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. We were busy talking and all of a sudden we heard the music come on and we're like, oh, we better get on the air. Because we talk in between the shows. I know you guys know that. And if you watch us on Facebook or on YouTube, thank you.
We're up to three things. That's awesome. But yeah, you can go to YouTube, Facebook or LinkedIn and see us on there if you really want to see us. I look around the room. I don't know that you want to do that.
And I have a mirror, so I know you don't want to do that there. Anyway, we are talking about one of our favorite topics to talk about, which is boot camp. And we're talking about our favorite boot camp memories or most memorable. And we could fill up several shows with that. I know we could. And so this week, we're just kind of touching base on some of that. Mike, when we left the regular show, you were talking about your new name.
Is there any more you want to add to that in case people are listening from the last show? Just for so long, I couldn't understand the amount of anger that would build in me in certain situations in my life. And that comes around when given that name. My tendency in my life is to I'm all or nothing. I'm very black and white in my thinking. And so that opened a lot to me as far as trying to process some of the anger that I still carried.
And in some ways carried today still, but we're working progress. But no, it was just that was an impactful moment, the name. Because I didn't get real involved with the other guys at the boot camp. I was to myself a lot. But that was something that made it important enough for me to go to another one. Absolutely. So if they weren't listening to the last show, which why weren't you listening to the last show?
But if you weren't listening to the last show, what was the name that God gave you? Passionate. Yeah.
Passionate. Yeah. And so the enemy likes to come at you about anger.
But God says, you know, sometimes that anger is righteous. Right. And that's a passion that I've given you in your heart. So that's pretty cool. So thanks. I appreciate you sharing that.
I have the next clip or the first clip for this show. And this goes back to my first boot camp back in I don't know when it was 2002. I think it was when I went to my first boot camp. And I'd always liked movies, but there were several movies that they had used clips from that I hadn't seen.
And this is one of them. I'd never seen the movie. It was a movie, The Matrix. And I'd never seen the movie. I saw the promos for it. And I'm like, I don't know if that really interests me.
You know, it wouldn't have been one I would have signed up to probably watch. And then, you know, when you get little snippets like this and you get some context around, oh, that's a really cool scene. Then I went back and I made notes of which movies to watch. I went and watched all those movies. I ended up really loving the initial Matrix. I was not as big a fan of the following one and never saw the third one. So I can't tell you how good that was.
But the first one was just incredibly good. But this is a scene where it has to do with the red and the blue pill. And so if you haven't watched The Matrix, it's like, seriously, lots of years old. So you shouldn't see it by now. But if you haven't seen it, there is a thing called The Matrix, which is going to get explained here by Morpheus.
And we'll just go ahead and play it and come back and talk about why I chose to play this clip. When you pay your taxes, it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. What truth? That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what The Matrix is.
You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more. So when that clip was played at boot camp, it just kind of rocked my world and it rocked a lot of my theology that I had grown up with. You know, I never really realized, I have nothing negative to say about the church I grew up in. It was full of loving people and they love God. And so I'm not trying to run down the church at all. But either they'd never preached on certain subjects or I never paid attention or both.
It could have been either or, you know, or both. But I don't remember them ever really explaining what spiritual warfare was and what we see here on earth. And scripture very clearly talks about, you know, Paul talks about how we battle things beyond what we see here, right?
Principalities and all that. And I'd read that in scripture but never really sunk in until I saw this clip and saw the movie and realized what the movie was really saying to my heart. Was that there's a lot going on here in your life. I was one of those people that always just kind of believed it was me and God. I mean, I knew the devil existed, but I kind of came to believe that he was powerless, right?
Which he is powerless unless we give him power, which we tend to do very frequently, at least I have in my life. And so if something was messed up, it wasn't God that messed it up, it was me. And so I just took all that on all the time, that it was me being the mess up, that I messed everything up. And I had a role that I played in it, but the enemy also had a role.
And so there was more going on than what I could see. And realized that I'd kind of always looked at God at the same as just, I knew the Bible said God loves, right? But if I would explain who God was, I would have explained that he was a very judgmental guy sitting up in his chair.
You know, that's kind of the thing I grew up with. You know, Jesus was loving when God was judgmental, you know? And so boot camp rocked me, just a lot of my theology, and really made me want to dig into the Bible more saying, okay, what else have I missed? You know, because I think what happens with churches is they get into these little veins of things that they preach on. You know, most churches stay, you know, they're either on the grace of God, they're on the love of God, they're on this. And they may do sermons every once in a while and other things, but they'll by and large stay in certain areas. And so it takes a really gifted pastor to take his congregation into several different areas.
