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 Masculine Journeys. This is Danny and we are down to what I would say a skeleton crew this week, but we all fill out our skeletons pretty well. Yeah, we all fill out our skeletons pretty good, so we got to do folks out of town and everything, but we're here anyway, so we're glad you could join us. I was asked to host this week, so I got to choose the topic.
Yeah, I'm the resort host, the last resort most of the time. Anyway, so our topic this week is, I'm kind of excited about it, it's called Who Am I? And it's birthed really out of a song we use at boot camp we'll get into later, but the topic, Who Am I? And we're going to talk about it from an aspect of, because we're coming up on a boot camp, right Jim?
That's what I hear. I'm not going to tell you where it is or when it is. Coming up on a boot camp and you really begin, when you dive into this message and you dive into the covenant of silences and that kind of thing, you begin to uncover some stuff about yourself and begin to find out who you are. And this first clip helped us set this up pretty good. It's one of our favorite movies, Shrek, and him and Donkey are having a conversation and it is quite a humorous, doesn't really need much of a setup because it's pretty self-explanatory, but Shrek is telling him who ogres are, so we'll play this clip and then we'll talk about it a little further. Okay, let me get this straight. You're going to go fight a dragon and rescue a princess just so Farquaad will give you back a swamp, which you only don't have because he filled it full of freaks in the first place.
Is that about right? You know what? Maybe there's a good reason Donkey shouldn't talk. I don't get it, Shrek. Why don't you just pull some of that ogre stuff on him? You know, throttle him, lay siege to his fortress, grind his bones to make your bread. You know the whole ogre trip. Oh, I know what? Maybe I could have decapitated an entire village and put their heads on a pike, gotten a knife, cut open their spleen and drink their fluids.
Does that sound good to you? Uh, no, not really, no. For your information, there's a lot more to ogres than people think. Example?
Example? Okay, um, ogres are like onions. They stink? Yes. No. Oh, they make you cry? No. Oh, you leave them out in the sun, they get all brown, start sprouting little white hairs.
No. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers.
You get it? We both have layers. Oh, you both have layers.
Oh. You know, not everybody likes onions. Cake! Everybody loves cakes. Cakes have layers.
I don't care what everyone likes. Ogres are not like cakes. You know what else everybody like? Parfaits. Have you ever met a person and you say, hey, let's get some parfaits. They say, hell no, I don't like no parfaits.
Parfaits are delicious. No! You dense, irritating, miniature beast of burden.
Ogres are like onions. End of story. Bye-bye.
See you later. Parfaits may be the most delicious thing on the whole planet. You know, I think I preferred your humming. Do you have a tissue or something?
Because I'm making a mess. Just the word parfait made me start slopping. I would agree with Shrek.
Parfaits are probably better than onions, but they all have purpose. And the reason I wanted to open up with that clip is we use that clip a lot at boot camp. And you know, Shrek is talking about comparing himself to an onion. And you know, we could do that comparison because sometimes I do stink. But the reality is that finding out who you are is about peeling away the layers of the poser rod and the wounds and digging through all that stuff. And you begin to discover, hey, there's a guy inside there that God created that he really wants me to be. And that's kind of how this topic was kind of birthed. It's kind of what we do anyway. But I always like to kind of just start talking about boot camp stuff right before boot camp.
So maybe hopefully somebody will sign up and come, Harold. So anyway, that's kind of where we were at with it. You know, I was listening to the song.
We're going to play that. Remind me who I am by Jason Gray, because I keep want to say by Jeremy Camp and I think maybe he did a cover or something. I don't know. But the ad was that Saturday riding in the road and I thought, man, that'd be a good topic. So anyway, the so we're going to get into some some stories and probably a few more clips and that kind of thing. So, Harold, I think you've got something you want to present to us, don't you? Yeah, I got a poem that I wrote back on December the 26th in 2012. So it's been around a while, titled Who Am I?
And it goes like this. Do I really know who I am? Is the mirror image really me?
Or is my persona only a sham? What do others look and see? My aim is much higher than my reach. My failures so much easier to find.
If I could truly grasp what scriptures teach, what a difference would come to my mind. I love the Lord and need forgiveness. My pride and selfishness so often in the way. How can he continue to bless and bless when my steps stray so far day by day? That's how I know about his great love. His desire to save me is why I'm still here.
When my earth time is over, I'll be above because I can trust him without fear. That was a time that I was doing some introspection and wondering about why at times I feel so close and at other times it's like I'm so far away. I'm one individual, but like that onion, I've got layers. And sometimes the layer that's out there is not the one I want.
I've got to peel it away to get to the one below it, which hopefully is the one I want. But I think that we need to examine ourselves and consider who we are. We're God's child, even though we may not always act like it. The one thing that is so great about the God we serve is he's patient with us.
He allows us to have opportunities to change, and hopefully we'll take advantage of that. Darrell Bock Yeah, I know that I didn't even come to know the Lord and who he was and what it meant until after my mid-40s. And you'd sit there and you'd start thinking about all the things that you did, didn't do, what you made decisions on, why you made them. And I look back at my life and I'm like, what in the heck was I doing? I didn't care about certain things, and God had enough in me that it was like I would think about him once in a while, I would put some of his cares and concerns in front of me, but it was just sad for a little bit and I go on.
