The Truth

I wanted to post a quick note before we start throwing our successes and failures on this blog in the pursuit of warriorship. A lot of my blog posts seem to come from a place of discontent.  That may be true but I want to make sure that is not misunderstood.  I believe that a few years ago I came to a realization.  We all at some point face the truth that we can never find true meaning, true significance apart from God.  But in saying that I do believe that if we decide to look for Him, where we are, where we spend the most important moments of our lives, we can begin to reclaim meaning and significance.  We can begin to discover why He has us in those times/places, and what He intends for us there.

Any discontent I have had or have usually creeps in when I am not striving to live for Christ.  This whole ideology of being a warrior pivots on the understanding that Christ must be at the center.  To create something lasting and substantial then our lives must be His.

I just wanted to make sure that those of you that might stumble across this blog and while reading in the back of your mind you are thinking, "I actually like what I am doing." then please do not feel that is wrong or alienated.  That is great just approach "whatever you are doing" with fervor and be the best "whatever you are doing" you can be.  Be a warrior.

An Epic Quest

"The glory of God is man fully alive." - St. Irenaeus

In the past this blog has been hardly more than some philosophical musings that were connected by the idea of planting a foothold as a man in this modern world.  The idea of returning to our roots from the past that are so deeply buried in the soil of distraction that they are having a hard time finding the aquifer of hard work, ingenuity, integrity, and manliness that we so desperately need to flourish as rock solid pillars of warriorship in our modern society.

Instead of continuing on in this manner of quasi motivational, that are somewhat mired in my own life's distractions, blog post after blog post I propose a quest.  Not just any quest but an Epic Quest that will take a significant personal journey. I, and a couple other men that I am lucky enough to call brothers, are going to start this journey.  We will look to change our daily mindset and to start a revolution in this world that we toil, commune, and live in.  The idea is that the quest will really never be completed but rather a life long commitment.  Really it will be a process of distinguishing how to approach each day with the mindset of a warrior with the hope that slowly those daily habits will start to form and will become as normal as breathing.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." J.R.R. Tolkien

Here is the deal... often times in life we make decisions that we cannot understand the butterfly effect until far into the future.  I know when I reflect on my past that most of those times for me were decisions to not take action that cause me the most pain.  Some opportunities come our way and we know that we cannot let them go... we have heard about the girl who got away, right?  Well I didn't let mine get away, and I don't want to sleep on the idea of creating a warrior class for this generation that can live, lead, and standout in our modern society.  I do not think I can afford to for my spirit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr_OpFxCx-A

A year-long journey within a lifelong quest is our idea of how to start distinguishing some of the discernible qualities of warriorship and to map out a path to start living life like a warrior.  Like the warriors in the clip I do not want to look back 15 plus years from now with a son on the verge of making his own marks on the world and regret my effort to lead him and others in the right direction.

I will be honest... I had a great deal of trepidation leading up to this post.  I realized the magnitude and the accountability of putting ideas of this nature into words for others to read.  I had told the other two men that are joining me on this journey that I would post almost two weeks ago and I could not seem to get myself in the right state of mind to produce in words what my heart and spirit are feeling.  I realized though that was part of this whole quest.  To realize what a Warrior Ethos for a Modern World looks like, and that in the beginning I would doubtably be able to materialize exactly the intention of this quest.  Why not now?  Better than tomorrow.  Better than five more excuses and two more weeks from now.  It starts now.

"The question is... What HE intended us to be when HE made us." - C.S. Lewis

The three of us embarking on this quest come from somewhat similar but different backgrounds.  We are all at different points in our lives, different ages, different family situations, different interests, and different immediate goals.  The greatest thing, of which I have written on this blog before, is that we have the same end of the game goal in mind.  Regardless of where you are spiritually, physically, or mentally and regardless of what you do currently in this life you can still approach it with a warrior mindset based on the right principles.  We are Men and we crave the same basic things in life.  This is not relegated to one age, race, station in life, or personal interest this is for all Men.

We are going to start documenting our weekly progression of our pursuit to change our habits spiritually, mentally, and physically.  Each one of us will post a blog weekly about the prior week and our effort to become warriors.  We will discuss together what is working for each of us and what is not working.  You will see some of us transform physically and all of us spiritually.

Mixed in will hopefully be some podcasts and some videos of us doing man stuff to compliment the warrior lifestyle.

I believe that the hope is when the dust settles in a year that we will have the confidence and courage to be leaders of men.

