"I know. I almost want to apologize. Dear Lord- do we really need another book for men? Nope. We need something else. We need Permission. Permission to live from the heart and not from the list of 'should' and 'ought to' that has left so many of us tired and bored."
It is with these words that this book, and our journey begin. Many of us have seen the books that try to fix us, but never quite do the job. Some don't even come close. They offer a band-aid when serious stitches are needed. And as this book states, we don't need a book, but permission. We need, and long for, permission to be the men we were created to be. We need permission, not to set responsibility aside, but to take risks, to live with passion, to be men who live, not simply exist.
As a boy my favorite movie was Disney's "Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier." I had the coon skin cap (made out of actual raccoon fur back then), a powder horn, toy rifle, and my mom even made me an outfit out of actual deer skin that my dad had gotten over several hunting trips. It was awesome. I remember making a tent in my room, cutting down trees (my sister is still amazed that my parents let an 8 year old boy have an ax), shooting a bow and arrow and BB gun, and just having a great time as a kid.
My dad hunted, one of his few hobbies, and eventually I started going on those with him, but one thing I always wanted to do was camp. I'd had tents set up in the living room and the kitchen, but it wasn't real camping. My dad was never into that, and I actually didn't go camping for real until I was in my early 20's. And so it was something I set aside and sort of forgot about, until I was in college.
Sometime during my junior year I met someone who would become one of closest friends, one of my sons will be named after him. Jeremy was an Eagle Scout, and loved the outdoors like I did. During the last semester of my senior year we got to be roommates, and honestly it was one of best times of my life. During this time Jeremy introduced me to something that would become almost an addiction, and bind our friendship even closer (and he ended up costing me a couple thousand dollars in equipment because of it, but I just add that for fun). Jeremy introduced me to backpacking.
If you aren't familiar with the idea its a combination of hiking and camping. You load everything into the biggest backpack you've ever seen in your life, and then walk through the woods carrying food, water, tent, clothes, sleeping and cooking gear in this pack. You get off the beaten path and forge a new trail, just you, your brother, and God.
This moment in my life is huge because it was me getting permission. Responsibility and work have been driven into me by my parents, and there is nothing wrong with that. Those are important things that men need to understand and take care of. But Jeremy gave me permission to enjoy life, to have a hobby that allows me to escape from the world to rest and reflect. Occasionally I've still had people try to talk me out of stuff like backpacking and whitewater rafting, canoeing and camping. It's almost as if they say "Grow up and do your duty." But that isn't the way we are created to live. Life wan't made to waste working 80+ hours a week, rest is part of that, and adventure helps to provide that. Jeremy gave me permission to enjoy something that I never would have done because it wasn't the responsible thing to do.
Today, we almost need to be given permission to be men. But to be men we need to understand what a man is, and what a man desires and longs for. We need to understand why we are the way we are, why we long for adventure and battle and beauty. God made us this way and these desires aren't bad.
John Eldredge saw that need and did something about it. He says this also in the introduction, "So I offer this book, not as the seven steps to being a better Christian, but as a safari of the heart to recover a life of freedom, passion and adventure."
The word that caught my eye in that statement was "safari". A safari isn't a casual day at the zoo where the lions and elephants are subdued and contained in cages where they can be viewed safely. A safari takes place out in the jungles of Africa. Out there with just a few companions against wild beasts who are also hunters. There is risk and danger in it, but also great reward. To recover our hearts, as we'll see soon is the point of this whole thing, will necessitate risk taking and danger. It involves going into unknown places that we might be afraid to go. But at the end of it is waiting the greatest reward we could hope for, the life we've always longed for.
Some will oppose this journey. They will call it foolish or a waste of time. Some will say that it is too dangerous and uncertain. But this is the voice of the enemy trying to keep you from being the Man of God you were created to be. And in response to this attack we will strike first with a quote found at the end of the introduction.
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly... who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." -Teddy Roosevelt
To God alone be the Glory!
Strength and Honor
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