Stories
At my age, and with a family, I am squarely in the stage of a King. If I don’t lead well, fighting on behalf of those in my realm, then they will suffer. I only have to read news articles to see how badly the world is doing under kings unwilling to fight on behalf of those in their kingdoms. They primarily wield power for their own pursuits. When unexpected events occur, other people who inhabit the kingdom shoulder the brunt of the consequences.
I don’t get up at 6:00am. I never get up at 6:00am. I make software for a living and one of the reasons I chose that career was because it never ever requires me to get up at 6:00am. But there I was rubbing my eyes and envying my still-snoozing wife. Dressing in the near dark, layering fleece over flannel over cotton and hoping that it would be enough in the frigid November air, I fought against the bulk as I stretched to tie my shoes.
Life just hasn’t turned out the way I had hoped.” I have heard that from several people lately, often in conversations with friends once the chitchat and small talk turns to deeper things of the heart.We all have dreams, aspirations and hopes. We keep going through disappointments and detours. Think of all the things you set out to do all those years back as a little child. You were going to save the world with a cape and some spidey underwear, the outlaws were going to fear you as you rode into town with your mighty posse.
I like clouds a lot and God the Father knows this. It is sort of hard to fathom why the creator of the universe cares that much about "our details" but he does. He knows our likes and loves and he often meets us on that level. In the same way, He cares about all the rest too. The good, the bad and the ugly. He wants us to invite him into all those areas.Do you want exposure to eternal things? If you don't get anything else from this story, get this...we can invite God into all of "our details."
Nat Iwata, one of our alumnus is a remarkable artist. We have loved witnessing him father his 3 young boys through his art and photos. He is a really good papa. Nat recently shared a poem and sketch inspired interactions with his boys. It really illustrated how we all struggle with wanting to be in a different stage of the masculinity journey than the one God is currently taking us through.
