Story After Hours

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology. And we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Music 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. We're glad that you're with us this week, and we are talking about a topic that everybody should be able to relate to. Wouldn't you think so, Robby?

I would hope. Yeah, I think once we explain it a little bit, we, oh yeah, initially you may go, no, I'm not really sure. And then once we talk more about it, you'd be like, oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. But what are we talking about, Robby?

Just to give him clarity. You're looking for a story, and what's the story? What's the story with the story? Yeah, what's the story? Well, it's the power of story, right? And we found out in radio a long time ago that if you can get a good story going, right, you keep the people from going into Walmart, right? Because they're sitting out there in the parking lot, I want to hear what happened to this conch.

I want to hear about what happened to the guy in the tree top. They're sitting there in the car because the power of story will hold you. Well, interestingly, the power of your story, the one that you actually have lived, is unbelievably, it's the power that God gave you according to Acts.

You have it. You just don't realize how much power it has until you begin to use it, until you begin to get it out there. And then you're like, oh my gosh, look what God did with my story. And it gave somebody else hope because, you know, you were comforted through that story by God, and God's the hero of your story.

And it's amazing how much that ignites hope with others. And so, you know, this has led to what the secret is. Somebody says, what's the secret behind masculine journey?

Obviously, it's God. But to a great extent, it's men that feel safe. And that's a huge part of this, is do you feel safe with a group of men to truly be yourself, to truly tell your story, to truly, you know, say what really is going on, you know?

Chris Yeah, I think you make a great point there, Robby, from the standpoint, if you would back up 10 years, or just to throw a number out there, there are stories that I would have said, maybe 12 years ago, that will go to my grave. No one's ever going to know this about me. Not a single person will ever know that this happened to me, or anything like that, right? And then God works on you a little bit, and he gets you to share it with one person or with a couple people you can trust, and it goes okay.

Right? And then God does some healing in your life. And then at some point down the road, you're actually able to share it in front of a group of people.

And it doesn't matter anymore, because there's no pain associated with it. And I'll never, ever, ever forget, as long as I ever lived that we were doing a remote out, you know, the crazy remote at a Saveway or something grocery store, and Sam was there with us. And all of a sudden, you start telling the story about you playing football. Oh, yeah. And I was like, oh, no. Because as you related to that story of, you know, and if you tell them that story, you'll be shocked if you don't relate to this story.

And if it doesn't just like, man, what would it feel like to be that guy? Yeah, what you're talking about, you know, when I was growing up, I wanted to play football, and I tried out for football, and I quit the football team. And I stayed on as a manager of the team, and I managed for the next couple years. And so when I was dating, who became my wife, the mother of my boys, she asked me a simple question. We were dating, she's like, you played football, right?

And posing completely like, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. And so I would share stories, and all the stories I actually were a part of, but from watching it from the sideline. You know, I wasn't actually on the field, and I never said I was on the field, but I never said I wasn't on the field. And so it became this, oh, I played football. And then, you know, in God's humor and wisdom, you know, we ended up with boys that loved football and wanted to play football. And so we're at this remote, and Robby, and my son's with me, and Robby just kind of asked about, hey, well, you played football, didn't you? And God had been working on my heart, and I'm like, we'll talk about it later. And I went out with my son and had to confess in front of to him that I'd never actually played. And at this point, he'd been playing probably 10 years, you know, from the Pop Warner leagues, the smaller leagues like that, you know, up and he was playing organized ball a little bit more with school, you know, and I thought he was gonna be really mad and really angry with me and, you know, never talked to me again.

And he was full of grace and God's love. And thank me for sharing it with him. Never mentioned it again, as far as in a negative way, and always kept coming to me still for advice on football. You know, I always thought I'd lose credibility with him. You know, I'd lose, you know, lots of things, but that authenticity submitted the relationship in a different way. You know, so I was able to come back and tell Robby about that, and I've shared it from the stage a few times. And see, for me, you know, who have, I know you may not believe this, but I have several similar things that I've lit on about, you know, my story was embellished, right? That I was, I was more of something. And, and the integrity of that gave me hope that, wow, I could, you know, I could tell the truth about my own story.

