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 Journey. We're glad to have you with us today. And it's, man, it's been a month, I think, since I've been here with you guys. It's been pleasant. It has. Yeah, I know. I figured it's been pleasant for you guys.
I got a little choked up there before I could finish what I was going to say. It was pleasant for you guys, I'm pretty sure, since I've been gone. I mean, it's been gone that long, too.
Has it? Oh, yeah. A little bit. I miss you guys. Yeah, yeah. I had the flu.
I was fighting for a couple weeks and then had something I had to do last week. And so I miss seeing you guys. And we're going to do this show and then we're gone next week, right? But where are we next week, Andy? Royston, Georgia. Why would we be going to Royston, Georgia? Boot camp. Come on, man.
Oh, yeah, yeah. We are having a boot camp next week. So you still have time to register. If you haven't registered yet, go to masculinejourney.org. You can register for the upcoming boot camp next Thursday through Sunday.
That's the 13th through the 16th. And it's in Royston, Georgia. It's going to be a great camp. Amen. So we have a pretty cool topic today. And, Danny, you were the start of this topic. That's why I put the microphone in front of you. You want to talk a little bit about how this topic came about?
Yeah. I was thinking about going through some stuff here lately. And I was thinking about all the people who poured into my life over the years. And it's quite overwhelming to think about people God has put in my life and the things that they've spoke into my life and the nuggets that I've retained. And that's kind of where this started. And then you added on to the rest of it. But that's kind of where it is.
I mean, there are people in this room. But if you span back over years and God puts people in your life and there's some treasures there, it really is. So that's kind of where it came from.
Yeah. So we're calling this topic life nuggets. And so it's things that people have shared with you or you've heard in a TV show or a movie and it's just kind of struck you that you said, oh, I want to remember that. And it's motivated you to do things differently. It's motivated for the better. And so that's kind of what we're talking about today.
And so, Jim, you actually have the first clip this week. Has that happened before? Very rarely. Yeah, it has happened before. I just don't remember when either.
Yeah. Usually when you're not hosting. Yeah, it's usually when Jim's hosting. Which has happened before. But I don't know anybody remembers that.
Or if they do, that's why I never host anymore. And not being used to this, I'm totally unprepared for presenting my clip, but I'll do it anyway. Well, I told you like a minute ago. I always have had trouble with, is it Hub or Dub? Yeah, it's Hub. Dub, it's Hub. Hub, Hub McCann.
It's always the one. Dub is some guy from, I think, Andy Griffiths, right? Yeah. Anyway, this clip is from Secondhand Lines, which you'd think I didn't really know the movie, but I watched it as much as, almost as much as Princess Bride.
Wow. It's one of my all-time favorites. And this is a scene on the lake when the, now I can't think of the... Hub and Walter. Walter, thank you. I couldn't think of the kid's name. I wasn't going to just say the kid, but thank you for that.
But Walter has found stuff about his uncles in a trunk and pursued it. And the opening question is about Jasmine. I don't know why I remember her name. She died early in the movie. But he is asking about that and about his adventures. And he gets a little talk that Hub gives to young men, and he is offering him a piece of it.
And this is the piece, and we'll chat about it afterwards. What happened to Jasmine? I have to know. I have to.
She died, died of childbirth hurting the baby. What did you do? I went back to the only life I knew, back to the Legion. The next 40 years, there was always one more war to fight. And I got old and came here.
Here I am. Those stories about Africa, about you, they're true, aren't they? It doesn't matter.
It does too. They don't know what to believe in. Damn, if you want to believe in something, believe in it.
Just because something isn't true, there's no reason you can't believe in it. There's a long speech I give to young men. It sounds like you need to hear a piece of it.
It's a piece. Sometimes, the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good. That honor, courage, and virtue mean everything. That power and money, money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this, that love, true love never dies. Remember that, boy. Remember that. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, you see. A man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in.
Got that? That was a good speech. It was a good speech. And what brought this to mind was the fact that when I was, particularly when I was younger, I could manufacture things in my brain that were real to me.
And definitely altered some of the realities to where now I don't remember which is the reality and which is my creativity, we'll call it. But one of the things I love about this clip and I love about some of the advice I got growing up was that you have to believe in things that may or may not be true. There's very little truth that we understand. And what we do have is a person, not a proposition.
