“Out of every one-hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior and he will bring the others back.” -Heraclitus
Proverbs 27:17 is often quoted to inspire brotherhood and invigorate men to fight the spiritual battle. We men love the proverb but may only understand it as a metaphor to encourage each other in our spiritual fight. Understand, brothers, that it also has a physical and practical dimension. Men fight intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and physical battles. Men fight other men. Good men may be called to fight bad men. Ever been punched in the face or grabbed by the throat? If you have not, you may yet. That moment is not the time to discover, for the first time, that physical combatives should be a complimentary part of a man’s routine. Just scroll the news a bit – everyday someone is assaulted, often women – in the street or in a shop. Are you ready to intervene? Lots of men can’t.
So, let’s do some training together, and in training let us mine the other gift in the proverb--brotherhood. Anthony Easolen wrote, "the man you wrestle with IS your brother." His words resonate with our experience: combatives training with Christian men builds the bonds of brotherhood and energizes our spiritual readiness. We need each other to stay dangerous, for we "wrestle...against the rulers of the darkness of this world."
