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 Masculine Journey. We have an amazing show for you today.
We are live from, how do you say it? This here? Curahi, I guess. Oh, it's Curahi, it's Mountains Curahee, but Tocoa, Tocoa. Camp Tocoa, yeah.
We're in Georgia for the boot camp that we've been talking about, like every week for the last week. We're not in a. What is that, bunker in North Carolina, like we usually say? Yeah, no, no, we're on a mountaintop right here at Curie, and this is a mountain that the guys ran in the portrayed in the mo in the TV show Band of Brothers that the Real Easy Company ran. Over and over again, three miles up, three miles down.
And until you come here and you hear a car struggling to get up here, knowing that they didn't have nice gravel roads. You know, they're running up over some rough terrain, coming back and forth. It kind of puts it in perspective. And a drill instructor was not a lot of. lot of not a lot of grace to yeah yeah he prepared them he prepared them that's true and they have given him that credit but we are a we're right now we're gonna be doing our favorite show of the year we have uh one of two of our favorite two shows of the year and it's when we go live from boot camp And so that's what we're doing now.
And the thing I love most about it is there is one star of the show and a bunch of other sub-watch, like co-stars. Right?
So the star of the show is God. And then the co-stars are the guys that are here at camp. And so we're going to end up asking each guy a couple questions about the weekend and how it's going and how God's been coming after their heart and just hear what they have to say and what God lays on their heart. And so starting out, Andy, who's our first guest with us? This is Bill, and I'm not going to give his full name.
We'll just call him Bill, right? Is he a right or do you want to be known? I think he's still in witness protection, so I'm not really sure that he's going to mention the right to his name. And this is really his name. We're just only giving you half of it.
Yeah.
So Bill, tell us a little bit about your weekend. How's it going for you? Uh it's been amazing. Uh just uh to be around fellowship with other men. And to know that when we think we're alone, every man probably has the same struggles.
Might be a little different story, but the struggle is pretty much the same. Absolutely. And if the struggle's a little different, the message behind it. Is for sure the same, right? That you don't have what it takes, or you're disqualified, or one of those things that the enemy likes to throw at us.
Correct, yeah. And uh,. He's good at it. He's very skilled. He knows our weaknesses.
And uh He doesn't want us to be A warrior for the kingdom of Christ. He wants us taken out and.
So This boot camp is certainly a platform. Whereas men, we can all get together. grow together. and know that we have a Father in heaven that loves us. Yeah, that's amazing.
Well, thank you, Bill. How's God been coming after you this weekend? Um God has pretty much showed me Um Yeah. A lot of the time I thought that I was battling You know, the There's me and there's God. And God's good, so I must be the one that's doing wrong.
and I've come to the realization that there is an enemy. And Satan Ah, knows all my weaknesses. And the realization that My dad was the way he was. because of the attacks he got And I was fortunate enough before my dad passed away to be able to talk to him and ask him what his dad was like. and then to find come to the realization that his dad was very, very abusive on him.
And then it was like a light went on for me, knowing now I know why I'm the way I am because my dad. struggled with giving love. And now I know why I what I have done to my son Those generations, you follow that same pattern. And um I'm just so thankful. to know and to realize that God The Father loves me.
And loves Everyone. And that he's not mad at me and he's not condemning me. The Bible clearly states there's no condemnation in Jesus Christ.
So I'm just so thankful that. I've had the honor and privilege and humbled to be here. With other men that struggle, and I'm just so thankful to God for it.
Well, we're glad to have you here, Bill. I thank you, and I know God's got some more stuff in store. The weekend's not over yet. Amen. There's some more stuff that God's got planned to come, and so looking to hear more about that when we get a chance to catch up again later.
All right, sounds great. Thank you. Thank you. Andy, so what's been a big thing for you at this particular camp? Ugh.
Just the camaraderie of the of the The guys that came and And us as a team, to be able to really connect. It was good having Danny on today for his response during the Sunship talk. That was good. Every time you get some a new nugget out of a talk that you've heard a thousand times or whatever, and I think it's always, there's a freshness about it, even if you've heard it over and over and over again. Yeah, it's kind of like anything else.
I'm always amazed when I go back and read scripture that somehow I think it's changed. It's just my proximity has changed, you know, and so I hear it and see it and learn it differently. And so God opens your ears and eyes to things that you didn't have the ears and eyes to hear and see before. Our next guest is Sam from Kernersville. Not me, but you.
