David Comeau: wild at heart

This semester I read the book “wild at heart” by John Eldridge. This is an extremely popular book among Christian young men. Eldridge makes an interesting point in the opening chapter about the creation of Adam. He reminds the reader that God made Eve inside the garden, but Adam he created outside of the Garden. It is important to realize this distinction between the two. I think that by seeing the state of man today we can determine that God did this for a reason. It does not ever seem as though man is truly at home in today’s western culture. He says that “the core of a mans heart is undomesticated and that is good.” He talks about how men are meant to fight, be warriors and that we should not be contained in an office building. I definitely see truth to that in my own life. When I sit in class and see pictures and hear stories of the Appalachian trail and other beautiful wilderness spots and hear about all Dr Redicks adventures I go crazy. I sit in class freaking out that I am contained by four walls and I feel trapped. Whether or not I am meant to live in the wilderness or not I know that I am not meant to be indoors at a desk my whole life. I think what the wilderness offers man that is so beneficial and necessary for him is adventure. Although I agree and believe that an occasional trip to the wilderness is healthy and most likely necessary for many men, and I love and need the occasional hike in the woods or beach on a starry night, I get the same fix that some men get from the wilderness when I am in the inner city. The wilderness in biblical times was a place God isolated his people and made them struggle and therefore rely on him. This is the same thing god does for me in the inner city. I have been called to inner city ministry to the poor and when I am there I feel the same sense of struggle and am brought to humility the same way the Israelites were in the Old Testament. The inner city for me gives me a sense of purpose and adventure that many men find when they retreat to the wilderness. I also struggle with the thought that living in the wilderness, at least from a Christian is selfish. I believe that sometimes God does call us to retreat to the wilderness and be amongst his beautiful natural creation but that by living isolated with God in the wilderness we are missing his calling to spread the Gospel. Christianity is not all about just retreating with God alone in the wilderness, we are called to action.