You know, and not a lot of them do, at least the places that I've been. I have been to some really good churches where they do that. But they'll tend to teach, everything they teach is true from the Bible, they just don't teach the entirety.
You know, the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say. And so, you know, I have been going to a church where we do that. I've been to several other churches where the pastors are very good about doing that and speaking on lots of different things and lots of different parts of the Bible. But for me, it was very instrumental just to open my eyes to spiritual warfare and say, okay, well, there's a lot more going on here than I see, right? And it just really put me in a good place to understand, okay, God, I need to lean more into you and help me understand.
I had to change my relationship with God as well because I could no longer see him as the judgmental guy because how am I going to have a relationship with that, right? And God came after my heart in big ways, which I'll probably talk about more later on. Darrell Bock Yeah, I love the idea that when you take that red pill, you know, it's like you, you know, pour yourself into Isaiah 61 or in Luke where he says, you know, he was anointed to preach the good news, to bind up the brokenhearted and to set the captive free. And in that, you're like – and one of the first steps you take through boot camp is like figuring out that, wow, a lot of the false stuff that I'm believing is created by me. You know, I create this false rubby that I've put out to the world so that I don't get hurt. And all these other things that, again, are part of when you begin to unpack the lies, that essentially is the weapon of the evil one, right?
When you begin to unpack the lies in your life and realize that, oh, my goodness, the author of a bunch of this, it was me. And like that pill – and I'm the same way as you, you know, only I went further, man. I had never even dreamed – that is not at all my kind of movie. You know, I'm a Disney, let's go watch Little Mermaid or something, you know. Camp Rock. Camp Rock. Right, right, right. But so, man, I'm like I got to watch this Matrix. So I watched Matrix 1, Matrix 2, Matrix – and I just literally realized that, oh, my goodness, this thing is true. Like we are a prisoner of the lies that we have bought into in so many different ways, and they are completely our prison, and they are completely holding us from liberty. Jim?
Well, my first thought was the red pill, the blue pill, I think I just had a political revelation. But I'm not going to share that. I've got two great lifelong friends – don't make me laugh, it hurts. Two great lifelong friends, both of whom are named Jim.
One of them all but dragged me. He said, this is a great new movie coming out. You've got to come see it. He said, it's called Star Wars. It's science fiction. I said, I love science. Science fiction stinks.
But I went with him because he was my friend, and that was in mid-70s, I think. 78, I think is what you want, right? But – Are you talking about Star Wars? The original – Star Wars.
Star Wars. Okay. Yes.
Episode 4 that was originally Episode 1. Yes. Yeah. I actually saw that movie. And I've really liked them all, but that one blew my mind. But even more than that, the second Jim, McDonald, in the – I want to say late 90s, wanted to take me to a movie that he was dying to see.
It was called The Matrix. And I said, well, what's it about? He gave me a little blurb. I said, okay.
Again, I went because this was my best friend. By the end of that movie, that was my favorite movie of all time. Before Princess Bride? Actually, that was after Princess Bride. I got back to Princess Bride. I was just fixing to call him on that one.
I've had others that unseated it now and then. But one of the things that – and that was while I was starting to get serious with God. I'd gotten into divinity school. And what blew my mind in that movie was that was sort of our reality. We are in the matrix when we are in our human form. We are made for eternity. And God has us in eternity as the perfect beings He created us to be. And since it's eternity, it's timeless. But we've got this opportunity of time to determine who we really are.
Are we gods or are we the enemies? And when it's the matrix, this isn't the reality that heaven is and will be and will continue to be forever. Yeah. I've had – most people I know that's been to boot camp just speaks very, very highly of it. I do know of a couple people that I know that's went that's kind of like, eh, it was all right. But I think what you put into it is what you get out of it. Because a couple of people I'm thinking of – we ask people to stay kind of off their phones, right, to stay – not to get back in the matrix, the world outside of the camp.
And two of the people that I know that was like, oh, boot camp was all right, I would see you on their phone all the time. And you can't live in two different places. I can't have my heart and my mind in one spot and be thinking of another, right, because I'm going to be in one place or another. You know, the old adage, you can't serve two masters, that's scriptural, right?
And so I can either be present here or I can be present over there remotely with my phone. And that's happened to both of them. And to me, it was a blue pill, red pill thing.