The real Sam. Yeah, the real Sam. I'm the fake. I'm imposter. Yeah, I'm number two.
I'm the second one to go there. Yeah, but Sam, welcome. How's this weekend going for you?
Well, my wife has asked me a couple of times, she's like, Well, are you having fun? And the answer is no. I'm not here for fun, right? But. The answer is, in fact, I'm having a good time, as in God is in good.
Right?
So it's not a fun time. It's not here about, you know, there's fun things. There are fun things that happen, but it's about being here and being here in the moment. It's about thinking deeply. And so, again, it is good.
The content is good. My heart is good. I'm enjoying the challenge that I'm being presented. But it's not necessarily fun. No.
Now, some of the things that God takes us back into can be kind of painful. Very much so. Right, but the victory that's on the other side of it makes it so worth it. But it doesn't make you look forward to going through it again another one. And so I definitely understand.
Yes, it's not easy, but I think it brings a lot of hope. You know, I think the enemy tries to isolate us, and we talked about that earlier, that we're the only ones that feel a certain way. You you talk amongst yourselves and you get hope. But it's not an easy thing.
Some things are easier than that. Praying. to receive God as Father to me was very good and refreshing, but going into the wound of why I needed God to be my father wasn't as easy. It was it was admitting that some things that I didn't want to that happened between me and my dad and stuff.
So Yeah, it's tough to go back there, but that's where the healing occurs. Sam, how's God coming after you this weekend?
So the word for me this weekend And it's really something that God's been working on me for about six months, is friendship.
Okay, and so it was something that started at church, but ultimately they were asking. Do you have a close friend, or better yet, do you have a great Friend. And one of the challenges I heard back then was: well, if you're going to be a good friend or if you're going to be a great friend, you have to be a good friend or a great friend. And then just the realization that, okay, here I am, 55 years old. I have lots of buddies, right?
And so that's what God's really putting on my heart. is I am looking for Friendship. Deep. Godly. friendship.
And that's what God's putting on my heart this weekend. And again, one of the things as we were in our quiet time yesterday is: where do you find that? You know, you don't find it necessarily at a bar. You know, people find it in boot camps. People find it in different things that they've done, you know, like military boot camps, et cetera.
And so God was like, you know, well, where do you go look for that, Sam? You know, who are your peers? Where do you go find them? And You know, there's not an app for that, right? Otherwise, you go out there and put an ad, hey, I'm looking for a godly bro.
You know, I'm looking for a godly bro. And that's what boot camp, I think that's one of the places is God bring me here was because he's like, hey, listen, this is the kind of place if you're going to find a good friend, if you're going to find a great friend, a lifetime friend. You need to go look in the right place. And so that's the word that I've heard this weekend: friendship. And again, where are you looking?
That's awesome. We appreciate you sharing that.
Well, Tim, we thank you for being here and being with us. Andy, so what the food? We got to talk about the food. Oh my gosh. Jay has been doing a tremendous job.
Robby made an amazing brisket that I'm waiting, can't wait to have leftovers on Sunday. But the food's been awesome. Yeah, I've already got my fast planned when I get back home. Yeah, I mean, it's. It is, it's hard to resist as much as like, I don't need that, it's just it's good stuff.
Well, you know, the way to man's heart is through his stomach, and we're definitely you know, we're definitely fulfilling that first part and opening up the doors for God on the second part. Bor, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. Glad to have you here. Yeah, welcome.
What how about how's God come after your heart today or this weekend? It's not really coming after my heart. He's just showing me many things and uh commitments. And plans and No, to um to enjoy and learn about him more with within the um this this big group. Um He just, you know, I'm here, I'm just laying out you the flow of the flow plan of everything, the blueprint.
And but you f Focus and realizing that you are loved. You are loved. That's absolutely awesome. That is very key, and that's probably the best part of the weekend for you. But sh other than that, what's been your favorite part of the weekend?
Um I would say the food. Yeah, that's definitely a good one. Learning a lot. More information of experienced men. going through trial trials in life.
tribulations Um learning from them and then sharing and giving advice. That's awesome. Well, thank you, Boer. We're really grateful to have you here, and I look forward to what God's going to be doing the rest of the weekend as he lays out more of those plans for you and helps you determine those next steps. Thank you.
So thanks for being with us. Sure. Andy, um Alright, so putting you on the spot, what's been your favorite meal so far? We've still got some good ones to come. Uh Are you going to make Jay mad or are you going to make Robby mad?
