In Philippians in chapter 4, Paul says the staggering statement that's paraphrased here by Richard Rohr.

Paul from a jail cell says,

Now that I've gone through my initiation, I am ready for anything, anywhere.

Friends, welcome to another edition of the Ransom Heart podcast.

This is Morgan Snyder, and it is mid-summer here in Colorado Springs,

and I have grabbed Alex Burton to jump in the studio.

Hey buddy, good buddy. Good morning. Thanks for jumping in.

Yeah, absolutely. Alex, we've talked a lot about this passage because we are peering into a window of a story of a journey that Paul took and models for us of what it's like to go through a process of initiation, a process where we move from the false man, the man who finds life, apart from God, to the true man, a man who's integrated in his soul, and even more he's united with

God.

So when Paul says, I'm ready for anything anywhere, he's not saying, living the successful life he's saying I know who I am and I can

live out of my true self in union with a God who provides infinite care and resources.

We've talked a lot about this process of initiation and specifically with our kids,

you know, we've got these young budding teenagers that are in the midst of their own

quest and their own initiation process.

And so this morning I just wanted to have a brief conversation kind of by way of introduction to say how's that going

where is that at in your family as you are shepherding your children through their process so that they by God's

grace can one day become people like Paul that can truly say I have gone through an initiation and now I am ready for anything anywhere.

Yeah. First morgue I think it'd actually be helpful to look at that passage before we talked

about the kids because it's it's wild. Paul's life

what led him to a place of being able to say I can face anything anywhere

because I've gone through my initiation.

Look at his initiation.

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