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langcode: en
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entity_id: '1635'
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data:
  books:
    - 'The Heart of a Warrior'
    - 'Waking the Dead'
    - 'The Screwtape Letters'
    - 'Hearing God'
    - 'Bondage Breaker'
    - 'Victory over the Darkness'
    - 'Wild At Heart'
    - '​​Fathered By God'
    - 'Mere Christianity'
  birth_day: '5'
  birth_month: November
  birth_year: '1957'
  call: '8-9 most mornings, some evenings, Wednesdays morning or afternoon. '
  discover: 'Small Group'
  email: Smittyforz@aol.com
  experience: 'I have read Heart of a Warrior and attended the recent Encounter weekend. Love both the book and the Encounter weekend. I want to continue this journey. '
  family: 'I have been married to my wife Jerri for 44 years. We have 2 children- son Jordan age 35 and daughter Brianna age 34. We have 1 granddaughter Ava age 15. '
  first_name: Greg
  heard: 'The most frequent way this happens is I follow up with a phone call, a text, a visit as God places them on my heart. I frequently hear comments “can’s believe the timing of your call I need someone to talk with”.  I ask for wisdom, insight, guidance for talking with people. God says ask them about this or that thing in their life. I try to follow that rather than try to figure out how to help in my own best thoughts. '
  last_name: Smith
  listening: 'No real training.  I was successful in my sales career as I was good at listening to my customers rather than always trying to sell them something. With the men I talk with I found it very helpful to just listen to their story rather than make it about me or what I think they should do. That said, this would be something I need more help withh'
  mobile_phone: '3173852620'
  reference_email: greg@mercyroad.cc
  reference_first_name: Greg
  reference_last_name: Strand
  reference_phone: '+1 (317) 258-9935'
  story: 'Lots of times over the nearly 50 years I have been seeking after Jesus. Everyone I get to spend time with just opens up and asks questions and we talk about the spiritual journey with Jesus.  I usually don’t have to bring it up. It happens naturally as we get to know each other.  After the recent Encounter weekend, that next week I shared what Jesus was doing inside my heart with 4 other guys and all 4 had tears in their eyes. '
  terms: 'I have been an avid reader of Eldredge’s books for the past 15 years or so. Just started this week with a fresh group of men going through the Fathered By God resource - this is the 5th time facilitating for me. I am growing to identify in my own life and help others to do the same in theirs to discover their wounds, understand the effect on their lives and the vows/agreement made that have been based on untruths about themselves and God.  This is the pathway to freedom allowing us to become what God had in mind for us. '
  testimony: 'Age 17 I finally surrendered to Jesus and it radically redirected my life. Being raised in a church I knew a lot about Jesus but really had not connected at a heart level. '
  warfare: 'I do see we are in the midst of a war. The powers of darkness have already lost me when Jesus came into my heart and are now bent on keeping bogged down any way they can. Overcommitment, negative self message of not being good enough, wanting to prove myself, etc..  I am learning to interpret whose voice am I listening to, my wounded self, powers of darkness, or the voice of God. Pretty easy to determine if something is coming from the heart of God and if it’s consistent with His nature and character.   I pray prayers both silently and verbally commanding powers of darkness to be bound and cast out. I ask for Jesus and his warring angels to stand guard over me. I ask for further insight from the Holy Spirit. '
  why: 'I have been involved in ministering to men for quite some time. I attended the recent Zoweh Heart of a Warrior encounter and found my heart touched and find many pieces coming together in an integrated way. I think it’s what you call being oriented. I want to continue this journey both for myself but also to enhance working with others. '
  wound: |+
    Alright, let’s dig in. At the recent Encounter weekend I picked up deeply the message don’t treat the symptom but travel upstream to the headwaters where the wounds began. I was already aware of the wound from my father related to his inability to enter into the world of my heart. He was a good man, a strong believer but uncomfortable with talking about things from the heart. We did the experience of writing a letter to our younger self which was powerful for me. I think I got to the headwaters and also am aware there are some tributaries I need to explore as well. 

    I reflected back asking Jesus to show me the headwaters and here is what happened. The wounds from my dad got sharper in focus and I also saw a wound from my mother .  I didn’t think I had any from her.  Here is what I saw. 

    When I was preschool age I had some seizures and the doctors told my parents they thought I had leukemia. Imagine the terror in a mother’s heart. My wound from her is more of the hover mother. Add to this a recollection of a moment in the hospital where the doctor and a team of interns gathered around standing me up on a table in my underwear to examine my legs. It started a message in me something is wrong with me. Indeed I do have something wrong physically which was not leukemia but rather a vitamin d deficiency causing me to have bowed legs - a physical deformity that my classmates in school teased me about. I learned to laugh with them while dying inside. 

    Throughout my life my dad was absent. He didn’t go to the doctor appointments, didn’t talk about the wounds in my heart, didn’t talk about sex, didn’t talk about his struggles. I have no memory of him saying “I am proud of you.”  I was 64 when my dad who was suffering from Alzheimer’s and couldn’t even put a sentence together some how had a moment of clarity and put a sentence together and said, “Greg, I want you to know how proud I am of you.”  I seizures already on the path of healing but what a memory I will cherish. 

    I was left like so many men trying to figure things out on their own. No one to coach, no one to pick you up when you failed, no one to help interpret accurately what you are experiencing. I had the image of a father who excelled in all he did - high school class president, star of the basketball team. Excellent student, awarded engineer in his career, strong believer active in church, HOA presidents. That’s my dad’s image I felt compelled toward as that is what a man is….or so I believed. 

    So I became the good boy, excelled at nearly everything I did through hard work, how to get people to like me, intellectually stay ahead of others, achieve at work.  Excellent in my faith.  Become the man others admired. Achieve, achieve, achieve to feel good about me.