And I just went on and on. One day I was just driving down the road and it's like, oh my gosh, it just hit me because I got on to some good teaching and was just dying to hear it. And then eventually it just kind of came to me and it's like, oh my gosh, thank you Lord so much for coming after me because I was not chasing after him. He came and got me.
No one ever goes after God. He comes after us. He gets us when he wants us to. Some of them are early, some of them are late. I'm just very, very fortunate that he came at all. I could have lived my life very easily without God and went on and just did my own stupid stuff, but just so thankful that he did come and say, I want to have this relationship with you and very, very thankful that I have it.
So with you guys jumping in there, let's take that just another step. What are some ways that he has peeled away a couple of those layers, incidences? I mean, we all got them. So I had a very nasty layer that fortunately I don't have any longer, but I was a total idiot a few years back.
I would get mad before even getting in the driveway because I knew there was going to be some stupid driver out there messing my trip up. I mean, that was just I look at it now and I say, you were a total nut. And so fortunately, with the help of the Holy Spirit and my sweetheart's patience, lots of patience. Oh, boy, did I ever mistreat her. I love that woman more than than I do there.
I breathe. But I treated her horribly all those years with the way I did on the highway. And she stuck with me and and tough it out. But if we're not careful, we'll we'll develop characteristics that become too great a part of our personality. And oftentimes, we're too blind to see it.
I just knew I was right. You know, the guy's an idiot driving like that, get out of my way. And you're a probably right about that. Just not. Just not supposed to have that attitude.
It ruined your day didn't ruin his that he was an idiot. Yeah, I mean, in 2002, I had five bypasses done. Probably. Stress mismanagement was the major reason for it. Because I was not much overweight, if any.
played a lot of exercise, stuff, tennis, jogging, all that. But I was just a total madman at times. My frustration and anger got the best of me and left me the worst of it. So peel those layers when you get the chance. And that's all I got to say about that. Yeah, you never know. I had a some kind of an incident that happened at work and then I'm in the hospital.
They checked me out from head to toe and checked me and checked me and one thing that came out of it was you're okay, there's nothing wrong. So same thing. Just the opposite result. I was doing a quick search for the scriptures is the Lord searches the heart. And that because we can't search and do and do this stuff. So we have to have him to search it. And so the that's the kind of thing. So we got a boot camp going.
It is March 13 through the 16th. And we're going to be in Royston, Georgia. And so register for boot camp. How did God remind you who you were at boot camp?
Oh, in so many different ways from beginning to end. You better expect God to show up because he's going to show up. If you give him the time, he's going to show up big at this boot camp. It's so important to me that I'm gonna drive 550 miles get there. You can spend three days laughing with your brothers, fishing, shooting, it don't get no better than that. And then you're given time to spend time with God and he will talk to you. But the brothers friends, the things that you're taught and the things that you think about just amazing experience all the way around. What we have in our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God.
It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. I think sometimes as men, we feel like we're on our own. And we've got to do everything ourselves and the way of the world is on our shoulders. And it's our job to fix everything and make everything right and have all the answers. And I think when you come here, you just get really honed back in and reminded that God really is for us that a good father helps you and a good father makes you have all the tools you need. And a good father comes through for you when you need him and you just feel less alone.
Register today at masculinejourney.org. That was Jason Gray and reminded me who I am. And we do use that song a lot. You're Danny. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, yeah, I'm not Jason Gray. I'm not Jerry McCamp. Took me six lessons to learn to play Radio Herald.
I'm not doing anything like that. But the reason I chose that part of that song and above it, he starts out, he says, if I'm your beloved, then help me to believe it. Tell me again who I am to you, who I am. Remind me lest I forget who I am to you. And and so, you know, I've talked a lot lately about the song. I love you.
I'm your beloved. And in that song, he talks about remind me who I've been all along. And, you know, we'll get into that a little bit. But, you know, it's so hard, maybe not for everybody, but for this knucklehead, Harold, this thick skull. It's hard to get through the fact that God loves me the way he loves me. But he does. And it's amazing, Rodney.
I mean, he loves me. That's crazy. That's just crazy. I agree. Yeah.
I mean, loving you, loving you is crazy. That was like a tennis shot. That was a high volley.
He slammed that one back across the net, didn't he? But that's where the amazement of the Gospel is to me. God's love is so amazing. He doesn't just toss it out there here and there. It's deep, dedicated love for those that he loves.
Yeah. And I've talked about it a little bit on the show, and it's been on here a little while now, but a couple of days anyway, that, you know, my past, Satan has beat me over that past for years. You know, I mean, being a drug addict and an alcoholic and, you know, grew up in church and preached my first message when I was 14, Michael, and didn't go and do all that stuff. There's no way God would have anything to do with me. But, oh, that's so wrong.
Oh, Rodney convicted me earlier. He didn't know it, but what he was talking about, he didn't meet Jesus till he was 40. My earliest memories were believing in God, but you already outlined most of my problems, too. It doesn't keep you from being stupid even if you are going to church twice a week.
