Initiation

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And we have a topic I bet you didn't think we would talk about on the air. I mean, it's just not something that really comes up in Christian conversations very often. I mean, have you really heard it in Christian conversations? No, we didn't initiate the deacons very often in this sort of way. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, in other ways, just not that sort of way. Yeah, we're talking about the topic of initiation. Yeah, yeah. Exactly right, Robby.

We are talking about the topic of initiation and how in the world does that tie into your Christian walk, your time with God, your relationship with God, or does it? And so we're going to be talking about that today and visiting different aspects of it, and of course, different clips. Uh it's not something that we originated to talk about this week. We actually watched a video from the Ransom Heart Group. On the topic of initiation, and we're not going to replay their topic in here, but we're going to talk about how that kind of landed with us and how we've seen God doing initiation with us over the years.

Right, and what that's produced. And so as we go through, just be fun enjoying the conversation as we learn about it for the first time too, as we learn each other's stories a little bit differently. Um Darren, you have the first clip. Yeah, and uh I mean, this is uh You've heard us talk about being enticed by God and disrupted and dismantled and healed and restored.

Well, This is the dismantling part. Right. I mean, that's really what we're kind of talking about: how God deals with us. And sometimes it can be comical, and sometimes it's a little more like boot camp, not the boot camps that we have. I promise we don't put you through an initiation if you come to one of our boot camps.

It's got to be at least a third before you have to go through it. Yeah, right. Yeah, if you come back three times, we're going to pull something on you. But just ask the people that have been there more than three times. But yeah, this comes from the movie Hexall Ridge, which there are tons of military boot camp clips out there that we could use.

This one just encapsulates a lot of humor and the idea. of You know, You don't know what you don't know, and you need to know that. That type of thing. And so that's what this clip is about: the drill sergeants coming into the barracks for the kind of the first time and introducing himself. And letting these guys know they don't know what they don't know.

And speaking of observations he's had. Yes. Right. Yes. Regarding them.

Yes. So here we go. Hey! Let's go! Move it!

Move it! You are a very strange-looking individual, if you don't mind me saying so, private name. Andy Walker. How long have you been dead, son? Sir?

I am not, sir! I am Sergeant Howell or Serge! Sir, you say for useless people. Their name is Ghoul, you say. Walker.

Sergeant! Oh, it is! Yes, Sergeant! Shoof. Thanks.

There's something off in your presentation, Private.

Okay. Can't place it. Is it your hair? Is it the wrinkle in your trousers? I have a knife in my foot, Sarge.

Oh yes, of course. That's it, the knife. What is your name, soldier? Spitty Reichen. No.

Your name is Private Idiot. Do you know why? 'Cause I have a knife in my foot. Who placed the knife there, private? It was an accident, Sergeant.

It was a plain stretch. I'm heartened by the knowledge you did not place it there with intention. Who threw the knife? I did, Sergeant. Private Krasinski.

Are you grinning at me, boy, or is that your natural state? Name private. Desmond Dahl. I have seen stocks of corn with better physiques. Makes me want to pull an ear off privately.

Can you carry your weight? Yes, Sergeant. Should be easy for you then. Corporal sorry. Make sure you keep this man away from strong winds.

Yes, Sergeant. Private idiot. I just saw it. Higher. Move!

And there's a lot more there that we probably didn't need to play on the radio. Yeah, we had to edit it slightly. We had to edit it a little bit. But but you know, the fun part is. We have all been private idiot at one time or another.

I've been that guy with God a lot, you know, going to God when I just don't get it. You know, why is life like this? And he's going, well, you have a knife in your foot, idiot. And so, you know, there's that sort of thing. And honestly, I mean, God hopefully is often playful with us in that regard.

But he is sometimes, you know, has to get And so Okay. For me, Initiation growing up, if you would, as soon as we talked about the topic the other day. I thought about all the different Stupid boyhood. you know, clubs that we invented, you know, out in the boondocks of Oklahoma. And, you know, if now I never had to go through the initiation process because I was very intelligent.

I was the one inventing the club. That meant everybody else had to go through the initiation that I myself did not want to endure. And so, you know, it was always something stupid. And I remember doing something really crazy and it upset. Um, one of the moms that was a you know, everyone gets a trophy, mom.

And I remember her coming to my house one day and knocking on the front door and said, if you need. ideas on initiations for these clubs, I will happily help you with that. And I'm thinking, no, I got lots of ideas. I just don't want to share them with you. And that's it for us.

