MJ Sage

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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 that you're with us today, and we are finalizing the stages of the masculine journey. No, it's not the end of our show. Well, maybe, but we don't think it is. It's not the end of our show, depending on how this plays out. But Andy, it is the end of the series that we're doing on the actual stages of the masculine journey.

I almost shed a tear, I think. Are you? Yeah. It's been fun, I tell you. Learned a bit. Well, why don't you share a little bit with us about what we're talking about. So we've been going through the six stages of the masculine journey, not 12 like I referenced before the show. Add some mindedly, I don't know what I was thinking, but six stages. We went through boyhood, zero to 12 is the age, cowboy ranger.

And I'm not going to get into it. If you want to hear the details of the points of learning and the woundedness, we've said it, I think, on every other show, but I will go at least and identify the stages. Cowboy ranger, 10 to mid 20s, warrior, 16 to 30 and beyond, lover, late teens, restful to the rest of life, king 30 to 60s, and then sage 50s to 90s. And the point is too, is that why we're even going through this, why do we even care? You know, we're at the stage in our life, why do we care? Because there are certain things that you were supposed to get as you came through life, particularly the boyhood and cowboy ranger stage, that God has a way of taking you back to those times and filling in those things. Even the warrior stage, lover stage, if you didn't do it right, you know, just like retaking a test at school, you have an opportunity.

And this time you get the teacher to sit next to you and tell you how to do this, you know, whatever you're going through in these stages, so. Right, it's a spiritual groundhog day. Yeah. Right. Yeah, right.

Until you pass, yeah. Not to be confused with prairie dogs, but groundhogs. Oh, there it is. Spiritual groundhog day, you know, where you have a leader that takes you back through it. Right. And the key thing, I think, for me is that it's so cool to know that God had intentionality around this, and this is echoed in David's life. If you go back and you look through Scripture, you can find each of these stages in David's life.

David Braswell? Exactly. Yeah, okay. Yeah, but not in Scripture. Yeah, you're definitely not going to find my stages in the Scripture. Or Scripture appropriate.

Probably some of the full passages of Proverbs. I'm just thinking definitely. You're in there, though.

You're like Prego spaghetti sauce. That's where mine would have been, right? In all the fool statements.

I lived most of those, I think. Exactly, exactly. So, Andy, you actually have the first clip, and this is kind of going to be a, you like to use the word juxtaposition or whatever it is?

No, that's a gym word. I don't know. Where is it from, Daniel? Yeah, okay.

Anyway, go ahead. Well, you know, I did use clips from Braveheart the whole time, and I started out, I wasn't going to do that, but, you know, I've been, I was doing the Sonship talk. There was a lot of that stuff that paralleled this. I did that for the entrenchment, and I was like, you know, when you look at his life, when you look at that movie, there's not many movies where you can see these six stages developed in a character all through life. A lot of times you pick up in the middle of somebody's life, and we're now at the end of William Wallace's life as a sage, but he only makes it to 35, so he doesn't totally fit the definition.

But with that said, this clip, you can see where he functions as a stage well before his years. He had a lot of wisdom. He saw things in man and spoke into him, and then you see at the end, you see Robert the Bruce, who he was speaking into his life. Another man, Robert the Bruce's dad, speaks into his life in a more of a negative sage aspect, and really you just get to see the, I guess that's where you're talking about juxtaposition. You're seeing the opposites of what it is to be a good sage and a bad sage.

Yeah, we all have the opportunity to have sages speak in our life, and that doesn't mean they're always good sages. And you get to hear this, where Robert the Bruce has to decide, who am I going to follow the lead of on the people that's giving me advice? Right. One other point, too, is when you hear Wallace talking here, he's almost stepping back and allowing, he's functioning kind of as a king. He's leading the people, and he's stepping back and putting that on. Robert the Bruce are really saying, I see this in you. Your strength, you have the right place in this, you know, to the kingship.

But as he's doing that, I think he's really functioning as a sage as he's kind of passing that on. This time our only option is to negotiate. Now this one is the end of the race to the ground. My army has marched for more days than I can remember, and we still have preparations to make.

So I'll make this plain. We require every soldier you can summon, your personal escorts, even yourselves, and we need them now. With such a force arrayed against us, it's time to discuss other options.

Other options? Don't you wish at least to lead your men onto the field and barter a better deal with longshanks before you tuck tail and run? Sir William. We cannot defeat this army. We can.

Sir William. And we will. We won at Sterling. And still you. We won at York, and you would not support us. If you'll not stand up with us now, then I say you're coward.

