This is the Truth Network. Coming to you from an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, a time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast.
So sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here now. Welcome to Masculine Journey After Hours and I'm Danny and Sam, and half the other crowd is out. And if you listen to the first show, you'd know that. But we are continuing the topic.
That we were doing some last week, kind of a different angle on it this week. And Art, we're going to let you set that up and finish what you started as they would do in older TV shows.
Meanwhile, in our last episode, our hero was sharing about.
So set it up for us and then kind of finish your thoughts from the first show, please.
Okay, to set it up, I will say that. The abridged version of it. Bridge small version.
Okay, so. I I happened upon a store that had a knife sharpener sitting on the counter and I uh swiped my knife through it uh about three times and it came out quite a bit sharper than I'd been able to uh get it on my own.
So you know the question I have is you know You know, why, why, you know, what is a man's role? Can a man. Um sharpen a knife. What what is a man?
So I had those kind of questions and we kind of skirt around the those and try to answer those all along, but more specifically I wanted to just do a whole show on what is the definition of a man and according to what we've been taught and learned and what society says and then of course according to what the Bible says and we're trying to answer that here tonight. Best we can. And in the previous show, I was telling about the movie The Fury. It was the tank crew and the end of the last days of World War II. I was telling about my own father and his experience in World War II.
He he had um He went to sign up to be in the Army and some somehow in the in the process they they discovered that he was a certified welder and they they told him, you know, Well, we need a welder We need you as a welder more than we need you as a soldier. They put him in the silver Civil service, and I think the first part of the war, he was building. destroyers, that was his his job. And in the latter part of the war he he went to Honolulu and his job was to repair ships and He actually worked on the North Carolina USS 55 when when it took a torpedo.
So that he was on that. He was one of many. It was a crew. They worked. 24 hours a day.
I kept kept working at it 24 hours a day with different people, but Um that was that was his role during the war instead of being a foot soldier, which he I guess otherwise would have been if he hadn't been a welder, but But the point, I guess, I'm trying to make is that, you know. A man is a man as long as he works, walks with God and his role in life, his interest, his what he what he does for adventure or for a living, it doesn't define whether he's a man or not or how manly he is or not. It's how we follow God's Word and take Him with us in whatever roles we we take. But in the movie, back to the movie, I'm not sure If I quite finish that, but the gunner had been trained as a typist, worked as a typist, and somehow he became a machine gunner. uh on this tank and At first, in their first encounter, he flubbed it up a bit.
He didn't do well at all. And the commander, Brad Pitt. Really had some harsh words for him and told him he had to do better, and he did. Throughout the movie, he got better and better, and he was actually became really good in this new role. He was a typist, but he became a warrior and a good one at that.
It turned out he was the on this tank. He was the only one that. that survived in the end. The typist who became a warrior gunner, who who became the survivor in the movie.
So.
So that's That's about all I have to say about that right now.
Well, good deal. You know, we were talking a pre-show, we were thinking about. those kind of things and and you know when you look at I think Harold mentioned the first show. Yeah, when you look at men in the Bible, And if you look at men around you, people you know, we're all different. I mean, we're different as day and night.
You know, I can't imagine being a a computer programmer. You know, I do good to get mine to come on and do what I want it to do. You know, and I think but you know, Harold talks about programming, you know, and everything. I'm not chasing cows around a farm. I can tell you that now.
I will chase one around a plate after somebody's grilled it up. But I think Jim's a cop, and he's had 400 other occupations. I think it's just in the mid-200s.
Well, we're in. That's a lot of roles. We're all different. And I think I mentioned in Scripture. You know, David, the story that came to mind was David, you know, when David stepped out to fight Goliath.
You know, Saul told him, said, look, here, take my armor. Take my sword. You know, you're getting ready to fight this guy who's been a trained warrior from his youth. And David, you know, put the armor on, but he'd give it back to him. And what he said was, he says, I have not proved this armor.
So I don't in other words, I haven't been trained in this way to fight. But I got this rock and this rag. and I'm pretty doggone good with it.
Now, David, we know when you read the story of David, he learned to fight with the sword and the shield, he learned to do that. But that wasn't he didn't fight like the rest of them. And and I think, you know, If your dad had been one of those people putting his ships back together and building his ships, How are the guys who fight on ships gonna fight? How are you know everybody everybody exactly you know there's a guy on those ships that stays in the engine room all the time Keeping the engine front. He doesn't never have to fight much or whatever they think, but by golly, he's important.
Mm-hmm. You know, when you show up on church on Sunday and you sit on a nice clean pew and you go to a nice clean bathroom, somebody clean their bathroom. And that was just as important as the pastor standing up and preaching. Gonna wait a minute, Danny.