And people wouldn't think less of me actually, because I thought so much more about Sam. After that story, I realized the value integrity is greater than saving face. Yeah. One of what you said in the first show, the top things people get out of boot camp, one of the things I've heard most often shared in private is, you know, I can't believe they said that about themselves from there. And it really gives freedom to others when you can't admit that you're a flawed human being. And believe it or not, we all are.

Yeah, we absolutely are. We'll actually go ahead and get to a clip. The first clip we'll use is mine is from Lord of the Rings. And this is about story. The whole clip is about story. And so when we play it, you've got Sam, if you haven't seen Lord of the Rings, I'm not gonna try to describe it to you because it took him like nine hours to make nine hours in the first three movies.

I can't really sum that up and you know, much here. But you got Sam and Frodo has been on a journey together to get rid of this ring, to throw it in the fire in which it was made, you know, to destroy it, it's only way it can be destroyed. And they've been on this hike. And, you know, of course, on a hike, you have nothing to do but talk and look at the beauty and, and talk some more. And, and so they're talking and you have Sam asking a question what leads into a deeper conversation between him and Frodo.

And we'll listen to it and we'll come back and talk about it. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end.

Because how could the end be happy? Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back. Only they didn't. They kept going.

Because they were holding on to something. What are we holding on to, Sam? That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for. I wonder if we'll ever be put into songs or tales. What? I wonder if people will ever say, let's hear about Frodo in the ring.

And they'll say, yes, that's one of my favorite stories. Frodo was really courageous, wasn't he, Dad? Yes, my boy. The most famousest of hobbits.

And that's saying a lot. You've left out one of the chief characters, Samwise the Brave. Samwise the Brave? I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam. Now, Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun.

I was being serious. So was I. Samwise the Brave. There was so much about that clip that really kind of spoke to me when I was listening to it again for a few times. The first one was, we don't know living our life and the story that we're in in our life because we're all in stories. We're in several stories. You have a work story, a home story. It's all part of your collective story. But you don't know whose lives you're impacting by the place God has you right now.

And you may never know the outcome of that. Sam was fortunate as he talked with Frodo and sharing his heart a little bit that Frodo could share his and they could learn more and they could learn more about themselves. And that's part of the key about sharing your story is sometimes you have a very distorted view of it. But when you share it with somebody that you trust their heart and you trust who they are, you know that they're walking with God, a lot of times they'll have a perspective that you can't see, right, that helps you have a real clarity with it. I can think of a few times in the room when we're talking after the show, you know, I was struggling with some stuff with my dad and Robby one time in particular. You kind of spoke into that, but later led to some breakthrough you had, right. But it's all a part of this chain that you can't share your story out of love. And when God prompts you, and that's key, you know, you can't share that and not have people impacted.

I mean, God knows the impact of that. Think of any sermon that you've listened to. Yes, the scripture has been great. And I'm sure there's scriptures that's rocked your world because there's some in mind. But I promise you, you remember some of the stories that were shared, the illustrations of that point, you know, that that happens that there are times that you remember the context of something more than you do the original thing. You know, for me, I'm about stories. You know, I remember the stories in the Bible much better than I could ever tell you a scripture because I remember Jesus teaching in these stories. You know, and the other part that I thought about was, you know, there was a person years ago, Paul Harvey used to have a show the rest of the story.

And I used to love to listen to it because he would, you'd learn a little bit of it, then you go back and hear the past and the history, right? And you get to learn the rest of the story. And how blank would our lives be if the Bible only told part of the story of Paul, who was Saul before that, or part of the story of Abram, who became Abraham, right? If you don't know the whole story, and you don't see everything that God's done in the midst of that, to change those things for them, man, you're missing the whole key there, right? That's the same with our stories. It's not what we've been through, it's what God's done.

God's done in the midst of what we went through. That's key. Sorry, I've been talking a lot there. This was my second choice. And the one I ended up going with was actually further down the list.

But I've always loved this scene. And it takes me back, none of you will believe this, but when I was young, through high school, I would only read nonfiction and biographies. So biography and required reading for school.

I'm shocked. And then I usually did the cliff notes. And then you read hymns. Well, the Lord of the Rings was the first major work I think I ever read voluntarily. And I was talking to a close friend, Ervin. And he pointed out that in the Lord of the Rings, the only character that pretty much had complete integrity through the entire movie was Sam. And he was the only one that was not corrupted when he actually had hold of the ring.

