Original: October 9, 2007
Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. Proverbs 14:4
I have reflected often on my Oregon wilderness hunt but I have written too much on the fact that I was not alone. I took a high school senior named Nathan Cutrell. Nathan graduated in 2008 is now in Medic in the military, but for a season was a young man who I mentored. Although tough; strong in spirit and in body this young man with the dream of being an Airborne Ranger had never hunted or done anything quite like our experience.
Nathan is a self proclaimed "city boy" who moved to Oregon from the suburbs of San Diego, California before he entered high school. Having never hunted before, or been in the outdoors for that matter, his only cold weather clothes were his unbearably loud snowboarding paints and jacket. I got so angry at him one day as we stalked a 28 inch Muley and 6 of his smaller buddies, constantly telling Nathan to "walk quietly, be quiet, and stop moving so loud!" The poor guy couldn’t be quite in those pants if he tried! Often times his excitement would carry him away and he would blurt out so loudly I could almost hear the hoof prints exiting our canyon.
More often than not I would turn in anger and tell him, "Nate you have to be quiet!" Compounded with the fact that we ran into some extreme weather and most of my priority revolved around keeping Nate safe (even though he was always willing to go for it) it is a wonder we ever connected on a buck at all! As great and as tough of a kid as he is, it took a lot of work to have him with me.
That is until we killed our buck.
Not only did Nate spot the buck I ultimately took, but he pushed the brush and drove the buck my way enabling me to put the buck down with 250 yard shot through the lungs dropping the buck in his tracks. Once on the ground, we had to take pictures, process, and then carry about 80 pounds of meat and antlers four more miles back to our rig. As much work as it was to have Nathan there, he made the trip physically and mentally easier as well as his youthful strength made our trek back much (much) more manageable.
I have a weird “man-tradition” of naming the bucks I take and Nate earned the honor of having this buck named after him! In Hebrew Nathan means, “A gift from God”. He was.
Several years ago the late Mike Yaconelli wrote a book called "Messy Spirituality" where he wrote about the reality of our faith being much sloppier than meets the eye. Think about it. Men, although they hide it under their tough-guy veneer are often a mess. Men are stubborn, resistant and tough to reach. The feminist culture (along with the American Industrial Revolution and Victorian Era among others) has deconstructed the definition of manhood. From a pastoral viewpoint reaching a man is like shooting trap. A man is a moving target and you are never quite sure what direction he will be heading (because neither does he). Men will fail often in their great hunt for God. As John Maxwell once said, "There's gold in them there pews!"
If you can reach the man you can reach the world!
Men are a leader’s greatest asset. Men are worth the work. Men are worth the mess they make. Men are worth the gamble. Like Nathan on our hunt, is worth shutting up their obnoxiously loud snowboard-pants-stubbornness to reach the prize of a man’s heart. Men are a great work well worth our life investment as leaders.
Sloppy at times, yes, but look at the added strength a life can bring to a God-sized effort. If your life effort is enough for you to handle on your own then it is probably not a God-sized effort. Find a man (young or old) to invest into today. It is never too late to mentor a young man.
Every man needs a Timothy to mentor.
Every man needs a Paul to mentor him.
Leave your snowboard pants behind but remember your rain gear. You will get a little messy along the way. You will smell like sheep but the potential strength added to your life and ministry is worth the mess.
“From the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.” (Proverbs 14:4)
