Boot Camp Week

Its Boot Camp week here at Ransomed Heart. 450 men from all over the world are heading to Colorado for a profound encounter with God. We just finished packing the U Haul we take up to Crooked Creek Ranch with all our stuff in it. Work crew guys are flying in today. Part of our team will head up this afternoon to the camp, the rest tomorrow morning. There is excitement in the air.

This is a Boot Camp week, and man, can we tell. All sorts of warfare flying around here. Physical stuff like internal bleeding and chest pains. Sleeplessness. Emotional stuff like marital tension, and all sorts of agreements being “suggested” by the enemy. Oppressive “fog.”

Its like he comes, probing the perimeter, looking for some way in.

The reason for boatloads of assault is that these weekends are some of the most profound, healing, freeing, life-changing weekends these men will ever in their lives experience. No joke. Its a big deal. It will change hundreds of lives forever. When you rescue a man, the reverberations of that are almost limitless. You rescue a marriage, and a family. You rescue his children, and generations after them. Its as though a deep rift in the fabric of the world is healed.

So thank you for praying for me and the team these next five days. Your prayers really matter. We can literally feel them. They help protect us, and that sets us free to go after these guys.

Sat down to breakfast this morning, alone in the kitchen. I’d been asking God for a scripture for this weekend. He gave Isaiah 49:24–25. “Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says: ‘Yes, captives will be taken from warriors and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.’”

Far out. Let’s do this thing.

What I have been reading this summer

I’m probably not alone in finding that summer allows a little more room for reading than the rest of the year.

I’m not sure all the reasons for that. Part of it is schedule – things tend to really ramp up in the Eldredge house and at Ransomed Heart September through May. But part of it is mindset. There just seems to be a little more breathing room as my soul rests a bit in summer. So, I’ve been reading and loving the opportunity to read. Here’s what I’ve been enjoying this past month:

Teewinot, climbing and contemplating the teton range by Jack Turner. Our family has been camping every summer in the Tetons since Luke was 3. (He just turned 15). This stunning part of God’s creation holds a special place in our hearts, and is always a rich part of our summer for seven days. Finally I found a book about life in the Tetons by someone who loves them as much as me. Turner is a old climbing guide, a naturalist, and a good writer.

The Solace of Open Spaces, by Gretel Ehrlich. Okay, the title alone is worth this little book. It’s true, we need open spaces in our lives. They do something deeply healing and orienting in our souls. (Abraham, Jacob, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus, the desrt fathers all knew this). Ehrlich came to Wyoming from New York to film a series for PBS on sheep herding. She ended up staying seven years. She, too, is a good writer. And I love Wyoming.

The Warriors, reflections on men in battle by J Glenn Gray. A remarkable book. Gray was drafted into WWII right after he received his doctorate in philosophy. He is a keenly perceptive, self-aware and reflective man, and he writes about both the power of war upon the soul of men, and its costs, with such grace and humility. I don’t agree with everything he says, but when he is right he is really right.

The Way of the Wild Heart. I know, I know, it might seem really weird that I’m reading my own book, and even more weird that I’m recommending it here by way of mention. But the truth is, I don’t usually read a book of my own once its finished, and it takes a few years to get enough distance to read them with appreciation. What I am struck by is that this is a really good book. I wish every man would read it.

Summer is winding to a close. I can feel the pressures of September crouching just ahead, ready to pounce. Sigh. I wish I could read like this all year.