Tonight I spoke at a Paintball Camp Out some of the guys in our church were throwing. There were all kinds of guys there from the churched to the pagan, so I wanted to make sure my talk was more “guy” focused.
So, I chose to reference the story of Gideon paralleled with Private Upham from Saving Private Ryan. The one scene everyone remembers from that film? Yeah, when Upham, the translator, freezes on the stairs while his friend gets stabbed to death by a German. And then the German doesn’t even see him as having enough value to even kill, ugh!
Gideon was paralyzed just like Upham, he was so afraid of the Midianites that he was threshing wheat in a wine press. But when the Angel of the Lord approached him, he called him a “Might Warrior.” That would be like Tom Hanks’ character calling Upham a “fine instrument of warfare.”
Anyways, I went through the story of Gideon and talked about how as soon as Gideon started trusting in God and in God’s vision for his life, he then had what it takes. “Having what it takes”, I believe is one of the most profound and driving questions that men are always seeking to answer. Do we have what it takes to be a man, husband, father or successful? The fear of the answer to this question can paralyze us from taking risk, and from living free to be the man that God has called us to be.
I finished with letting the guys know that God doesn’t want nice men sitting in pews and always making the safe decisions to lead his church. God doesn’t want Upham’s leading the way. He wants men who are willing to risk and trust in God for big and challenging things in their life, even it if costs them everything. He wants men who step out in faith like Gideon, where it is blatantly obvious that God is in control, because there is no other way it would work.
The talk seemed to resonate with the guys there, and using the word pictures of the movie definitely helped keep them focused. Anyways, I think it went well and just wanted to share.
