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. We are glad to have you with us this week.
Robby's turning up my headphones and about blowing out my eardrums.
Sorry about that. Welcome to the Masculine Journey. Wow, it's a rough start to the year. We are glad to have you with us. We are at our first show of 2026.
Welcome. Can you hear me now? I can't. I can barely hear anything. He kept turning it up.
I'm like, no, you know, I couldn't do anything there. But we are wrapping up 2025 this week and probably will continue it into next week with doing the Word of the Year revisit. And so, Robby, if you would like to remind us at the beginning of the year, we had a show on the Word of the Year, which is not our first year to do that. Yeah, it it's A wonderful practice that I actually got from the Wild at Heart team. Uh which They You know, if you've been to a boot camp or familiar with a boot camp, That we have what's called a covenant of silence, where you ask, go ask God a question, and you get alone with him, preferably in the woods, preferably no screens, preferably, you know, in this place of communion with God, and you ask him.
Right? The coming year, 2026, you know, is there a word that would kind of center me on. you know, how we can grow together spiritually this year. Where you want me to head. And you just listen.
and listen, listen, and then you Hopefully, here something other than crickets. And then, when you do, you begin to try to seek confirmation. Through Scripture or something that He will give you to make sure, okay, we're on the right track. And then once you do, like, oh my goodness. You know, you're on your way to a beautiful adventure with God because He gives you words.
that really can center you in on you know, what he has for you in a particular season of your life. And so I can't even begin to even think about what my life would be, how different it would be had I not enjoyed this practice for the last ten years or so. Yeah, and we've been doing it, I don't know, six or seven years, probably, something like that. You guys have been doing it a year longer than me because I just didn't do it the first year. I just kind of set out rebel.
Yeah, well, that's all right. We'll get to you in a little bit, Andy. Anyway, so it's been really fruitful in my life. I was sitting back and I made a list of the words of the year officially on my phone today just so I would have them so I don't have to look them up all the time. And just revisiting each one of those brought back some fond memories of what God was doing in my life and continued to build on into the next year.
And so he's already given my word for 2026, but I will share that when we do that show. And looking forward to what that would do, even though I hate to lose my word of the year, which is what we often say. But Danny, we got you on the phone with us. Welcome, Danny. We're glad to have you on the show with us.
Good to be with you guys. Yeah, it's return in person, I promise. Yeah, we got Darren's been warming up your chair over there, so when you come back it'll should be nice and warm. Oh goodness.
Well, good. You have the first clip of the show. Do you want us to tell us about the clip first, or what would you like to do? Yeah, I'll tell you about the clip. It's from the series Picard, which is one of the Star Trek series, one of the later ones.
And it's um a clip toward the end of the show where Uh seven of nine who is she was captured by the Borg when she was a child. And the Borg is, if you don't know, um this this arch enemy of the the The Federation. And they just assimilate everybody. Everybody's probably heard the phrase, you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
But She had been freed of that and they've been on this mission, this kind of rogue mission. They hijacked one of the the Federation ships And so there could have been all kinds of trouble.
So she's um Come in and she's about ready to resign because she figures the gig is up anyway. And this clip is Um This clip is them reinstating her And giving her a surprise. I won't spoil it, but giving her a surprise at the end. and is about her restoration. And my word for the year was restoration.
And I chose this clip. when I got the word of the year at the beginning of the year. And so And now I've just repurposed it, but it means something totally different to me now than it did then.
So we can play the clip and I'll talk about it afterwards. Here we go. In light of their past and present service, The command crew of the USS Enterprise are receiving a full pardon. For commandeering Better yet. hijacking.
This very ship. With your help. Clearly my judgment, my Instincts. Don't fall in line. And that is why I'm resigning from Starfleet.
Okay. This was sent to command prior to you setting course for the Wrighten system. Your officer review. Bab. leads me to First Officer Hanson.
More accurately. Seven of nine. Yeah, it's a little. Oh. I'm a relic of an older time.
Buy the book. By that the book is boring. Hansen is reckless. She's unrelenting. doesn't give a damn about protocol or procedure.
However. She is brave. I'm loyal and The book that she writes is gonna be great. And the rules that she breaks. Maybe they were broken to begin with.
So The light of that. I have a recommendation. Promotion to captain when we return to fourth. Resignation denied. Captain.
There you go, Danny.
So tell us what that meant to you, that clip, and then what's the word meant to you this year?