As we progress through the weeks and months we will begin to shape the meaning of modern warriorship.

Let's roll, on the Journey of a Lifetime...

Our desire to be Inspired and to Inspire

Who doesn't love to be inspired?  I am serious.  If you can show me someone that doesn't like to be inspired by something/anything/anyone then I will show you someone that is checked out of this game already.  Why do we have such a love affair with movies?  Why does music speak to us?  Why are you reading blogs and thumbing through magazines? I absolutely crave for moments that inspire me.  Inspirational stories of camaraderie and brotherhood of men at war, involved in sports, or just survival situations causes drums to beat in my heart.  Songs that take you instantaneously to a moment in the past make my hair stand on end.  I have a journal that I write inspirational moments that occur in my life down on its pages.  I am a fan of inspiration, seems only natural that I would also want to be an inspiration.

It might seem natural that I would want to be an inspiration but I do not believe it is that easy.  We all know growing up that we wanted to be these things that were, in our young minds “great”, Doctors. Firemen, Policemen, Cowboys, Superheroes, Army men, Authors, Musicians, Sea captains, adventurers and whatever else you can think of along those lines.  Never once do I remember thinking as a young version of myself that I would grow up to be a Quality Assurance Supervisor.  Yes it is as uninspiring as it sounds… but it pays the bills.

So if it isn't as easy as it seems what can we do to inspire?  Live with principle.  Take the ideas that we are talking about in this blog and run with them.  Be a warrior in your current situation and you will inspire.  You may not have a movie written about you but you will inspire someone.  Take the principles that we have lined out so far and seriously start making them your second nature.  We have too few men in this world that live without these principles. Maybe they were never taught these principles and need some inspiration.

While you are living like a warrior start to notice the things that make you happy and give you fulfillment and start to cultivate those passions into something you can spend more and more time on.

The reason for this post is because I have a son that I desperately want to inspire.  I want him to dream big and then go after those dreams but with a foundation that is based on the right principles.

I also want to inspire my son through my actions.  I want to dream and go after dreams.  I want to fail and get back up and start over again.  I want to have this community of warriors rolling behind me.

I would love to hear some more feedback from the few readers I have.  Tell me some of the things that inspire you?  What movies make you want to explode with inspiration?  What are your dreams?  What moments have given you inspiration in your life?  (Yes sports moments count)

Are we really willing?

I was listening to a podcast over the last few days and somewhere in the middle of it the participants drew a visual picture for the listening audience of what they believe raising our collective consciousness looks like. Basically they said to take a table that is covered in bubbles.  When one bubble starts to move it immediately affects those around it and then the ripples of change start.  So when someone like Martin Luther King rises up out of the bubble pile there is an amazing impact even if his time was cut short.

I really like that picture and it makes incredible sense.  The question I have though is whether or not us bubbles really want to be disturbed?  Do we want the pressure that comes with it?  Do we even really want change?  Do we just want to ride it out and hopefully not be affected by any other crazy bubbles until it is our time to pop?

Even with this blog there is a certain type of pressure to make sure I live in line with what I am putting into words.  Heck that comes with the religious and spiritual side of things that I outspokenly align myself with. Really that pressure comes with simply being a man.  Then you add-on marriage and fatherhood and we are talking as much pressure as a mountain dew can rolling around in a teenagers trunk.

It is time that we all start answering the bell, myself included.  The few principles that we have already spoken about should be at play in every aspect of our lives regardless of who is watching.  That is the only way to develop those principles into second nature habits.

I believe that I am ready to be the bubble that moves... I want to affect other bubbles... I want to be the start of a ripple.

I know without a doubt that we can start something huge, something real and visceral.  It is needed in our society.  Do not be afraid of the pressure because that is already there be afraid of not doing anything before you pop.

We should never choose the easy path because the easy path is not the path of the warrior.  You know Jesus, right?  The single greatest bubble in history.  Look to Him, read His words and you will see the blueprint of how a bubble should float and how to interact with the bubbles around you.

Superheroes and coming of age

My son is five and he is absolutely obsessed with superheroes.  I love fielding the questions he comes up with as he daydreams about his favorite heroes.  "Hey dad..."

"Yes son?"

"Do you think that you are as strong as Spiderman, Iron Man, Superman, and Batman?"

"What do you think buddy?"

"Yeah, probably..."  "What about the Hulk?"