I mean, when we think of that initiation, Thankfully, God is not like that with us. He doesn't put us through torment in order to be a part of the club. He actually goes through the torment so that we can be part of the club. Right. So when you're thinking about Um initiation and and we've talked before on here about the stages.

of the of the masculine journey. You have boyhood, you have The next couple stages as you go up, where do you think that most of that initiation comes? Obviously, it's in all of them. But is there any one stage where it hits more than others you think? I think the boyhood, you know, apple of your daddy's eye, hopefully, dad.

Is initiating you really well. But then, you know, most of it I think is in the kind of cowboy ranger, you know, that stage. I was thinking the same thing. Between Cowboy Ranger and Warrior, Or, you know, we even up into Lover. There's this point where you need to be at least.

you know, brought into the fellowship of men. Right? To feel like you're a man, to feel like you're... You've been integrated into a community of men. that see you in that light and and respond to you well.

Now, unfortunately didn't happen for a lot of us. Mhm. But I think it's a big part of how could you ever be a king. If you hadn't been initiated into beat being part of the fellowship of men. Right.

And I think every little boy is immediately drawn to that. Like, I want to be a part of a company of men. I'm willing to do what it takes to become a part. of that. I don't know that every dad, to your point, Robby, recognizes the need for that in their son.

I remember my dad took me. Man, almost everywhere he ever went. You know, I mean, if he was going to a buddy's house to work on a car, he took me with him. If now, it's probably because my mom was, you know, on the verge of having a nervous breakdown or something, if he left me at home, but. Um he would take me, you know, to to go do things.

We You know, I mean, we We went to all kinds of cool things together, but then there were also just times when he would say, Come on, you know, we're going to go visit Uncle John.

Well, what are we going to do there? We're going to go visit Uncle John. I mean, you know, that was about it. But in the process of the drive-over, you know, having the chat with dad or whatever, but then getting there and hearing the war stories. Hearing the Herald boot camp stories.

I mean, you know, hearing all of those things. And just being there as a little boy with wide eyes, thinking, wow, that's what being a man is like, you know, and Some of it was probably not accurate, and some of it was very accurate. But my heart was always drawn to that. I mean, I could remember. Growing up.

When we would be at a family reunion, a lot of the I mean, I love playing hard. I love jumping off of cliffs and, you know, riding bikes fast or motorcycles or whatever. but I also loved hanging out with the old guys, and just sitting and listening to their stories.

Now God created me. obviously, to be a story hearer and a storyteller. Um I didn't know that then though, but man was it cool to hear you know, these stories from older guys. Yeah, as you guys were talking, if you think about good kings in history. They became a good king because of all the failures.

That they had along the way. Because if you get somebody that gets into a role, you're working at a job and somebody gets put in a role, but they've never been unsuccessful at anything. What's our expectation going to be on you? You know, if you fail, then you're out. You know, that kind of thing.

The good leaders have learned from the mistakes. It's just a part of the initiation process, right? And so to be a good king, and whether your kingdom is your family, which is for all of us that have families, right? Or it's bigger than your family and more. You know, it's those lessons in life that God helps us go through.

that gives us the background to to go through what we need to go through in the future. to get us through those things. Right. Harold, a little bit about you got an initiation story for us you'd like to tell that you can tell on the air? Because there were some we heard that we really couldn't tell.

Yeah. Oh, well one of the ones that I've been thinking about It doesn't involve a of more or less defined or formal Requirement as initiation, but I've seen a lot of videos lately on YouTube. of Middle of Medal of Honor winners. And one of the themes that runs through that is They didn't do it. to win the Medal of Honor.

And when they were asked, you know, well, why did you do that? usually at great personal risk. It was because their comrades were being killed.

somebody has got to do something to change the current situation. Mm-hmm. I'm going to do it. And it some of those guys are i if you were just to look at 'em, it's like Yeah, he can be a librarian. But nah, he ain't gonna win the Medal of Honor.

not on a battlefield. And and yet they did. A lot of them They think that it just. You just can't believe it un unless you just hear the details. or read about em They went so far beyond what you would expect.

And To me. That's a club. and if you could be initiated into that. You are somebody. Amen.

Absolutely. We're getting ready to go to break. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming boot camp. If you've been to a previous boot camp, masculinejourney.org. 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 think sometimes as men, we feel like we're on our own and we've got to do everything ourselves, and the weight of the world is on our shoulders, and it's our job to fix everything and make everything right and have all the answers. And I think when you come here, you just get really honed back in and reminded that God really is for us. That a good father helps you, and a good father makes sure you have all the tools you need, and a good father comes through for you when you need him and you just feel less alone. Register today at masculinejourney.org.

Oh Welcome back to Mascaro and Journey. That's Pat Barrett with the song Lead Me. I know, Darren, you thought it was gonna be Pat Benatar. I was so excited about Pat Benatar being a part of our bump. Yeah, we tried to work it hit me with your best shot.