Well, the uh at the end of twenty twenty four, We were in the process of moving back to Randolph County, going to take over my mother-in-law's. House, and then we found out there was tons of restoration that needed to be done there. And so I thought, okay, I I understand his word. Wrong. Um, and then that kind of failed and then we were uh staying keen And then there was some other stuff and I thought, okay, I'm beginning to see the big picture now, God, and I was wrong again.
Well I I've shared some. In March of this year, diagnosed with cancer. Yeah, which just kind of sent the whole world spinning in a different direction. And so and you know, you're just kind of digging your your nails in and holding on at that point. And so Okay.
keep it in mind that you know, still got this word. But now all of a sudden we're we're in a battle with stuff and what seemed like was going to be a relatively simple moved through with a caster m it was appendix caster and they took out the appendix and I thought, okay, we're going to be, you know, moving on. And so then they said they want to do a second surgery. Yeah. And they wanted to take out part of my large intestine to make sure, you know, there was no.
lymph nose affected in that thing. It was just kind of there. their rite of passage in in these types of cancers.
Okay, so they went in in May to do that. and they found out that there was a cancerous mucus that had leaked from the tumor. into my abdominal cavities on my wall cavity wall and on part of my small intestine and that kind of thing. And so they didn't do the surgery, they just closed me back up. And in essence, the word we got at that point in May was that there's really nothing else we can do for you.
Surgery-wise. Yeah. In other words, you're just going to ride this thing out. Which put us in about a, I don't know, about a year to a year and a half windows, what they said. and you know, it would run its course.
Well, that's kinda devastating and um So you know, we just kind of reel it from this. But where the the word restoration comes back in, somewhere in the midst of doing chemo. the the the folks at Novot helped referred me to wake Wakeforth Baptist, and they do some different surgeries And we met with a surgeon there who kind of had taken a look at the information he'd gotten from the other two surgeons and you know, the scans and all the stuff that they do. And he says, I think we can do you some good. And so, as we begin to talk about this surgery, which is major, major surgery.
that, you know, scary and that everything that that the word remission finally came into play.
So we possibly can get you to a place of remission. In other words, maybe my health could be restored and maybe I could live a few more years or or whatever God's got in mind. And so from that point on, God began to restore my health. and they still restore and we're still in a in a journey and you know But more than that, it began to restore there there's been lots of restoring of things to my soul. things to my heart that that have been dormant, if you will, for years.
And that today I was thinking about how You know, we get in such a hurry as Christians, you know, we want to grab the the latest spiritual revelation and run with it, and next week we'll move on to something else. And I was thinking about Moses and how he spent forty years in the desert. And there there's several guys in the in the Bible that that spent years developing something. before anything ever happened. And you know, if our soul is truly going to be restored, it's not a microwave process.
you know, if we're going to be restored into his image and his likeness. There is no microwave process. There is no thing and and sometimes life is just tough. It's just tough as it can be. And we had the surgery in September, and I'm still You know, in the recovery process of that, you know, I wanted to be.
and fully recovered at least six weeks after surgery, you know, and doing I love to do. And Yeah, six weeks I was barely walking good, so Um But it's a slow methodical process. You know, physically. But it's also, you know, I'm learning it's a slow methodical process spiritually. and mentally.
But God is faithful. And he is the restorer of our souls. He's the restorer of our hilt, you know, he has the whole bag in his hands. And you know, I love the old song I can't even walk without you holding my hand. And I've had to learn to live that out because dude, that.
That you know, I I can't even walk, I can't even do anything. But that holds his hand. And so th that's been kind of my restoration this year. It'll continue on into uh on into uh you know twenty twenty six and I'll begin praying for a word and see what that comes out of. Hope is nothing like this one, to be honest with you.
Understand, Danny. We'll talk to you after the break. 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. The first one, I had no clue what I was walking into, and then realizing that other people are in the same boat and how open everybody was to share their struggle is a great group, and a lot of impacting was that's going to be done.
It is a tight bond of men. Everybody's the same. And each and every time that I've come to food 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 and get real. Register today at masculinejourney.org. I pray on Christmas. Bye.
Uh That the law Seeing it through. I pray on Christmas He'll show me what to do I pray on Christmas Bum Buh-bye. You help me understand. And I pray it all Christmas Mariente, marien. Welcome back to Masco and Grini.
We're sitting here laughing. We've used that the last couple weeks now, and so we're stuck. We're stuck. We're kind of stuck there. But actually, I'm going to go ahead and play the bump in.
that uh Andy had chose. Yeah, talking on the mic's in. Andy had chose, and so here we go.
Sorry about that. So here's our bump back in, and then you talk about it. That was a great, but what'd you pray for at Christmas? We can come back and talk about that here in a second, but here's our bump. Verda?
