"We must reverse Adam's choice; we must choose God over Eve.  We must take our ache to him. 

For only in God will we find the healing of our wound." - Wild at Heart

When life - or the devil - wounds a man's heart, what is the intent behind it?  What is the ultimate endgame?

Brennan Manning, in his book, Ragamuffin Gospel, says that man was created for union with God.  This is why we were created.  It's why we exist. 

If he's right, then the wounds that we receive are an attempt to keep us from that union.  They are arrows aimed at our heart that are meant to keep us away from the life that we've been created to live.

So when the heart is wounded and when we realize that we're not right and we're not right with God, we begin to feel deep shame, guilt, and embarrassment.

John Eldredge says, in his book Wild at Heart, that - "Guys are unanimously embarrassed by their emptiness and woundedness; it is for most of us a tremendous source...

Do I have what it takes?

Am I powerful enough to handle this?

Am I real man?

These are the questions that men wrestle with along their journey of life.  And, as John Eldredge says in his book, Wild at Heart, "Men are haunted by the question(s) or crippled by the answer."

Haunted By The Question

I remember my own story (one of many stories!) of wrestling with these questions.  I was probably in 4th or 5th grade and there was a kid at school who kept teasing me and making me scared.  That probably wasn't hard because I was afraid of everything!  But, it was really bothering me and somehow it got mentioned when I was home one day.  

I remember talking to my dad about this and, with my dad being a godly man and a soft-hearted guy, I really thought I knew what he would say.

"Son, you just gotta walk away.  Boys can be mean but Christians walk away and be 'the bigger man'".  

But that's not what he said.  Instead, it was more like this:

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