And if you are a Scotsman, I am ashamed to call myself one. Please, Sir William, speak with me alone. I beg you.

Now you've achieved more than anyone ever dreamed. But fighting these odds, it looks like rage. Not courage.

It's well beyond rage. Help me. In the name of Christ, help yourselves. Now is our chance. Now if we join, we can win. We can win.

If we win, well then we'll have what none of us have ever had before. A country of our own. You're the rightful leader.

And there is strength in you, I see it. Unite us. Unite us. Unite the clans. Right. Right. This cannot be the way. You said yourself the nobles will not support Wallace.

So how does it help us to join the side that is slaughtered? I gave him my word. I know it is hard. Being a leader is. A son. Son, look at me. I cannot be king. You and you alone can rule Scotland.

What I tell you, you must do. Not for me. Not for yourself.

For your country. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the statement, he makes all men compromise. That's actually from a different part of the movie. But that's his attitude. That every man has to compromise to get what he wants. And Wallace has a totally different vision. And that vision came from the battlefield. That came from Uncle Socks Argyle speaking into his life and telling him, you know, that he needs, you know, just how to live as a man and how to get his heart. Exactly.

Sorry, having trouble there. Clearing my throat. Thank you, Andy. I appreciate it. I think that when you look at William Wallace's life, you do get to see all these things that are poured into him. And when we do at boot camp, when we do the sonship talk, the ones that's been able to do that, the best thing that comes from that, one of the best things that comes from it is seeing how God uses people at each of these different stages in your life that you've lived so far to help father you.

Sometimes him directly, but often through other men. Absolutely. Yeah. Now, Jim, your clip would be next. And so this is from The Mask of Zorro.

And so you want to tell us a little bit about that? I stepped on my cord for that yelp there, but hopefully that wasn't played. This actually is a favorite clip of mine I've used before for other reasons. But you have the wounded warrior getting drunk in the bar about to trade a precious emblem. That's the word I was looking for. Thank you.

For booze. And Don Diego intervenes. You'll hear a fight which begins with, get out of my way, old man. And you want to thank me two seconds later, but that's about a 30, 45 second, one-sided battle between Don Diego, the sage, and the wounded warrior.

And this is, he is wounded because his brother was killed by a fellow that sort of reminded me of George Custer. And just, well, we won't go into that, but it's, uh, let's go ahead and listen to the clip. When did you get that? It's none of your business.

When did you get it? With my brothers. He's dead. He's dead. I'm sorry. You're sorry? Why should you be sorry? You should not trade something like that for a mere glass of whiskey. Why not?

You think I could get two? Huh? Who's that? That's the man who killed my brother. You're drunk and you're angry and no condition to fight a professional soldier.

Get out of my way, old man. Would you care to try again? Oh, you're welcome. For what? For saving your life. I would have killed him.

No, not today. He is trained to kill. You seem trained to drink. Yes, my friend, you would have fought very bravely and died very quickly. Then would avenge your brother. I would have found the way. I've never lost a fight.

Except to a crippled old man just now. What is your name? Alejandro.

Alejandro. You know, there is a saying, a very old saying, when the pupil is ready, the master will appear. Now, if you want to kill this man, I can help you and I can teach you how, how to move, how to think, how to take your revenge with honor and live to celebrate it. I will take dedication.

I will take time. Why are you so eager to help me? Because once, a long time ago, you did the same for me. And he says something important there, that when the pupil is ready, the teacher will arrive. And one of the main points of being a sage is passing on your experience, your learning.

I've had, my father was the first, but I've had several men in my life that were wonderful sages that showed up when I was ready to listen to them and not before. And I think that to me was the key to this being my choice in clips. It's a great clip. You know, from the standpoint, you've got someone that's, society's dismissed, right? You know, and Don Diego that just kind of in the shadows and you have Alejandro, that's definitely dismissed him that, you know, just says, get out of my way, old man, you know, that he has nothing to offer. It's exactly where, you know, this guy should be wounded, but he's confident in his role as a sage. And that was one of the things that appeals to me most about Don Diego. He is basically the retired Zorro and Alejandro is the upcoming Zorro, but they're both heroic, but he's in a place in his life where it's not his place to be the warrior, the king, it's his place to bring on the new man. And he does it quite well. Yeah.

It's a great movie to go back and watch from that standpoint, to see a sage really speak into the life of a warrior becoming a king. He's stepping into that. Go to masculine journey.org to register for the upcoming bootcamp coming up November 17th through the 20th. That's not that far away, about five weeks, I think. Go register today.

