Boys to Men

I used to be terrified of all-men's retreats. Now I can hardly wait for the next one.

As one of six women on our team in a room of over one-hundred young men in grade ten, it's not too unreasonable to feel intimidated. Normally I lead small groups of girls only, and this time I would be in charge of my first-ever small group of nine young men.

I got along with the men fine, actually. It was easier than I thought to find common ground, and they were very interested in my life and my interests. Of course, the time came for us women to leave, as they were going to have the men-only session. The women on our team went up and prayed a Divine Mercy chaplet for them in the church, and then the men joined us for prayer ministry.

It was a completely different set of people walking in. I had no idea what the change was, but what had only two hours before been a rambunctious school group had transformed into a group of visibly more reverent, mature young men. As I approached each of the guys in my small group to ask to pray with them, they all told me beautiful things that they had learned:

"Faith is the most important thing."

"I can and should trust God more."

"I can pray to God for strength and support."

I sat down next to the one young man in my small group who had been the most searching, and he looked me in the eyes and said, "I learned that it's time I was a man, because I have been childish, and I should be a man now."

Whoa.

There's a quote in the Bible which says, "As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens man" (Proverbs 27:17). The men on this team are called to be that for the young men they encounter this year: ones who sharpen and refine each other into weapons for the army of God. I have experienced that firsthand, with what was originally an intimidating group of boys becoming a powerful, inspired group of men, brothers in arms and brothers in Christ. And that is an undeniable force to be reckoned with.

Peace,

Samantha (Encounter 2)