Joni: Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I’ve got [Hi, Joni, this is Ken] Ken in the studio. I’m so excited! Thanks for joining me today, Ken. For our friends listening I always love it whenever you come into the studio and sit down here. I see you brought something with you. It’s a book…
Ken: Well, I brought my journal.
Joni: Okay, it’s not a book… it’s the journal you write in?
Ken: The one I write in. You know I’m not a really good journaler but a friend of mine got me started on this and man, I’ll tell you it is the best.
Joni: Okay, what’s the big deal about journaling?
Ken: Well, I think sometimes we forget sometimes that we may be going through in a particular time in our life and to be able to reflect back by reading through a journal is huge. For example, last year right before you were diagnosed with cancer, I said I heard God say, “Spend more time with me.” I just finished reading John Eldredge’s book “Walking with God”. It hit me that what I lacked in my relationship with God was intimacy. John’s book is full of reference to intimacy and it finally hit me on page 164. I also realized that I am still cruising on the surface like a snorkeler who goes under the surface once in a while. I want the scuba gear to spend more time with God on a continual basis.
Joni: I love that metaphor, wow!
Ken: Yep! That’s the way I felt and so you capture the moment and I wrote it down and if I hadn’t I probably wouldn’t have remembered that.
Joni: Would you let me read your journal some time?
Ken: Sure! I have nothing to hide. This is all good stuff.
Joni: Okay, good. I’m glad it is. You know something else: I see that you collect sayings on 3 x 5 cards. I’ve seen these around the house; you put them here, there and everywhere… in the bathroom, in the kitchen…
Ken: I can’t take credit for that, Joni. A friend of mine is the one who got me started in keeping these cards around as reminders. And they are great, they are great to put in different places, carry around, even give out – I give out these cards to different guys.
Joni: Well, I see you have some 3 x 5 cards here with stuff written on it. What does one or two say?
Ken: Well, I like the Henri Nouwen quote: “Answers before questions does one’s soul great harm.” Pretty deep stuff!
Joni: Good advice! I’ve got one here on this 3 x 5 card you brought in. Another one from Henri Nouwen, it says, “The great illusion of leadership is to think that men can be lead out of the desert by someone who has never been there.” Boy, you’ve been in the desert, haven’t you?
Ken: Occasionally. You know these cards are good reminders of that. We use these cards with the guys for our summer time gathering with men and one of the ones that I like is from Wild at Heart, a book by John Eldredge. It says, “We don’t need a meeting of really nice guys, we need a gathering of really dangerous men. That’s what we need.”
Joni: I know when you are all together – you and men – you often talk about how life really is spiritual warfare. It’s getting up every morning, putting on the armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth and going out there with the sword of the spirit and the shield of faith and warding off attacks of the enemy. When you come home from these gatherings with your Bible study buddies, I hear you talking a lot about spiritual warfare, in fact here is another of these cards you handed me, Ken. It’s a quote by C.S. Lewis which says, “Enemy occupied territory; that is what this world is.”
Ken: How true and do you know something, Joni. I have learned of all the things we have studied there really is a spiritual battle going on.
Joni: Well, I’m glad you are on my front line.
Ken: A lot of guys don’t know that and so it is nice that we are reminded once in a while that this battle is going on. Don’t even think about going into battle alone; don’t even try to take the masculine journey without at least one man by your side.
Joni: And I think that would go for some women, too. Hey, Ken thanks for being here.
Ken: You’re welcome. Thank you, Joni.
Joni: I love ya much!
Ken: I love you, too.
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