You are probably thinking…”The Strange Him!!”, what a stupid name. Well if you take a deep dive and take a good look around you, a true MAN is truly a strange creature, at least in most western civilizatons. Men have lost themselves. Men were designed to be the warrior, protector, and provider. If you you are one of these MEN, you are assuredly a man of conviction, courage, and strength as this is the foundation of a true man. Stay strange my friend and The Strange HIM!! thanks you for your support!

The Forge

Bravery is not courage but there is no courage without bravery. The two are basically the same but there are simple nuansces that seperate them. Bravery requires a lack of fear and a strong confidence. The brave man will do whatever must be done with no regard of fear and will continue pushing forward with the highest level of confidence that the end result will be accomplished. There are no exceptions! Courage is knowing there is a potential danger and risk but will, in spite of all circumstances, resign himself to be unwavering until the goal is met. You see, the brave man knows no fear, yet the courageous man knows fear but will still act even in the face of fear. The Merriam-Webster definition of courage is as follows: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. According to this defintion, most everyone has a certain amount of courage because everyone faces danger, fear, and difficulties. If we all have courgage why are some more courageous than other? Winston Churchill hit the nail on the head when he said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." That last little part is what seperates men of courage from MEN of courage. MEN who became known for their courage always perservered and never let fear stand in their way.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, courage was always on display. It was never about the now, but always about the mission, the mission of civil rights through non-violent protest. He was beat up, slandered, and denegrated yet he always remained calm and never lost sight of the objective. Prison would not sway him. The bombing of his house did not deter him. The violence and threats on his life and the life of his family never changed his desire to see the course through. Dr. King was always fully aware of the danger and calmities that were in front of him but his courage was always on display.

An example of bravery and courageousness colliding was at Thermopylae, Greece. You have probably seen the movie “300”. In the movie, there were 300 men of Sparta that faced the Persian army of Xerxes who boasted 1,000,000 men. This was not exactly factualy, but the premise of the movie was correct. The Perisan army led by Xerxes I is estimated to have been anywhere from 70,000 men to 300,000 men while the defending Spartan force was around 7,000 men strong. The story goes on that the small Spartan force held there postion in a gap at Thermopylae for 2 days against what was at that time the largest force in the world. The Spartans were utlimately defeated when they were betrayed by one of their own, but this stance in the face of certain destruction has become a tale of legend. To know any history at all of the Spartans, you would know that the Spartan culture, government, and life was centered around warring and battle. Spartan boys would start at a very young age being taught the ways of a warrior. A life dedicated to nothing but war could do nothing but breed bravado, yet knowing that the odds were stacked against them the tune of, at least, 1 to 1,000 and know without a doubt you will die, also declared the courgage of the Greeks at Thermopylae.

In one word, 94-year-old Navy veteran Vernon Lingle described his experience at D-Day. 

"Hell," he said. "Because that's what it was." 

The scene from above is probably how courage should be described as a picture. It has been told that as the transport carriers that took these soldiers from ship to shore were reaching the beach, bullets could be heard hitting the front of the vessel . Could you imagine the shear courage one would have to possess to take off running towards that barrage of fire. You know there is a huge risk of death on the otherside of that door, yet as you see in the picture, the young men of “The Greatest Generation” knew just as FDR stated in the quote from above, “something else is more important than fear” and added to that, death. If that scene was from today, would there still be as many as there were back in 1944, willing to die for freedom?

The Maxim

What are the things that MEN face that would invite courage? In today’s world, the essence of courage, is one of the things that makes a MAN strange. It takes courage to stand up to the ways of society. It takes courage to do the right thing at work. It takes courage to stand up and be the whistle blower. How many times have you seen on the news in the past few years, whistle blowers being taken to court, mostly by the government. I takes courage to face this kind of persercution.

A MAN needs to be filled with courage, even at home. You may have a wife that loves to spend money but you have 2 credit cards that are maxed out. You know what you need to do but you dont want to face your wife and the backlash associated with destroying those credit cards. Or one of your kids thinks they have found the love of their life and they are only 13 years old. They want to go to the movies on a “date”. It takes courage to face the wrath of that 13 year old for a few days.

You are probably thinking I wouldnt call that courage. Think back to the dicitionary definition…mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. In these situations you might not be facing machine gun fire as you run onto a beach, but you are still requiring a mental and moral strength in a time of difficulty.

The Breach

How can we as MEN become more courageous? What can we do to become more courageous? Lets take a look at a just a few of the things that might help us break out and be more courageous as MEN.

1. Easier said than done…Do not be afraid. We need not look any farther than Joshua in the Bible. It could be inferred that Joshua had an issue with fear. Joshua was a veteran of manly battles, yet in the Word we read of God repeatedly telling Joshua, “Do not be afraid”. To overcome our fears, we must face our fears. Remember fear is not a bad thing. Fear is a signal to us that we should be cautious of something we have encountered, but this does not necessarily mean we should avoid whatever it is.