Which way are you going to go on that one? Um The hot dogs back here on top of the mountain were pretty darn good. Yeah, we did have lunch up here today. We did. That was it because we were able to get outside and be with one another and.
All of them have been good. I'm kind of a brisket guy, and I really enjoy that, but I overdid it. I indulged, but tried to hold back a little bit when I got to the pool port because I could have done the same thing to myself and I was already paying for it. But both of them were excellent. You know, I'm just seeing it as working out for Thanksgiving.
You know, I'm getting my body prepared, stretching my stomach muscles or stomach capacity out before things. The Bible does say buffet your body, right? Yeah, that's what we were doing. We were living that to the full. That's right.
Yeah.
Anyway, our next guest with us is David. David from Winston. It's great to have you here. How's the weekend going for you? What's the weekend been like for you?
It's been incredible. I didn't know what to expect. I had heard the podcast before and gotten a little bit into the book prior to coming in. I had kind of sorted some of the themes, but you know, these guys have been great to really opening up their hearts and minds and sharing from personal experiences and not holding back. Um, which, you know, speaks the world to you know, to me, because I've had you know issues with trust just growing up and with folks and everything else and sharing from my heart and my experience with other men.
So it's been great to meet other men and and touch base with them and know that that I can be loved by others. Um and that I can share openly with others and that it's okay and that that God loves me. One of the things that we've touched based on here is the issue of sonship, so Father God and who He is and who we are to Him and what we mean to Him. And so that's been beautiful to take on. I know my biggest struggles overall have been.
The agreements that I tell myself, that I've told myself, or that maybe I've taken on from what other people have said, or Or thought about me, um, or not said, and I just thought that they thought about me. Um So just Those reoccurring themes have come up of just searching and going through all the different stages that you guys have provided and questions that you've laid out have really kind of circled back around to what I've been telling myself, which has been the lies that I've been telling myself. Um so learning how to uh to kind of pinpoint those and then kind of stepping out into into who I am. to God, who letting him speak into me and and uh tell me who I am to him. And um You know, going through that process.
Obviously, there's still things that I have to continue to work out and continue to work on. But I'm grateful to be here and to be part of all this. A beautiful site and an amazing group of guys. I look forward to continuing to grow and build on that relationship, which is something that I've been wanting. all my life, you know, it's kind of have.
With other men.
So I'm thankful to be here. I thank God to be a part of this. And I've been indulging, so I ten pounds more is what I told myself before I leave here. Oh, yeah, you want to stay away from a scale for at least a couple of weeks. That'll depress you out of the gate.
But we do eat well here. I know you answered a lot of it in your question, but how else has God been coming after you this weekend? He's been definitely telling me that I have to listen to what he's. what he's laid out and and And not just listen, but do these things. I I still feel in my heart that I have once I get back home that I have a I have to reach out to a couple folks and And you know, apologize or go through those difficult conversations that I've avoided having.
So, just laid it upon my heart that the pathway to peace is rocky, but it's necessary. And He directs me and leads me towards that.
So, that's what He wants for me. Um so I I feel like he's guiding me towards that.
So one question I haven't asked anybody else, I was going to ask you, what would you say to encourage guys to come to camp? Oof. Um You know, I think maybe just don't look at this as another opportunity to get away. Although that's very important, I think Jesus got away, you know, got away with the men that he was with, but he also got away with the Father. And so don't just look at it as an opportunity to get away with other guys, but really to kind of get away with yourself, with your soul, with God.
And be open, be open to the different opportunities and different things that. themes that can come up. Um If you haven't picked up the book yet, pick it up. It's life-changing. It's great.
Wild at heart. It really is kind of a psyche interesting introspective into the male perspective and who we are in God's eyes.
Well, thank you, David. I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you, Kevin. Andy, I'm looking forward to after the podcast.
I enjoyed doing the podcast and the radio show. I do enjoy that. But I'm really looking forward to the next part of the rest of our day before we head back and do more talks. Tell the listeners a little about what we're doing. Yes.
Oh, you mean before we go back? Pretty much what I just said. Thanks for listening to the show. I appreciate that. I had my mind on what I was going to say.
You you're dominating my conversation. No, we're going down the hill to uh Camp Tocoa, where they actually trained. I mean, they ran this hill, but at the bottom of the hill is where they slept and trained and all of that. They've got a, I think, a Um A plane that they jumped out of, or replica, or whatever. And we're going to tour that.
