Eldredge - Wild at Heart Field Manual: A Personal Guide to Discover the Secret of Your Masculine Soul

WILD at
HEART
FIELD MANUAL

OTHER BOOKS BY JOHN ELDREDGE
______________

The Sacred Romance (with Brent Curtis)
The Journey of Desire
The Sacred Romance Workbook and Journal
Wild at Heart
Dare to Desire (gift book)

WILD at
HEART
FIELD MANUAL

A PERSONAL GUIDE TO DISCOVERING
THE SECRET of YOUR MASCULINE SOUL

JOHN ELDREDGE

Copyright 2002 by John Eldredge

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Literary Agents, Orange, California.

The personal identities of the persons quoted in this Field Manual have been disguised in order to protect their privacy.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NKJV are from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers.

Scripture quotations noted The Message are from The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary English. Copyright 1993 by Eugene H. Peterson.

Scripture quotations noted NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

ISBN 0-7852-6574-0

Printed in the United States of America

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TO MY BAND OF BROTHERS

Thanks to Travis for providing so much invaluable research, and to Jenny, my assistant, without whose help I would still be lost somewhere in Chapter 8 or 9. Thanks also to Sealy, Brian, and Kyle, each an expert in his own right. And a very special thanks to Craig for providing so many hours of terrific collaboration, feedback, and creative input, and for drafting the prayers in response to each chapter. I am indebted to you all.

CONTENTS

It was dark by the time we clipped in. Pitch-dark, as in, there was no moon. Our climbing adventure had changed without notice into something elsesomething more like survival. That wasnt our intent, its just that wed started our climb a little later in the day than we wanted, and then ran into some snags as my partner and I worked our way up the face of Saddle Rock, somewhere in the deserts of Southern California. Wed made it about halfway when the sun went down and we found ourselves faced with a choice to try to finish the ascent in the dark, or rappel down. Discretion seemed the better part of valor at this point, so we chose to rappel. My partner, who was a much better climber than I, went first.

He disappeared over the edge, leaning backward and stepping off into the black. I waited in silence for him to make the ledge below. After what seemed like a half hour or more (but was probably only minutes), I heard a faint holler for me to follow. As I looped the rope through my ATC, a voice inside was yelling at me: What do you think youre doing? Why do you do this to yourself? Youre always getting yourself into messes like this. You see, Id climbed a bit before this night, but Id never rappelled in my life and my first lesson was about to take place in utter darkness down a foreign face of rock to a ledge about a foot wide, which we guessed was sitting about 130 feet off the valley floor below. Well, I thought, I cant exactly stay here. The only way out of this mess is over that edge. With that, I leaned back into the void.

OVER THE EDGE

You are standing on the brink of what could be the greatest adventure youve ever known... and your fiercest battle.

When it comes to the story of your life, and how it will be told ages hence around the campfires of the kingdom, the central chapter will be your masculine journey. That journey is the essential quest of your life, whereby you recover your true heart, discover your real name, and find your place in the battle. Everything else flows from there.

Its hard. Its scary. And its worth it.

There is a life that few men know... a life so rich and free, so dangerous and yet so exhilarating in its impact that if you knew now what you could have, you would sell everything to find it. But you have a sense of it even now, from the echoes in your heart, the hints in your deepest desires, the Voice that has been calling you for a long time, and thats why youre holding this field manual.

Im proud of you. It took guts to get this far, and you are about to enter an elite company of men. This will be a major turning point in your lifemaybe the turning point. Behind is the life youve led; ahead lies your destiny. Before you clip in and step off, let me say a few things.

I offer this field manual as a guide to your masculine journey, the rope youll use to go over the edge. Its going to look a little dark at times, and my hunch is therell be moments when youll feel something of the fear and the what am I doing? feeling I was having halfway up the rock that night. Thats normal, and healthy, and part of the journey. Having said that, let me try to offer some thoughts on how to use this manual.

DONT RUSH

Youll notice we didnt call this a workbook or a curriculum. Youre embarking on a journey, not doing your homework. Approach it like that. Take your time; find your stride. If certain questions dont seem to help, skip em for those that do. Youre not memorizing answers; youre reclaiming your heart. Dont force this work to fit into a neat, classroom experience.

UNDERSTAND ITS A BATTLE

Youre going to experience a lot of different emotions, and hear a lot of thoughts as you go through this. Things like, I dont have time to get to this right now or This may be for other guys, but not for me or Im just a poser. About 99 percent of that is from the Enemy. He fears what will happen if you take this journey. Fight those thoughts and emotions, and press on.

ON THE MOVIES I RECOMMEND

A Christian author is recommending R-rated movies??? How can that be?

First, I want to say that when I recommend a movie I am not endorsing its every scene. I do not enjoy violence myself, and I will often look away during the bloody scenes of Gladiator or Braveheart. And I always guard my heart by not indulging in scenes I find sexually inappropriate. However, I want to point out that the Bible has some pretty strong scenes in it as wellrape, dismemberment, murder, bloody battle, and more.

At the start of each chapter I recommend films that address crucial themes for men. As one man just wrote to me,