Come get your bacon on with the men of Troy! Saturday, March 9th from 8a-9a we'll break bread, get to know what's going on around Troy for men to engage in small groups, fellowship, and serving opportunities. Plus, hear a great message from Steve Norman on the dangers of "going it alone" as a Christian man.
| Men's Breakfast | |
| It's scientifically true, the smell of bacon inspires men to be better leaders. Ok, that may not be exactly accurate, but I can tell you that any time the men of Kensington gather for some time of learning, inspiration rolls. On March 9 at 8:00am in room 213 we're inviting all men (middle school aged and up), to join us for breakfast as Steve Norman leads us in a little conversation about becoming men God designed us to be.
For more information and to RSVP contact Mark Biebuyck at mark.biebuyck@kensingtonchurch.org |
Success is rarely found alone. Beside or behind every successful person, is someone who has encouraged, supported, challenged, and fought with them. Moses had Aaron, Steve Jobs had Steve Wozniak (Apple Computers), David had Jonathan, and Batman had Robin.
David and Jonathan shared common values, love, trust, commitment and loyalty to one another. They became “one in spirit” immediately upon meeting and stood side by side throughout their lives. But when Jonathan died, David lost more than a friend; he lost a part of himself. Isaiah’s words in 47:10 could have been describing David in his later days, “Your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have caused you to turn away from me and claim, ‘I am self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!’”
The danger comes when we think we don’t need anyone else and we become self-sufficient (in our own mind). We get so independent that we feel as if we don’t need to answer to anyone. I would like to think that if Jonathan was alive, David and Jonathan would have had a friendship where they were accountable to each other. In the end, David had no close friend to go to, no one to be accountable to.
John Eldredge in Wild at Heart says, “Don’t even think about going into battle alone. Don’t even try to take the masculine journey without at least one man by your side. Yes, there are times a man must face the battle alone, in the wee hours of the morn, and fight with all he’s got. But don’t make that a lifestyle of isolation. This may be our weakest point, as David Smith points out in The Friendless American Male: ‘One serious problem is the friendless condition of the average American male. Men find it hard to accept that they need the fellowship of other men.’”
Men are raised to be naturally independent, to not depend on someone else and to not show “need.” As a result, we (men) think that if we do ask for help we show weakness, and that’s one of the underlying reasons that men can find it more difficult to give their lives over to Christ.
Go out and find someone who shares your values and experiences, someone to connect with and to commit to, someone to trust and be accountable to, and someone to walk with under the protection of God’s Word.
If we learn from the knowledge we gained from the past—and from biblical examples of friendship like David and Jonathan—we can turn it into wisdom to be used in our future.
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