Jesus Christ. What I really got from multiple people that my father was probably the first and the strongest is to be kind and loving to everybody regardless of station and life. I really grew up with, even though it was a fairly prejudicial time, I had no prejudices until I developed them later in life because my father didn't display any of those.
My mother didn't display any of those. And it really is, those are things that we want to believe in are treating others with respect, with love. And I got that all along the way and if I have any true character, I think that's my strongest part and that did come from others. And I guess primarily it came from Jesus. But the things that I care about most do end up being people.
Money would be okay. Power I could care less about. But a lot of the things he was talking about we need to believe.
Many people don't. Darrell Bock Yeah, that's true. I was thinking about as you were talking about how God has continued to refine that in you with your words of the year over the last few years.
Right? Because your word last year was what, integrity? Darrell Bock Integrity. Darrell Bock Yeah.
And what's your word this year? Darrell Bock Intentional. Darrell Bock Yeah. So God continues to hone that as you continue to go through life with him. Darrell Bock I was beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get away from I words.
I really should have you words, right? Darrell Bock Maybe. Darrell Bock That's me being punny.
Darrell Bock It's identity, right? Darrell Bock Yeah. Darrell Bock Could be. Darrell Bock Could be.
I'm not the sayeth of the Lord. Darrell Bock Well, you could be speaking for God. We'll check it out. Darrell Bock TBD. Darrell Bock So Harold, would you like to add something to this topic?
We'd love to hear from you. Darrell Bock Well, as usual, I don't have Darrell Bock Oh, wait. We've got our music playing like I always do to you, Harold. Darrell Bock We'll have 15 seconds. Talk fast. Darrell Bock Well, we'll come back to you, Harold.
So think about that some more. Darrell Bock Sometime. Darrell Bock Yeah. We will come back to that. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming boot camp.
It's coming up March 13th through 16th. Nope. Oh, it's not time. Oh, go ahead, Harold. Apparently you heard music and it was just premature music.
Harold Bock Okay. Well, one of the things that I remember came from my mother. The first 10 to 12 years of my life, we were not together as a family the whole time.
My mother and I, and when my sister came along, we were living at my maternal grandmother's house with my mother. My dad was away working a lot on construction and stuff. And we never had a car until I was 10 years old. And I remember one time looking across the street, and there was this really pretty convertible.
And I was looking at it and admiring it and so forth. And my mother said, if you won't spend your money on tobacco and alcohol, you can have a car like that. So she gave me some words about how to use whatever funds came my way, not to waste them.
But then I could spend them on things that were worth something. And that's just really stuck with me. Another thing that I remember is don't choose a girl just because she's pretty. She's got to be good as well. And that stood me in good stead. I've had my sweetie pie now for 60 years. And we ain't through. Darrell Bock That's good. That's good.
So did you ever get a convertible? Darrell Bock Yes. Darrell Bock Okay. Darrell Bock It's funny you ended up in computers as well because two things that depreciate the fastest are vehicles and computers, I think.
But they're still a lot better than alcohol and tobacco. Darrell Bock Yeah. No comment.
I got nothing to add to it. So you were absolutely right. So anyway, we do have a boot camp coming up. And it's coming up when? Next week, right? Darrell Bock Yeah, next week. Darrell Bock So who all is going? Darrell Bock I am.
I think I registered early this year. Darrell Bock Yeah, you did. Darrell Bock Before the day we got there. Darrell Bock Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, I saw Jim's name when I was going through the registration.
So I'm like, wow, the world's coming to an end. Darrell Bock No. Darrell Bock No, but you have time to register.
If you register in the next few days, it would be great. Go to masculinejourney.org. Register for the boot camp. Let's say you don't have the money to go. Don't let that hold you back. Reach out to one of us. We'll find a way to help you get there. Right? Just let us know.
Go to andyatmasculinejourney.org or any of our first names at Masculine Journey. Talk to you in a minute. Darrell Bock What we have at 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. Darrell Bock Well, what kind of inspired you to come up this weekend? Jim McDonough Oh, my goodness, just my faith in general. My father has passed down that heritage of just that Christian life, that Christian faith and just godly morals and principles. And he's instilled that in my life. And I have children as well.
And I want to instill that in their life. So when I get an opportunity to do something like this, I jump on it. I just want to be here. And I'm glad to be here.
It's a great opportunity. Darrell Bock We're definitely glad to have you here as well. Any talk that stuck out to you this weekend that's really just kind of made your heart come alive with that fire back in you?