It just didn't seem to go with it really well. But no, we're talking about the topic of initiation. And that song sums up a lot of it that you want God to lead you through it, right?

So you'll get what he has in store for you. Mm-hmm. Right, to to rewire you, to make you back into the person he meant for you to be when he created you. Right, and that it takes a process and a lot of that's through an initiation. The world takes us through an initiation all the time and we don't often see it.

It's just how that things are normal. And God's got to rewire that normal. Darren, you were talking about before, you know, people wanting to be a part of something. It kind of makes you, when you think about it in that light, it makes you understand gangs just a little bit. It does.

Right, they're willing to do just almost anything to be a part of something bigger, even if it's horrible. Community and Brotherhood. Sisterhood. is written on our soul. It's in every fiber of our being.

And you're not going to fight against that. You can direct it. But but you can't stop it. Yeah. Robby, you uh have the next clip on this topic of initiation.

Yes, I do. And so, you know, it's an interesting combination between the movie Animal House and Top Gun Maverick. And so you're saying, Robby, how could you possibly do this?

Well As I began to think about the process of initiation, and by the way, part of this clip they used at the initiation part of Survival School with Wild at Heart. Uh um The idea, if I began to think about the principles behind some of the the things that we know is initiation, which you hear from Animal House, you know, they're they're in the big, I think the Delta, whatever, Sigma, you know, deal. Whatever. And he's telling them to assume the position and then they take this big old paddle and they begin to whack these people. And You know, the idea of that is literally.

We are going to humble these people. Humility, right? And blessed are the poor in spirit, but you need to be humble, or you've got to know you need to know something before you will try to learn something. And so God's all about. being poor in spirit, and this is, you know, initiation creates this situation.

of this paddling that you're going to get to some extent. But also Moving into the Maverick Top Gun, you know, all these guys, if you watch the movie Maverick, He is going to teach all these guys. They've graduated from Top Gun. They are world class. dogfighters.

But he's got to teach him there's more. There's something bigger. There's something deeper. Right. And when you think about advanced boot camp, Um You know, so many of us, or me coming to my first boot camp, I got this Christianity thing down.

You know, I have a relationship with God, I hear from God, I'm walking with God. Good. You know, And so I don't know what I don't know, as Darren pointed out. And so there's a point of... Wow, I need to be humbled.

But then also I need to think about the new identity as being part of this band of brothers. In other words, not only going to be dismantled. But something's going to happen to your identity. As is the case with assume the position, right? He's becoming a member of whatever, or, you know, that your identity is literally changing into a soldier or whatever situation you are.

Well, as in the Lord's army, believe me, it's the same process. Right? And so as you listen to this clip, I'm just making the connection quite clearly, I think, between You know what You know, thank you, sir. May I have another to w what you know, Top Gun Maverick was doing with these young pilots. Here we go.

Can't hardly wait. Um Assume the position. Thank you, sir, Matt. another Good morning, aviators. This is your captain speaking.

Welcome to Basic Fighter Maneuvers. As briefed, today's exercise is dog fighting. Guns only, no missiles. We do not go below the hard deck of 5,000 feet. Working as a team, you have to shoot me down or else.

Or else what, sir? Or else I shoot back. If I shoot either one of you down, you both lose. This guy needs an ego check. We'll see to that.

So let's say he put some skin in the game. What do you have in mind? We have to get shot down first after do 200 push-ups. Nice. That's a lot of push-ups.

Well, uh, they don't call it an exercise for nothing, sir. You got yourself a deal, gentlemen. Lights on. Let's turn and burn. Bamboy, you see him?

Nothing on the radar up ahead. He must be somewhere behind us. Yeah. You're all my dance. That's a kill.

Thank you, sir. May I have another? One oh nine down one ten Should be us down there But it's not. And now you know a little something about rooster. Yeah.

Wow. Hey, hold that, Tom. Hey, get it up, your boy. Thank you, sir. May I have another?

Swap damn it all. Yeah. Thank you, sir, may I have another It was all fun and games that selfie, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah, the picture you can't see on a visual.

They're doing push-ups, these 200 push-ups, as Maverick is shooting them down. And so they're. They're really learning something that like, wow, I don't have the skills I think I need, you know, that it's going to take for the mission that they're being trained for. In order to go deeper. And I think.

God is constantly doing that with us. And doing that with our communities. We were meant to be in a fellowship of men. We were meant to be. Two.

Help initiate brothers into that. But at the same point in time, you know, we are constantly also. Thank you, sir. May I have another. Yeah, because it it it life is that.

