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.
Did you hear that? It's deep. In the heart of North Carolina, we're going deeper. And we're going deeper into what, Danny?
Going deeper into what would you tell your former self to get yourself to come to boot camp? Yeah, so, you know, that's a fascinating question, right? Maybe you... That's deep. It is deep.
Yeah. And it could get deep, depending on who's talking. But nonetheless, you know, I don't know when you think back and I like to categorize things in my life to go, okay, you know, what was some of the best advice I ever got, you know, that really radically changed my life? And I can give them to you in pretty specific order. Number one was that if God really is God, then you don't have to tell him a whole lot of stuff in prayer.
He already knows. I had that conversation with a pastor, was it today or yesterday, very recently, and we were discussing that very issue. And that, you know, a gigantic part of prayer is to listen. That was some of the best advice, really. It was prior to my salvation experience, actually. And the second best piece of advice doesn't sound like it necessarily was, but oh, it was perhaps bigger, was Norman Vincent Peale, in his series The Power of Positive Thinking, said, get up an hour early every morning, an hour earlier than you have been getting up, and read the Bible. And that changed everything. Everything. So between the ability to pray, and oh, by the way, he said you should pray before you start to read it. So based on the other experience I had of how to pray, it was quite the experience of those two things.
But the third, so for number three, would be the number three best advice ever got, was actually come to boot camp. And again, just a shameless plug, we have one coming up March 13th. Wow, what a coincidence.
Through the 16th in Royston, Georgia. What a value. You can go to masculinejourney.org, just go right on there, don't even worry about what else I have to say. But I do have something significant, like man, how did that change Robby's life, okay? So since we can go deeper, let me go deep, all right? I had been in ministry, full-time Christian ministry, radio, all those kind of things, for a number of years when I got the invitation to go to a boot camp. And if I, my former self was struggling, struggling with pornography, masturbation, things of this nature that are very, very difficult to deal with, I mean, they are.
Especially when you're, you know, supposedly a picture of whatever that's supposed to be in Christian ministry. And I really struggled with it to the point that I didn't think there was any way that I would ever break that. I didn't think there was any way I could get past that. And you talk about a marriage that's mostly dead, as Jim pointed out in A Princess Bride, you know, if you're in that situation and your wife is not aware of it, then you have this situation where your wife is loving a mask and you're not getting any love because you're afraid to tell her about the real you. And so she's totally in love with somebody that you're not. And you don't even know that. I didn't know it. I just knew this, that we went to see the movie Fireproof. I don't know if you've seen that movie, but it has to do with this subject, okay? And as we're walking out of the movie theater, my wife looks at me, and if I ever found out you were into anything like that, I would divorce you so quick your head would spin.
I would never, ever, ever. And she went on to tell me all the reasons why that was disgusting and horrible, right? Although I'd been struggling with it since I was a kid, as a lot of men do. And the struggle gets worse, right? And so as I pointed out, as Danny pointed out in the last show, it wasn't like I went to a boot camp and all of a sudden I was free.
It didn't work like that. But I went to a boot camp. I found out that, wow, there were things that led to addictions. There were wounds that were causing you to behave in certain manners that could be dealt with, and it put me on the path to begin to pursue what those kind of things may look like, as well as becoming more and more aware of how legalistic I was.
Having gone to a pretty conservative Baptist church for many, many years, I had no idea that there were so many things that I was doing out of that was checking off the box because that was the religious thing to do rather than actually pushing into my relationship with Christ. But Jim pulled a microphone up in front of him, so I know he's dying to say something. I don't want you to lose it, Jim, because I know you're like me, and your memory could, you know.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't die if I didn't say it. But I love what you just said, and it connects back to the freedom video. And I have different stories of what I struggled with, but when I got to the point where I could be honest with my wife, and what you said was that, you know, they love a mask.
They don't love you. And that's true, and I had masks for everybody, so getting rid of the poser is a big part of boot camp as well, and that freedom that we all strive for in a relationship only comes through honesty. The truth will set you free. And that's a capital T for truth for my buddy Mike. It does, and so, you know, like a lot of folks who would come to boot camp, they're going to sit through several talks that talk about it's not your fault, there's freedom involved, you know, freedom from all sorts of addictions, but you have to push into the wounds that are involved, and the vows that are involved, and the agreements that are involved, and understanding what all that warfare is, and understanding that you're in a war, and you didn't even know you were in a war, and all those things that we pushed into, and as it began to change my actual understanding of essentially the larger story, and my place in that story, then I began to see.