They chose to just do the blue pill. And I'm not judging them and just saying, look, if you just listen when you go and let God speak to your heart, I promise you, you will never be the same. If you let God work on your heart at boot camp, you will never, ever be the same.
It will change it for your life. You know, that's why, you know, Jim, you've been to 30 some of them, I've been to 30 some of them, Robby's been to a bunch of them, Harold's been to a bunch of them. Why do we keep going back? Because God keeps showing up and doing really cool things in our life. And I've said it many times on here, I've not yet been to a boot camp that God didn't do something awesome. Sometimes they've been great, big chunks of things. And sometimes it's been a really small thing. But every time I think that small thing was not much, it later proves to be a very big thing down the road, you know, something I needed to hear, I just didn't know the context of it until later. You know, and so I'm just encouraging you. If you got any inkling at all, come to the boot camp, because I'm telling you, God's got some amazing things he wants to do. And there's, there's some red pill moments for you there, where you know, your life will never be the same. Darrell Bock I have to give you credit. You're the king.
I'm in the mid to late 20s. But I haven't been able to nail it down. Dr. Jon Olin Yeah, I can't, I could probably sit and do the math. But it's been a number of them. It's been a bunch of them. And like I said, the draw to them that I'm telling you, if you've been to one, the talks are going to be the same talks for the most part, you know, it's kind of the same talks. Not once have they've ever been the same. You know, even when I've heard as many times as I've heard Robby do the core desires, right of a man's heart.
It's never been the same. Two times. Darrell Bock You ought to try to run the PowerPoint for him. Dr. Jon Olin That's why I don't.
Because it changes in the middle of him doing it. So yeah. Dr. Jon Olin Yeah, it's definitely part of the adventure. So Harold, since you have a mic, you actually have the the next clip.
Dr. Harold Jones Okay. This, this clip is one that was available, I'll have to admit, I didn't pick it until this evening, but it was available. So I chose it because I did really enjoy it, especially the first time I saw it when when Curly is riding out on the horse and talking to the city slicker. Play the clip and we'll we'll go with it. Dr. Jon Olin Yeah, if you haven't seen city slickers, again, it's a older movie from 1991 we learned earlier today and, and what's going on is you got these people from the city that go out to dude ranch, and they go out and it's it's an adventure weekend where they for a few days or whatever the time period is that they're there and they they heard cattle, right and so Curly's the the trail lead. He's the guy taking them on the adventure. And so here you have Billy Crystal, who's fresh from the city riding with Curly, and they're talking and that's where we kind of pick up the scene. Yeah, I love that part where he holds up his finger. One thing, and I'm going to fool you guys, they all thought they knew what my one thing was going to be.
And of course, I couldn't let a chance go by to not say that it is my sweetheart, she's the one thing she was a huge change in my life direction. But from a boot camp standpoint, the one thing that will strike you is when you come to the realization, there is a God, and you ain't him. That's the one thing that will get you squared away when you come to realize that. Because I think too often we go through life thinking that, yeah, there's a God and it must be me. And it's not at all. And that clip was Rudy, but we don't have that one. Yeah, I didn't remember where that line came from, but that'll strike you when it really gets into your gut that you realize that there is a God, you're responsible to him. Too many people today do not realize that the Bible is not just another novel.
It's true. And the one thing about my first boot camp that I was late getting there, I can't remember now what was going on, but for some reason I got there after everybody else had gone to bed. There was only one bunk left open, a top bunk.
I'm five feet, six inches tall at a stretch. There was no ladder. I had to get up on that top bunk with no ladder. And when I finally got up there, the guy on the bunk below me was snoring like a freight train. So my first boot camp did not get off to a very good start.
But I will say this, when I left, I was elated. My buddy here, the tall guy sitting next to me, actually ran my car down. I looked all over for him to say goodbye, couldn't find him. So I got in my car and started up the road, and I hear a bang, bang, bang on my car, and I braked, and Robby had chased me down and gave me a big hug.
Made my boot camp. Darrell Bock That was up at Park Springs, I assume. Robert Chisholm That was the Great Wolf Lodge. Darrell Bock Oh, was it the Great Wolf Lodge? Robert Chisholm Not the Great Wolf Lodge. Darrell Bock Oh, no, no.
Well, we call it the Great Wolf Lodge, yeah. Robert Chisholm Yeah, there was a big white wolf there. Darrell Bock Oh, yeah, yeah.
