Become Good Soil

The only tragedy greater than the deep fatherlessness our soul experiences is that we have come to accept that sense of fatherlessness as normal. Friends, It's been written that “when there are no kings, young warriors become brutal, magicians behave as charlatans, and lovers are soon addicts.” But what happens when there are no sages?  It’s a question entangled in pain yet brimming with possibili...

Above all else, trust in the slow work of God. Friends, Jesus modeled and taught a scandalous and inviting life of prayer.  In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place to pray…  (Mark 1:35) “Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from...

Pray without ceasing. – St. Paul Friends, It's been said, “Prayer is not about changing God, but being willing to let God change us.”  What if cultivating a practice of prayer that teems with life and connection with God is much less about what we do and much more about who we become?  Through a slow and steady practice of prayer, we are reformed into the kind of people who truly do pray without c...

Prayer is never the first word; it is always the second word. God has the first word. – Eugene Peterson Friends, As we continue to explore the Daybreak Prayer , let us immerse ourselves in these God-initiated and God-sustained realities: Father, thank you that our story begins with you, and we will return to the restoration of all things.  We choose to trust that you love us with the same love you...

God is perfectly capable of saving the world he created. – Dallas Willard Friends, In the section of his Gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells the story of Jesus drawing his apprentices away from the crowds and up a mountainside to teach them about the heart of our Father and the way of his gracious Kingdom. On the subject of prayer, Jesus says this:  And when you come before God,...

There is no power in hell Or any who can stand Before the power and the presence of the Great I Am. – Jared Anderson Friends, Jared Anderson penned these arresting words over a decade ago. His song has become a rallying cry and a lifeline to Reality for the friends of God.  But behind the song is a story.  And behind the story is a soul.  Jared is a husband, father, risk-taker, and renowned soul-p...

The male must be taught "the tears of things" before he is given any power. Friends, The goal of masculine initiation is always God. It is not ultimately healing, though that comes as well. It is not even wholehearted maturity. Above all, the goal of masculine initiation is God himself. Though our Father’s aim is always to connect us more deeply to himself, the chaos, losses, failures, pressures,...

Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. – Goethe Friends, Years ago, as a father in the faith led a group of young, thirsty apprentices and me through a series of exercises and questions for our masculine souls, we came across this question:  What is your dream assignment in the Kingdom?  In other words, if you could be charged with any task, vocation, or wo...

Home is both an origin and a destination. Friends, When the time is right, a man must leave his father and mother to find his True Father and Mother in God's heart. Returning home to God is the destiny of his soul and the consummation of his initiation.  Linger.  Every man must leave his mom and dad to find his God.  On a soul level, most men, to some degree, still haven’t left home. In walking wi...

I came from the Father. Now I come home to the Father. – Jesus of Nazareth Friends, We come from the Trinity.  We will return to the Trinity.  So what is in the way of our homecoming?  Perhaps better said, where do we find ourselves along the journey of home-going? The mission and message of Become Good Soil reach thousands globally, nourishing men from 18 to 83. Men of different ages and at diffe...

God’s cheatin’ in our favor. – Shia LaBeouf Friends, It’s been said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.  Over decades, alongside like-hearted brothers, I've discovered a profound revelation in this idea. Perhaps even more essential is this truth: When the son is ready, the Father appears.  My longtime ally, friend, and like-hearted brother Ryan Ruebsahm is a man who has lived...

He trusts her without reserve and never has reason to regret it. – Proverbs 31:11 MSG Friends, To say the proverb another way, masculinity trusts femininity without reserve and never has reason to regret it.  Femininity trusts masculinity without reserve and never has reason to regret it.  What if this is intended to both include and transcend marriage, plunging us into the possibility and finally...

As a man matures and increases in power, he is absolutely dependent on the integration of feminine love for him to flourish, mature, and thrive in God’s Kingdom. – Morgan Snyder Friends, What if integrated masculinity dynamically engaging with integrated femininity was essentially designed by the Living God to communicate abundance, peace, dignity, and the endless safety of God’s extravagant and i...

