I feel it on all sides

I feel pressure to conform on all sides of me. The world has always been good at silencing men and women who have lived a life void of passion. I fear losing passion. When I lose passion, I lose my voice- my influence. I see so many people in the church today (men especially) who live fear-filled lives. They have neglected true passion. Too many men today are raising their boys to become just like them- spineless. Where do I receive enough passion to carry me through this life when the world just wants to silence me and make me like them? I am learning that the cross is the only place where true strength and passion resides.

Jesus faced fear. He felt more pressure on him (coming from all directions) than anyone could ever imagine feeling.

Christ did not endure the fear in the Garden, the fear of the whip, and the pain of Golgotha to make me a spineless fear-filled man. It's the passion that carried Jesus to the cross that I want to empower me. 

That's the same passion that filled many who have shook the foundations of history. 

- The martyrdom of the saints from Stephen to today's persecuted church. 

- Paul and Silas singing in the prison yards.

- The long quiet walk with Harriet Tubman along the underground railroad. 

- Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat. 

- The young missionary facing the end of the spear.

- The man who kicks down the door of the brothel to rescue the girl huddled on the dirty floor. That's passion. I want to live like that. 

I want to be a part of a group of men in our church that are sick of just trying to survive what the Enemy throws at us every day. I want to be one of many who feel great angst and get TICKED off when injustice is rewarded- when the lowering of the bar is expected- when women are treated as objects and no one seems to care- when our teenagers are giving up their purity and their innocence because they've never been taught how to channel their passion- when there are so few who mourn over the loss of innocence in our kids or the apathy in the pews on Sunday mornings. I want a "kick-down-that-door" faith. And I cannot find it anywhere other than on that hill over 2000 years ago when passion changed everything. Everything.