April 18, 2025 • 44 mins
What happens when a successful businessman who views God as merely "a hedge against going to hell" suffers a massive heart attack that leaves him paralyzed with fear each night? Eric Bucher's powerful testimony of transformation takes us from that moment of crisis to an extraordinary spiritual awakening that changed everything.
After his heart attack, Eric found himself questioning life's purpose while driving to visit his critically ill father. Suddenly, he saw himself clearly—a "chrome polisher" presenting different versions of himself to different people while rusting from within. This moment of painful self-awareness led to a profound surrender on his knees, asking Jesus to either take his life or give him a new one.
What followed was nine days of what Eric calls "chaotic joy"—an overwhelming emotional and spiritual experience where he felt heaven touching earth. Most remarkably, despite being new to faith, Eric received what can only be described as a supernatural download of biblical understanding, allowing him to discuss theological concepts with a depth that astonished even his Bible-studying wife.
This transformation wasn't just internal. Eric immediately began putting James 1:22 into action—"Don't just be hearers of the word, go and do what it says." He founded multiple ministries, including reading scripture to elderly nursing home residents, prison outreach, and creating "Sons of Men," a father-son wilderness experience teaching intentional spiritual leadership.
Throughout his testimony, Eric emphasizes how authentic community with other men has been integral to his growth, providing spaces where he can be vulnerable about his failures without fear of judgment. His story powerfully illustrates how surrender, intentionality, and brotherhood create the foundation for lasting transformation from broken to whole.
We have BIG plans at Foxhole Symphony and sure could use your financial support. Would you prayerfully consider a small monthly contribution to support us in our mission to catalyze transformation in the hearts of men? Support Our Mission
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the
transformational value of men inauthentic community.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In our foxhole.
Men are equipped to buildrelationships that foster
belonging, accountability andgrowth.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in
isolation and instead join us onthe journey from broken to
whole.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello everyone.
They call me the maestro and weare back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening.
Iron.
Mark and Steve are in thefoxhole today with a special
guest and they are talkingchaotic joy.
Yes, that's what I said Chaoticjoy.
(00:51):
You know what time it is?
Get comfortable, open yournotes app and let's get this
symphony started.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast.
I'm Sargege here with my goodfriend, mark in the foxhole.
What's up, brother?
Hey, what's shaking?
Well, when you say shake, and Iimmediately think of uh, bacon
and the thick slab maple baconthat you make for, uh, for the
brothers in your house on a raresaturday morning black pepper,
(01:21):
maple bacon, oh man oh yeah,well, mark, when you said shaken
, I uh immediately thought aboutshaking bacon.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I helped, so that old , that old ad.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
My, my, there's a, there's a joke that goes with
that.
It sounds something like thisyou say what's shaken and you
say, um uh, two cheeks and acouple of chins.
You know that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
That's the feedback you often get.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
But let's stick with bacon, because I haven't eaten
yet today.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Oh man, forget it.
Well, let's dive in.
Our guests have already heard athird voice in the foxhole, so
I want to introduce our guestthis morning.
Eric Butcher is becoming a dearfriend and here in Palm Beach,
and you know he's, he's anincredible man of God.
We're going to get to hear hisstory and his ministry.
(02:13):
He's a he's a businessman, has acouple of thriving businesses
in the the tech space, and butyou know, you, you you kind of
wouldn't know it because youknow, when I met Eric and we had
lunch, you know he's like I'mgoing off to this, you know,
nursing home this afternoon andlike, oh, what do you, what do
(02:33):
you do there?
Well, I read scripture to theelderly and I'm like, what do
you, what do you mean?
Like you just show up and readscriptures like yep, and so
we're going to hear about that.
I mean it's just, it's justwild, uh, being with him and
seeing what God does in justabout every environment that he
walks into, and um.
(02:53):
So, eric, I won't go too muchdeeper, cause we're going to
learn all about you, but welcometo the Foxhole, brother.
We're so glad you're with us.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Thanks Sarge, thanks Mark, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Thanks, Sarge, Thanks Mark, I'm happy to be here.
So let's dive right in and tellour listeners just a little bit
more about you, your family.
I mean, you've got a wife andson and I want to hear just a
little bit about that.
And then we'd love to jumpright into your story of how you
(03:27):
kind of came to the Lord a yearand a half ago, because it's a
pretty amazing turn of events.