Jim McDonough Probably one thing that just stands out to me is John 15. It's just not being alone. Know that I have Christ on my side. I can't do anything without him.
And I need him in my life. I'm a very private person. I like to do things on my own. I don't like to ask for help. So that's hard for me to know I've got to ask Jesus for something and then also just to rely on a band of brothers that I can look to and turn to and say, Hey, guys, I need help.
I can't do this alone. Darrell Bock Register today at masculinejourney.org. Darrell Bock Welcome back to Masculine Journey. That is casting crowns and the voice of truth. We're talking about life nuggets and advice that we get from friends, from family, from strangers sometimes, from movie clips, whatever the case may be. But keeping in mind that the root of that is often from God. God sends others into our life to help us in times of need. And Danny, that's how this topic came about you were sharing with us.
And you actually have the next clip. Danny is son, Joe Reagan. And what he's got him in there for is he's going to bring Joe Hill, his grandson, who is Joe Reagan's son, and these two are going to meet.
And the interchange they have, but Frank is basically speaking into their life or putting them in front of each other to kind of confront some things. So we can play it and talk about it afterwards. You want to see me, Commissioner? Yes, I do.
I want to introduce you to something. Officer Mike McFadden, Detective Joe Hill. Joe was named after his father, Joe Reagan. I've seen pictures of your dad. He looks just like him. How old were you? Fourteen.
It's a few years younger. But I never met him. I was raised by my mom.
Same here. And a whole bunch of kin on the McFadden side. I didn't meet the rest of mine until a few years ago.
It's been a trip. Aren't all families. It must have been really hard for you growing up with that inheritance.
Likewise for you, I bet. The job lets me connect to my dad. The job lets me pay back something for what he did. Unless I'm here to turn in my shield, sir.
You will be disciplined, but you certainly won't be terminated. So, here are two guys that have things that are in their past that are beyond their control. The reason that speaks to me is there are things that happened in my life that were out of my control, but then there was a lot of stuff that was in my control. But the people who spoke into my life, and just a couple things came to mind, they made me look at things from a different angle.
And that's what they were doing here, is looking at things from a different angle. I remember my first mentor in AA, when I got sober, we had to go through our past and figure out what our part in this thing was. And man, I just thought, you're going to need an exorcism when we confess this stuff, or whatever. But after that, I had all this stuff wrote down, several pages, and that thing. We walked through our lives together with that and kind of walked through that. And then he said, come on. And we went outside, out of his apartment out there, and he had a lighter in his hand, and he lit those things up and burned them. And I watched the pages go up in flames, and he looked at me and he said, now, that's all gone.
Let's get about the business of living. And I've never forgotten that. That was 30 years ago. I've never forgotten that, a life nugget, if you will. And Harold reminded me before pre-show, he said, I should have brought a stick, because one of my favorite clips is from Lion King, where Rafiki hits him in the head.
He said, what did you do that for? He said, it doesn't matter, it's in the past. And so many times, we keep letting the past hit us. And we hadn't learned a thing.
And you're going to get thumped. But it's these life nuggets that change your course, I think, and make you go in a different direction. My friend Herb Spruill, I talked about pre-show, he would look at me, and he was just a sunshine of a person. Everybody that met Herb loved him. And he had more medical challenges than anybody ever met. In a wheelchair, in a wheelchair, dialysis, I mean, you name it, he had it going on. But his disposition of life was just outstanding. And he would look at me and he would go, I know this guy, he's got the favor of God.
Do you know who I'm talking about? And he'd be grinning from ear to ear. And he was trying to tell me, you've got God's favor. God is smiling on you. And at that time in my life, when I was starting that, I thought, there's no way God's smiling on me. Do you know what I've done?
Do you know who I am? But it's those nuggets you hold on to, and sooner or later, they become seeds, and they grow into stuff. And that's kind of where we've been at with this thing.
And I could go through story after story and guy after guy. And it's sonship. It's fatherhood.
It's all those things. I remember dad telling me that, son, don't get paid for what you do, get paid for what you know. And he said, if they offer to send you somewhere for school or learning, he said, you go. And I told him several years ago, I said, dad, your advice paid off. I said, because I make a good living for what I know. And he said, well, at least something paid off.
