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 Mac. Ah, masculine journey.
Maculine? I couldn't really say that. I stumbled through that. Welcome. I made fun of you, Andy, before the show, and now I pay it for it.
It is poetic. I like the immaculate journey.
Well, yeah. Let me try that again. Welcome to the masculine journey. We're glad to have you with us today.
Now it feels more normal.
Okay, yeah. We're doing our final show of 2025. I know it's 2026, but we're doing our final show of 2025 because we're finalizing our word of the year from 2025. We started that last week on the show, and we're going to finish it out on this show for this year, and then we'll move on to the Word of the Year for 2026. And so, Andy, what is the word of the year?
So the word of the year, something that Robby started doing. Um we've talked about this a bunch and Robby being the overachiever turned it into a word of the day. We won't go there, but he got it from Wild Hart, and it's a great idea. I mean, a lot of people, some people say, I have a. Life word and that kind of thing.
But when God gives you a specific word, He knows what the future is, and He knows what He wants to work on you. He knows what he wants to work with you on through the year. Easy for me to say. But uh it's just that that idea of partnering with him And something that's specific to you that he wants to do in your life, or he knows. You're going to need it.
for the coming year and uh I think we've all testified to how we find the appropriateness of it. But it also causes you to push into something. Maybe you get a word that you wouldn't you know, normally Think about it, or whatever it may, it's it's a discovery, it's a journey, it's uh It's not just like, oh, okay, that's the word, and you move on. I mean, sometimes, like last year, I didn't really stay engaged with it. But anyway, it's just something.
of what God gives you as an individual of what you can expect for the next year. Right. And most often it unpacks differently than what you think it will. Yeah. And we've found that it there's a linkage a lot of times from year to year and they build on it, I think we've talked about.
So It's uh it's it's more of the adventure with God that we we talk about on a regular basis. It's just another way of uh pushing into that. Right. And uh so far I don't think we've really had too many words that were duplicated. I can't remember many.
Yeah, I don't think we really have, which is kind of unique since we've been for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
Well, Robby, we will go to you on your word of the year from 2025. If you want to talk about it, talk about the clip, whatever you'd like to do. Kind of both. Yeah. So.
My word of the year was fascinating to me because I I came off of the word vision in for twenty twenty four. Which was ended up with this idea It still blows my mind of taste and see.
Okay. that I realized by the end of that journey with the word vision and see that the Lord is good, right? And as I came into 2025 Lord said, Okay, now that you know how to see and you have some idea of the goodness involved. He said Your word is worship.
Well, I... Have always felt worshiply challenged. In other words, I'm not the guy who. you know, stands there with his hands raised or is running up and down the aisles, you know, necessarily. I mean, I and I've often You know, actually envied people that were in that mode, or you know, how David was when he brought in the ark, that kind of thing.
Like, man, you know, I want to. To sense that, I wanted to feel it.
So I was very excited about the word coming into the ear. And You know, part of the way that I stay engaged and I dearly love what God does with me is that, you know, I spend a lot of time in prayer every morning and. And I put it right down in the early part of my morning prayer. that I actually list all the words I've had from the beginning to that word Yeah. Ask God to continue the journey with that word.
And when you do that on a daily basis, it it it kind of I don't know. You know, the whole world looks like a nail when you got a hammer, right? And so you got that hammer, and I was looking. For worship. But the first thing that he taught me, there were three major things that came along that literally blew me away.
The first one was that I had this idea of worship: here's God. and I'm worshiping him. Kind of, I'm here and he's there and I'm worshiping him, which always seemed a little bit just like, really? And I said, didn't feel right. And God showed me through the Psalms.
And through the study of Hebrew, as you might imagine, that I did, That We worship with him. In other words, when we're worshiping Jesus, the Holy Spirit's helping us do that, and so is the Father.
So we're worshiping with God. Or, if we're worshiping the Father, we're doing that with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. In other words, no matter which one you choose to worship, you got the other two. Joining in with the idea of worshiping that aspect of God or that attribute. In other words, What I came to understand through that first understanding was, oh my goodness.
This is not out of communion with God. You don't worship out of communion with God. You worship in communion with God towards another part of the Godhead, however, that works. It was just a. Just really changed my whole like paradigm of worship right there.
So I was like, wow. And the second Of the three. Uh was Uh I staff uh uh Nikita Kolov's man camp, which is a weak experience. And There's a lot of Men getting real. Real real.
Yeah. And Began to study the concept of, you know, 1 John 1:9 says, if you're faithful, confess your sins, you know, he's going to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Which a lot of us confess our sins and ask God to give us righteousness. And that's. Amazing.