So why don't you tell us just alittle bit about you and what
you did a year and a half ago?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I've been married it'll be 14years this year to my wife,
yolanda, and we have a 10,almost 11-year-old son, xander,
who is training every day forthe NHL.
So we're supporting his dreamof peewee hockey.
(03:54):
And you know, I moved here in2006 from Lexington, kentucky, a
small town in the middle of thestate, and you know I did not
know the Lord when I came here.
And you know, actually I camehere to sober up.
(04:15):
I was really caught up in drugsand alcohol in a pretty big way
and I needed a lot of help toget out of that.
And one would think thatthrough that experience that I
would come to know the Lordthrough surrender, because
there's a lot of surrenderingwhen you are getting out of the
(04:37):
world of drugs and alcohol.
But it wouldn't be untilOctober 24th 2023 that I
actually came to know the Lord.
Up until that point, god for meand my belief in Him was a
hedge against going to hell.
(04:59):
Since a little child I hadalways been told if you don't
believe in God, you're going tohell.
I'm like well, that's easy.
I believe in God and that wasthe extent of my faith.
I did not live a moral life,even in sobriety, I fell flat on
my face and grabbed on toeverything the world had to
(05:22):
offer, whether it be toys,whether it be lavish vacations,
whatever it may have been I justconsumed.
I was a consumer of self and ofothers, really.
But fast forward to April of2023, I was standing right where
(05:45):
I'm standing right now in myoffice on a conference call and
I suffered a major heart attackat three o'clock in the
afternoon and ended up righthere on the floor and my
business partner came and pickedme up and took me to the
(06:05):
hospital, saved my life, and thewhole event was a 24-hour stay,
which is kind of mind-blowingto think that you can suffer
100% blockage and be out of thehospital 24 hours later.
But I left the hospital withthree things.
It was a stint, obviously, afear and a question.
(06:27):
The fear was going to sleep atnight.
I was afraid that I was goingto die in my sleep and that was
a terrible way to put your headon the pillow every night.
And the question was what's thepurpose of this life?
Up at that moment, it reallywas to make as much money as I
(06:48):
possibly could through thesebusinesses and I was like there
has to be more to life than that.
We fast forward through.
I took the summer off from workafter the heart attack and, uh,
took it easy.
We went RVing and went to allkinds of cool places throughout
(07:11):
the Midwest and came back towork.
And, uh, october rolls aroundand, um, I get a call on a
Sunday afternoon, finding outthat my dad's colon had exploded
.
He was in really bad shape, hewas septic, he was in ICU.
(07:32):
I cleared my schedule and I wasdriving to the airport to go
see him.
Driving to the airport to go seehim, and for the first time in
my life, I saw a reflection ofmyself that I didn't like.
(07:53):
I saw an image of myself as asa chrome polisher and I was just
polishing this chrome.
Polishing this chrome and to beable to present myself as
however I needed to be presentedin whatever situation I found
myself in.
Um, but the issue became that Iwas rusting the inside out.
(08:17):
Um, and uh, this polishcouldn't get rid of the rust
anymore and this is all justkind of happening in my mind and
I immediately call my wife andI'm just explaining this to her
and she's like what do you need?
(08:38):
And I, I just start bawling myeyes out, and I had a second
kind of vision in my mind ofmyself in a dark pit with chains
just wrapped around my neck andmy whole life I've been able to
navigate any situation that Ifound myself in, but this
(08:58):
happening with my dad.
He was my God and it was hisself-will that I, I learned, I
learned my will from his willand, um, I get you know, I clean
myself up and I get on theplane.
I get to kentucky, I walkthrough the room where he's at
(09:20):
an icu and I see him and I, Ibreak in half.
I literally my soul fractures.
Uh, because here's a man that'sbeen able to neatly control
everything, um, that's nowincapable of doing so.
Um, and I spent four days withhim in the hospital.
I pull out my laptop and I juststart writing about my life,
(09:47):
just getting all of this newemotion out of me that I've
never had before, and it ends upin faith and religion.
And I had none, really, butwhat little bit I had I just
started writing about anddeconstructed, and from there I
(10:09):
came away with Moses being theanswer, the commandments,
something I could get behindboxes, I could check, so fast
forward.
I get home and I share thisrevelation with my wife, who's
been a lifelong believer, andshe thinks I'm going to convert
to Islam, and I basically tellher Jesus isn't real, the New
Testament's not real, and Ican't support Jesus.
(10:32):
And this was on a Saturdaymorning and, as I said, my son
plays hockey, so we had to go tohockey practice.