But then on top of that, because you pick up what I call a band of brothers, that you begin to have a common enemy that you're fighting, and a common purpose that you're walking together in, and it's a beautiful thing as you begin to do that, that you watch them be healed of things, and you get a chance to watch them get freedom, and so that's how that journey really impacted me personally. It was not just coming to the boot camp, but coming to the boot camp realizing there's other men. I'm not the only guy out there that struggles with pornography. What? I thought I was the guy. I'm not the only guy in Christian ministry that struggles with pornography. What? Yeah, that's true.
I'm not. And they're getting healing out there, and it is possible, because they didn't know that it was, right? Well, you know, one night at one of these meetings where we're recording a radio show, and then we get back, and Sam went into a struggle he was working in, and he got in touch with his former self, just like we heard in Danny's clip in the first show, that when young Rusty was eight years old, he got beat up pretty hard, and that led to him crying a bunch of hard-heartedness that he dealt with. Well, as I saw how Sam got in touch with his former self and was able to get a huge breakthrough, a huge breakthrough that really created a lot of freedom in his life, I went, man, maybe that's possible for me.
And so as I went through that process, and if you come to boot camp, I'll tell you the whole story, okay? But as I went through that process, I found there was something in my prior life that led to my addiction, that led to my struggle, that led to a lack of freedom, and it showed me the process in order to be able to walk through that. But the reason why I chose the clip I'm going to play in a second is from the movie A Star Is Born. It was from, I think, 2018.
It's a newer version than the one that I saw when I was younger. But nonetheless, you hear a scene between a man struggling with addiction and at least his significant other. We don't know what the relationship is necessarily from the clip.
I don't believe they're married, but nonetheless, he is feeling like she's fallen in love with something that isn't what it is, and they're working through this. So it kind of illustrates the point of how, believe me, this isn't something you want to go just confess without a whole lot of work of God, a whole lot of prayer, all sorts of things like that, but by pushing into it, you can hear that there's real raw emotion there, and breaking my wife's heart wasn't anything that I ever want to face all that again, what that went through, but let me just tell you on the other side of that, God came for her. God came for her heart. God came for her marriage. Certainly, God came for me and gave me a big dose of reality that I just didn't want to face.
And so when you listen to this, I just want to give you a taste of what the emotion of that all is. We're both waiting for Daddy. What, three weeks? You are going to come back, right?
What do you mean? Are you going to come home when you're done? Do you not want me to?
No, I want you to. I'm just wondering if I just... Where else would I go? I don't know. I guess I just thought, you know, it's like there's...
Wait, wait, wait. Why would you say that? I don't know. I guess I wondered without the booze, you know, if you would want to come home, because when you met me, you were drinking, and now you're not. I wasn't drunk the whole time we were together.
I know, but it got bad when we were together. It's okay. I mean, it's fine. I just was wondering.
I just was wondering. That's all. And whatever you want is okay.
Whatever I want, I want to be with you. That's why I'm here. Okay. I know. I know. I just want you to be happy.
I'm working on that. It's okay. It's okay. It's not your fault. I'm sorry I did that. It's okay. It's not your fault.
It's a disease. No, but I embarrassed you. I embarrassed you in that.
I'm not embarrassed of you. It's so wrong. Yeah. It's so wrong.
It's so wrong. And, you know, the fascinating thing is that, you know, God, ready, willing, and able to forgive you of whatever, right? And his blood cleanses you and those kind of things, and at some point in time, we all can really come to a point of forgiveness.
But I just want to say for those who may be out there right now that are struggling, that, you know, I went through that healing, I think it was in 2014, right? So, you know, we're 10, 11 years out at this point in time, and I'm telling you, never again. It didn't happen. If somebody told me, like, Robby, you really could, nah, not really. Well, yeah, really, yeah, really. And I know who did it. It was God, but it was God through my band of brothers, God through, you know, a lot of work and a lot of painful work, however, you know, what would I tell my former self?
Are you some kind of idiot? That you're going to sit here and keep going through the same beating your head up against the wall treatment that you're doing to yourself when freedom is available on all sorts of levels? Like, and oh, yeah, it's going to take some time. You're going to have to devote weeks and months and whatever it is, but oh, my goodness, what it's going to do for generations of your family, for generations of the people that you will minister with, because as God comforts you, you will comfort others. It's, you know, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, the God of all comfort comforts us that we might comfort others with the comfort that we were comforted with. And that opportunity to come in and do that and watch God give somebody else freedom in such a way, and this God has given me an opportunity to even have men tell me about their discussions with their wives after they carefully, prayerfully went through the entire process, and see those marriages, you know, and those generations and all those things, and see when you rob yourself of the healing, you're robbing all those people that your life might touch on the other side.
