I had the privilege four years ago to begin to work with men at my local church in Charlottesville, VA. It was an incredible experience and we learned a lot over the years. A common theme men would tell us (behind closed doors) was, “I’m not sure what God is up to in my life.” Men felt shame at not quite knowing their calling. They all had this thought of, “I should know by now.”

We then took a chance and contacted Gary Barkalow from The Noble Heart who has studied “calling” for the last 25 years and we asked him if he could help us in this area.

This changed everything for us. Gary was not only willing to help but an immediate friendship with purpose ensued. Gary was taking a risk of his own to follow God’s calling to leave Ransomed Heart to work exclusively with this idea of our calling through The Noble Heart.

We first ran a Calling Retreat last year in the context of adventure in WV where Gary opened up to us Story, Desire, and Journey. This retreat tilled the ground of our hearts as Gary spoke about orientation, mystery, glory, assault, and discovery.

We ate it up!

As men we live so close to the rush of our lives that we rarely step back to behold our lives in their entirety. We’ve never had any training to see the significance of our own story and as a result we live unexamined lives. We are so far removed from our stories that we ourselves are convinced they are not important.

Sitting forward in a congregation with our emphases week after month after year on the pulpit (regardless of how good the teaching might be) has had the undesired effect of “de-emphasizing” the importance of your own story and what God is about in your life. The Institution counts people - it doesn’t know people.

After six months of digesting the Calling Retreat, Gary took us into a Calling Intensive where we broke up into groups of four with a facilitator and opened our stories to each other over a weekend.

We were on holy ground that weekend. It changed everything again. We entered into the deep mystery and inner sanctuary of each others lives. Something was birthed that weekend among us--a strong friendship where we could know and be known.

For your heart

Jeff

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