Probably take an hour or so, I guess. But looking forward to seeing that. How I found this when we started coping Coming here was I did all the Band of Brother book and movies and stuff, and I was like, I'm pretty sure that that camp is in North Georgia. Let me check. And sure enough, it's about an hour away from where we're at.
At Camp Littleite.
So we've wanted to get here and do more of this, and we haven't really been able to until today.
So it's exciting to do that. To be truthful, we've come twice when they weren't open. Exactly. We finally figured out how to look at the website and actually show up when they told you to show up. Yeah, exactly, instead of just expecting they might be open.
Right.
So, Billy, right? Yeah.
You are our next guest. And so, how's your weekend going, Billy? It's going great. Great. I was grateful for the opportunity to come out here.
Um it's definitely been a blessing so far. Yeah, anytime you can take uh time out of your day or weekend to just Spend time with God and try to listen and get closer to Him. He's gonna bless you, and He certainly has me so far.
So, that's awesome. Yeah.
That's awesome. What's been some of your favorite stuff from the weekend so far? You know, I'm more of an introvert myself, but I'm trying to get better at that. But, you know, I enjoy the fellowship with the guys as I've been here. Just listening to the word and hearing what God has to tell me, because you always think, you know, that you try to get closer and you know so much already, but it's those little things that you catch as he speaks to you, you know, especially through other people.
And, you know, you start to see that he's trying to show you something. And that opens up your heart if you let it. And, you know, he's shown me just in the few days I've been here. you know multiple things that he's I like to say, knocking at my heart with, you know, kind of trying to tell me something.
Some things are brand new, and some things are things I've been contemplating already, but he certainly blessed me through this time already.
So I appreciate the opportunity.
Well, we're very grateful to have you here. I know that there's still about half the weekend left, so there's more opportunities for some quiet time with God. And you don't have to talk to anybody but him if you don't want to, which makes it kind of nice.
Sometimes I'm just tired of talking to people, you know.
So it makes it nice to do there. Is there anything else you'd like to add about your time here this weekend or way God's been coming after your heart? Like I said, he's just been knocking at my heart, showing me little things here and there, and I'm excited to see what the rest of the weekend holds.
Well, thank you, Billy. Thank you for being the guest. We appreciate you being with us. Andy, so what what thoughts do you have about how's God coming after your heart this weekend? Uh excuse me.
Um I haven't um been required to Talk yet. And it's given me more opportunity to listen to you guys. and just everything. We've got some of the team that we've had with us before come back, and that's been good to hear different people giving talks. You know, the whole idea he mentioned introspection, and I was thinking about that.
Or maybe it was David, but introspection to me, a lot of times you can do that on your own, and you really. Don't have much more insight than you already have. Having God in these covenant silences and actually allowing Him to guide you through, this is guided in introspection. Sure, you have to look at yourself, but God will guide you. I mean, we talk about it quite often, but I think it really is where the Where the breakthroughs come is when God gets involved.
So, yeah, I was thinking we really messed up. We should have had the guys spaghetti at the bottom of the hill. Yeah, and then brought him up to the top. Yeah, you have to watch the series. Yeah, you have to watch the series to see why that applies.
Yeah, pure he, the first episode, will show you that. Yeah, that's all you need right there.
Well, our next guest is Tim from Kernersville. He's him. Hey, Tim, how are you doing? And. How's the weekend going for you?
You know, it's been going well.
So, I was trying to, I was trying to think. I think this is like my third or fourth boot camp. It is. And. It's interesting with the way you guys run it because In a lot of ways, you're really facilitators.
And so you come into it and you have an idea of what the topic's going to be and what the agenda is. You know, you go three, four, five times and God brings something new every time. He does, absolutely. You know, it's uh lost count of how many boot camps I've been to and every time. There's another nugget.
There's something more to add to what's going on. How's God been coming after your heart this weekend, Tim? You know, it's been really interesting because. I would say I I spent the majority of my twenties Pursuing healing and freedom that I knew I needed, you know, and he was faithful to show up and bring that healing and freedom and spent a pretty good amount of time after that, you know, running after my calling and making some ground. And so it's interesting to come now.
Kind of when I had a chance to kind of run in some of that stuff and then be reminded of there's always more. There's always more healing available. There's always more freedom available. There's always more Jesus available than you're walking in. And it's just been a really good reminder of not to get comfortable.