Yeah, it doesn't. I never reached a point in my life where I said I didn't believe. I can remember, I remember going, we were out partying one night and we had just made a pharmaceutical run. I'll clean it up a little bit. And so I want to pull behind a church and do the deal, you know, and I would not do it. I was driving, Harold. I would not do it because I just knew that if we did that, that was holy ground and it was going to be a lightning bolt right in the middle of that car.
And I'm pretty sure you're going to have my name on it. I'm like, no, I'm not doing this because it wasn't that I didn't believe. But when I came back to Jesus, it was so hard to get back to the place that I thought he would let me in the door.
Funny you mention church lots. I was on one of my very few dates in high school, and this might tell you why. I was trying to impress the date with the explosives I'd made that day, and that didn't go over very well with her, but that was in a church parking lot where we had stopped to neck.
And here I am trying to blow things up to impress her. How's that for impressive? Jim, while you have the microphone, we're going to play your clip next. So you want to set this Montagie up or montage?
Montage. And it's a collection of all from the same movie. But the set up, Vincente is the bad guy. He's been hired to start a war, and he's got a couple of lackeys that he picked up along the way. And you're opening up with the conversation they're having. Both of them are a little bit upset because they have been told that the princess is going to have to die.
And you start with them getting told who they are by the enemy, and ultimately it goes to the end of the movie where you're seeing who they become through this adventure. Am I going mad? Or did the word fake escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you hippopotamic landmass.
I agree with Physic. Oh, the sot has spoken. Remember this.
Never forget this. When I found you, you were so slobbering drunk, you couldn't buy brandy. And you, friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless. Do you want me to send you back to where you were?
Unemployed in Greenland. Good heavens. Are you still trying to win? You've got an overdeveloped sense of entrance. It's going to get you into trouble someday. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Stop saying that. Four white horses. And I thought, there are four of us. If we ever find a lady.
Hello, lady. So I talked to them with me, in case we ever bumped into each other. I guess we just did. Physic, you did something right.
No way. I wanted it to go to my head. This is a movie I love which gets a lot of ribbing from Sam in particular. Physic and Inigo start this down and out. Inigo had his father killed and he is sworn on vengeance for his father. And what you hear in the second half is him getting that vengeance. What you can't necessarily tell from the video, you could from the video, but from the audio, is that he is rather severely wounded and the count thinks he's got him on the ropes.
And that's when he does his little my name is Inigo Montoya prepare to die speech. And it starts weak and ends strong and that's the only person I think that died in the entire movie was the count and he needed to. And then Physic, who is basically a big, strong, but good at heart, heartless, I mean his good heart and he is very gentle despite his huge size. And that was Andre the Giant playing it.
So he was what, 7'4", I think. And he played it well. But he is always thinking of others and he's caring and at the end he's brought horses for all those that have had a rough day storming the castle, which is two of my other favorite characters are a bit part with Miracle Max and his bride. But this movie has everything and it tells you that pretty early when Peter Falk starts reading the book. But what it had for me is you don't listen to the enemy telling you who you are because it's a lie.
And at the end they do go through things as a group and caring for each other, watching out for each other and come out on the other end the better for it. And the story in my life really is the, well I wasn't going to use these clips. I was trying desperately to find a really old song that was stuck in my brain from the first time I saw the, I read the title, Who Am I? And I was looking for an old song. And I wasn't sure who did it. And I went through Moody Blues and a couple other folks that I liked to listen to back then. But it turned out it was Country Joe and the Fish and if you know who that is I'm very impressed. Even our wisest man didn't recall that group.
But it's Who Am I? And it was very morose, very sad and it reminded me of my youth and I loved that song when I was quite young. And I did the drinking. I discovered alcohol, took away some of the pain at 14, 15 and drank pretty heavily until I got married. And that was actually what got me through high school in many ways. But not a good way. And recovering from that over the many years was an interesting trip. But God was faithful through it all.
And that's, he's the only one that can tell any of us who we truly are. SHORT I'm pretty sure in some parts of the South that I don't think you could listen to a band named Country Joe and the Fish and not drink. I think it would be illegal. I'm pretty sure. JOHNSON Their biggest hit, which actually says a lot about the type of music, was Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag, which was about going to Vietnam and not coming home except in a box. SHORT Oh, goodness.
Yeah, anyway. Anybody else got anything they want to share? Michael, you got anything you want to share? MICHAEL Maybe in the second show. SHORT Maybe in the second show.
JOHNSON In the second? Well, let's go to Mike, not to be confused with Michael, who is a traveling, playing in a traveling band over here. MICHAEL The only thing for me is going back to the Shrek clip about the layers.
I'm sorry if that's off course or whatever, but it's what's coming in my head. This journey that we're on, the layers that we're peeling back, to have the guys around you that have walked the same road can help drastically. It's important to find those people in your life that God's placed around to help peel those layers back and get down actually who you are as a person and who God's called you to be, not what society says you are. SHORT A great place to do that and start that journey is at a boot camp. We're going to Royston, Georgia this spring, March 13-16. You can go to masculinejourney.org and register and love somebody well, as Sam would say.