We'll see you in a few weeks, but we'll come back after the break. One of the things that's been a true joy to me is having my sons go with me to boot camps and watching them get an understanding that I wished I would have had at their age. It took me several years and I'm still probably learning it a little bit as we go, but watching them get a good foothold into manhood and understanding what's important, what their role is, and how to stay away from the enemy, to receive healing and restoration in the way that you love on others.

Register today at masculine journey.org. One of my favorite things about boot camp, well, the favorite thing about boot camp is every time I go, I encounter God. And as anyone that has encountered God knows, generally speaking, it's nothing we expect. A real encounter with God out of the blue. He knew what I needed. I knew what I wanted.

And those two were rarely the same thing. Register today at masculine journey.org. Welcome back to Masculine Journey. That is Uriah Heep and the song is Wise Man. I didn't know that song before I searched it and found it. And I'd heard of the band before, but only because I think my brother made me listen to the group at some point growing up, you know, when I had no control and he was 10 years older.

But anyway, David, you have something you'd like to add? When you search for that song, did you just type Wise Man in the YouTube search by chance? I don't really remember what I typed. Because I did and that song came up like seven times like in the top of it, so I was just curious. Yeah, I probably did. Or Google. Yeah, no, I didn't Google it.

I YouTubed it. But no, Wise Man, what I liked about that, the lyrics, a little part of it, that's a chorus actually. He says, I'm like a blind man in the sun, you know, so not only can I see the sun's in my face, if I could see, I couldn't see, right? And there are times that we face that in our life. And in that song, what I heard was someone just saying, I want a sage in my life. I want someone to step in and tell me where to go, what to do, how to make that next turn. You know, you may not be able to guide me everywhere, but at least tell me where not to go.

And so that's why I use that bump coming back in. And that's really for a sage. You know, I think ours is one of the few societies around the world that doesn't recognize the importance of a sage. When you look at so many other cultures, you know, they're still the key leader in the house, right? And yeah, eventually the power does pass, but they still typically have an ultimate answer, you know, in a lot of what happens. You know, dealing with some people that have learned from different cultures, you know, that although the power transfers, there's always deferment back to the elders, right?

And ours is a society that that seems to be lost on. And that's such a sad thing because sages has so much to offer. In the transition, I was assigned to sage by somebody I'd just met at a boot camp a number of years ago, and I was sort of lost where I was. And then a close friend recently said something to the effect of, I don't think you've been in your king stage. So that challenged me, and I looked at it, and I finally took it where you're supposed to take it. And asked God, you know, did I miss King?

And got an immediate response, look at your family. And that was a successful King stage. But I wasn't disappointed not being here last week, because King is one that I never really was comfortable with that when I was looking at it from the beginning. But I love sage because that is a place where you have something to give. And you're comfortable enough with it that if somebody doesn't want it, that's okay, that's on them. But if they come to you, it's a real hug from the Lord for me when someone asks for and gets my opinion on things.

Thank you, Jim. One of the things from there that I think excites me the most about the sage stage, and I think that you realize that you're entering into it, is where it says, you know God is friend. You know, that takes a journey to get there. And there are steps of friendship, but like where they're talking in this particular part is intimacy, deep, deep intimacy. And I look forward to getting any deeper in intimacy and friendship with God as I continue to move more and more towards that stage and into that stage. One of the things that I've been concerned about is a lot of people around me, including one or two in this room, have a much what I considered a deeper relationship with God, closer, talking more. But mine is at almost a level of comfort where if I don't pray for a day or two, by that time I'm usually ready, but I pray when I feel it's necessary. And sometimes prayers, especially corporate ones, seem to go on and on and on about nothing that's really important eternally.

And so I, that is a, the most appealing thing about the stage. Hey Andy, I want to go ahead and get back to you. Apparently I jumped again and you hadn't read those things. Yeah, sorry.

I jumped ahead whenever I was, well we just jumped into the clip, so we were so ready to go. But yeah, we didn't cover the identifiers, the key points of learning for the sage. We covered the ages, but, or how it's wounded. So I'm going to read these off real quick.

It's not the time to check out. It's time to offer counsel and wisdom. Bringing weight and learning to younger men. Knows God as friend, as you pointed out, Sam. Lives in deep communion with God, Jim.

Not an expert. And then how it's wounded through dismissal. We can all identify with that. Well, he's put him off and he's let him ride into the sunset. Treated as no longer relevant, old school, yesterday's man or men.

Remains undeveloped if the man does not take the journey or fails to learn from it. Yeah, it's, you know, men that say I'm not going to enter into those wounds. I'm just going to shove them down.

