Go Beyond

God is undeniably up to something among the men of Kingsland. This past Thursday more than 300 men gathered at Kingsland for an evening of inspiration and encouragement. The theme of the night was “Brotherhood.” Brad Flurry, USMC Retired and Director of Operations at Kingsland, talked to our men about the importance of brotherhood in the Marine corps. Brad drove home the importance of brotherhood by reminding us of two key things: Alone is Dangerous and You Are Not Unbreakable. “Every man needs another man,” Brad emphasized, “to cover his 6” — military-speak for his back or blind side.
I had the opportunity to share a few words about my new Band of Fathers core group. Our objective as a band of fathers is to grow in our relationship with our Heavenly Father and our sons through shared study, shared mission, and shared adventure. We believe that all three of these elements are important if we are to succeed in building strong relationships with our sons and in helping our sons to become godly men who will one day lead their families well.
This morning, we had our very first Band of Fathers shared mission initiative at The Manna House in Brookshire. Although rain was in the forecast, every one of our men was determined to serve in spite of the weather. So, we met at Manna House this morning to replace the irrigation system in the garden, to install irrigation to the fruit trees we planted during Caring for Katy, to install new flooring and shelving in their laundry room, and to clean out rain gutters. We did all of this under gray skies. The rain held off until we loaded the last tool into our Go Beyond van.
Watching fathers and sons work shoulder-to-shoulder was inspiring. I enjoyed listening to the laughter and conversations between older sons and younger sons and watching as older sons mentored the younger boys on how to do a job well. Bottom line is that every father and son who was present this morning worked hard and enjoyed themselves. We accomplished a lot in just a few short hours but, more importantly, we took an important step in strengthening the bonds between us as fathers and sons.

After we completed our work, we gathered with the residents of Manna House to listen as two of the men shared with us about their personal journeys. Powerful. One young man told us that he became just like his dad — a drug addict. “My dad,” he said, “showed me how to roll weed and encouraged me to smoke it.” He told us about his dark journey to the bottom. Another told us how moved he was to see fathers and sons working together, a privilege he had lost with is own boys because of his addiction. Both men repeated a strong warning to the sons in the room about the dangers of drug use and encouraged us to build strong father/son bonds. Extremely powerful words.
We ended our morning by going out to lunch with the men of Manna House. Sharing a meal with our band of fathers and sons was a blast. I sat next to one of the newest residents at Manna House — a guy who was homeless only a month ago but who is determined to get his life together. What a privilege it was to hear his story and to have the opportunity to speak encouraging words to him. I know we are going to become good friends over the coming months.

I am thankful for my Band of Fathers — men who are committed to leading their sons well. As our time together came to an end the guys all said the same thing: We must do this again! And, indeed we will because as a Band of Fathers we are committed to growing in our relationship with our Heavenly Father and our sons through shared study, shared mission, and shared adventure.