At this point I am emboldened by his confidence in my strength so with confidence I answer, "Sure, I could throw the Hulk around."

My son giggles... "No, I don't think you can handle the Hulk he is really strong!"

I absolutely love that stuff.  His solution to all kinds of problems is how said superhero would be able to help us.  Frisbee on the roof then he proclaims too bad we can't climb like Spidey.  Tired of riding in the car then he muses about how awesome it would be if we could just fly to our destination like Superman and of course his super dog.  He plays with his imaginext in an elaborate imagination fueled world of superheroes and villains where Marvel and Dc combine forces and share super vehicles with no prejudice.

Now that I have painted that picture let's look at what has happened at his preschool twice in the last month.  First they were having a day where firemen were coming to demonstrate what they do for the children.  Mainly to show the kids what they look like if they are ever in a fire so that kiddos will not get scared, but also because it is an awesome treat for the kids because firemen are cool.  His teacher was talking it up the day before and mentioned how firemen save people and my son perked up and told her, "Yeah they help people just like superheroes."  To which his teacher told him that superheroes were not real...  He was devastated.  He crawled in the car after school and it was the absolute first thing he asked me in a forlorn demeanor.  "Hey dad are superheroes real?"

Of course I told him that there are superheroes, and for now my reassurance trumped his teachers disdain for imagination.  It did happen a second time and that is when I addressed the issue with his teacher explaining that I did not feel it was her place to tell my son what exists or doesn't.  If we, his parents, want to tell him there is no Santa or superheroes then we will but otherwise leave the kids to their dreams.  So far things seem to be going okay in that dept.

This did however get me to start thinking about heroes in our world today.  I know that men and women that are involved selflessly in law enforcement and in the military are obviously heroes.  Firemen, as so eloquently put by my son, are most assuredly heroes.  EMT, teachers, nurses, and pretty much anyone that chose a career that is centered around helping people when often times that requires being utterly selfless should also be thrown in the hero column. 

Without a doubt almost all of us had a bout of hero-worship of some kind when we were young and often times we still hold our sports heroes  in high regard.  I seriously do consider my dad as one of my heroes as well as my Papaw.  They are great, loving, Godly men that are the definition of modern warriorship in almost every way.

That is where this ideology of Modern Warriorship fits in.  We must strive to show our sons and daughters what men should be.  Our sons cannot find out from society what a man is just like I do not want him to find out about the fiction world of superheroes from his preschool teacher.  Our daughters must not find out what kind of man they need to marry from society but they must see that in us.

Somewhere between the ages of 3 and 13 our daydreams of Iron Man and Spiderman (I am more of a Marvel guy) are replaced with the blonde girl in the front of the class and the idea of hitting a home run in the little league game that night.  Between these ages we become no longer satisfied with riding our bikes around but want the freedom of a vehicle with a promise of taking girls out on dates and going with buddies to wherever we can.  These things are natural and part of life and honestly somewhat sad.  We need to make sure that we take those natural tendencies of heroism that our little guys are drawn to and as they do grow older help them to understand that they can be heroes, so to speak, in their lives and for those that are around them.  They can be the father that gets the frisbee off the roof without having the ability to shoot webbing out of his hands.  They can be the husband that understands communication and romance are part of the deal without being emasculated.  They can be the employee that works hard and with discipline. 

Bottom line they can be a warrior and we must start to cultivate the idea of warriorship when they are still all about tight one-piece colorful suits, capes, and masks.

Advantages of the belly and other musings of a chubby guy.

I mentioned a couple of posts back that I am going to throw out some of my short-term goals in regards to my aspirations of becoming an all around warrior in hopes that this new community can help keep me accountable. Before I throw my goals out there I wanted to give you some of the observations that I have dealing with the size of my belly and of being out of shape.

Here are some advantages of the belly so to speak.  One advantage is that when I trim my beard I can wear my nice jeans or slacks because all of the hair either falls in the sink or on the nice protective awning that my belly creates.  This creates an easy and fast clean up with no itchy drawers.  Another advantage is the ledge that is created when lounging around that gladly holds a cell phone and I assume a flat stomach cannot.  I feel that thus far keeping my belly nice and squishy has been a selfless act which has allowed my kids to have a built-in pillow while watching a movie on the floor or while lounging around at a campsite... my one year old really seems to appreciate it.  I have also noticed that most competitors in athletic endeavors seem to take the belly for lack of skill.  Now I am sure I could be much better but my belly has not prohibited me from handling a basketball or sinking jump shots much to my competitors surprise.  This goes for many other things that seemingly have not been affected by my girth and I think that is kind of an edge so to speak.