On the way to hockey there's achurch that we pass every day by
our house and it has a sign outfront that they change randomly
and as it says, jesus, questionmark john 14, 6.
Now, of course, I don't knowwhat that verse was at the time.
(10:53):
Neither did my wife but my son,who goes to christian schools
in the back seat, and he's likeI am the way, I am the truth, I
the life.
Nobody gets to the fatherexcept by me, which was
literally the verse I wasquestioning.
That night we went to afriend's house.
I met some missionaries thereand they told me I would never
(11:17):
know Jesus until he revealedhimself to me.
Of course I had no idea whatthat meant.
Course I had no idea what thatmeant.
Um and uh I forgot to mention.
On the flight back fromkentucky to come home, I sat
next to a baptist preacher and Ihad a simple question.
Of course you did, I did.
(11:38):
I had a simple question for him.
What a coincidence it was like.
And he was busy.
He was busy so he was preparingfor a nonprofit speech.
He was like the keynote speaker, but I told him about the heart
attack, I told him about myquestion and I was like, hey,
what's the purpose of life?
We got 90 minutes, so maybe youcan help me out with that.
(12:00):
And he started laughing.
He's like that's the easiestquestion I've ever been asked.
And he said to glorify God ineverything that we do.
I had no idea what that meantin that moment, but fast forward
, missionaries tell me that I'llnever know Jesus till he
(12:22):
reveals himself to me.
Also didn't know what thatmeant.
And they were legitimatedisciples of Jesus Christ.
They live by faith to fulfillthe Great Commission and they've
done so for 30 years.
They travel the world.
They're not affiliated withanyone but Jesus.
So they're truly special,special people, the best.
(12:44):
I get home and I go to bed.
I wake up early Monday morning,I open the book, the Bible to
the book of John, and I read thewhole thing and for the first
time in my life, the Bible opensup and I understand that.
Wow, this is actually arelatable book.
(13:05):
It came to life.
I can't even really describe it.
I was transported into it and Igo to work and I get home, we
put our son to bed, I come intomy room and I get on my hands
and knees and I have aconversation with Jesus and I
(13:26):
ask him to take my life.
I can't go to sleep in fearanymore and if you want to take
me, I'm ready to go, I'm readyto die.
However, if you don't want totake me, me, I don't want my
(13:51):
life anymore, I want your life.
And uh, and I ended with himasking for him to reveal himself
to me.
And if anyone has never donethat, I encourage you, do so,
but be ready for what willhappen next, because he will
absolutely reveal himself to you.
I go to sleep and at 1.45 inthe morning I'll pop up out of
(14:13):
bed and I'm literally gigglinglike a little boy.
It wakes up my wife Yolanda.
She's asking me what's going onand I'm just surprised.
I'm like what do you mean?
What's going on?
Don't you see this?
Like we're going to be inheaven?
I'm going to heaven.
We're going to be in heaventogether, like I was just in
that moment the veil betweenheaven and earth, it was just
like, spread wide open for me.
(14:34):
And for nine days followingthat it was like when Moses came
down from the mountain and Ijust was radiating this light of
Christ.
And I could talk for hoursabout the things that happened
in that nine-day period, butI'll leave you with this.
For nine days I was in a stateof chaotic joy.
(14:58):
Every one of those chains Ispoke about broke.
I had never cried so much in mylife.
I had never been so elated.
It was a roller coaster ofemotions.
It all culminated the followingThursday with a massage of all
(15:18):
things.
It was my wife's birthday and Idedicate my day to her every
year for her birthday birthday,and I dedicate my day to her
every year for her birthday.
And we did all kinds of fun,things like going to the hair
salon for three hours and doingmani and pedis, and going to
lunch together, and finally afoot massage.
And this lady comes out, I laydown, she starts washing my feet
(15:40):
and, um, a heat just wells upin my chest, unlike anything
I've ever experienced, and thenI'll start sweating and then I
start freaking out because thislady's now washing my feet and
I'm covered in sweat.
And then all of a sudden itjust goes away and the chaotic
(16:02):
joy Became peace, and I walkedout of that foot massage place a
different human being and theyear and a half that has been my
life since that moment has notbeen my life at all.
It's been his life through me,and that's what led to the
(16:26):
father-son ministry and thenursing home ministry, the
prison ministries and, I believe, when I was reading the Bible
the only you know vision, if youwill, or prophecy, or whatever
you want to call it I've onlyhad one of those.
