When men decide to grow themselves up
Amazing when a group of men get together and instead of talking a whole lot of fake macho crap, we talk instead about what it really means to get honest with ourselves, God and each other concerning what is really going on in our lives.
That’s what happened this last weekend at Echo Grove about an hour north of Detroit with 50 guys of various ages, sizes, backgrounds, colors, denominations and experiences…what we had and have in common is a desire to grow ourselves up…to stop being stuck as “little boys in men’s bodies”…and to begin the process of growing up in Jesus Christ.
We talked about the emptiness inside…
The shame that tries to fill that emptiness with painful behavior in every relationship – our relationship with ourselves, with our God and with others…
The wounds from our past that have sucked the life out of us, leaving us empty and stuck in emotional and spiritual childhood for way too long….
Learning to hear the voice of our Abba, our Dada, our Father that affirms and fills our emptiness…
The grieving that can cleanse our wounds and lead to forgiveness…letting go…and freedom…
We took risks to open ourselves up to one another – confessing our sin and wounds to one another so that we could experience the healing that comes from intimate connection with a brother…
We celebrated the body and blood of Jesus – “by His stripes we are being healed”…
We wept before God…and before and with our brothers…
We laughed and joked and encouraged and played and ate and rested and sang and lived together…
And then we drove back home to Detroit, pledging to continue the journey of growing ourselves up, together, in Jesus’ name…for our sake, for the sake of our wives, our girlfriends, our sisters, for the sake of our friends and our enemies, for the sake of the King and His Kingdom…
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man…I put away childish things…”