Some other advantages of being somewhat chubby is that people just assume that you want treats or food that is left over.  This comes in very handy at work when you forget your lunch or just have a sweet tooth.  Also you seem to be mistaken for a person that can handle beer and in large quantities so you are always the recipient of a fresh one when gatherings of such are happening.

Another huge plus is that no one ever asks you to do a "fun run" knowing good well that you will laugh at the suggested oxymoron.  No one ever looks at you weird, at least not to your face, when you go back for seconds because it is somewhat expected.  Also dessert is usually just brought to you without the hindrance of having to be asked if you would like dessert or not.

Of course all of those observations are in jest and I desperately want to get in shape so that I can handle whatever comes my way in this world.  I have three kids ages five, three, and one with a surprise on the way this summer.  That means that I need every ounce of energy I can muster and the better shape I am in the better I can keep my wits about me when I have a teenage boy and three preteen girls in my house in the future.

Bottom line I want to be the best I can possibly be and I want to be a leader.  How can I honestly talk about being a warrior if I am not striving to do the same in every aspect of my life?  I know that I am much more drawn to guys that seem to have the discipline to keep themselves in shape, that are active, and balance that with being a great family man.

So here are a few of my goals that I want help from you guys attaining over the next three months.

Goal 1 - I want to start eating Paleo on a more consistent basis (more to come about this lifestyle in the near future).  This meaning that I want to eat Paleo roughly 90% of the time or six days very strict and one day of anything goes.

Goal 2 - I want to start a consistent workout program.  I actually really like crossfit style workouts so that will probably be the gist of the program but I also want to ride mtb and my cyclocross bike more.  I want to, at the very least, workout three days a week with at least one day on a bicycle of any type.

Goal 3 - The previous two goals should culminate into this goal coming to fruition.  I want to lose a moderate 20lbs over the next three months.  I know that for some this probably seems too easy and for others this may seem daunting but I believe 2olbs would be attainable for me and probably fairly difficult.  That is right around 7lbs a month for three months... that sounds attainable.

I will more than likely create a page on this blog that will consist of the workouts that I am doing, things that I am eating, and the progress I am seeing.

I am going to go ahead and start eating healthy right now and will start working out on Sunday May 12th which will put the end of the three months on Monday August 12th.  At that time I will post before and after pics so that alone should hold me somewhat accountable... be sad if the after looks exactly the same as the before or worse.

Without question I will have to use all the Principles of Modern Warriorship especially discipline.  Hopefully at the end of these three-months I will be on my way to becoming more and more of a modern warrior not only physically but spiritually and emotionally as well.

I want to roast a pig...

I cannot stop thinking about this idea that I have for a Warrior blow out party...  and I want it to center around hanging out with good friends with some cold drinks, by a body of water, with a big fire and this guy...

And when the piggy is done I want to gather around a table and chow on animal flesh and other awesome roasted side dishes as we talk and laugh.  I cannot get it out of my head... so I am proposing that we put this together as the First Annual Modern Warriorship Pig Roast and BBQ Party.

Hopefully more to come like an actual date and place.

Small acts do great work

Earlier this week we had a pizza lunch at work for some of the employees.  I bring this up because there was something significant that took place at this gathering, or at least I thought it was significant.  The manager that purchased the pizza without being prompted took into account everyone that was going to attend and made a special purchase of an all veggie pizza for a Muslim gentleman that works in that group.  The Muslim gentleman is a soft spoken guy and is very mild mannered, in my opinion someone that you could easily overlook if you were not in tune with serving the world. I bring this up because that simple gesture made this guy light up.  I am not part of the group I was just enjoying the free pizza, but it made me think about how I handle the people that work for me as well as all of the people that I come in contact with.  This guy was so happy that someone thought of him and his religious beliefs.

Muslims have certain restrictions of what they eat called Halal, which means permissible in Arabic, and these restrictions specifically do not allow pork and only meat that has been slaughtered a certain way called Dhabiha (which means slaughtered while still alive).  We all know how much pork based meat is on pizza and there is little doubt that the local pizzeria in North Texas follow any kind of religious preparations with their meat products.

The kicker to me is the polar opposite that the manager of this group is in his own beliefs from the Muslim gentleman.  I think that was the biggest reason that this act of kindness was so well received and clearly moved the Muslim man to smile and talk openly and freely while we ate, something that I have never seen him do in the five years working at this company.