2. Practice leaving your box…your comfort zone. Press yourself to take small steps before taking bigger steps. Some have trouble stepping out of their box. Sometimes because one doesnt know what their box is? This may be a place we dive into in an upcoming newsletter. If you dont know your box, their is no way you can think outside of it, much less get out of your box at all. One will never grow if they stay in the same place and that is your box.

3. Create confidence in yourself. Do things for your personal self that in turn will create confidence. Take the following examples. These are not the only way, but might be a good place to start. Get yourself in better shape physically and you will subconciously frame yourself in a better place mentally. Go back a few newsletters and look where we talked about doing hard things. Do some hard things and succeed…your confidence will rise and carry your courageousness with it. It has been said that jui-jitsu is a great confidence builder. Learning jui-jitsu can give you the confidence of knowing you are probably the baddest dude in the room. If you walk in someplace and you feel like you are the baddest guy there, do you think your courage would follow?

4. Mind your associations. I am sure you have heard the phrase “You are the average of the people you spend the most time with”? This is a quote by Jim Rohn, motivational speaker and self-help guru. I am not sure this is exactly true, but there is truth in that your associations are a pretty good definition of who you are. If you associate mostly with folks who are very passive and take on more of a doer role than a leadership role, the odds are you fall into the doer group. Do not take this as you need to kick all of your friends and aquaintences to the curb, but if you know you need something esle in your life, i.e. courage, seek out those associations. That could ultimately be your first step to finding courage as it takes courage to step outside of our group of friends and make new aquaintences. It is just like stepping out of your box.

5. Accountability. Accountability is one of the most underrated tools for growth we have for ourselves. Everyone has heard of the famous 12-step process for Alcoholics Anonymous. The process is a part of something bigger though. Why do you think AA takes place in a group setting instead of one-on-one interactions? Because the group creates accountability for the memembers. Become part of a mens bible group, a workout group like the cult we here at The Strange Him!! are a part of. Any kind of association, that is more than a social club, will inevitably become an accountability group. Use that accountability group to help grow your courage muscles.

Be The Courage Someone Else Might Need.

This section is for those MEN who are naturally gifted with courgage. When we find ourselves in situations where there are men with little courage and fear seems to overwhelm them, stand up and be an anchor for them, if the situation allows. Lets take the following example: We show up for our 10 o’clcok meeting being held in a team-type setting. You know your colleague that will be presenting is more of a passive man. Great guy, but has a tremendously hard time dealing with some of the stronger personalities in the organization. Minutes into the meeting and there are conversations all over the room, another colleague is trying to make his place at the front of the room and the stronger attitudes are all but shutting down the original presenter. Be courageous for this man. Use your courage to stave the growing disruption in the room. Although not directly mentoring him you could be a light for him to follow. Use your courage to help others. Dont keep it bottled up.

Odyssey

The challenge this week is to involve yourself in a group. Step out and make finding MEN to hold you accountable a priority. The easiest of these groups to become a part of quickly are health groups or a mens bible study/devotional group. This isn not just signing up to go to a gym or going to sunday school. This is a group you can become ingrained with. You have the time. You may have to become more efficient with your time but you have time. The cult we at “The Strange Him!!” are a part of, meet at 5:25 am. The point of meeting that early is to cut down on the excuse of “I dont have time during the day”. Not much else is going on at 5:25 in the morning. If it is important to you, you can find the time.

The Quench

At this time, I cannot get polls to show up here, hopefully soon that will change. for now this will have to be a self accountability for the previous weeks Odyssey.

In a forge, “the quench” is where a piece of steel either becomes stronger or becomes a piece of junk steel.

Be true to yourself. Did you spend 15 mintues each day reading a book? This wasnt just to get you to read, this was to get you to commit to yourself to doing a small thing. Yes reading is good for us but we as MEN need to learn how to be committed. If we cannot commit ourselves to small things how can we ever be counted on to be commited to the big things?

A few links to pages with tips on building courage. You may not agree with all things these sites may say but I thought they were good reads and discount what you will and build upon what resonates with you.

The following are going to be a few places that have a national presence where you can instantly become involved in a group.

The cult we at “The Strange Him!!” are a part of.

https://f3nation.com/

F3 Nation - Fitness | Fellowship | Faith ®

F3 is a national network of free, peer-led workouts for men. Our mission is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

https://www.goruck.com/

GORUCK | The Rucking Company | Rucksacks, Footwear, & Apparel

GORUCK builds the best, toughest rucking gear to equip the rucking revolution — we force multiply through training, Events, and GORUCK Clubs that empower real world communities in service to something greater than themselves.

https://mkpusa.org/about-mkp-usa/

About MKP-USA - ManKind Project USA

WHO WE ARE FollowFollow We are a passionate and purpose-driven brotherhood building and supporting the emotionally mature, accountable, and compassionate male role models that our communities so desperately need. 501(c)(3) Nonprofit. Part of a Network of Nonprofits in 14 Global Regions Non-Religious - Men of all faiths and no faith are welcome. The

There are numerous local mens groups around then nation. If you dont know of any locally, ask a friend. Someone will know.