That's true. And so that instantly, because I had a lot of respect for Mr. Sims and instantly made him my favorite character. And he's still quite a character. And I but I am quite fond of Sam. I just won't say he's my favorite. Well, thank you. And to be fair, your choice of clips is way down my list, too.

But speaking of where now it's your clip, Jim, if you want to go ahead, maybe I can set it up better than earlier, because I was trying not to tell you what movie it was. But this is a boy who was born poor as dirt. His father had to give him away to a night when he was very young because he couldn't feed him. And when his father gave him some wise words on his way out, he ultimately the night that he was working for got killed. So he became a counterfeit knight and was actually quite successful at it. And this is two clips kind of slapped together and you'll be able to tell but initially he was talking he's talking to his father and he is living as the counterfeit knight. And then he meets the son of the king and becomes a true knight because he has the authority to do it. And that's everybody's story that follows Christ.

We try to be the best we can turn ourselves into, or we don't, but that's the best we can do is always counterfeit until we meet the son. What word does he live? He lives. He is very well. He wanted you to know that he changed his stars after all. And has he followed his feet? Has he found his way home at last? Yes. Father, I'm with you.

Oh my God. What a pair we make. Both trying to hide who we are.

Both unable to do so. Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough. But you also tilt when you should withdraw. And that is knightly too. Release him. You may appear to be of humble origins, but my personal historians have discovered that he is descendant from an ancient royal line. This is my word. And as such is beyond contestation.

Take a knee. By the power vested in me by my father, King Edward. And by all the witnesses here, I dub thee Sir William.

We have differences of opinion on how good a movie this is, but there are a lot of very strong moments and these were two of them. When he sees his father again after many years and you hear the phrase change your stars and that was one of the things that his father said to him before he left and he did pursue relentlessly becoming a knight and he was lousy at first so it was quite an achievement. And the other part of that was he says have your feet led you home and this is the first time he's seen his father in probably 20 years. But then it goes to him being knighted and he goes from Sir Ulrich the fake to Sir William and his father gets to hear him joust and win shortly after that and it's very triumphant.

And I'm going to pass this to my left before I step on his toes because he wanted to comment. Okay Harold, what do you have to add to that? Well, I'm not named Sir William, but as the smallest kid in the neighborhood and with a father who had a problem with alcohol, I sought escape in reading about King Arthur and his knights and so forth so that had a great deal of impact on on my life making me be well for one thing highly competitive trying to overcome the size differential etc. But aspiring to to be a knight and to do good and to do good is something that I've tried over the years.

I'd like to read something I wrote this morning during a devotional period. In an odd sense being unselfish is actually selfish due to the way it makes you feel. After experiencing it for the first time, there's a felt need to have that quote I like me better quote feeling again. My head is never wider my armor never brighter or my steed wider than when I am doing a good deed for a person in need. I love the times God has allowed me to assume the role of in lower case quotes hero while he is the real in all caps hero. Without him I can do nothing.

Being only concerned with self means being always dissatisfied and feeling inadequate. So striving for that knighthood can get you out of a lot of stuff that you don't want to be in. Well thank you Harold. I appreciate that. We're talking about story there are a couple things that came to mind this week. I remember my company does us this retreat once a year different levels of the retreat and it's it's just an overnight thing and it's about connecting with your passions about connecting stuff has nothing to do with work. You know they send us there and it's a really good overnight thing to kind of just refocus some stuff and while you're there you're there with a group of people that you probably don't know that well because you know they're co-workers but they could be from another area. I remember one time the first time I went there was a lady in my group that man her and I did not get along at all. You know she was somebody I had to talk to on the phone.

She ran the showroom down in Charlotte and I had lots of disagreements with her and it did not go well. It rarely went very well on the phone and so I saw her in the group and I could see her eyes when she saw me in the group and it was like oh no here we go. Well you know 24 hours a little over 24 hours later as we've had some time we've had a campfire we've had some different things to kind of share some of our story.

It was a difference maker. You know once I got to know her and she got to know me it didn't make things perfect at work but we had a common ground. We had a place that we could reference from and we got along great.

She worked for the company probably another three or four years and probably became one of my my closest allies you know in things when I would have to talk about stuff or try to work through stuff and she was very receptive and it's just the power of story. You know and I've been teaching that with one of the guys I work with. We've been taking people to lunch some of our trade partners to lunch you know and we've been starting with the ones that we don't have relationships with intentionally. You know that it's either been a challenged relationship or we just don't know them very well and to a T we've done about three of them.