And you can certainly worship God from that perspective. But what I had missed is in James chapter 5, it says, if you confess your sins one to another, that you will be healed. And here's what really led me to worship was that shame If your 1 John 1:9 doesn't do anything about shame, you don't get healed from shame if you confess your sins to God and you're still holding it in, and nobody knows that you're struggling with. Gossiping or being judgmental or whatever is your struggle, and you're ashamed of that, then you can confess it to God, but you still hold some of that shame. When you begin to share your sins with your brothers, are you able to.
Talk about your addiction to pornography or whatever it is, when you let that go, you're You're to some extent as sick as your secrets. But when you start to tell other people about it, Shame loses its power over you. And actually, when you get to the point where you can tell anybody about it, shame has no power. And so there's the healing. that would come from these men and I watched them.
as they would get this phenomenal healing when they got real. with what they were really struggling with. And we had a chance to see them lose that shame, the result. was this phenomenal worship. And I watched them.
is they were worshiping God from a point of recovering from that shame. And it was miraculous. And I was just like, oh. You're teaching me that. I'll never forget that.
I'll never forget that. The third one, which this is my clip. Um I'll play the clip and then I'll talk about it.
Okay, do you want me to play it? Yeah, go ahead.
Okay. You know, there's nothing like the experience of raising your first dog. You're so sweet, you're like a little clearance puppy. How? How are you still eating?
The dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor. You're killing me, you know that? Clever or dull. Smart or dumb.
Is he there? Yeah. Of course he's there. He's always there. You know what made you so Great dogs, you loved us every day, no matter what.
That's an amazing day. A waterlog stick will do just fine. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. Yeah, that's a level of worship that literally blows my mind that. Um Right at the end of the year, I was studying Revelation 11.
Revelation 11, God asked John to go measure worshippers. And I said, Oh, bingo, let me go figure out what this one is.
So I look at the Greek, and in the lexicon, just beautiful, just right there in front of me, couldn't be more obvious. It said, when a dog licks its owner. And you see, the circle back was The dog is tasting its owner. which Harold actually sat there and said it as soon as I went to him. He said, The dog is tasting you.
And saying And when you think about what he's describing about Marley Is it doesn't sm matter how smart you are or how dumb you are. It doesn't matter. You know, whether you're doing it with an electric guitar or whatever it is, it is a wet stick will do. From God's point of view, he's looking at your heart. And he's looking at Do you have any understanding?
How good we got it, Robby. Because we have each other. You know, we are baptized into We're baptized into. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we just have no clue.
I mean, I'm just talking about Robby. I don't know about anybody else, but Robby has no clue how good I've got it. Right. But I'm hanging out with the most amazing, incredible, spectacular. The thing in the universe is God and three people, and we are in a community.
Um where we get to share that. Oh. The masculine journey from my standpoint. I can see God in everybody. And the result of that is you taste, you see.
You worship. It's a beautiful year. It is.
Well, thank you, Robby. Danny, glad to have you back on the line with us. We're glad to have you here. You got anything you want to add to that? Uh, no, not at the moment.
You'll be doggone. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're thinking about getting a dog, aren't you? I raised a few dogs.
Exactly, exactly.
Well, we do have a boot camp coming up in March. It's March What is it, 12th through 15th? Yes. And it's back down in Royston, Georgia. I'm just struggling through all of them tonight.
In Royston, Georgia. It's something that we talk a lot about it, but it's a place where you can find. your lane to worship God. What works for you? What doesn't work for you?
There's no pressure. You know, the only thing that we ask that you go do, that you honor, is our covenants of silence. Right, that you go out and you spend time with God, everything else is between you and Him. Right. And you find Truths about yourself and truths about him that you really don't get anywhere else.
unless you take that time somewhere else and go do it. And so we encourage you to really pray about that. If you don't have anything booked for that weekend, go ahead and go book right now, March 12th through 15th. We'll talk to you after the break. Uh 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 got away from Christ and suffered an overdose and he took my memory. At that time, I didn't know where I was, who was who, what I was doing.
So he showed me a little bit of his power there, letting me know that without him, I'm nothing. I don't got nothing. And that will be nothing.
So I decided to come back. And just right now, for the first time, like I've been through a lot of things, like SUC me's. tattoos all over and everything I've been through a war.
So for the first time in my life on this on this camp, I've been able to feel that peace in my heart. I haven't seen my family in over eight years now, but I actually can say today that I'm okay with it. God is with me and He's been dealing with my heart in a way that I never experienced it before. And I'm just thankful and grateful. Register today at masculinejourney.org.