I'm going to, you know, not deal with them. You know, it's hard for them to ever enter into that sage stage, you know, until they really have kind of dealt with some of that stuff or have been called out of that place. So Robby, that kind of leads us to your clip a little bit.

Yeah, it really does. Cause what I've experienced, um, is me along with many, many other men, you know, just feel like, well, yeah, it seems like I was meant for more than this. I was meant for a deeper relationship, you know, with trying to find our way. And so one of the neat things about the masculine journey when I first entered in was like the value of the sage stage.

And so we went after Vinnie, but Vinnie wasn't so easy to make us. I mean, he, he, he didn't necessarily just want to offer his advice cause he'd been wounded so much and same thing. We value Harold along the same lines is, you know, here you have older men that's been through all these different things, but getting them to be a sage, ain't so easy. And so here's a fascinating clip from actually the last Jedi, where you have Ray, who is the up and coming jettest, Jedi girl, anyway, who is going to call out Luke Skywalker. But again, those of us who are understanding what's going on here, most sages at some point in time have failed miserably and usually due to their pride. And so it's Luke Skywalker's struggling with all that. And because he sees himself as a failure, he thinks he can't be a sage. And so she continues to call him out and, um, it's, it's a fascinating clip.

Go ahead and play it. The legacy of the Jedi is failure, hypocrisy, hubris. That's not true. At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the empire and wipe them out. It was a Jedi master who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader and a Jedi who saved him. Yes, the most hated man in the galaxy, but you saw there was conflict inside him.

You believed that he wasn't gone, that he could be turned. And I became a legend. May have leant smoke, but it was me. I failed. Because I was Luke Skywalker, Jedi master. A legend. The galaxy may need a legend.

I need someone to show me my place in all this. And you didn't fail Kylo. Kylo failed you.

I won't. So what she's referring to is Kylo, who is actually Han Solo's son, for those of you who know Star Wars, Han Solo's son would actually have the force with him because he was Leia's son as well. But he turned to the dark side, it would appear, but the story ain't over.

And it does look like he failed. But interestingly, she says she won't. And again, Luke has taken this on, you know, as his failure, which is fascinating because how many of us take on our lives as some aspect of them as a failure when the story is far from over, because all things do work together.

And apart from me, you can do what? But, you know, when you work together as they do through the next two or three movies, you know, you'll see what happens. But, you know, in my own personal journey, the value of taking the humble position that she takes here.

In other words, she's being very humble saying, I need your help, but I need you to step up, right? I need you to be willing to risk, you know, entering into this battle with me, which, you know, ultimately just saves the universe, just saying. But anyway, you know, it's very much that, that. And so, I know you've shared the same thing with me, Sam, that the joy of having the Heralds and the Vinny's in this journey with us to offer, you know, somebody's advice. And I love what goes into the same stages, what Jim had mentioned, that your internal life becomes more than your external life, right?

Because the kids are gone and all sorts of things. And you do have a chance to enter into that deeper relationship with Christ. But it's interesting. I really think this clip honed me in on the value of humility, because what Luke needed was the humility, but not false humidity. What he was going through right here was, you know, I failed. Pete Slauson Well, you have a wounded, and think about how many times we heard that from Vinny. He didn't feel like he had value because he had that wound. So, it's kind of a neat thing that, you know, it's all of our jobs, I think, to reach out to those who we know have wisdom and express their value. Jim Collison Yeah, you look back, when I think about Vinny, I think about most of the times that he would really get going is when he got frustrated enough with all the stuff we were saying, and then you go, listen here, you know, the sage stuff came out, you know, he'd kind of had enough there.

And Harold's a lot different. Yeah, I think when I see sages in my life that I've looked back on kind of step back, it's either been because of the wounded portions of it, right? Or it's they're humbled by the fact that the longer they walk with God, the more they realize that they have to work on, right? And it's this humbleness that kind of keeps them from entering in unless you kind of invite them in. And I get with this whole episode and didn't get our resident sage in, which is not going to be great, but we're going to get him in the next after hours.

We've got three more clips to get in. Even a Mr. Miyagi, what do we call it? What? Besto Miyagi. Yeah, we have Besto Miyagi coming up in the after hours, but go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming bootcamp, November 17th through 20th. We will have another entrenchment that we're going to announce, but it'll probably be later this year before we solidify the plans and get that announced. But again, masculinejourney.org, November 17th through 20th, register. We'll see you there, and God's got something cool for you. This is the Truth Network.