Prepare for battle

To the men out there -- and the women who love them -- I highly recommend the book "A Rattling of Sabers:  Preparing Your Heart for Life's Battles."

This book, which was released this summer, is by Dr. Greg Bourgond, the creator of the Heart of a Warrior program. I went through his Heart of a Warrior and Focus of a Warrior studies. They were excellent programs designed to align one's heart with God's heart and to find out what we are supposed to do in life.

If there is anyone that I know who wants to see men succeed, it's Dr. Bourgond.

In memoriam: Ian Henderson

Last year I wrote about Ian Henderson, the son of the leader of my Heart of a Warrior group. Just after midnight, Ian Henderson passed away to join the Lord.

Thank you for praying for Tom, Deb and Ian Henderson over the past year. They still could use your prayers.

Learnings from the Heart of a Warrior Advance

I had an excellent weekend at the Heart of a Warrior Advance at the end of September. The weekend included some great speakers, but my two key learnings came during the athletic competitions.

The first activity that I competed in was archery. When all the people who had signed up for archery arrived at the target area, no one had shown up to organize our competition. For some reason, all of the participants were looking at me to coordinate it. So I decided to take action and organize an archery competition that included three rounds for the nine participants. I was successful! From that experience, I felt, "Wow! I am a leader."

The other learning took place during a game of pickup football. Now, I was neither the youngest person nor the fastest person on the team. When my team was on offense, I was being covered for a while -- until the other team realized that passes were not coming my way. Then they stopped covering me. At that point, the quarterback huddled us together and said, "What are you seeing out there?"

"Well, obviously, they're not covering me," I replied.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes," I said.

During the next play, I ran down to the one yard line. I was open, he passed to me, and I scored a touchdown! From that I learned, "I have what it takes."

Incidentally, the theme for the Heart of a Warrior Advance was "Are you ready?" I surely am.

I'm excited to advance

This afternoon I leave for the third Heart of a Warrior Advance. It will be at Big Sandy Camp in McGregor, Minn. I'm excited to see how the Holy Spirit moves this weekend; I have never attended an Advance before.

Guiding the lives of our sons

A father's role in his son's life cannot be overestimated. Sons look to their fathers as role models, and every child's first image of what God is like scaringly reflects his relationship with his father.

I'm trying to be the best role model for my son, and it's very helpful to have other men involved in that journey. That's why the men in my Heart of a Warrior group and our sons are getting together for breakfast tomorrow. Hopefully this will be a regular event, so we can guide and lift up our sons to the Lord.

Please pray for the Henderson family

The leader of my Heart of a Warrior group, Tom Henderson, recently received some very difficult news. His 6-year-old son, Ian, has a tumor in his brain stem that is malignant and inoperable.

Please pray for Tom, his wife Deb, and their son Ian. I know that God can do wonders, and I'm praying that He will completely heal Ian.

The Hendersons have set up a CaringBridge site to share updates, and Tom is posting his thoughts on this journey on his blog.

The wolf at the door

When I joined the Heart of a Warrior group, Dr. Greg Bourgond came to speak to us at Berean Baptist Church. He told us about the personal battles that he faced from Satan when he was starting Heart of a Warrior, and stated that by joining this group, we would be putting targets on our backs.

Well, spiritual warfare indeed has taken place. The guys in my Heart of a Warrior group are being attacked by Satan. My marriage is falling apart. The evil one is hitting the other guys where he knows they have weaknesses.

But we will not give up. We knew that Satan would be the wolf at the door, waiting and trying everything to knock us off course. We will stick together in this fight, and through the power of Jesus, defeat the enemy.

An unexamined life

One of Socrates' most famous quotes is, "An unexamined life is not worth living."

That's what is making The Heart of a Warrior group very difficult for me right now. We're examining our beliefs, values, attitudes and motives, and the relationships between each of them.

As I look at my life and why I do the things that I do, I see that my life is a far cry from the way that Christ lived. I liked it better when I just did whatever and didn't think about my actions. . .but I know that undergoing this analysis of my life will help me to realize my full potential to do God's will.

A leap forward

Wow. The "advance" for my Heart of a Warrior group this past weekend was extraordinary. Dr. Greg Bourgond, who developed the Heart of a Warrior curriculum, joined us Saturday to speak on gaining a grasp of God's word. He went through with us in detail how to study scripture. We looked at John 15:1-8 in depth all day. I don't think that I had analyzed a section of the Bible so in depth before!

It was great to get to know the other guys in my group better and to know Dr. Bourgond personally. He really has a heart for men and is extremely perceptive.

The high point for the weekend took place on Sunday morning. A group of us went through every room in the two lake homes, and I shared with the guys my memories of each room. Then we prayed over each room. God definitely was present, and I felt a release from the chains of my stepdad into the arms of God.

I'm looking forward to creating many more positive memories up at their lake home.

The warriors make an advance

My Heart of a Warrior men's group is going on an "advance" tomorrow. We're going up to my mom and stepdad's lake home near Brainerd, Minn., for the weekend.

I'm quite nervous about it. I want everything to go well. I have many negative memories of the lake home, because I had difficult times with my stepdad while I was up there. (In one instance, he even threw my Hacky Sack into the lake. I doubt that I will ever see that Hacky Sack again.)

Hopefully by having this "advance" (we're moving forward, not retreating) up there this weekend, I will start to create positive memories and bring a new feel in my heart for their lake home.

Growing weary of my warrior journey. . .

In September I wrote about a journey that I'm currently on called "The Heart of a Warrior." When I started "The Heart of the Warrior" curriculum, I knew that it wouldn't be a walk in the park. But I'm growing weary. I really don't like analyzing myself -- especially my shortcomings. I know that this type of analysis is what's needed for me to change, to be more like God, and to get rid of my old self.

I feel like Satan has really stepped up his attacks since I started "The Heart of the Warrior." It's not surprising. Instead of living my life on autopilot and floating along with the wind where Satan has influence, I'm changing to be a firm Christian. And he's putting up resistance.

But I'm not going to give up.

Understanding the heart of the warrior

I am about to embark on a journey that has me fearful. I have joined a men's group that will be going through a curriculum developed by Dr. Greg Bourgond called "The Heart of a Warrior."

The purpose of "The Heart of a Warrior" is "to help men live lives of integrity and honor under the authority of God." This transformational group has a one-year commitment.

In addition to reading "The Heart of a Warrior" manual written by Dr. Greg Bourgond, we also are required to read Victory over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson. Victory over the Darkness is a book that explains and reaffirms who we are in Christ -- sounds like an interesting read.

Change scares me, and I'm nervous about what I'm going to need to change in my life as I go through this program. But I know that I want to do God's will, and I want to live like Jesus Christ did, so I'm diving in.