inner turbulence
The only adequate answer to an aggressively pagan world is for Christians to recover the New Testament power of spiritual aggression. –KARL BARTH
“I am firing myself.”
The chairman of our company returned my statement with a blank stare. My professional freefall had begun. It picked up even more speed when the second most frightening sentence I have ever uttered escaped my mouth.
“I sense God calling me to work with men on a full-time basis.” I didn’t know exactly what it looked like, but I wanted to help churches connect their men and grow strong men’s communities.
Yet again, no response.
A voice in my head filled the silence.
That sounded even more stupid than firing yourself… In fact, it was idiotic. This little ministry venture of yours will cause major problems for your wife, Chrissy.
Man, was
that true! Before I knew it, I was in a war zone, fireworks of
fear exploding in my head.
• Boom!
You are the CEO of your company with 265 great employees.
• Kaboom!
Annual revenues hit eight million this year.
• Pop! Pop!
You’ve worked your way to the top over the last eight years, from a marketing assistant to running the show!
• Bang!
You have a robust 401(k) deal going and are fully vested.
• Waboom!
You have a deferred compensation package that guarantees you thousands of extra dollars per year if you’ll just stay with the company.
• Shabang!
You have stock options.
• And for the finale!
Chrissy is feeling financially secure for the first time in twelve years of marriage! After spending the last few years becoming debt free, do you really want to press the nuclear hot button of your marriage?
Then the counterthought:
You know what you need to do. You just have to get off your blessed assurance and do it.
Oh yeah, I forgot about that, Lord–The soldier who dropped that Godbomb on me was my pastor. The day before, his words had come thundering from heaven, waking me out of my stupor. After a year of debating God’s call about when to start my nonprofit ministry, the answer had come. I had been praying for clarity, and now, finally, here it was, clear as day, in bright, fluorescent green.
But where was that confidence
now? Instead of feeling like Elwood from the Blues Brothers “on a mission from God,” I felt more like Minnie Mouse and my fingernail polish didn’t match my skirt, if you know what I mean.
Then my boss’s mouth finally opened. “Kenny,” he began.
Oh, mama. Here it comes. “I am so excited for you. What can I do to help you with this transition?” I stood there paralyzed, unable to respond.
“Well,” he said, answering his own question, “since you’ve been with the company for nine years, I can make sure you get a ninemonth severance. And if you want, you can house your new venture out of the corporate office rent free.”
Holy #%$*! I mean, cannoli!
Well, I used that severance to help launch Every Man Ministries (EMM) in the spring of 2000. God is using the EMM team to help spark a revolution in men’s ministry, spiritually freeing hundreds of thousands of men and igniting the church worldwide through conferences, campaigns, pastors’ trainings, books, and resources. Charles Spurgeon expressed, for all men who dare to be obedient, the untold power of a small decision for God when he observed, “We do not know all that we are doing when we risk for our faith. Great wheels turn on little axles.” Yes, my brotha! I had no idea how big a small decision to do what God was asking me to do would be for my own life and eventually for countless other men.
Ditching the “Safe” Life
Predictability. Control. Safety. Comfort.
The book in your hand is about exploring God’s feelings on how those subjects fit, or better yet,
don’t fit into your quest toward becoming God’s man. In fact, when you see this climber graphic behind text, that’s a signal to pause and consider ways to apply the principles of risk in your own life. Like all God’s men, the first disciples had their own “Oh, Mama” moments with Christ. Each was on a journey to fulfill God’s purposes for his life. Aware of this, Jesus knew he had to address the whole issue of risky commitment if the disciples were to succeed in their mission after He’d conquered the Cross. He was direct and uncomfortably honest:
Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer
many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading
priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and
three days later he would rise again. As he talked about this openly
with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn’t
say things like that.
Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter
very sternly, “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things
merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and
listen. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “you
must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.” (Mark 8:31—35, NLT)
Satan had already tried to sabotage Jesus at the outset of His ministry through promises of pleasure and power and protection. Jesus heard him again trying to lie to Peter. Real spiritual warfare surrounds every good man that He wants to use. So He got real. He told Peter and the disciples exactly what was going on. He wanted them and us to know the very real risks we take to follow Him. It means giving up the life you may have expected you’d live, to live the one God
calls you to live.
What’s more, Jesus makes it clear to His men that all the energy they might spend trying to eliminate risk would actually work against His purposes in their lives. Jesus knew that very shortly the chips would be down for His guys, and the only true option would be to bet it all. It could not have been a more desperate situation, so He made it plain:
Take risks for Me and you will find life. Hedge your bet and you will lose it all.
Jumping into Risk
Tension. Unpredictability. Letting go. Adrenaline.
Oh yeah, baby. Jumping off of things is in our DNA. It took me about two seconds to come up with my short list of things I used to love jumping off of. The roof into a cold pool. Trampolines. The swings. A pogo stick to Billy Joel music, eight hundred and fifty seven times in my parents’ garage. Over Calabasas Creek with my yellow Schwinn. Into mischief for the simple thrill of it.
How about you?
Our fathers (or mothers) looked at us and said, “What were you thinking?”
We said, “I don’t know.”
And that was the truth: there
was no explanation! We were boys. We were stretching the limits of our courage, testing the limits of our abilities, risking injury for the rush of what was on the other side of the experience. We lived for that freedom and risked life and limb naturally. What a great life purpose!
It’s not a mystery that Jesus used a little boy to answer the spiritual significance question: “Who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Imagine being a first-century man looking on, wondering the same thing: “What can I do here that will make me significant up there with God?” Jesus looked at His guys and knew exactly what message to send.
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2—3)
What would this mean to you? What qualities would you as a man need to recapture from your boyhood to shape your masculinity in Christ right now?
Eager to trust. Eager to risk. Eager to “jump off.”
Risk is in the DNA of every man, put there by God and for God. You may have misplaced it, neglected it, misused it, but it is time to get it back. It is time to do something great for God with it
right now. This means committing to the four principles of RISK for every God’s man.
Here they come…
Right View of God
Is He or isn’t He? God, that is. Sounds silly but I am dead serious. Both the root of our fears and our courage to risk hinge on our view of God.
A. W. Tozer was on the mark about us when he said, “Were we to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, ‘What comes into your mind when you think about God?’ we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man.” It makes perfect sense. The most important thing about us is our concept of God. Is He omnipotent or impotent? Sovereign and aloof ? Or omnipresent and available? High and lifted up or familiar? Punitive or kind? Faithful or flaky? Loving or vengeful? Just or unjust? Able or unable to make a difference? Creator or kill-joy? When our concept of Him is diminished, so is courage for Him. But if our concept is correct, we become unstoppable for the kingdom. So how big is your God? The answer to that lies not in your words but in the substance of your actions for Him. If you know He is who He says He is, you will risk big. Little God? Little risk. Little love for God? Little love for people. The connections are endless.
Your concept of God is so important that when it is off, you suffer, your relationships suffer, and your mission for God in t...