Yo!
So let's give. Welcome back to Mascone Journey. We are talking about God's words that He gives us for individually each year. We spend the year in and study with him and walking with him and adventure with him. It's not always studying.
Sometimes God gives us more truths in other ways, as those words play out. And so, Robby did a great job of illustrating many different aspects. Of how that word plays out for you. Who was that on the bump, Sam? Uh that was a band.
It was third day. Casting crowns on it. No, it was third day. It was third day. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, that used. That I needed to know. Yeah, yeah. I actually used Chat GPT to say what Christian music out there has in the chorus the word word.
And so I got a list of. Simple search, huh? Yeah, it was more productive than just the normal Google search. It gave me quite a few words, songs about words.
Some of them are good. Most of them are good. Yeah. Yeah, and most of the songs I didn't know, I did know that song, I just had forgot about it.
So we are continuing on word of the year, and it's my turn, and that's why I'm stalling a little bit.
Now, I. My word of the year was sonship, and when I got it, it honestly scared me. Because I'm like, oh, what's a horrible thing that's going to happen that I'm going to need this? But I realized over the year I needed it every day. I need it in all situations and I tried to think of a A single time that I could just pick and say this is when it really impacted me.
but it impacted me the most over the year as I invited him into all things. Not just this one thing, but as I've learned to invite him more into my finances than he's ever been, to invite him more into my relationships than he's ever been. You know, and I know I can go deeper, that's why I say it that way. I'm sure I'm holding back still in areas. Right, but just saying, Okay, God, I just need you here.
And that became more of my prayer throughout the year. You know, and and I did have some health stuff that came up this last year where I had a heart aneurysm. You know, which scared me, thought I was going to die any day, you know, kind of thing. And until I got in with the surgeon, but that stuff in the past would have taking me to some really dark places, some really scary places. Because if you try to look up anything medically online, it's not smart.
Right? Which chat GPT MDT? It's usually pretty positive, but it'll be you'll find yourself in the emergency room every hour on the hour because you found some other thing. And so you try not to do that. Right.
You know, and that's our go to sometimes. We want something tangible. You know, but I've learned that that didn't do anything but just gave me more angst, you know, and more stress and didn't make things any better. And the only thing that made it better is to say, Okay guy, do you know how this is going to play out? I just need to leave it in your hands, you know?
Make sure I didn't leave anything unsaid. Focus on things I should be focusing on anyway. And it ended up being okay. You know, for now, the doctor said he'll see me in two years and not to worry about it. And I'm like, okay, just don't increase my blood pressure.
So I'm trying to focus on not being so angry when I drive, Harold. You can appreciate that, I'm sure. You know, it took you a while to conquer that one. I'm still not there. You know, anything you want to add to that?
It took a long time. I'm 84 and I hadn't been there all that long. Yeah, it's going to take me 20, probably 22 more years as well to get there.
So maybe by the time I'm 84. I'll get it, but just inviting him in to my life in spending that time with him. I want to play a clip. It's from the um movie Man of Steel, and it's uh back when Clark is a young boy and he has a dad, mister Kent, you know, is his dad here on earth, his adopted father, and he learns from him that he's adopted. Right, and so he's starting as Mr.
Kent is telling him the story of how they found him and everything they found with him. You know, and he's starting to feel all this pressure of: oh no, I'm not what I thought I was. And you hear him ask him a question at the beginning of it. Can't I just be your son again? And let's hear where he goes with that question.
Can I just keep pretending I'm your son? You are my son. But somewhere out there, you've. You have another father too who gave you another name. And he sent you here for a reason, Clark.
And even if it takes you the rest of your life, you owe it to yourself to find out what that reason is. I love that clip for a lot of reasons. You know, regardless of whether you had. A great dad here on Earth, you had no dad here on Earth. You had a bad dad here on earth.
The truth of it is we have another father. that has a name for us. Right. that loves us deeply. And that clip just kind of sums it up really well: that we are sons.
All of our words are sonship. When it gets down to it, we're just learning it. You're you're learning sonship through worship. Robby, as you described, but it's getting more deeper, more deeper. I need to learn English.
You need an English tutor. My daughter can probably tutor you. She teaches a high school. Yeah, she could father me through that. But no, it's just learning how to be more of a son in him.
is what we're constantly doing. It was at the point where I didn't really want to give up the word. You know, and we've talked about that a lot, that you get so used to this word, you get so used to living in it. And not that you have to stop, you just don't want to switch your focus. You know, but pretty quickly God gave me a year, uh, word of the year for 2026 that takes it even deeper.
