THE LION OF JUDAH??

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Feb 7, 2015
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#1
One of my favorite authors wrote this:
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THE LION OF JUDAH??
A man is fierce... passionate... wild at heart? You wouldn’t know it from what normally walks around in a pair of trousers. If a man is the image of the Lion of Judah, how come there are so many lonely women, so many fatherless children, so few men around? Why is it that the world seems filled with “caricatures” of masculinity? There’s the guy who lives behind us. He spends his entire weekend in front of the tube watching sports while his sons play outside—without him. We’ve lived here nine years and I think I’ve seen him play with his boys maybe twice. What’s with that? Why won’t he engage? And the guy the next street over, who races motorcycles and drives a huge truck and wears a leather jacket and sort of swaggers when he walks. I thought James Dean died years ago. What’s with him? It looks manly, but it seems cartoonish, overdone.

How come when men look in their hearts they don’t discover something valiant and dangerous, but instead find anger, lust, and fear? Most of the time, I feel more fearful than I do fierce. Why is that? It was one hundred and fifty years ago that Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” and it seems nothing has changed. As the line from Braveheart has it, “All men die; few men ever really live.” And so most women lead lives of quiet resignation, having given up on their hope for a true man.

The real life of the average man seems a universe away from the desires of his heart. There is no battle to fight, unless it’s traffic and meetings and hassles and bills. The guys who meet for coffee every Thursday morning down at the local coffee shop and share a few Bible verses with each other—where is their great battle? And the guys who hang out down at the bowling alley, smoking and having a few too many—they’re in the exact same place. The swords and castles of their boyhood have long been replaced with pencils and cubicles; the six-shooters and cowboy hats laid aside for minivans and mortgages. The poet Edwin Robinson captured the quiet desperation this way:

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.
Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.
Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking. (“Miniver Cheevy”)

Without a great battle in which a man can live and die, the fierce part of his nature goes underground and sort of simmers there in a sullen anger that seems to have no reason. A few weeks ago I was on a flight to the West Coast. It was dinnertime, and right in the middle of the meal the guy in front of me drops his seat back as far as it can go, with a couple of hard shoves back at me to make sure. I wanted to knock him into First Class. A friend of mine is having trouble with his toy shop, because the kids who come in “tick him off” and he’s snapping at them. Not exactly good for business. So many men, good men, confess to losing it at their own children regularly.

Then there’s the guy in front of me at a stoplight yesterday. It turned green, but he didn’t move; I guess he wasn’t paying attention. I gave a little toot on my horn to draw his attention to the fact that now there were twenty-plus cars piling up behind us. The guy was out of his car in a flash, yelling threats, ready for a fight. Truth be told, I wanted desperately to meet him there. Men are angry, and we really don’t know why.

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There's a whole book more but I just thought some of you might like this little teaser.
 

Dino246

Senior Member
Jun 30, 2015
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#2
This is good stuff, Willie, thanks. :)

I think part of the answer is a more energetic seeking of God's sanctification. I have anger issues, and the most common expression is calling a fellow driver an unpleasant name when he (or she) does something stupid or dangerous. I want God to 'get' the person if they've done something illegal. Of course, people get mad at me too, but I'm "innocent" (in my own mind).
If I am real with myself, I see that my anger at the other driver is no more righteous than beating him with a stick, and I ask the Lord to change me. In His time, He is doing just that. I suspect I still have an optical logjam though.
 
C

CharlieGrown

Guest
#5
Wild At Heart by: John Eldridge.

You can find a free PDF version online.
I've had that book for a long time. It was a gift from my mother in law, never read it. Think I will.
 

Corbinscam

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2016
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#6
Wild At Heart by: John Eldridge.

You can find a free PDF version online.
I'll have to look for it. I've been listening to his podcasts at work. Good stufd.
 
Feb 7, 2015
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#10
Finished chapter 3....Feel free to keep up the suggested reading material threads up :p
You may not say that after I suggest this one....
The Jesus Driven Life by: Michael Hardin.

(Let me know if it is too expensive for you.)
 
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Corbinscam

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2016
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#11
You may not say that after I suggest this one....
The Jesus Driven Life by: Michael Hardin.

(Let me know if it is too expensive for you.)
I've already started that one.
Its a heavy read. In an I just read that paragraph four times...I might sort of get it now type way.
Its good but its heavy and not something I can sit and read forever. I read a little and chew on it awhile lol.
Wild at heart is more of a cover to cover in a few days sort of read. Both good. And not enough for me to not look into your reading suggestions :p
 
Feb 7, 2015
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#12
I've already started that one.
Its a heavy read. In an I just read that paragraph four times...I might sort of get it now type way.
Its good but its heavy and not something I can sit and read forever. I read a little and chew on it awhile lol.
Wild at heart is more of a cover to cover in a few days sort of read. Both good. And not enough for me to not look into your reading suggestions :p
Wait till I get you into Walking with Grandfather.... also by Michael. That one is something else.
 
Feb 7, 2015
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#14
gt 2 lern spd rdn by Evelin Wood
 

Corbinscam

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2016
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#15
gt 2 lern spd rdn by Evelin Wood
That may just kill my poor feable brain lol :p
I'm curious. Have you read free to live? I really want to read that one. The podcasts on it were pretty good.