And I was falling asleep and wasin a translucent in-between
(16:47):
space of consciousness and sleepand I just see James 1.22
plastered on business cards allover this country.
I didn't even know what James1.22 was or if it was even a
verse.
I immediately pop up, open myBible to James 1.22.
(17:07):
And it says don't just behearers of the word, go and do
what it says.
And it goes on to say not doing.
That is like looking in themirror, forgetting what, walking
away and forgetting what youlook like.
And then in 1.27, it goes on tosay to be religious is to take
care of the widows and theorphans and that really hit me
(17:31):
which leads to the nursing homeministry.
They're orphans, they'reforgotten about, somewhat
discarded part of our societywho are seeking salvation.
Same thing with prisoners.
80% of men in prison have onething in common the lack of a
(17:54):
father in the home.
That goes to the father-sonministry.
Malachi 4.6, the very lastverse in the Old Testament, says
he will bring the hearts andthe minds of the fathers to the
children and the hearts and theminds of the children to the
father.
He will come and smite thisland.
(18:14):
Matthew opens up 42 generationsof fathers and sons.
This signifies the importanceof the father-son relationship.
Father God, son Jesusesuschrist, it's, it's biblical so,
but it all kind of goes back tojames 122.
(18:37):
Go and do so.
I've said a lot, so I'm gonnatake water yeah, man oh thank
you, brother, great thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Thank you, brother, great Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, so so good.
Um, so much there.
The main takeaway for me isthat churches need to keep
putting pithy uh sayings andverses on their phones no,
(19:06):
obviously.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
One word so many other takeaways, but how?
Cool.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
How cool that God, yeah, I mean puts this Baptist
preacher next to you on theplane.
And you know this.
I mean you know, sign out forit.
I mean all over, right, god wasjust pursuing you and you know
you sort of alluded to this.
But like the other piece thatI'll just add in here, like that
(19:33):
people may not realize, likegod, like god downloaded the
bible to you, like, as you canhear, mark and and listeners I
mean eric's just you knowquoting scripture, like like
crazy, I mean this is a year anda half ago and Eric, I had said
to him I was like how do youknow the scriptures so well?
(19:55):
Like I don't even understand,because I spent time with him
and I listened to him, like itis amazing and like not only is
he in the word and study it, butyou know, on one of those
evenings I don't know exactlywhich evening, but God just
downloaded the Bible to him andhe just do it.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
That night of my surrender, um, and that you know
, that's something that stillblows my wife's mind.
So my wife has studied theBible since 2016,.
Like, studied, studied, like,with the likes of, like, chuck
Miesler and other men like himuh, that are deep theologians
that you know, can, can, canspend hours on a single verse,
(20:38):
um, and we would sit up forhours.
I'm, I go to bed at eighto'clock and it gets eight, eight
, 30.
I'm in bed and by nine I'musually out.
We were staying up till twelveone o'clock in the morning and
she was just help me, help me,help me with questions about you
know what's the spiritualmeaning behind this and some of
(21:00):
these things I hadn't read yet,and she would just tell me a
parable or whatever, and I waslike, would just talk about that
.
It is a miracle, like I mean, Iread the Bible every day.
It's been over 500 days nowsince I have stayed in the word,
and that is our outlet.
(21:27):
It's our Holy Spirit batterycharger.
It is our outlet, it's our HolySpirit battery charger, it is
our sword, it's part of ourarmor to stay protected, and
every day I read it I findsomething new.
(21:48):
Just today, and I was in a rushthis morning I only had like
five minutes to read the Bible.
You know what I hit this versein Hebrews 12 and you know.
Go straight to my father's sonministry and let me pull it up
and I'll share with you what my,what the revelation was today,
(22:10):
and Hebrews 12, 11.
No discipline seems pleasant atthe time, but painful Later on.
However, it produces a harvestof righteousness and peace for
those who have been trained init.
Well, just last night I was in asituation with my own son where
I had to be the man ofdiscipline in the home and it
(22:33):
was hard and there's momentswhere I second guess myself am I
doing the right thing?
But it's a tough pill toswallow, discipline, especially
with our children.
But I needed to hear that versein the moment that I read it.
And that's the power of theword of God he shows up exactly
(22:57):
in the moment that you need himto, not on your timeline, on his
timeline, but it seems the morethat I say in the word of God,
the more he tends to show up inand around the world.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
If you don't mind me saying, pardon me, I think
you're called.
