So before lockdown kicked in and life changed, I was driving home from a CVM meeting and my phone pinged to let me know I had some messages coming in. At the next opportunity I pulled over to take a look and discovered a mate of mine had sent me a message asking me what I thought were 4 of the main things impacting us men at the moment. Where men are and the stuff we are dealing with, deep stuff. As I thought about this I decided to do a few blogs to stir this stuff up and some of these, I will be exploring them over the next few months.
Here’s the list:
- Samurai’s on Shelves
- Business of Busyness
- Broken Hearted men
- Death Vocabulary
Samurai’s on Shelves
Over the years I have enjoyed films or art that capture something of the Samurai, the look, the code of honour and heart for battle. The ornamental outfit and swords, the men who forged the swords and the rich history behind the art and craft of making a Samurais blade.
To me, the Samurai captured something unique of how to live, fight and die, today their influence in film, culture and society can still be felt but they no longer fight, they are immortalised in art, literature and on display for tourists to snap a selfie and imagine a time when this mighty warrior once stood at the frontlines of battle with his heart and his skills honed for the cause.
The Samurai pioneered, learnt and mastered a code, written into their very being, they were an expression of courage, honour and bravery, there is something empowering about that. The Bushido code informed their way of life, their values and focus was as sharp as their deadly Samurai swords.
The point here is that Samurai are now a warrior of old, an icon and a memory. I have a good friend of mine who reminds me of this ancient warrior. He lives by a code, his posture and character is one of a trained warrior but he has lost sight of the battle, like a warrior trained for a time of peace.
I don’t think the battle has disappeared, I think the frontline and the edge of battle has changed. The war for human souls is as real as it has ever been, the battle for our peace, hope, joy and eternity are ever raging. Yet I think, for so many men, we felt the call, trained and stood like great Samurai on guard looking for this battle and it didn’t arrive. We felt the drip of personal integrity battles and workplace moral conduct but the head to head charge into the wild to fight goliath never emerged. That’s what I think lots of us men have missed, a giant to slay.
CVM for me has enabled me to stand in that field and stare that giant in the face. We have a nation of lost fellas who need Jesus. Now more than ever society around us needs the hope of the gospel. The Samurai have a war still, are you in? (More to come on this!)
Photo by Ahmed Al-Shukaili from FreeImages
