There is a a popular book called Wild at Heart written by John Eldredge. It’s an invitation to men to recover their masculine heart, defined by the image of a passionate God. I haven’t read this one yet, but I read the book he wrote after that called “Fathered by God”.
In Fathered by God, Eldredge talks about the journey a Godly man should go through in life. The progression is Boy-> Cowboy-> Warrior/Lover-> King-> Sage.
For the sake of keeping the blog shorter, I won’t go into all the details.
A male starts off as a boy and moves into the cowboy stage around age 12 or 13. He suggests it carries into the mid 20’s. Its all about adventure, experiencing the world and hard work. Like a cowboy living free, roaming the great wide open plains, working hard and living off the land, every man needs a time of adventure and exploration.
The warrior stage is about responsibility, discipline, and being an aggressive fighter. God is mighty warrior and we are created in His image. We each have a piece of His warrior heart. Passivity is the opposite of a warrior. It’s not as extreme as living like a cowboy, free and wild. It is about knowing what it is you’re fighting for and beginning that fight. It is focused on the mission and going after what God has destined the warrior to do. It can be around the late teen’s that a man enters into the warrior stage. The cowboy stage will often overlap with the warrior stage.
Synonymous with the warrior stage is the lover stage. The lover is in awe with ascetics, enjoys poetry, music, nature, etc… They are in tune with their heart and emotions. The lover can often be opposite of the warrior, but when a man has a healthy balance of the 2, it’s a very powerful thing.
Then it moves into the king stage. The king has been living as a warrior and lover for some time now. They are now ruling and leading in their position they have fought through trials in life. They have won (and lost) many battles and are now in a greater place of influence and authority.
The last is the sage. The sage has walked through all the stages of life and if now able to offer his wisdom to all men, especially the warriors and kings. We need sages!
So as the title of my blog explains, God is taking me from the cowboy stage to the warrior stage. They have been overlapping the past couple years, but I heard God speak to me that the cowboy stage is over.
I had 2.5 years on the World Race as well as a few short trips after. These times were much needed in my life to explore, learn and grow. But my time of living like a cowboy is done and it’s time to step into greater responsibility in the warrior stage. The warrior still gets to adventure, explore, learn and work hard, it just looks a lot different.
The last few years I have been creating “Memorial Stones” for major moments in my life. For the Cowboy season ending and the Warrior season emerging, I decided to cut up all my wrist bands I have gained over the past few years in my cowboy stage. It represents me acknowledging that this stage is over and the Warrior stage is fully here. (See picture below)
I have been back home now for 7 months. I have been working doing snow removal and come spring I will be doing lawn irrigation again.
I have been leading a Young Adults group which has grown from around 7 people coming regularly to 13-17 people showing up weekly. This has been amazing and being a part of this community has been a huge reason I am able to thrive here at home.
I began discipling 2 young men from my church and meet regularly to pour into them.
I started a group on FB for people to connect in their passion for evangelism so that Grande Prairie’s lost will be found. (If you’re from GP and are interested in this, let me know!)
I have been reading lots of books and am learning daily about the Kingdom. My passion grows daily to grow the Kingdom and see God’s dominion spread around this planet. I’m starting with my “Jerusalem”.
I am only $566 away from being fully funded! Thank you so much for those who have given to me over the years! I am so close to this chapter ending and I ask for you to partner with me in this! To donate, you can click the “Donate” button at the top of the page and follow the instructions from there. Thanks again!
