to come from? I mean, obviously, it's coming from Christ. When you're telling him what's going on, he already knows. He sees it happening.

But if you're not truth and honest with yourself and honest with your friends and with your band of brothers, then, you know, really, you're just going to sit there and wallow in shame and stuff like that before you start the healing process. Well, thank you, Tony. We definitely appreciate it. Thank all of you guys.

So, you know, I know everybody gives you a hard time about your age and your height. And, you know, it's not really nice of our band of brothers to do that, but it's how we roll. So, you know, we're coming up on the stage talk pretty soon.

Are you excited about that one? Of course. I mean, you'd be in the stage of the group, you know. Honestly, Harold, I mean, I don't think I've ever shared this with you. But, you know, a lot of the stories that you share and advice that you give us to the group during our radio shows and stuff like that, I mean, has helped me along.

I mean, and also, I mean, just to, you know, not rub it into the other guys. You know, my daughter always says that you're her favorite. I think actually at our entrancement in Kernersville, she came downstairs and actually told you that when we were setting up.

As a matter of fact, she did. And that really caught me by surprise that a young teenager like that would relate to an old guy like me. And I thought, wow, isn't that wonderful? That is awesome.

That is awesome. Rob, how are you doing, Rob? I'm good. I'm enjoying myself. You are? I am, yeah.

That's awesome, man. Well, welcome back. It's been a little bit since we've seen how things have been going.

Going well, yeah. I have just been, you know, going after God. You know, more since the last boot camp, it's been, it came last spring. And since spring, I've been really trying to go after God a lot. And so when this opportunity to come down came up, I was like, yep, I'm going to be there. That's awesome. I think at the spring boot camp, that's when Robby baptized out in the pond here at the boot camp, right?

Yes, yep. I was baptized right there at the end before. And it was cool because Robby was there, my brother-in-law.

And then my dad was, he was at that boot camp as well. That's awesome. That's awesome. So how's this weekend been going for you? Which talk has came a lot to you?

So I think the talk was the cowboy ranger. And in that, I kind of started realizing where some, like my innocence that I should have had as a child, I didn't really have. I kind of like grew up faster than what I needed to or what I should have. And God uncovered something that I hadn't really thought about as to a reason as to why I would have moved through that quicker than I would have. That's awesome. That's awesome.

So I would assume that you're going back with God and working through that and trying to heal those wounds and everything. Yeah. That's awesome. Like I said, it was just like, I wasn't imagining that was going to come up.

And then that came up. Well, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, we're definitely glad you're here this weekend. So, and I can't wait to talk to you more this weekend. Awesome.

Sounds good. Well, as we wrap up the show, guys, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Please go to masculinejourney.org and give us a like on all of our social media. And I encourage you guys to go out this week, spread the love, share it with your friends and look at our upcoming events and register for them as we come in. Now we've got a boot camp. We have an entrenchment in Lexington coming up in April. Yeah, there you go.

Go to masculinejourney.org. And oh, by the way, it's time to man up coming up right now. And Nikita Golov happens to be sitting next to me because he joined us here. We didn't have time to get him on the mic, but hey, it's always great to see my friend. And what a time we've had here at this advanced boot camp. This is the Truth Network.