Needless to say I was impressed and even though I feel that I am a thoughtful guy I know that I overlook people that are hurting or need to be reached out to all the time.

As warriors we need to make sure that we are serving in nature.  We need to be the people that are leaders and the best way to lead is by being a servant first.  That goes for our working environment, our marriages, our fatherhood, and amongst our friends.  This is also how we need to approach the world and how we can draw people in.

People want something to follow, me included, and often times we latch on to things that are superficial and plain bad.  Example would be the extremist that bombed the Boston marathon... young men that were horribly misled and just wanted to be a part of something.

Sometimes I think that being a servant is considered synonymous with being a pushover or a pansy.  All great leaders that have been successful were also selfless, servants that thought about those following them first before their own needs.

As you hang out this weekend remember that we are trying to start something with this philosophy of warriorship that creates a community that lives with the right principles in our lives.  One of those principles is most definitely servanthood.

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Discipline moving to number II

I know I have written a couple of posts in the past about discipline indirectly... namely this one.  I am going to slide this Principle of Warriorship ahead of selfishness in the pecking order. Without discipline what are we?  Lazy? Weak? Inept?  Yes to all of these...

How would we function in this society of selfish ambition and hedonistic attitudes if we did not have discipline?  How could we possibly find the resolve to pursue perfection and the idea of warriorship?  How could we even think about our passion on a professional level without discipline?

The answer to all of these questions would be, we could not obtain anything that we desire that is worth anything without discipline.

Warriorship is Discipline

Building from the last post, true freedom would be impossible without discipline.  I am sure that Adam from Manvsdebt would agree that it was probably the single biggest thing to conquering his families debt and obtaining the goals that they had set before themselves.

The same goes for the Warriorship ideology.  Without discipline there would be a lot of spinning our wheels in the attempt to become better men, better husbands, better fathers and better people.

Sure small gains could be made in every area of your life without discipline but they will never be what they could be with discipline.

Luckily discipline is something you can work at.  Discipline can be developed like a habit and that is very reassuring.

My suggestion is to make some small goals and approach obtaining these goals as mini jobs in our lives.  Do you want to get in shape and be ready for everything from a physical standpoint then set a small goal on that path and put your effort into obtaining it.  Everyday approach the idea of fitness with a professional mindset and accomplish these goals.  The same can be said for anything.

The problem arises when we let small selfish desires eat away at the ultimate goal.

Principles of Modern Warriorship

• Warriorship is Integrity
• Warriorship is Discipline
• Warriorship is Unselfish

Have the resolve to work at discipline.  Put some goals out there, here on this blog would be a great forum, and use accountability of others to help you stay disciplined.

In the next couple of days I am going to throw some of my goals for the coming months in a post and I want to use those of you who read this as my accountability to help me stay disciplined.

More to come on this subject very soon...

Great Question...

I cannot help but post this video...  a like-minded friend that is all about trying to live with warriorship sent it to me.  Now the ideas are not new but I do like the way Adam approaches the things in this life that hold us down.  There are others out there that speak on the same thing but the end message is a little different. Check it out.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XRPbFIN4lk?feature=player_embedded&w=640&h=360]

I know it was a little long for a video on a blog but I enjoyed his straight forward, honest style.  The reason I say Adam is a little different is that even though he is speaking about being debt free like many others out there do, especially in the Christian circles, his end game is much different and I believe deeper.

The question he poses of what is freedom to you, is powerful at the very least.  How many of us really think about it?  I know I have thrown out the idea of being passionate about what we do for our careers and I believe this goes hand in hand with that.

To be a practitioner of warriorship we must at times narrow our scope and focus on the things that are holding us back more so than the things that we believe are helping us.

I am a firm believer that living in America has transformed us into consumers and not people who live out dreams.  Somewhere down the line stuff and things have replaced dreams and unfortunately that is what we build our financial life around.

I know that it is a deep desire of mine and my families to get out of debt and the kicker is to make sure that when we do that our end game is not to have that freedom to waste money again even without the debt.

Adam's deep perspective of what true freedom is falls right in line with how I think warriorship works.  Questions must be asked and then answered on an individual level and it must be a desire for it to foster change.

Why do we work?  What do we spend our money on?  Are we happy?  Are we truly free?

Live to purchase experiences... I like the way that sounds.