We are called to be asdemonstrative in our talk of
faith and discipline with ourkids as the world and social
media and Hollywood, etc.
The world and social media andHollywood, et cetera is in
(23:31):
yelling at our kids about thedarkness and not listening to
their parents and not worryingabout their faith and being
self-centered, et cetera, etcetera.
So here's a vote for whateveryou did.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Oh, mark, you're right and it really is.
And this is, you know, issomething I speak about often
because it's simple and it'seasy for our children to receive
the world, because the world isan inward flow of love.
You go to any bookstore.
(24:02):
They have a self-improvementsection.
Well, all of it is telling youhow to feel better about
yourself, self-empowerment, self, this, pick yourself up by the
bootstraps.
You got it.
Go get them all of thisself-empowerment culture and
(24:22):
then all of the things of thisworld that we have available to
us to feed that, to fillwhatever darkness that we have
inside of us, and our kids arewide open to receive it.
But the character and nature ofjesus christ is the antithesis
of that.
It is the outflowing, theoutpouring of love.
It is the greatest commandments.
(24:46):
Love thy god with all yourheart, mind and soul and love
thy neighbors.
You love yourself.
We already know that we loveourselves.
That's assumed.
Don't fill that.
Use that self-love and give itaway.
Amen, it's free.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, hey, sarge, you notice that little tidbit when
Eric was talking about James1.22.
So I know why you like him.
Now it wasn't hard to figureout why you two were
magnetically connected about thedon't just be here are the
words, but go and do it.
Yeah, see, you said do.
Eric and Sarge and I are suchdo oriented.
We're human doings, we're nothuman beings, so that that fits
(25:30):
really nicely with us.
Thank you, you can join theclub Welcome to the box.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, that was easy.
So, eric, here's, I have aquestion for you and I really
you know we talk a lot aboutthis, obviously, where you know,
the podcast is about thetransformational value of being
an authentic community.
You are like a doer, you're outthere, you're serving, you're
(25:56):
loving, you're going, you'redoing your promptings, your
obedience to the promptings ofthe Spirit.
I've witnessed and I've watchedand I participated in and it's,
it's, it's awesome.
Um, my question is you know, inthis last year and a half, what
, what role, if any, has youknow community played in?
(26:22):
You know, your growth?
Like you're, you're, you knowyou've clearly, like you know
you heard from God.
He pursued you, you're you're,you know you've, clearly, like
you know you heard from God, hepursued you, you're, you
surrendered.
You know holiness beginsbetween you know God and us as
individuals, god and our soul,and then you know the, the full
expression of holiness plays outin community.
(26:43):
So what does that look like foryou, you, you know, in the last
year and a half?
So, um.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Before christ I had one friend and he was awesome
because he would tell meeverything I wanted to hear, but
mostly it was about him, uh,but when I did have a need he
would be sure to tell me what Iwanted to hear.
After Christ, after gettingsaved, was really the first time
(27:23):
I became vulnerable in front ofother men.
I wasn't taught to do that withmy father and I was afraid of
fear and judgment.
With the friends oracquaintances that I've had
throughout my life.
I wasn't a popular kid, so Iwould always you know, hence the
(27:44):
chrome.
I would always polish that sono one could ever really see who
I was.
Um, but to have a friend oractually a brotherhood that, um,
I could go to and say I failedas a father, I am failing as a
(28:10):
husband, without any fear ofjudgment.
For them to come around me andspeak encouragement over me,
pray, pray into me, pray for me,pray over my family, it has
been integral to every aspect ofmy faith.
(28:32):
I'm surrounded daily by eithermen that I'm discipling or men
that are discipling me, and it'snot just one that there's like,
it's I don't know, it'scountless at this point, and it
(28:56):
reminds me.
This is so important toremember.
When we, when we start readingthe book of Acts, so much is
happening and like Jesus istranscending the heaven, all the
disciples are gathered around,they go up in the upper room,
like what's you know?
Right before they go up in theupper room, 10 days before that
jesus transcends to heaven, andhe's like, oh, by the way, guys,
(29:17):
hang tight, my father's gonnagive you a gift.
And and like what do they do?
They're like, okay, just putyourself in their shoes for a
minute, just see Jesus transcendto heaven.
He's like just, be cool, chillout, dad's going to give you a
gift.
Well, for 10 days, from thatmoment to the day of Pentecost,
(29:39):
they just hung out together, armin arm, side by side.
