Meek and mild....in part.

Recently, I was given the book Wild At Heart by a good friend of mine. Now, I had heard about the book many, many times before, but had never actually read it myself. My goodness, it is quite a read.

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gents, we're heading for a bumpy ride.

This book is about guys. Guys in general, to some degree, but particularly Christian guys. Now, if you've been keeping up with my blog of late, you'll have probably seen this: http://modnarama.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/why-im-not-guy-ey-guy.html
Thankfully, the writer of the book (a chap by the name of John Eldredge) isn't so much talking about that sort of thing. What he is talking about, though, is being wild. Being dangerous. And that might sound a bit scary to some people. And, in a way, it is. But in a good way.

He starts off by looking at our God. And if you think that the God we worship is cute and cuddly (or meek and mild as one song would say), then you've got another thing coming. This is a star-breathing God; a God who made the lightning, and the thunder, and the rain, and the wind - would you call these peaceful things? I think they're a bit wild. I think they're a bit dangerous. But I think that's a good thing as well. One of the great pictures of Jesus like this actually comes from Revelation 19:11-13; "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God." Though, one of my favourite ways of putting it is still: "He is not a tame lion."

Now, being made in God's image, obviously there is some of that wildness then in us. The problem is, that the world wants to domesticate us. It tells us that we need to be polite, and prim, and proper, and meek, and mild. Now, that doesn't mean we should be being violent, abusive, mean, rowdy, foul-mouthed, and other similar things. But it does mean that we need to be true to who we are made to be - wild. Not encaged, not domesticated, not a puppet; but neither reckless, bad-tempered or prone to violence.

He also talks at length about the role and power of the father, both in a positive and negative sense; the battle with the world and the Devil; the rescuing of the princess; and the longing for adventure. I'd love to talk about those a bit more, but I really don't have the time or space to give them any justice.

When I began this book just over two weeks ago, the Introduction scared me. Talking about being dangerous, and wild - these were things I shied away from, tried to dull down for fear of hurting people. But now, finishing the book just a few days ago; it's so encouraging, so inspiring, so revelational. And that's a big word, but for this book, it's true - it's been a massive eye-opener for me into who I am, and into who I can be and need to be.

This is an absolute must-read for Christian guys. Christian girls, this is definitely worth a read as well, to better understand us - but there's also one written for you by John's wife Stasi, called Captivating, that I'm planning on reading before too long.