journey | Heartstone Journey

There’s Only One Way To Face Life, And Here It Is…

I love the scene from J. R. R Tolkien’s “The Return of the King” where Aragon is desperately outnumbered. He looks fear right in the eye and finds the strength to inspire his men against what seems like an almost certain defeat against the massive forces of the enemy. Standing firm and riding in front of his army, he declares,

I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of men fails,
when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship,
…but it is not this day! This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth,
I bid you stand…

Sounds so easy in the movies, doesn’t it?

Moms, You’re Holding On Too Tight!

Unfortunately we live in a time where the “accepted normal” is kids having to grow up in a fractured family due to divorce or without fathers who are active in their lives and often the heavy lifting is unfairly burdened on the mothers. The other unintended consequence of this trend is the dilemma of weak or emasculated men reaching epidemic proportions in society…where many are asking, “where have all the men gone?”

Because of this, I’ve noticed that mothers are becoming more over protective and controlling of their sons, which is causing significant tension when it comes time for them to stretch their wings and leave the nest. The other dynamic that’s rearing its ugly head is these sons are finding it harder to cleave to their wives and step up to lead in their homes. Too often I talk to men who cannot make decisions for themselves or their families, have no real direction or plan for their life, choose a path of passivity and are paralyzed of their future. They are carrying a broken compass and have absolutely no mission in life!

When you dig deeper into these issues, you can often connect the dots to not having a fully present father figure in their lives and/or a mother who never allowed her son the opportunity to stop being her “little boy”. Of course a mother’s efforts are well intended, but they unknowingly stand in the way of their son’s father (or father figure) ability to provide a path for them to become men by keeping their “little boys” under their constant protection and control.

To all the mothers out there who doing much of the heavy lifting these days…

How Picking Up Stones Changed My Life

We finished lunch with a couple of other hikers on the back deck of the AMC hut and began our final ascent. It was getting colder, and we began putting on warmer gear as we navigated through more snow and ice. With the thinning of the air, the tighter gripping of the cold, and the thickening silence, an overwhelming desire to run ahead came over me. I motioned to my friend that I was going to run up ahead a bit, which he had no issue with. Closing in on the summit, with my heart pounding and my lungs stinging from the cold air, I somehow knew that a milestone of this journey was at hand. I saw a large rock come into view, converging with my path, and I soon found myself standing upon this large rock. It was as if the Lord had gone ahead and had prepared this place of peaceful solitude and comfort so I could clearly hear His voice without all the other distractions. Standing there upon the rock, I took a deep breath, lifted my head to the Heavens, and began to have a conversation with Him. Time relaxed for a moment. It was awesome.

It was here at this place of desolation, on this rock, on this mountain, where He spoke to my heart. Do you want to know what He said to me? He asked me to collect four stones when I got to the top of the mountain. So, standing in my own strength, leaning on my own understanding and ending the tranquil scene He had prepared for me, my response was, “You want me to do what?”

Why Adversity Can Distress Or Bless

Take a minute and think about your life and about some of the greatest lessons you have learned while walking it out. Not sure about you, but the greatest lessons have come through adversity, haven’t they?

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.

—Seneca

It’s in the grittiness of life where we have the opportunity to face and overcome adversity which will build character, strength and resilience in us — if we let it. Every challenge and every difficult circumstance we successfully confront in the arena of life strengthens our will, our confidence and our ability to conquer future obstacles. The Greek philosopher Herodotus captures this in his quote, “Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence.

God doesn’t give us overcoming life…He gives us life, as we overcome it’s obstacles.

It’s True, God Does Care About The Details Of Our Lives

Wanted to share a page of my journal from the Winter of 2005. A little bit of the backdrop here…I was in the middle of going through divorce and these words are my reflections of a journey I took into the unknown.

Darkness rules the heart of man until the light of Jesus Christ shines upon him.

That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. -Romans 8:28

The long cold winter of this lonely and difficult journey is slowly coming an end, where the springtime of the Lord will restore creation back to life. As God allows me to see glimpses of this restoration throughout His creation, I’m blessed with a vision that He’s about to make all things new in my life.

I was led into the wintry depths of the forest on this brisk Sunday. For some time, I could not escape the vision of the lake I stumbled upon in my adventures last summer. I also knew that a milestone of this vision was finding a stone along the shores of the lake. Not remembering how far away the lake was, I instinctively set out to once again to stand at its shores, wondering what “stone” I would need to hunt for.

There’s Only One Way To Face Life, And Here It Is…

Moms, You’re Holding On Too Tight!

How Picking Up Stones Changed My Life

Why Adversity Can Distress Or Bless

It’s True, God Does Care About The Details Of Our Lives

Favorite Quotes

Cool Scripture

Never Out Of The Fight!

Resources