Leap of Faith

This past week found me enjoying ample free time before college classes had begun. One sunny afternoon I found myself at a local Manhattan attraction: pillsbury crossing. After having shown my friends a cliff in which one could hurdle themselves, we found our group splitting up. The majority of the women in the group and several of the guys decided to head back toward the "water fall", while several of my male companions decided to venture off in search of a rumored tree you could jump out of. I was left caught in between the two groups, unsure of which group i should join. Suddenly I heard the shouts of my male companions and without any further reservations, jumped into the creek and began swimming toward the sound of my friends.

What awaited me around the curve of the creek was a massive tree hanging out over the water. My better judgment told me not to climb the tree, but that masculine urge for adventure and danger got the better of me, and I allowed my friends into talking me into climbing the tree. As i climbed into place to jump, probably 30 feet down to the water, my common sense told me again this was not a good idea, and my fear of heights  began to take effect. But, I couldn't really back out now, not with three guys watching and waiting, so I took a breath, said a prayer, leaped....and....... IT WAS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins, and I had the sense of being a man's man, of living life on the edge.

You see, I, like all guy, long for that next adventure, that next round of adrenaline coursing through my veins. As author John Eldredge states in his book Wild at Heart, "Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wilderness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of a man." This is why so many guys, myself included, can feel and experience God out in nature, away from everything else. Eldredge also states that, "In the heart of every man is a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue." However, men have lost their way in these three desires as they have conformed to society's and worldly views. Battles are to be fought for self advancement and personal gain rather than the protection of the innocent and the loyalty to a king. Adventure has been turned into w/e can bring self gratification and pleasure. Rather than fight for the honor and purity of a woman, men have turned women into objects to appease their selfish, immoral desires.

However, Eldredge's description of man's three desires does not mean that a man must live a life pursuing worldly goals and pleasures. Rather, these desires remind us and call us to become the chivalrous knights of long ago. The king with whom we owe our loyalty is God alone, and our battle, that against society and all immorality our world tries to dismiss as permissible. Our adventure is that of life, and discovering the purpose for which we were created; to become the men we were created to be. That same rush of adrenaline comes when we defy the world when it tells us it can't be done; to go against the grain and stand as virtuous and holy men. And most importantly, as men, we must fight to reclaim the dignity of women; to protect them against all that is immoral, even if they must be protected from themselves. Our society assaults our holy sisters with constant negative media: telling them their physical appearance is below par; they aren't good enough, they don't deserve respect from men. Emboding the chivalry of knights long ago, we must seek to protect the innocense of all women, and to reclaim masculinity from the lies it has become.