You know, and I didn't even know what the word was, which we'll talk about on our next show. If you're interested in that, that's in the after hours, and you can get that on podcast. Right? And so you go to any podcast outlet. And if you listen to us on the radio, you may not know that we do have a podcast on this.
And you go to Apple, Spotify, any of them, put in Mash Gone Journey Radio. Put in and look for after hours on Word of the Year and you'll be there. And you'll be able to listen to it. But we're going to talk about some of the guys' words of the year coming up on the next show that we do here in just a little bit. But I'm excited about my word of the year for 2026, but I'm not going to share it with you right now.
You'll have to wait, or you'll have to download the podcast to hear that. But anyway, sonship for me has been key. And quite honestly, Robby, you said it well. I never will step out of it. Right, if I do, I've lost everything that I've gained.
And I don't want to go there. I just want to get deeper and deeper and deeper in there because that's the only place. In this hectic world, in this ever-changing world, in this world that we're behind enemy lines, that you can truly find peace. Right. in absence of chaos, a peace in the midst of chaos.
And as much as I love my life and I'm a very lucky person, I think all of our lives have some level of chaos going on at all times. Right, physically, mentally, financially, spiritually. Maybe all of those? In this world, you'll have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world, right?
That's right. Jesus.
Well, yeah, I mean. For sure. A lot of times we do think uh that's uh so many of us think as Christians that we're eliminated from problems. Maybe not overtly, but I mean, your life's supposed to get better when you come to Jesus and it does, but it's not always like what we think it's going to look like. Oh, yeah, there's always opportunities to make.
Come on, God, really? Yeah. You know, the. I have to sit back and say, okay. I don't know the outcome, you do.
and I need to be okay with that. Right. It doesn't keep me from being frustrated. It doesn't keep me from having some level of worry. But it helps me keep that stuff in check.
To say, okay, God, I'm going to trust in you when I can't trust in all these other things. Right, because everything else can be manipulated and twisted. The enemy is the key at miscommunication. Right. And so even when you're in the middle of a loving relationship, She says this, I hear that.
I see this, she hears that. As well as you know each other, The enemy's still trying to mix that up, and the only thing you have that is the truth is the one that says he's the truth. Which is Jesus, and just kind of grounding yourself there.
Sorry, I'm just belaboring the point. But no, for me, that's been kind of key. And so I'm looking forward to this next word of the year. And Robby already knows more about the word than I do, so he's been helping me learn about it. But I'm looking forward to learning about it on my own.
That's what happens when you have a rabbi. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, anyone else got anything you want to add? We got a couple of minutes left on the word of the year for 2025. It Mine is kind of like yours and especially Robby's, it's been a progression over the last several years.
And I started out in like twenty twenty three with calling. And then Halfway through the year, it progressed to tenderness, and I was like, okay, what's that got to do with anything? Um And I finally figured out it was It wasn't really about me being tender, although I need that. It was more about God being tender with me, that tender as in a bruised reed. You know, he won't Um put out your flame, snuff out all of those things.
And so then it moved into Um holiness. and perfection. and waiting And it's been a progression over the last several years. Until coming up.
Now, as we get to the end of 2025, the beginning of 2026. Um I'll You know. Share it. before we get to the after hours, but The next word in line for me is finish. And so when I first heard that, it was a little fearful, actually.
It was like, okay, God, I don't know how I like that quite a bit. The movie means like Norwegian. It could be that I'm going after some finished birch. But yeah, I do understand it. I'm beginning to understand it more and more, what he's going after, and I'm excited about that.
Um in some ways and you know, not necessarily looking forward to uh the hanging and the twisting and the waiting In that process, you know, but it is in the hanging and the twisting and the waiting that you are perfected. And it's not me being perfected, honestly. That's the thing that I figured out in 2025 more than anything, was that this word perfection. It's not about me being perfect. It's about him making me Suitable.
For use.
So when something is perfect, you say, Oh, that car's perfect for me.
Well, that you're saying it's perfect for your situation, it's suitable. for use, for you. And so in the same way God We are told to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
Well, He's perfect in that way, He's suitable for everything. And so he's asking us. to be perfect, perfected, and suitable for that which I have called you for. And so moving into that a little bit deeper this year and into next year.
Sounds good. If you don't know Your word of the year, ways you can do it is just listen. I mean, it sounds silly, pray about it, listen. If something jumps out at you in a song that you're listening to, spend time on that and study with God and say, God, is this the word? If someone says something to you that just kind of sparks your heart, makes your heart jump, say, God, is that the word?
He'll unveil it to you. Just keep leaning into him. Go to masculinejourney.org. We'll talk with you next week.