There's always more to go after. Yeah, and God's always pursuing us through that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Anything else you'd like to add about the weekend or anything that is on your heart?
No, man. I think it just, it's an amazing opportunity. It's nothing like, you know. It's a great add-on to your faith if you feel like there's more that you're not getting on Sunday morning, that to have that real relationship with Jesus.
Well, thank you, Tim. We appreciate you being a guest with us and being here for the weekend, more importantly. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm glad to have you here. And so we'll talk with you more this weekend.
Thank you. My pleasure. Andy, what else you got? You always put me on the spot. I do.
I love doing that. That's my favorite. That's not my favorite. My favorite song is. What you got?
Oh, yeah. God's been coming after my heart this weekend, reminding me of things. You know, I've got to do a better job of writing things down and not just writing them down, going back and reading them. Because sometimes he has to remind me of things that he reminded me of so many times before. You know, sometimes that's at a deeper level, which is good, but sometimes it's like.
Like my kids are, you know, when they were little, I'd have to tell them like a hundred times for them to maybe hear me once. You know, and so that's it. Gene, our next guest. Welcome, Gene. And you're from the Charlotte area, right?
Yeah, well, Salisbury. Depending on when you hit the traffic, yeah.
Well, for us, that's Charlotte. Yeah.
So tell us a little bit about the weekend, Gene. How's your weekend going? How's God coming after your heart?
Well, one thing I've learned about these experiences like this are you God usually just hits the ground running, screaming, and on fire. And. Yeah To start out, I went to a funeral last month for an Army buddy of mine who died. We still haven't got the autepsy back yet, but uh and we're waiting on that. And it was the weirdest funeral sermon I've ever been to because nobody's ever talked about David and his grieving when he ended his grieving time with the baby that died.
And uh I got emotional. I don't even know why I got emotional, but I got emotional. And on my way home, I stopped at a buddy of mine's place and I. Took my Bible, went back to the to back to the back of his property to just be alone. If I would have stopped at the grieving time, that would have been one thing.
But I didn't, and that's my mistake. Because I read about Absalom and I understood. I knew about him, but I didn't know what happened. Yeah, which is something for people to read on their own. Yes, read that on your own.
That's some. Grade A dysfunction. Anyways, I read it. And I said to myself, I hate David because I am Absalom. And I got one of those fancy, really nice Henry Morris Bibles, and it talked about in the footnotes, it talked about the fact that Absalom was an absolutely rude, he was ruthless and unforgiving.
Literally, and God is bringing that to my attention because, yeah, he's bringing that to my attention. He's bringing my relationship with my father to my attention because my father's a Vietnam vet. I'm an Iraqi freedom vet, and that does not mix. And at one point, my father, I looked at my father because we got into it. I looked at him and he I I said to myself, I come from him.
That is in me, I must kill off that part of myself. And then I went to my about a month before I got two months before I got here, I talked to my deacon, one of my deacons, and I said, I can't kill that part of myself off, and God's dealing with me on this. But we're going to have to wrap up. I'm sorry to cut that off. I want to hear more about the story as we get back to camp.
Thank you for being a guest with us, and thank you for coming to camp. Andy, last couple of thoughts on the show before we wrap it up.
Well, now that we've been here and we'll be back, we would love everybody to come in the spring. March 12th through 15th. I didn't know the date yet. I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I'm pretty sure that is.
Yeah, it's March 12th through 15th, and we'd love to have you. It's not posted at the website, but you know us. We'll be telling you about it every week between now and then, trying to remind you. And I know you're a lot of guys out there. You always register late.
It'd be nice if you registered a little bit earlier, but we'd love to have you there no matter when you register, even if you come at the last minute. Yeah, shout out to our Spartanburg-Greenville folks as well. Come on to the camp with us. Yeah, masculinejourney.org. We are grateful to just being able to.
Be here to make safe travel down. God's been with us this whole weekend. I'm looking forward to what He has in store for the rest of the weekend. We'd ask that you just take some time alone. I know you're not at camp with us, you're not on this beautiful mountain, but go outside somewhere and just find some quiet time with God and let Him love on your heart and just ask Him these questions: God, what do you think of me?
What do you want me to know about our relationship and how? Show me how you love me. We'll talk with you next week. Download us on any podcast location, masculinejourney.org.