You had to meet dad. And yeah, so that's the reality of this. That's why I love topics like this. Darrell Bock Well, thank you. Rodney, is there anything you'd like to add to this topic? Rodney Well, I know that I look back at my life, and I just think a lot about coming to know who Jesus was in my life.
And that was just a major, major moment, because it was only like 10 years ago. And just driving in the car, and just thinking about this, and I was just balling, because I was listening to J. Vernon McGee and his radio show. And just, he was going through what I think was Romans when I first got on. And I was just, just kind of overtaken by all of that, what he was saying, how he was saying things, and he's given great examples. And then it's just one of those things that I just remember of coming to the Lord and just finally just giving up on myself, finally just saying, okay, I've had enough of me.
I want more with him. And that was just really, really hard to go through on one hand, but it was absolutely wonderful on the other. Because you have to admit all these things that you've done, and that you did, and that how you think about things. And that's when I just started turning my life around and saying, no, I'm not going to be who I was.
I'm going to be somebody different in the future. And just going through all of that growth and having, because I was finally got to the point, because I first started listening to Dr. J. Vernon McGee. It was in the morning going to work. And that was on a, what, Monday morning. It's like, I don't know, 5 a.m. or something like that. So I barely get it, and then I leave the radio network, and I can't hear it going any further south toward Charlotte, because things have changed. That's where I was working. And I had heard it for a while, and then finally, I forget when, but it was a month or two down the road that I finally was able to get it on my phone.
Oh, wow, it's on the phone? So I check all that out, and then I just started listening to it every show, every day. It's like a four-year program. I got through it in like two years or something, because I was just listening a lot of times and just listening to, I was listening to a lot of other stuff too, because I listened to Robby and all his shows, and I just kind of, you know, there was just this infeed of great knowledge from the Word of God and all these people that are preaching these great things, and I'm just trying to take it in and understand. And it wasn't the easiest thing, just, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got that. No, it was like, I had to think about it, and I had to work through it, and I had to really understand it. And it was not easy just to go, oh, yeah, I got it. But it was wonderful the more and more. And then I got to the point where I could just go, okay, I don't have to know everything. I'm not going to know everything. But I could just live through a lot of those instances and know enough that I had to know who I am and who I'm in. And that was kind of good enough.
That's kind of where I'm still at. Thank you. The question I have for you, you know, we'll be coming up on the music here pretty soon, but the question I have for you is what life nuggets have you been given, right? Have they been given from individuals? Have they been from a movie, from a song, from something?
Andy? So whenever I joined the ministry, I guess it was 2016 or 17, the same time I've talked about it many times, I got a new job. And that job, one of the first things they did was send me to Idaho to do this federal gig. And while I was there, I got to go to Grand Teton and Yellowstone.
And when I did, there was a lot of drive and a lot of windshield time while I was there. And I started listening to all these While at Heart podcasts. I'd already heard The Masculine Journey. And I'm just trying to soak in all this message, all these different things. And there was a lot, you know, it was just overwhelmed. But during then, I just, it really opened me up to listen more to what God was saying, his voice. And so I took a hike and I was like, you know, I know Jesus took many hikes or whatever with the disciples and thought them through that. So I go across this lake called Jenny Lake at Grand Teton.
I get over there. And then I wanted to hike back, but the heart was willing, but the flesh was weak. I was like, well, I got to make a shortcut. So I looked on the map. I took the shortcut and the shortcut wasn't a shortcut.
It was a long cut. And it got me, it wasn't as easy as what it looked. And, you know, there was a teaching that, you know, don't try, don't try to take shortcuts. And, you know, we've heard that a lot of times, you know, it's whether you're doing a project or whatever. Well, what it was, I think was a lot around process and looking back and going through The Masculine Journey further. It was not just like take a project and this applies to it's your life and this whole going back and excavating as Morgan talks about, of taking the time to really go through the process instead of just hurrying it through.
Cause it's more about the process than it is just to get into the destination. So that was, that stuck with me the whole time. So I know we're running out of time, but that's, we're fine. All right. Well, thank you, Andy.
Yeah. Just, I'd ask you this week to, if something doesn't come to mind right now, pray about it. So God, what are some things that people have spoken to my life that have really made an impact or things that I've heard that was in a song, was in a movie, was in a TV show, something like that, that it's moved and then say, okay, God, why, why did you give me that? What were you trying to achieve? Think about that. Love somebody well this week. Let God love you. We'll talk to you next week. This is the Truth Network.