Well, you go in a dirty bathroom at church, and you tell me how important it is. You know what I mean? But what I'm saying is that there are no menial roles in the kingdom of God. God gives us each and every one something that something that we're good at and something that, you know. may seem trivial to the next guy.
Yeah, yeah, on the show, you know, we often come back to describing man as having an adventurous heart, and God gave us that adventurous heart. And we talk about adventures like hunting, fishing. Traveling, being a warrior, or others. And but you know, there's You know, it all depends on what your inclination is and your interests are. That you don't have to necessarily do any of those things to be an adventurous man of God, to have an adventurous heart and and to what you're doing is adventurous to you.
You don't have to join the hunt club or or uh or or take up um riding motorcycles or anything like that. We talk about those things and if you're inclined to do it, that's all well and good. But but that that does but fine. You don't have to do any of those things. You have to do what's important to you and do it with God and uh to be a man.
Well, I chose a clip. I dug it up out of the archives so I didn't have to cut one because I'm a little lazy sometimes. But you know, we we've cut tons of clips over the years and you know, there's there's stuff out there. But anyway, it's from Braveheart. In the spirit of Andy Thomas, who's not here, I'm going to use a brave heart clip.
Um probably could have used a uh what is it what is it outlaw Josie Wells, 'cause I know there's a few of those out there. You know, but uh the anyway, the I think we have the whole movie including the Josie Wells. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I have to be careful, you know, so but uh anyway, it's from Braveheart and it's a scene that that that where they're honoring William Wallace. But what you hear is A bunch of exchanges, and you hear some argument and some shouting and that thing, but then you hear William's heart.
as to why he's in this fight. And it's very different from anything you've heard thus far. And and you know it it it's it's a great clip. And I'm going to play it and then I'll talk about it afterwards and tell you why I chose it. Sir William Morris.
Sir William. In the name of God we declare and appoint thee guardian and high protector of Scotland. and thy captains as Aid come. Stan will be recognized. Sir William.
Inasmuch as you and your captains Hail from a region long known to support the Baliol clan. May we invite you to continue your support and uphold our rightful claim. Damn the baley old time.
Now is the time to declare a king. Wait. And you're prepared to recognise our legitimate succession action. You're the ones who would support the rightful. Those were lies when you first spoke the last two.
I demand recognition of these documents. These documents belong you wrong. We have beaten the English. But they'll come back. Because you won't stand together.
Well, what will you do? I will invade England. and defeat the English on their own ground. Ah. Uh Yeah.
Indeed, this is impossible. Why? Why is that impossible? You're so concerned with squabbling for the scraps from Longshank's table. That you've missed your God-given right to something better.
There's a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it. You can hear several different things in that clip.
Number one, I think all that squabbling and all is a predecessor to our Senate and House of Representatives now. That's probably what it sounds like on any given day, I'm guessing. But we won't talk politics. But, you know, they're talking about different things and they've defeated the English and that kind of thing. But, you know, here you hear William Wallace's heart.
A heart that God gave him. And he has a heart for He's not doing any of this thing that you know that you know, if you've seen the movie Braveheart, you know, he wasn't going to fight, he was going to get married, he was going to be a farmer. and they drug him into this fight. And now he's in the fight. But he's in it.
for not for himself. but for the freedom of scholars. That's his whole premise, and it's a desire put on him from God. that his people be free. It's almost a Moses-like character if you think about it.
But when your heart comes alive, And you know, one of the things that we've talked about a lot, maybe we can talk about it a little bit more. But that, you know, in his ministry, You know, going to boot camps, gym, and trying to follow this thing, not that the book, Why the Hearts the Gospel. But it pointed me toward the gospel. It made the gospel make a whole lot more sense to me. And it made biblical manhood make more sense to me, Art.
That you know Jesus was a man And you he had certain things. And if I want to be a man, I need to follow After God's own heart. like David did. and the closer I follow. The more I become manly.
It may not be hunting.
Now I love hunting and fishing, investing like the next guy. I didn't grow up that way. I hated hunting. as a kid. Because I didn't like being cold.
I still don't like being cold. Ever since his last surgery, I'm cold all the time, so I don't know what I'm gonna do when hunting season comes. I'm gonna dress in all the clothes I have when I go out there, I guess. But the But those are the things that I thought. would make me I love sports.
You know, my heroes were, you know, baseball players, the old western guys. But in in actuality, I knew I wasn't like any of those guys. I watched a Clint Eastwood movie one time, put on my cowboy boots and took my BB gun out the front door and shot myself in the foot. Became like Chester on gun smoke pretty quick. You know, back and then I thought, wait a minute.