Every one of them have made the relationships different. You know because we go and they think we're going to talk about work and we do a little bit at lunch but primarily it's like tell me to tell me about your family tell me about you tell me about what you enjoy when you're not at work you know just learning about who the person is and then you know how can I help you do better at your job and this is what I need some help with but every one of those have been a difference maker in the relationships which has been pretty cool. You reminded me of Tom Carlton which those of you been around a while have met.

When I first met him I did not I did not really care for him and that's unusual for me and then I realized after a little while it was because he was so much like I am and we ultimately became the best of friends and went on a trip after seminary together for three weeks and had adventures together and still somebody I could immediately connect with but people you don't have a great first impression of may end up being very close friends. It's true. Well Danny that brings us to your clip you have a clip that we'd like to get in here today. Yeah it's from the Andy Griffith show. Really?

Which is surprising. It is yeah yeah it wasn't Blue Buds this week? It wasn't Blue Buds I was scared if I strayed too far from the Andy Griffith show I may be exiled or something I don't know. It was close. Yeah so um but it's from uh the vote went in your favor. Cool actually Art used one too so we knew we were going to be safe so um the it's high noon in Mayberry and just to set it up real quick is that Andy has had an encounter with this guy named Luke Stockholm I think it's his name and they had a shootout in a robbery or something years before and he gets a letter from him saying he's coming to town he's got some business to do with him and of course it creates a bunch of drama around Mayberry and of course Barney takes it way over the edge and you'll hear some of that in there but um what you're going to hear is the encounter when Luke shows up at Andy's house and you know handles business with him but the power of the story and I can't help but think about Andy's story in this and Luke's and then there's the Barney story but we won't get into that so yeah in this in Barney and is a Gomer that's out hiding Barney Gomer and Otis okay are waiting to to see if they need to help Andy yeah they've come to the rescue it's kind of hilarious evening sheriff Luke won't you come in my business won't take too long sheriff after that shooting straight we had sheriff I laid on my back in the hospital for six whole months oh that must have been pretty rough on you I had a chance to review my whole life from when I was a boy to where I was lying with my leg game for life all I could think of was what a waste so I made up my mind then and there I was going to make something of myself sure I was going to make something of myself then and there I was going to so I made up my mind then and there I was going to make something of myself sheriff I began reading and studying while I was still in the hospital I developed quite an interest in mathematics and electricity well one thing led to another today on a chain of television repair stores in Cleveland I'm leading a good life well I uh I certainly am glad to hear that Luke if you hadn't laid me up who knows where I'd be today you come all the way down here to tell me that I happened to bring you a little gift of appreciation I know how you people down here love to hunt so I brought you this shotgun for Pete's sake Andy don't just stand there rushing that'll bring down them northern honkers they got a wing spread that big two ladies got to drop them what do we do I know the lights come on back door oh must be a fuse Luke come on out here uh this is our Mayberry knot tying class it's here every Tuesday what you can't see there is Gomer Barney and Otis are laying in the floor wrapped up with this big rope in a big knot in the middle of the floor when they walk back in and through this the knot tying class so yeah yeah it made me think of several different stories that and but just sitting here come to mind back in 1994 right before I got sober I walked in on a conversation at my boss's office and I don't know whether it was coordinated or not but there was a another contractor sitting in his office I worked for a plumbing contractor at the time and electrical contractor sitting in there and he's telling his story of what he used to be like and how his life was in the toilet and I mean he's just sharing his stuff and I'm halfway listening halfway not listening so um and but his story impacted me now I met him later on in recovery and we became good friends but um you know the power of his story impacted mine and hopefully my story has impacted folks along the way so oh absolutely and that's the key and what I'd ask you to do this week is first of all pray and say God are you calling me to share my story and I'm he's going to say yes but is it time now right and with who that's key because sharing your story with the wrong person may not go well right so you got to walk with God in the midst of that in doing it and also just ask God not only who would you like me to share that with but when because sometimes the timing is key too right there's been conversations I've tried to force to have that just doesn't work and so walk with God in that and try to find a fire or campfire to go listen to and sit around and talk and go to masculine journey and register for the boot camp coming up in november this is the truth network