God loves you more tenderly and more irrevocably than the best of mothers. – Stasi Eldredge Friends, What does the integration of wholehearted masculine love with wholehearted feminine love feel like? For most men, considering the impact and role of feminine love—or its absence—elicits a wide range of emotions.  Simply put, we can easily lose heart in our ambivalence, unmet longing, or pain around...

Any place you don’t find a track is not wasted, but part of refining where to look. – Boyd Varty, The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life Friends, Boyd Varty’s life has enticed me into ever deeper waters of my masculine initiation. His stories of tracking animals in wild spaces offer stunning insight into the experience of tracking our souls as men during this bewildering hour on Earth. Boyd's insight of...

I have no idea where I’m going. But I know exactly how to get there. – Boyd Varty, The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life Friends, Boyd Varty’s life illuminated in and through The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life has been a steady stream of nourishment for my masculine soul in recent years. I’ve returned time and time again to the disruption and enticement of his life, wondering with hope and curiosity... W...

“Where are you, Adam?” – Genesis 3:9 Friends, Something is over. Something is next. How do we choose an intentional pause in the in-between to recenter our soul in the heart of God and in his Kingdom, which is at hand? Last year, we invited our tribe to engage in a soulful transition from one year to the next. As a result of the responses we received, we've made some updates to the guided exercise...

The only thing which we may take with us from our life on earth are those things which we have given away. – Babette’s Feast Friends, The feast of Christmas is drawing near. In preparation, I invite you to share this gift for the soul with the like-hearted among our global community. In Babette’s Feast, Isak Dinesen explores the riches of Christ’s grace in story form. This dialogue from one of his...

All the stories we tell borrow their power from the Great Story God is writing. – John Eldredge Friends, Isak Dinesen suggests God's plans run across the sea and the snowy mountain where man’s eyes see no track.  What if it is true?  It is true, my friends.  Everything is going to be okay. God is drawing all of our stories toward the breathtaking restoration of all things.  Along the way, his brig...

Then our sons in their youth     will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars     carved to adorn a palace. – Psalm 144:12 NIV Friends, The Psalms were penned by regular men walking through the real and raw depths of the human experience. With body and soul, animated by the life of God, these brave authors invite us into a God-permeated vision of Reality more visceral...

The glory of children are their Fathers. – Proverbs 17:6 KJV Friends, Our sacred Scriptures whisper to us the invitation God has woven into reality for men to once again consent to the path and process of becoming fathers. The Proverbs winsomely teach us that the weight of the lives of our children points back to the headwaters of our faithful Father. Who is he?  What is he like?  Is he available?...

 I have no idea where I’m going. But I know exactly how to get there. – Boyd Varty, The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life Friends, In the Kingdom of God, we are never behind and it is never too late to consent to our unique version of the universal pattern of masculine initiation.  We are always on time.   What if that were true? What if we believed it? What if we lived it?  Masculine initiation as app...

Salvation is a process, not an event. – Resilient Friends, Steady. Strong. ​​​Resilient.  What would it be like for these words to describe the sons of God in this hour on earth?  It's hopeful.  It's powerful. And, brothers, it's available.  John’s most recent work,  Resilient , is a life raft amidst our contemporary turbulent sea. Singularity of heart is no longer an option. It is essential for u...

Pointing to his disciples, Jesus said, “These are my brothers and sisters, my true family. Whoever does the will of my Father is my family.” – Matthew 12:49-50 (paraphrase) Friends, As Dallas Willard reminds us, Jesus is the most brilliant person to ever live. His brilliance shines not only in the what of his rescue but also in the how. By becoming human, the Triune Creator not only redeemed our b...

Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. – Hebrews 2:11 NIV Friends, It was George MacDonald who wrote that the central misery of the masculine soul is the refusal and incapacity to look up to God as Father.  I want to suggest a parallel source of impoverishment and pain: our refusal to look up...