It's right there, and it's available. So Rodney, how about you? Rodney My story is not all that different from a lot of what you just described, you know, the masturbation and those kinds of things that were going on, and I came to a point in my life where I finally heard God. I understood him, and he, I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm driving home from work one day, I'm just crying in my car listening to, oh, gosh, I can't even think of the guy's name. Now, I still, I don't listen to him anymore, but I've listened to his whole series.
Darrell Bock J. Vernon McGee. Rodney J. Vernon McGee, and just loved listening to him, listening to, you know, the whole Bible and did all that, and it was just really, really good, because I finally got off the air where I had to listen to him at a specific time and found, oh, I can get him at any time on my phone, and did that, and I started listening all the time. And it was just that transformation out of this is who I was to realize, oh, God is real, and that I need to move into his world, because he is actually in mine. He's with me, he's there, and I remember driving home that night just crying and bawling my head off about what was going on and confessing things and saying things, and the next thing I know I'm just, okay, Lord, what are we doing, where are we going? And that first Sunday, go to church, I don't know where to go, so I went to the one that I knew about, it wasn't the greatest church, but I probably went there for two to three years trying to figure out, well, what's next, what's next, and I started listening in the mornings to a better pastor, I was listening all these mornings, and finally one day I was like, why don't I just go over there, because I was finally getting more upset with where I was going, I'm going over there. So I changed to that, and that, I don't remember when I came to my first boot camp, if I was still in the old place or at the new place, but I remember it was somewhere in that transition, so I'm thinking maybe seven years ago or so, I can't remember, six, somewhere in there, and I'm like, this is what I want to go do, and I went to that first camp trying to explain myself, but not explain myself because, well, I don't want everybody else to see me and think about me and what are they going to do and say, and all this other stuff going on in my head, you know, I'm just rounding things around and around and around, but going through the covenant of silence was wonderful, because I didn't have to worry about what everybody else thought, I just went off by myself and just concentrated me in God.
I'm sure I talked and thought too much, but I tried to keep it down so I could hear and take things in, and there were a couple of things, again, my memory is bad from about August of this last year, and just getting a download of different things. The first couple times, a couple covenant of silences, I got a bunch of stuff, and then really what he ended up doing was just kind of going back through those again and again with me, and I just remember that changed me so much, and then you guys then said, hey, you want to come to the show, okay, I'll come over and just see what it's about. Next thing you know, I'm finally talking on here and doing things and being a part of the team, which has been wonderful, and we've grown, you know, and it's just, it's something that you don't plan, but you just let God have his way with some things. And I feel that it just helps me so much to learn about not just myself but others and the way to see what goes on in other people's lives in a way to just grow. And that's where I just enjoy coming on Tuesday nights and doing the show. It's just wonderful, and I love listening to the show.
It's been wonderful. Darrell Bock Ah, thank you, thank you, thank you. So Michael, if you were going to do a clip, tell us what you were going to do. Michael Scott Well, what I would do is that scene from the movie Hook. It's where Robin Williams is sitting down to eat food, but all they have are dishes.
All the dishes are empty. It reminds me of boot camp because all it took was for him to believe. And once he started believing, he saw all this fantastic food and was able to join in all the fun and merriment.
Going to boot camp is kind of like that, you know, you see all these people having a great time and you're wondering what's going on, and then all of a sudden you're part of the group because you believe in the Lord, and he brought you there for a reason. Darrell Bock That's awesome. It is. And the food, you know, just speaking of it, you know, since you were there – Michael Scott Oh, it was fantastic.
Darrell Bock Yes. Can I say brisket, right? Like brisket that just kind of melts in your mouth, brisket, you know. And then, oh, another night we had ribs.
Yeah, like, oh, my goodness. And then, if I'm not mistaken, it was New York strip steaks one night, so it was like – Michael Scott These sacrificial animals were great. Darrell Bock And now that Robby's in charge of it, he's all over the food. You notice that? This is what Robby's in charge of now.
He's like, oh, let me tell you about the food. It was so good. Yeah. And it was.
I agree with you. You did great. Michael Scott God did it, you know.
He created all those wonderful animals. Darrell Bock He did it through you. Michael Scott And there was a whole team of lots of people that were – Darrell Bock Choppers and all kinds of stuff. Michael Scott Choppers.
