Building character body, soul, & spirit.
Refining Trail
Lying in my tent, I’m looking through the mesh at stars flickering between the forest branches. After hiking twenty miles on the rocky trail, my body is spent. Yet my mind refuses to rest. Every sense is on full alert, especially hearing. My military years guarding prison camps in Siberia trained my ears to catch the faintest sounds and avert grave danger.
The train chugs along the seemingly endless Trans-Siberian Railroad,* every one of the 54 berths in our wagon occupied. It reeks of sweaty feet, cheap alcohol, and Ramen noodles. The stifling heat and din of humanity keep sending me to the far end of the train for some semblance of fresh air. Everything in me wants out…back to where we came from 15 hours ago.
We’d been traversing frozen Lake Baikal** covering 600 kilometers (373 mi.) in 24 days. Beneath us lay 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, 336 rivers and streams flowing in, and the one great Angara flowing out. Every morning we’d crawled out of our tents, harnessed ourselves to a sled loaded with a month’s worth of provisions, and pushed northward. Surrounded by vast expanses of ice and snow and with massive mountains stretching along the entire western shore, we faced bitter winds, snowstorms, pack ice, exhaustion, cracks wide enough to swallow sleds and men… and ourselves.
We stand atop a hard-pack snowdrift on the shore of the deepest lake in the world. Nestled within Siberia’s mountains, Lake Baikal is a mile deep and contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. The sun peeks over the mountains behind 
us, illuminating a vast expanse of snow and ice. We silently contemplate the task before us.
Bob breaks the somber moment with a nervous laugh, “What do you think, can we do it?”
“Let’s unpack the gear,” I answer, and we head to the car at the edge of the forest. Grabbing skis and heaving backpacks onto our shoulders, we step out on the ice. “That’s our compass.” I point to the dark peak sticking out of the distant morning haze. “Tonight, we should be at the foot of that mountain.”
Pasha, the youngest and strongest, asks, ”Any idea of the distance?”
“Not exactly. I estimate around 35 km.”
Bob’s moving warily over the ice. “How thick is this?”
“Local fishermen say it’s more than a meter. Look over there. See that car moving? Fishermen are checking their nets.”
“Huge trucks drive across this lake,” Pasha assures him. We head into the white yonder.
After a while, Bob asks, “Tell me again, why are we doing this?”
A forge transforms nondescript iron into something useful through the process of refining fire. Аs the blacksmith selects a scrap of rusty metal, he envisions its potential. He lays it under red-hot coals until it glows, then takes it to the anvil and hammers that moldable piece into a valuable, definitive tool. No longer just rusting, it becomes an integral part of something greater.
Many men like to be seen as strong, hard, and tough and are proud of it. But raw strength can be dangerous or lay dormant if not tempered physically, mentally, and spiritually. We need to periodically go through the refiner’s fire and be hammered on the anvil of God.
Being male is a matter of birth. Being a real man is a matter of choice.
But who is this male in us? What is the essence of manhood? Do we understand him and why he is as he is? Are we satisfied with what we see? Are others satisfied with what they see in us?
Too often we have information but lack transformation.
That’s where the Forge makes it possible for men like you to get the support and know-how to gather a group of like-minded men that you will lead from information to transformation.
Today, more than ever, our world needs men worthy of their calling – men clear about their identity and responsibilities, unafraid to roll up their sleeves and face the challenges of life. When a man is clear about who he is, he’s clear about where he’s going. This kind of man lives purposefully in his family, at his workplace, in his church and community. Knowing his identity, role, and direction, he’s confident to step up and live out his God-given potential.
“Character = the ability to meet the demands of reality.” Dr. Henry Cloud