Godspeed. Which you could. Down like rain, washing my eyes to see your majesty to be still and know that you're in this place. Jesus, let me stay and rest in your holiness. Word of God speak.
So go ahead, Andy, talk about that. That's mercy, me, and of all the Songs we have for the bump in for Word of the Year. That's my favorite.
Well I just I heard got chilled listening to it again. Just Um but anyway, that's uh You know, I prayed on Christmas and I got, you know, Word of God spoke. Exactly. The two songs aren't that far off. No, they're not.
Right? It's just what you're praying for. That's right. Right? The things that you're asking for.
And he speaks back. And you listen to what he says.
So there. We tied it in for hopefully which will be the last week. If not, we'll pray on Thanksgiving and Easter and all the other things. That's what we're like Christmas every day. It's not bad to keep praying.
I'm just saying, there are worse songs we could have to pray. Maybe we would pray every day if we thought it was Christmas every day. That's true. That's true. Well, Andy, you have, it's your time to talk about Word of the Year.
But first, I want to go back to Danny. Danny, was there anything else you wanted to share? We cut you off a little bit going into break. Was there more on your heart that you wanted to share? No, I'm good.
Well, I guess we're over to D to Andy then.
So Andy, you want to tell us a little bit about your clip or what you'd like to do?
Well, my word of the year, uh like I was telling everybody. I actually had to go back and listen to an old show. I forgot my word and it's it's happened to some guys before. It never had happened to me. I didn't engage in it this year quite like I should have.
And my clip will be kind of explain that. But uh You know, I guess I'll talk more about what happened through the year. But I will say there was, you know, there was a problem with me not really engaging in it, even though it was listened and I did hear some things. I just wasn't as engaged. You're not very engaged if you forget what the word was, right?
And I'm going to blame it on you guys because we didn't have an update in the middle of the year, and I would have had to have kind of stating it.
So you guys have to. Oh, we all stuck with our words. Just say it. I need I need help. But uh I chose uh or the clip I got here is from Cool Hand Luke.
And if you've seen the movie, if you haven't, uh it's it's uh You have the g the the warden, I believe, that keeps having to lock up Luke because he keeps running off. And You know, the warden kind of identifies what the problem is here. It's kind of a humorous clip. Um And then we'll talk about it when when we come back. You're gonna get used to wearing them chains after a while, Luke.
'Cause they're gonna remind you of what I been saying. A young girl. Wish you'd stop being so good to me, Captain. Don't you ever talk that way to me. NEAR!
Yeah. What we've got here is Failure to communicate.
Some man. You just can't reach.
So you get what we had here last week. Which is the way he wants it.
Well, he gets it. Did I don't like it. any more than you may.
So yeah, it was a failure to communicate. And it wasn't God's fault. And thank goodness God doesn't didn't treat me like the warden did. Apparently it was ours. Exactly.
Well, you signed up for this to be my brother, so you you are m your brother's keeper, right? No, it really was mine. I just, the year had gotten busy, but you know, God is graceful. I went back, and what we're doing. Sam and I are doing some stuff with the Ohio team, the Advanced Training Programme.
And I'm starting to focus a little bit more. I never have ver been very good at journaling. And, you know, right out of the chute of the the program that we're doing it is really listening.
So it's like right back in my face. And I told last week of how God had come after me at Christmas whenever I wasn't feeling it, and I asked him if it was a physical problem or a spiritual problem. He said, spiritual. And I went after that in prayer, and it broke rather quickly. And I just didn't have it, and I was just kind of stuck.
I didn't feel like Christmas, didn't feel like getting ready for it, didn't have joy for it. And that's not me.
So, you know, I had that experience. But he showed me where mid year Whenever you guys should have been reminding me about the word, you know. Um I was I was still up in Boone and it when it was he was leading me back to come to Winston. for whatever reason, we're still just still kind of walking that out. But it's been good be to be back in the area.
But I was praying and he gave me some direction about things that I had to do. And it was a good experience. I could tell from the journal entry. I was joyful. I had heard from him on some specific things.
So, you know, it's not like I've walked in darkness. I just wished I would have engaged more 'cause I have done that in the past a bit more and he would confirm the word. As things happen through the year, you begin to understand why you get the word. And and but I just didn't press in. But just some just some points about that.
You know, to be a listening, i i it's assumed that you're asking, you know, asking, seeking and knocking, right, Robby? That's the keys. It is. Um You know. Most of the time, I limit what I ask God for.
