Christ and the Wild Man
Dave,
I'm salivating right now... so excited to dialogue with you about this one. You raised some great points and questions. I bolded them above.
Please don't think that my proposed answers (to follow) are encompassing or final. They are just my thoughts from where I sit now.
I think the Wild Man Jarod is a mixture of the same blood that flows through the total Jarod. It has the disposition toward vileness and the potential for greatness. Enter: CHRIST. Christiological heirarchy is the main issue to me. If a man, the whole man (including the Wild Man) has given his allegiance to Christ, then he is in proper alignment. He has a standard. A vision. This puts the Wild Man in his proper place. It allows him to be ferocious and free at many times when society would say "sit down." It allows him to screw the system when the system is wrong. He has a deeper confidence in his placement with his King. And I believe the King allows some wildness. I'm my most wild when I'm conversing (or battling) with my King. (Some call this prayer. My prayer has a combative sense to it sometimes :) It's often a struggle of wills. And I, in courage and with honor, sacrifice my will on the altar of obedience. Slit my own throat. that's gorey. That's manly. With purpose.
That's the kind of wild man I want to be. BY others, I want to be seen as someone who has a deep understanding in and with Christ. If that's true, everything else is secondary. (((I'm thinking our round-table conversation of "Honor" has something to do with this. Living for something huge and eternal. Having confidence to kill or die for it. Being strong, starting from inside...))). But I want to be seen by God as someone who is totally on His side. Otherwise I'm just throwing a temper tantrum.
We need to discover our "Wild Outlets." and use them. -without harming others.-
We need to find our core issues and settle them with Christ.
We need to then move forward in confidence.
I am recently dealing with this kind of stuff relating to girls...
But oh, let's save that for the next dinner....
Am I good enough?
It is the question that keeps many men from rising to be what they were intended to be. The answer can be paralyzing in its scope.