What do you see when you look outside your window? Do you see green grass? Colorful trees? Neighbors cutting their grass or carrying in their groceries? Do you see chainlink fences? Cracked, littered sidewalks? Drug deals, broken windows, and stolen cars? What do you see?
What about when you look inside yourself? Do you see a loved, accepted, broken yet beautiful person? Or do you see death? Do you see a person chained by expectations, fears, and mistakes?
What you see is a part of your story; a story utterly unique to you, yet inexplicably intertwined with the stories of those around you. It is this shared story, this shared world which we all live in that gives voice to our deepest expressions. It is this mosaic of experience which draws us together into this dance of community. It is this mosaic, this beautiful marriage of uniqueness and commonality which I experienced at the Siafu Men’s Retreat.
This wonderful amalgamation of incredibly diverse backgrounds, personalities, and experiences which made the retreat so unique. All pretense is crushed when two men of widely different backgrounds embrace in tears. All prejudiced opinions towards a man of a different story are demolished when you hear him cry out for forgiveness, cry out for acceptance, cry out for love. You see, one truth the Retreat showed quickly and undeniably was we are all longing for the same home. Whether we come from the prison, the street, the drug house, the orphanage, the suburbs, or the mansion we all long for a world where we are accepted and have a purpose. We all long to love and be loved. We all long for a world of color. The Retreat showed me this truth in a way which cannot be dismantled by my skepticism.
I arrived at the retreat in a rented van with five other men, only one of whom I knew ahead of time. By the time we were driving back to St. Louis two days later I felt as if each one of these men were my brother, and each one I had known for time unmeasured. We bonded, along with men we met at the Retreat, we bonded and formed a family.
It was with these men I re-dedicated myself to Christ that first night. It was with these men I processed, and continue to process, what it means to take ownership of my faith. It is with these men I seek to grab hold of the Bible as our weapon against the workings of evil. It is with these men I stand, arm in arm, against the dogs of Hell which fight to claim rights to the gears of our hearts.
We heard Dr. Don Davis challenge us to grab hold of what we’ve been given and to reject the lies of him who would have us enslaved. We were given a message; a message which challenged and encouraged, exhorted and praised. A message which said, “Do not leave here unequipped. Take hold of your faith. Adorn yourself with the armor of God and fight the demons in your own backyard. Seek to mentor one weaker than you, and seek to be mentored by one stronger than you.”
It was this message that grabbed hold of me. This message which took root in my heart and commands me to not lose sight of the battle we all face. To not be disheartened by the arrows of banality and death which the Devil would have us succumb to.
It is this message that we, the community of faith, the Body of Christ, must live out. It is for this reason that we, the band of brothers formed from Siafu, continue to connect. We study the Word together, pray for one another, and seek each other’s well being through confrontation and comfort. We stand together, arm-in-arm, reminding ourselves of this truth: no matter where we come from, no matter what story we have, we are Sons of God.