It’s interesting how the daily Devotional “Starting your Day Right” by Joyce Meyer and Wild at Heart seem to fit so nicely together with what I’m experiencing (and have yet to experience) on my Sabbatical journey. I mean…why wouldn’t they tie together…they both exclusively leverage scripture to give credibility to the messages and lessons they offer. Todd Carlson recommended the book “Wild at Heart by John Eldredge” to me a few years ago and ‘not being a reader’, I never have read the book…’big mistake’. FD has always encouraged reading since I became employed in 2014. And, with each book study…I’ve always come away enlightened. It’s time to make this a habit. Depending on ‘who’ you ask, it takes anywhere from 21 to 66 days to form a habit. So far so good…12 days of reading each and every day…a Scott Tufto first! What’s really cool is that I actually am starting to crave my reading time each day…hmm…I would have never thought it.
Back to “Wild at Heart”…With the service aspect of my project heavily on my mind I had an epiphany yesterday while reading this book. You’d have to read it to understand, but John Eldredge talks about young men becoming ‘wounded’ at some point in their youth (usually from their fathers). Before you freak out by this, sometimes (most times I think), the wound is unintentional and mostly because of a hand-me-down learned behavior from previous generations of men. Eldrege continues to explain that boys need to be ‘initiated’ into manhood and how many men today are living without having had this opportunity and therefore are wounded. And yes, a death, especially of a father figure, can cause a wound and cause all kinds of problems later in life. As Eldredge points out: masculinity is an essence that is passed from a father to a son. However, “the true essence of strength is passed to us from God through our union with him.” (BTW…ladies, this is a great read for women as well). So, the initiation CAN happen through an experience with your father, however, if you are ready and you haven’t had your INITIATION yet, the LORD is ready and waiting to provide you with yours (explained well with ties to scripture in the book).
The light bulb illuminates! – Perhaps Eldredge is EXACTLY what some of our campers need which may also fit in with the CGC working on offering a Christian based program to help grieving families (I need to learn more about this). Since the service aspect of my project is somewhat without specifics, the nature of it continues to evolve. Since my last blog, I have connected with Leah McClean from KSTP (http://kstp.com/news/leah-mclean/4182251/) to spread the word on CGC (Children’s Grief Connection). Also, I have a confirmed appointment with Bill Sherck from MN Bound/Due North Outdoors (http://www.ronscharaproductions.com/bill-sherck/). So, with some good leads on the networking side in place, I felt a need to connect with Coral P. from CGC and share some of my revelations. I asked Coral if there was any merit to expanding the CGC camp offerings to also include an outdoor/adventure type activity. Boom…Coral has many connections with other organizations where she says hiking, camping, rafting, etc…types of activities have huge impacts and troubled youth. So, what does this all mean? Bill Sherck is an Eagle Scout, Survivalist and incredible story teller. There might just be a great fit here between Bill, MN Bound and CGC. Coral and I are planning on reconnecting and continuing our communication with the hope we can connect with someone who is the RIGHT fit to tell the CGC story and get more grieving families to our camps.
Regarding my Sabbatical…tomorrow I leave for a 3 day fishing trip with my Dad. I’ve never been on a trip like this before with him and I’m really hopeful we can reconnect and create memories. Other than my normal daily activities, this past week I have been consumed with spring activities such as tilling the garden, mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage, fertilizing, rebuilding 6 carburetors on the boat, and also taking Ben golfing on his days off from school. Yesterday, my daughter Regan also joined Ben and me for golf and lunch. Regan managed to get stung by a bee at the golf course but thank God she is not allergic. Had it stung me, we may have had problems…Until next time!
God Bless!
Scott