Yeah, it it it absolutely is. Yeah, I think back about all the things that I've gone through that I was very unhappy about going through. And then, when I let God in the midst of it, instead of I should have been reaching out to him before it, but when I let him in the midst of it, the learning and the perspective that you get when you come out of it. You're grateful for having gone through it, but you don't want to go through it again. You know, and there's this step after step: you know, we can either take what happens to us and we get bitter, we can get better.

You know, and and when God's in the mix we're gonna get better and if He's not in the mix we're probably gonna get better. And the thing I love, I do, I absolutely love it, is that we have this heart because God has that heart. And so when you were a kid, I don't know what you were trained in. I was... in the service department of a dealership because that's what my dad did.

And uh I was in the parts department and oh the tricks they played on me. Right? Like go find me a muffler bearing or a radiator hose for a Volkswagen. All these things that You know, I spent hours trying to understand, or they would throw me, they used to have a condenser as part of the ignition system in a car. And they would charge them up with electricity and throw them at you.

Here, I need one of these condensers.

Well, such nice, the second I touched that thing, of course, it zapped me.

Okay. with 150 volts or whatever it was, you know, enough to get your attention. And all these things that At the time were very frustrating and humiliating. But I look back at 'em now like Okay. And they loved me.

I mean, they were guys, and that was their love language. They were initiating me into the fellowship of technicians. Into the fellowship of people that worked in the service department. And of course, when the new guy came in, of course, it was game on. Oh, yeah.

You look forward to the new guy coming in for sure. Yeah. And it's not a lot different in anything that you do. And Darren, you talked about sports teams. I remember when my sons were playing sports, there's a version of that, whichever team they were on, right, that you have to go through as a new guy.

You know, new at work, you know, there's things you got to learn. Even on a construction side, how many guys, new plumbers, it haven't happened in a while, but for years would come up and tell them that their boss sent them to find the pipe stretcher. You know, there's no such thing as a pipe stretcher, you know, or the left-handed wrench. You know, all wrenches are the same, right? You know, they're left-handed right-handed.

But, you know, the guys don't know. And again, initially, they're upset. But then they eventually get to perspective, oh, they're just making me one of them. You know, if they didn't like me, they wouldn't be doing this. Yeah.

Right, or if they didn't want me to to be a part of the team. I remember my dad's buddy. growing up, it was his his best friend. And he was the coolest guy I knew, 'cause, I mean, he he raised and trained Dobermans. Which was pretty cool in my book.

But he also had like BOA constrictors and, you know, things like that, which was also pretty cool in my book. But then. He would take me to go see, you know, car shows and things like that periodically, or take me on a hike. Up in the Rockies because my dad was handicapped and couldn't do it, and so Jim would. And so Jim was the coolest guy in the history of the world to me as a little boy.

And I remember the first time I was helping him do something and he said, Son, hand me that frapping apparatus. And I mean, I'm just I'm looking around like, what in the world is a frapping apparatus? I mean, you know, I have no clue. And, you know, he finally pointed at the hammer. And which, you know, if you look at a blender, the final stage on a blender is frap.

So if you're going to beat something really badly, you need a frapping apparatus. And so he would always come up with those stupid, you know, terms for things, which I just loved and picked that up. And so, I mean, to this day, I still give stupid things stupid nicknames. And as soon as you're in Silberman, I couldn't help but remember I was. washing cars at another dealership I was younger.

And they back then they had these electric squeegee ringers. If you put the squeegee through, it would take the water out of the squeegee. But it was. You know, the last thing you wanted to do was put your hand through it, which he would gladly grab and put your arm all the way through it.

So, I this guy set me up for two or three weeks, telling me that behind this fence over there, he said, Man, they're the meanest Oberman pincher. You don't want to get too close to that fence because they'll literally jump and they'll come get you. You know, and so one day I'm putting a chamois through the ringer, and he comes up behind me, grabs my leg, goes, Sure enough, man, like right up to my shoulder, that thing got and it keeps rolling. But you know, it. At the time, it was extremely painful, but now it's like it was being initiated into the fellowship of man.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I hope this topic of initiation, you'll take it this week and you'll look to God and say, God, where have you been initiating me? And I just haven't had the eyes to see it. You know, what are you doing right now in my life?

What have you been trying to do? Because you know, he's trying to do good in your life. It doesn't always feel that way, right? Because it's not pleasant to be humbled. Right, but it's necessary to be humbled so we can also come out the backside a stronger person.

So spend time with Him in prayer today or today and over the week. Also, take time if God lays it on your heart to help initiate somebody else in a kind way, you know, in a kind way, take that to Him and say, Okay, God, let's go do this together. It's in your name I pray, Jesus. Thank you. See you next week, guys.