But uh but the reality of it is is that God had to unwind some things in my life. And you know, he's given me talents and treasures. That made me just as much a man as the next guy. And it took me hard, you know, and I was talking about it earlier. You know, I'm a sensitive guy, cry out to Lion King, you know, whole nine yards.
And, you know, and that bothered me for a long time. And I was a proclaimed mama's boy. I got called that a lot. I'm proud to say I am a mama's boy. She left almost five years ago.
She's gone on to heaven. I'm still a mama's boy. But you know, that's okay. Because, you know, there there's a there's a heart after God. That you know, we ain't all gonna we ain't gonna get it right.
We gonna mess it up every now and then. I can mess it up like the next guy. But Being God's man is more important to me than being a man's man. And I hope that, you know, I heard a podcast this morning, I was going to throw this in, that, you know. The question was asked.
Are you familiar with Jesus? Or are you fascinated by? And I decided this morning a way where I want to be fascinated by him. Because he's an eternal Creature, and if I ever lose my fascination and just become familiar with him. then it just becomes just something I do.
And that was kind of the point of the thing. But I want to be fascinated with Jesus. And, you know, this this clip was just, you know, just hit me that way. You we are All striving to be, you know. what God wants us to be.
But the world and even sometimes our churches have lied to us in what that really is. That that's the reality of it, is that, you know, You know, John Eldridge talks about it. You know, sometimes the message you get is this: to be a good Christian man. is to be at church every Sunday and don't sin. That's it.
If I see it, I wouldn't be there long, I'm telling you. Because number one, I goof up every now and then, and that just doesn't seem very adventurous to me. But you know, but but the fact of getting out and trying to disciple men and engaging in people's lives and meeting people that aren't like me and that kind of thing just makes your heart come alive.
So We got a little bit more time. Anyone got a story of how God has. straighten out some of the lies you you've known about manhood? One of the things you said About uh Bureau. like most men, you're a hunter.
You might be the only hunter at the table today. That's not normally not the case, but I haven't actually heard you bragging about You're hunting. Oh, no, I'm not a hunter.
So I don't have anything against those who do. It's just not something I ever pick up. And and um Shot a And this was sort of my story. When I was Well, I had my first BB gun and I'd hunted. a cardinal to death.
And I must have shot it 25, 30 times. and when I saw the dead cardinal and picked it up, I cried and I never wanted to shoot anything else except an occasional human being, but I hadn't done that yet. But uh that just never appealed to me. And I'm like you, uh if you I I don't care for the guys that want to go out just to Amount of head on their wall. But if you're out there getting venison and you're not wasting The deer is such a beautiful creature to me.
I'd probably come closer to kissing it than shooting it.
Well, you know what what I found? I started hunting three years ago. I hunted some other kid and like I said, I did not like to be cold. or none of that stuff, but uh... There was just something in me that you know, because some of the guys around here were hunting and that kind of thing out of Gaither's place.
And I went out there with them and. I shot at my first deer, missed him by a mile, I'm pretty sure, because they failed to tell me, don't look at the horns. I had heard people talk about buck fever. And when you look at a deer through the scope and you realize what's getting ready to happen. Your heart takes a rate that would alarm most cardiologists.
I could feel my heart beating in my ears. And I'm just, and I'm like, how in the world do you? And I know in the excitement, when I pulled the trigger, I snatched the gun up, probably shot 20 feet over the deer. Deer runoff. Mm.
But what began to happen, and it didn't happen until I started hunting the place I hunt now. Guys got to stand. and deer were coming out of Gaithers, you see them at 150, 200 yards out. That's one thing. But to have deer walk up on you twenty yards away from you and just meander around.
And you're right. They are graceful, beautiful creatures. They are curious creatures. They are hilarious creatures. But they are smart creatures as well.
And I become fascinated with just watching them sometimes.
Now, there's a couple of them in my freezer, don't get me wrong, because we use the meat and that kind of thing, because I was raised, if you're gonna kill it. You're going to clean it and you're going to eat it. You know, you don't waste stuff. Yeah, that's the way I was raised. And so therefore, I didn't hunt a long time 'cause, you know, and that's the way I was raised and that was more from my mom.
But I the fighting instinct Was in me. When I was a kid, and my cousin and I were playing together, we were the men from Uncle. We were just James Bond and Felix. Leitner, I think. Anyway, and I always Cowboys and Indians.
Didn't didn't play that one. But we were spies and at one point we got a book on karate and beat the crap out of each other trying to learn how to fight. But I never wanted to fight. I was an extreme pacifist, and I think that was actually a gift from God. I learned pretty much, I'm not a dummy, even though I'm big.
and we're supposed to be dumb. I learned pretty quick that the big guy loses the fight either way. Either where the big guy picking on the little guy Or we have the l big guy that got beat by the little guy.