Like, we'll never, ever forget Gene. Darrell Bock Right. Michael Scott Chopping beans. Darrell Bock They help. Michael Scott You mind if I speak to that just briefly? Darrell Bock Yeah, please do. Michael Scott I just want to say this real quick. I don't mean to get in the way, but – Darrell Bock This is Rodney for those of you. This is the other Rodney. Michael Scott The other Rodney. Darrell Bock The other Rodney. The cool Rodney. Darrell Bock We have Rodney. We have Rodney squared. Michael Scott But I just want to say, you know, one thing I enjoy about the boot camp is definitely, of course, the fellowship and the brotherhood. That steak, the night that I came, I was able to come, that steak – and I'm not joking when I say this – was better than the steak I had at Ruth Chris. I'm not joking. It was that good. So, you know, hey, you come for steak, you'll find Jesus. Put it that way.
Darrell Bock There will be, and so even in Georgia, we've got it coming. Dan? Darrell Bock Yeah, one of the things that – I was sitting here listening to people talk and everything, but, you know, we talk about the bad stuff that we towed into boot camps, towed into church and that kind of thing. And a lot of us, if you're like me, you end up with a set of dos and don'ts, which is frustrating in life. But I think that this journey, this masculine journey, this John Eldridge thing is – what it has given me is a bunch of hows and whys, which makes sense, more pieces to the puzzle. Because it's not that, you know, we talked about – Harold talked about rescuing the beauty and we talk about those and core desires, stuff God gave you.
All the byproducts, you know, the pornography, the masturbation, the addictions and all that stuff were where we were wounded in these things. What we learn is what it's supposed to look like and how to battle through the fiery shots that come and you've got more direction. Am I making sense or am I just rambling? Is that you guys gave me, not just you guys, but God put me on a path and it made sense. That it makes sense that I understand that there's adventure in me because there's adventure in God. I understand that there's a beauty to rescue because there's beauty in God.
Not just women, but there's beauty. There's a battle to fight and I can see my enemy more clearly. And that's kind of the other edge of the sword that we really don't get in church sometimes.
But, yeah, come to a boot camp and we'll eat good spiritually and physically. Darrell Bock So – Darrell Bock Uh-oh. Darrell Bock No, no, I'm pointing to the person behind you, Sue.
You know, there's some dog-gonness that we're missing because the dogs are gone and without art, you know, we just don't – we don't have the whole picture. Sue Well, I'm here tonight. Hello, everyone. Darrell Bock We're so glad you are, too, my friend.
Sue Yeah. Well, I would just say, and Danny just mentioned it, that the boot camps are an adventure. You will enjoy it.
You will love it. And, of course, I brought my dogs for a little while to the last one and they had an absolute blast. But all the guys were around and they were just enjoying that and hamming it up and showing out and having a good time. Darrell Bock And Andy learned about Bella, right? There are certain tendencies to a dog that, you know, you just don't get by with anything, do you? Sue That's right, yes. Darrell Bock You don't want to take Bella's ball, just saying. Sue No, you don't want to take her ball. She wouldn't even let Max have her balls at the last camp.
He tried to get one and he cried over it for a long time, but she wouldn't let him have one. Darrell Bock Well, you know, so we got all kinds of adventure, you know. If you come, which in Royston, you know, for those who have not been there, we're going to have an airsoft course like which you have never seen.
Like if you get down on the bottom of that hill, not pity the fool, just saying, and then we got some skeet shooting where they're coming out of two different places. And it's just a neat new, there's some team building experiences that really taught me a lot when I came down there. I did man camp on the Key to Koloff at the same camp. And so, you know, you get to experience.
If you've been to other boot camps, let me just say, this one will be a new experience because of where it is and what it is. And there's even some secrets that I won't tell you about that are in the woods there in Royston. And you know, that when you're walking around doing your covenant of silence, you're going to go, oh my goodness, you know, God is going to speak and it's going to be some really exciting stuff. But again, that's coming up March 13th through the 16th, if you go to masculinejourney.org, that's masculinejourney.org, and be sure and say, Art sent me. So Jim, you had that mic in front of you, so go for it.
I took it back after giving it to Art. I did have something I was going to say a while ago, but I forgot what it was. So I don't know why I'm looking at Daddy.
He's a pretty face, so we do that. Now one of the things at boot camp that has always meant a lot to me is, and it's been mentioned, is the covenant of silence. We don't spend enough time listening to God, and you talked about that some earlier, and this is a wonderful opportunity not to get a program, not even to eat a great steak, which is a great thing to do, but to actually spend time with God. Yeah, four days chasing after the heart of God, really, out in the outdoors and chasing after that. And when God speaks, it's way better than if we do, and you get put in a position where you can really... And you can listen to him, talk to you. That's the deal. So again, masculinejourney.org, March 13th through the 16th, we'll see you there. This is the Truth Network.