I didn't remember the name of the camp. Robert Chisholm That was my most memorable wolf was sitting and petting that arctic wolf. He was something. Darrell Bock She was something. Excuse me. Robert Chisholm Well, now, Jim, you're going to have to go ahead and forgive me, because I'm going to now tell what one of my most favorite memories is. Darrell Bock You're forgiving.
Go for it. Robert Chisholm I was doing the welcome, and I was talking to the group, and I said, now, you know, these speakers, you've got to give them a little bit of slack. They're not really professionals.
They're not trained speakers. And Jim popped up and said, well, I've had training, and I immediately said, you need more. Darrell Bock I do not argue, as I recall. Robert Chisholm And I love Jim, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be a smart aleck.
Darrell Bock Oh, yeah, yeah. We definitely got to do that. Yeah, we've been at Carolina Bible Camp now. How long have we been there? I don't know the first time we were over there.
It's several boot camps now that we've been going there. Robert Chisholm Six or seven years, I guess. Darrell Bock Yeah. If you think about it, I was doing the math, you know, that, you know, we skipped that year. Robert Chisholm Yeah, the COVID year.
Darrell Bock No. We skipped the year without Darren, and the next year we came back. We did the Great Wolf in the fall, if I'm not mistaken, and we did our first boot camp that spring, which I think would have been 2015.
And so you do that. It's almost nine years. Robert Chisholm Wow. Darrell Bock That we've been at Carolina Bible Camp, but I was thinking that actually since we started in 2009 and we skipped that year, whatever, I'm at 28 myself. Robert Chisholm Yeah.
Wow. Darrell Bock Yeah, but you can't touch this, and when you think about that whole thing, and number one, who would have thought that he'd be – for all the movies that he did, I bet he's better remembered for that scene with his finger being held up than any other thing he did. Robert Chisholm Oh, yeah, because he was an actor for years and years and years, well known. Darrell Bock Right, but that scene with the black – with the glove that's holding up his finger with Billy Crystal has got to be his trademark at this point, you know, but nonetheless, when you see it, one of the things I remember coming to boot camp is like, man, I need to know what that one thing is. And I think most men really relate to that of, oh, my goodness, I don't know what the one thing is. And you know, it's right there, we use that clip in that Your Place in the Story talk, right? The idea is that, you know, we're going to help you navigate, triangulate, you know, how has God been, you know, growing you so that you would begin to realize that one thing. And one of the greatest revelations, I think, for everybody in this room is the one thing you may not be your occupation, what you get paid for, anything else, is just a place where God makes your heart come alive. And that one thing for us, I know, it's boot camp, right?
It's just an opportunity to see God do – set man's hearts free and be part of a fellowship that you do laugh so hard it'll make your heart surgery laugh, you know, pray, do whatever. Darrell Bock I did it the hard way, I just counted his movies on the thing that I'd already pulled up when we looked at his age. Forty-eight movies.
And it looked like that might have been his last one, I'm not totally sure, but I didn't see anything. John Green And he did a lot of TV. Darrell Bock Oh, yeah. John Green I mean, he's been around for a long time.
Darrell Bock He was pretty much a cowboy, even when he wasn't playing one, I think. John Green Yeah, I know for me in that clip, you know, the one thing – initially when I saw it at boot camp, my first thought went to my family, right? You know, the one thing that's most important to me is my family, and not that my family is not important to me, they are. Very much so.
They're very important. You know, then it became something else and something else, and that didn't replace a bit in addition to my family, and eventually got down to the one thing has to be my relationship with God. Darrell Bock Right. John Green Because without it, the ministry stuff doesn't work. Without it, the family stuff doesn't work.
Without it, nothing works, right? And so for me, that one thing has to be my focus on my relationship with God, because everything else drives out of it, you know? And I'd like to say I should have known that when I became a Christian years and years ago, but it's one that you get more solidified in understanding it, the further you go in your walk with Him, you know, the more intimate you get in that relationship with Him, the more you realize, man, it's critical. Darrell Bock Yeah, and, you know, I couldn't agree with you more that the one thing is God, however, you know, where do we get to see – John Green Yeah. Darrell Bock – God in action so much as a time where you actually take the time to go disconnect and spend some time in the woods listening for God. John Green Oh, we've seen over the years people's hearts moved, families restored, just amazing things that God's done all from somebody coming to a boot camp and just listening to Him. And so we'd encourage you to do that. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the boot camp coming up November 21st through 24th. Again, masculinejourney.org. This week, let yourself be loved by Him and love others well. We'll talk with you next week. This is the Truth Network.
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