Friday, October 9, 2009

Wild at Heart

I just finished reading 'Wild at Heart' by John Eldredge.  Great book.  I highly recommend it.  Especially if you are considering making some changes in your life.  Parents of boys need to read it, too.  And young men should read it at around 16 or 17, I think.

As is my custom, what follows are a few notes to myself about what I got out of the book.  This is just a tease for you who haven't read it.  If the quotes and points below intrigue you, go read the book and then ask me questions.  :-)

If you read below, you will see that I have my answers with regards to Plan A / Plan B....

"Desire reveals design."

Bly wrote: "the early death of a man's warrior keeps the boy in him from growing up."

"A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family.  He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death, for this is written into the fabric of his being.  Listen carefully now: You do.  That is why God created you--to be his intimate ally, to join him in the Great Battle.  You have a specific place in the line, a mission God made for you."*

Gil Bailie wrote: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

A warrior requires vision and cunning.  A warrior will face three enemies: the world, his own flesh, and the devil.

"Anger denied turns into fear."--This is just the tip of an iceberg, I think.  This deserves more thought.  I'm adding this to my list of future blog posts, so I don't forget to think about it.

Frederick Buechner wrote: "The place were God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

"Before the moment of Adam's greatest trial God provided no step-by-step plan, gave no formula for how he was to handle the whole mess.  That was not abandonment, that was the way God honored Adam.  You are a man, you don't need Me to hold you by the hand through this.  You have what it takes.  What God did offer Adam was friendship.  He wasn't left alone to face life; he walked with God in the cool of the day and there they talked about love and marriage and creativity, what lessons he was learning and what adventures were to come."*

I need to chase down and read Frederick Buechner and ___ Bly.

* Emphasis in original.

Update on 1/14/2010: I found out that John Eldredge was incorrect about the author of the come alive quote.  It was actually originally said by Dr. Howard Thurman.  I found Gil Bailie's blog, and he looks like a nice guy, too.  I'm guessing he repeated the quote and the citation got lost somewhere.  Anyway, I've changed it on my heading also now.

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