John uses a lot of examples of it. He uses list like 70% of the time, John Eldridge. He talks about. Whether he should go and do something on vacation and that kind of thing. And he's given a lot of examples where God's directed him not to.
And I travel with my work, and there are times when I pray into that. Spent a lot of time going back and in love with my family in Missouri. I probably made five trips last year. A lot of, but and some of those I prayed into, and some of them I just assumed I was supposed to be there. But there's a lot more to pray for.
Than I'm I'm engaging him in. I ask the questions that I, you know, don't think that are It's going to be a a difficult answer to receive, maybe something easier to hear from him on. And it's not that I don't ask. And a lot of times I take a What's godly wisdom, but there are times when I can ask, and I just don't because I just don't. Feel like it.
I just, it is the orphan spirit a bit. It's that independence. and not really wanting to and uh step into that and I'm just gonna Continue on. I really believe getting this refresher at the end of the year on listening and with what we're doing in the In our training program is just to really try to focus in on that. And it it uh is connected to my Uh twenty twenty six word and I'll share more on that next week.
But I think that's uh All I wanted to share. You know, another thing.
So Micah, I'm in IT. Everything is AI, AI, AI. You know, and it's a big part of what I do. And it's sitting there with a prompt. Yes, right.
I mean, AI everywhere, though.
Okay. A I A I not here. Anyway, you got the prompt and it's like ask anything. And we'll ask a computer in a heartbeat. We've been doing search engines and all.
You know, John talks about, John Eldridge talks about being discipled by the internet, getting instant answers from that.
Well, if you can get instant answers from the internet, why wait on God? Yeah. I think sometimes that's kind of a way my um You know, my default is, you know, like you said, an orphan spirit, maybe, or you're just the answers are easier. And it's what we always go back to. God doesn't just want to give you answers, He wants a relationship, He wants the fellowship with you, He doesn't want you to.
So sometimes I'm like, well, if I you know, if he's wanting me to come for answers, I don't want to come and just try to just You know, abusing, just asking him stuff, I should come always into stuff. Prayerful worship.
So then it's like I got to do this big buildup of worship to be privileged enough to ask him questions. And then I think, what happens with my daughter? Maybe I haven't seen her for a while and we get together and she sits down and she starts answering me questions about life. Does that bother me? Heck, no, it doesn't bother me.
I'm privileged to give her answers.
So and if I can have that attitude, God. has that attitude with me, I believe. Prodigal son, kind of thing. There's a story there. There's a story.
Yeah, there's a wound there. There's something. There's something there.
So, Harold, will you take the first quarter to remind Andy to check on word of the year? And Robby, will you take mid-year third quarter? I think we're good. All right.
So we'll get you checked in to make sure we don't let you. This is on record, too.
So that's right. But you won't hear it until beginning of next year. Anyway.
Well Andy, uh let me apologize for not reminding you. Oh yeah, exactly.
So, word of the ear, you should consider doing it just because it is so powerful. You know, i in the five or six years that we've been doing it as a group, It's been really cool to see the growth of each one of you guys individually and what God's done with your word, and that impacts me. As I hear what he's doing with your work. For me, it's just been a great little Travel, there was one year, Andy, I give you a hard time, but God made me repeat the class. You know, because one year I didn't do anything with my word.
It was faith. And he made me have it again the next year because I did absolutely nothing with it. And then I think the next was believe or not. No, it was believe was the first one. And then I had faith for two years.
Gotcha. Right. And so I really kind of narrowed those down. You know, and then uh from there he went into gifts, you know, talents and challenged me not to hide.
some things and and and after that he went to family. You know, 'cause in digging into my talents I probably took time away from my family. You know, a little bit, and that's the year that I lost my brother, and I'm so grateful for the time he gave me. you know, that I was intentional about spending time with family 'cause I had no idea at this time a couple of years ago my f my brother was gonna pass away. And so this year's word for me was sonship, which we'll talk about next week.
But it's just been a very powerful thing that he's done with me all year. And as much as I'm not looking forward to getting rid of this word, But you don't truly get rid of it, you build upon it. That's right. That's the thing: you're always going to be a son, you're always going to be a learner, you're always going to have to hear. It's going to be every stage, it's just adding it to your toolkit.
And so let God add something to your toolkit this week. Ask him Sagat, what's the word of the year you have for me? And stick with it. Be open. You may hear it in a song.
You may hear it in a movie clip. You may hear it somewhere else. Be listening, God's speaking to you and let Him give you that word and then just focus with Him all year on that. We're gonna come back and finish that next week on our show, and then we'll go back to having our after hours next week where we'll start to open up the Word of the Year. We'll talk with you next week.
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