Sweat and Blood. Part 1 of a few

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." Sir Winston Churchill

We have had a few adventures now. Mostly in the wilderness on our backpacking trip, but have since taken the mountain bikes out, and what I find is the common theme of all of it is sweat, and especially blood.

The first aid kit has been already unwrapped, and used.

I found myself on the mountain bike ride yesterday shouting, "I want you to bleed." And then asking, that is quite an odd statement to make. Sure, William Wallace rallying his troops in war, so I am left to ponder... why did I say this? And why might I say it again? And even odder, why did the young men seem to respond so well?

This comes while entering the world of questions that potential parents are asking about our program. Mostly from moms. We have had many requests for more information. Good questions, and honorable ones. And for the most part, they have come at the hands of moms, and their concerns. Can you blame them? This is not something that is tested out, and fully understood.

But what I want to share in the most honest, and good way, and convey to them is, "we want your son to bleed."

Ok, so, I need to explain myself, and I hope to in some way in a few blogs to come.

I will not attempt to argue this right now, but offer more fuel for this conversation.

This has come as today, as part of the chalice ministry of our church. I was offering the cup to our congregation during communion for the body at our church, and saying to each member as they came, "this is the blood of Jesus, shed for you."

The theme keeps rising, blood. And blood. But what does the blood of Jesus really mean? And can we understand the metaphor, unless we have fully experienced it? We need to be reminded of the blood of Jesus, and as men, I believe our own. Especially to understand His.

It came up in conversation from our small group tonight.

One of the quotes for our time, "when you bleed, you feel that you are alive."

One of the young men a few nights back climbed some cliffs, and on his way down, had cuts and scrapes from his hands to his legs, as we called him to hurry down, so that he would not be late to meet Sister Therese, his comment was, "have the bandages ready...and waiting on me when I arrive" And then he called back and said... "and the camera."

The fascination... blood. Their own blood. And for this one young man, it was as one of the guys intepreted the experience, "your first taste of being bloodied."

Their own blood. And I cannot help to see there is something much deeper in it. And as one young man said, "this bleeding... it is good."

I have a lot of explaining to do, I know.