So fighting was something I had to do through junior high school 'cause that's what everybody did, but somebody had to pretty much hit me before I'd hit back. And I'm still that way. The warrior is still there. But what God changed was what's worth fighting for. And that's my wife, my children.
My cats, no. Be mean to my cats, we'll have a problem. I mean, that's I'm going to protect what God has put in my life to protect. But uh and I still Love a good war movie. And some of those are the most moving things.
And yeah, I'm like you. I I was bawling like a child the first time I saw the Saving Pratt Ryan. Before it even got into action, when he walked into that cemetery and asked. Am I a good man? I lost it.
So But the closer I get to God, the more I laugh and the more I cry. I've been saying that for decades now. I'm not really a hunter either, even though I live on a big property and have a lot of wildlife around. I have some guns and I like to think about it, but I don't actually do it. I remember a couple of years ago some of the guys were getting together to go on a dove hunt and uh I thought, well that would be kind of fun.
I'd kinda like to go and then I'm like, you know, no, I believe I'd I'd just as soon stay at home and stay at home with my dogs. And I tell you, anything I do involving my dogs, that's an adventure for me. That sure is.
So I didn't go. Uh I think I would like to s uh s but but, you know. The more fun adventure to me is is just be around my dogs and my cows, my animals, and stay at home.
So that's what I do. Wow. I've been on I've been on uh a couple of those dove hunts. That's why I like hunting deer. They're slower and they're bigger and they're easier to hit.
Well, and you know that one of my names from God is Morning Dove. Yeah, I take that personally. But I'm an easy one to hit, and I'm slow.
Well, the last hunt we went on, I scared two dove pretty bad, but I didn't kill them. I'm pretty sure I scared them. I sped them up a little bit.
Well, you know, we got a little bit of time left. And, you know, there's been a great topic. I listened to the show last week, I wasn't here. had to work and uh you know unfortunately I still have to work. I've been trying to get out of that habit, you know what I mean?
But uh the uh and but If this is search a dangerous topic. It really is. Because as we talked about the pre-show and and we'll we'll uh Kind of wrap it up with this: is that you know, there are so many things out there that make masculinity as you know a domineering thing over the female persuasion. Or, you know, you got to be something that you're not. You got to be the Marlborough Man.
You got to be the John Wayne. You got to be that. If you're not that, then you're not nothing. you know, if you don't ride a motorcycle, if you don't do that thing my wife told me I could have a motorcycle after many years of marriage. She said, But there's one condition.
She said, Not if, but when you kill yourself. You need to have enough life insurance that I can grieve in the lap of luxury.
So I figured it was cheaper not to have the motorcycle.
So but you know, but it's those things that we process. You know, growing up, I was not good at sports. I love baseball. I've always loved baseball. My hero was Catfish Hunter, the pitcher for the New York Yankees.
But I wasn't good at it. I was good at pitching. Because dad told the coach one time, he said he throws all the rocks out of my driveway in cans. He's pretty good, but I have to get gravel every now and then because he throws all the rocks out. But I couldn't hit Harold for nothing.
And one game. We had a perfect season going with our little league team. We hadn't won a game all year. In the last game of the season, we played the team that hadn't lost a game all season. And it was two outs.
last inning and it was my bat and everybody goes, Oh, it's Danny's bat Hadn't had a hit all year. I don't even think I'd made contact with a ball all year. Usually struck out. And I swung the bat, pretty sure I had my eyes closed, and I hear the crack of the bat. And when I open my eyes, I see the ball fall right behind the first baseman's Hit in just before the right fielder.
Got a base hit. There were two guys on base. We won the game, and I got the game ball. And it was like, what in the world just happened? You know, and I got a button, it was one of those things where.
Jesus, take the bat. Jesus, take the bat. And I do believe. That was God's grace and mercy. I do.
I believe it was a gift. Because I was not skilled at that. You know, that's why I took up golf because nobody's throwing me the ball or throwing it at me, and nobody's trying to tackle me because I got it. You know, so um. B wayway, I hear the music playing.
You've got a boot camp coming up the weekend before Thanksgiving, the 19th through the 20-something. And The uh And you can go online and register at masculinejourney.org. You can listen to us on any podcast format. You can listen to the radio show and the podcast. On anywhere you get podcasts, Spotify, you know, iPod, anywhere.
And you know, you can look us up and you can almost you can email any of us at our first name like danny at masculinejourney.org or any of us so we look forward to hearing from you talk to you next week Right.
