wild at heart

I recently began reading 

an amazing book
titled

Wild at Heart

by 

John Eldredge.

It is a Christian book

about boys and men

and their inherent desire

to be warriors.

Or more accurately,
it discusses
authentic masculinity
"defined in the image of a passionate God."

The book's description says all boys have:
 "big dreams,  dreams of being the hero, of beating the bad guys, of doing daring feats and rescuing the damsel in distress."

It is a wonderful book

and my only regret 

is that I didn't read it 10 years ago.

I think I would have had a better understanding

of my son

when he was more obviously

wild at heart.

I was so excited about the book,

I began to share what I had learned

 with my husband.

I felt that Lyons needed to 

conquer something

 (besides video games).

So with that encouragement,

John made reservations to go

White Water rafting.

We didn't tell Lyons 

because we knew he'd come up with: 

"100 Reasons Not to Go White Water Rafting."

In fact,
on the winding mountain roads of North Georgia,

as their destination became clear,

Lyons lamented that there were 

three things he didn't want to do that day

~ one of which was rafting.

It didn't help that it 

was the first chilly day 

of fall.

They entered the boat with
much trepidation.

The air was cold.
The water colder.
The rapids sinister.



However,
as you can clearly see,
he loved every minute!

My warrior,
my boy,

who conquered

the river.