Wild at Heart
I am sitting here with the laptop looking out my bedroom window. The sky is blue, I can’t see a cloud anywhere. The temperature is just right. It’s been a busy day. I have cooked, cleaned and played outside with the dogs (still need to feed them). I have also been working on my own websites. I won’t even go into that here since this is suppose to be my personal blog. I came in earlier and was getting supper ready and JoAnne (step mother) came home. When she gets home of the evenings she turns on Oprah. I don’t watch television, I haven’t in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I still watch things like Star trek, but, it’s because I’ve downloaded it off of the Internet. It’s really the only “TV” that I watch.
Anyways, I usually hear what is happening on Oprah even though I’m not watching it. I think Oprah started talking about her book club. She mentioned a book called “Measure of a Man.” Something went off in my mind. For some reason I kept thinking that I had that book and it’s one that I have put off reading. To be precise, I thought it was the book that was given to me by my 3rd grade teacher when I graduated high school. I still to this day have not read it and I really haven’t thought much about it until I heard the name of that book. After I finished fixing supper (hamburgers) I turned my closet upside down, pulled everything out of it, looking for it. I reminisced as I always do when I see old things of mine. I found one of the very fist cameras that I ever owned. Getting to the point, I found a box, opened it and there it was, the book that she gave me when I graduated high school.
The book wasn’t “Measure of a Man.” It is “Wild at Heart” a book by John Eldredge. The back of the book gives this description:
EVERY MAN WAS ONCE A BOY. And every little boy has dreams, bit dreams: dreams of being the hero, of beating the bad guys, of doing daring feats and rescuing the damsel in distress. Every little girl has dreams, too: of being rescued by her prince and swept up into a great adventure, knowing that she is the beauty.
But what happens to those dreams when we grow up? Walk into most churches, have a look around, and ask yourself: What is a Christian man? Without listening to what is said, look at what you find there. Most Christian men are…bored.
In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge invites men to recover their masculine heart, defined in the image of a passionate God. And he invites women to discover the secret of a man’s soul and to delight in the strength and wildness men were created to offer.
For the past few years I have put off reading this book. The fact is, I have for a while now struggled to define what I believe as far as Christianity goes. However, I do believe that I have came a long way since I have received this book. If someone were to ask me today, and I felt completely comfortable giving them a straight answer. If they asked me “Do you believe in God?” I would say, “Yes, I do.” I would tell them (again, if I felt comfortable with that person) that I do not believe in the Gods that many of the churches in this area believe in. The God that I believe in does not have conditions. This God gives me strength and has helped me out in so many ways. I pray to him/her/it (because I do not know who God is) and ask for advice on what I should do with my life. This God of mine gives me hope and direction when I am lost.
I think I owe to that teacher, that I had in the 3rd grade to set aside the Star Trek books for just a little while and read this book.