They didn't go off and do theirown thing, they didn't go into
their own little silos.
They stayed in brotherhood andunity and in that community and
it grew.
And then they went up to theupper room.
The Holy Spirit came down, ittouched them and it transformed
everything.
Had they not stuck together inthat brotherhood, everything,
(30:05):
had they not stuck together inthat brotherhood, we probably
wouldn't be here today talkingabout this, because I'm not sure
what would have happened tochristianity because it could
have been lost in that moment,and that is I.
I would go far, so far as tosay that family and community,
our immediate family and ourclose, close friend groups, all
(30:26):
of this community is the fabricthat holds society together.
Staten wants to rip that apartbecause it's a lot easier to
pick off one than it is to pickoff 12.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, yeah, it's awesome, thank you.
Thank you for sharing thatSorry.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
So one word answer integral.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's helpful.
So I want to make sure we havetime to, you know, touch on the
father and sons ministry,because I know how dear that is
to your heart and there's.
You know there's been a lot ofum work that's gone into that
and you know it's it's, it's umforming and shaping and I know
(31:15):
you do a lot of different thingswith you know, uh, with with
dads, but tell us a little bitabout that ministry and you know
, and, of course, how people canfind out more about it.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Uh, the ministry started out ofmy failures, um, you know, just
like my businesses started outof.
I think I can do that better.
That's how these companies, howI started these companies.
Well, as a father, after I gotsaved, that was my exact thought
.
I think I can do this betterthan I have been doing.
(31:50):
So I became intentional andthat's such a key word, being
intentional about every aspectof being a husband and being a
father, especially the father ofa boy.
And what became evident to meis for me to succeed, I would
(32:13):
have to become a son of Christ.
I did that.
I did it through humility andvulnerability and my son
witnessed that happen and hegoes to a local Christian school
here called the King's Academy.
And I approached theadministration and I was hungry
and thirsty and asked them doyou have a father-son
discipleship program that me andmy son can join?
(32:36):
And they said no, we don't.
And I asked if they would mindif I did some research and could
find something to bring to theschool.
I said go for it.
And I went home.
I did a bunch of research.
I couldn't find anything.
I woke up the next day at 3 amand I wrote a six-week
(32:57):
father-son discipleship programand just the framework of it and
built around the prodigal sonand flushed it out over the
following weeks and submitted itto the school and at the end of
the school year, administrationmet and agreed to roll this
program out.
(33:17):
Now, literally a miracle thatthis happened.
And, um, we ran the program inthe fall of 2024.
Uh, I partnered up with theelementary principal and we had
a total of about 50 fathers andsons joined the program and a
(33:38):
couple weeks in, um, my wife andI are sitting in the parking
lot of the school and she's likeyou know, this is a really cool
thing that you're doing.
You should probably think about, you know, packaging it up and
taking it to churches and takingit to other Christian schools.
I'm like, yeah, sounds like agreat idea.
And being that she's from amarketing background, she's like
, well, you need a name for this.
(33:59):
So here I am, she's comingrattling off names.
I'm on godaddy, everything'staken.
And she's like, oh, I got it, Igot it.
Sons of men like, oh, yes, thatis a really good name for this.
Godaddy says it's taken and Iget immediately indignant.
I'm like who has this domain?
(34:20):
This is my domain and I go tosonsofmencom and come to find
out an author owns it.
They wrote a book called Sons ofMen and it's about raising
biblical sons and becoming abiblical father.
It's not available on Amazon.
(34:42):
It's only available on amazon.
It's only available on sons ofmen.
And he has a comment section.
And I was like hey, I'm eric,we're on the same path.
Give me a call, I can't wait toread your book.
I get the book and I startreading it.
This is before we have ourconversation with, before I have
(35:04):
a conversation with the author.
And I start sweating.
Because here I am.
I'm like Mr Dad, right, I wrotethis program.
I'm rolling it out.
I'm like I got this fatherhoodthing figured out.
I'm reading this book.
I'm like thinking to myself, ohman, I've got a lot to learn.
Sanctification makes me visiblysweat.
(35:29):
So I'm like sweaty and I'm likeI, I gotta put this book down.
Like that's like I went, likeI'm in a little like neurotic in
my head.
I was like, oh man, I'm sowrong.
Anyway, I ended up speaking tothe author, brett Ernest.
We have a three hourconversation and I find out that
(35:53):
he's in Dahlonega, georgia,small town, georgia, up in the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
We have a home up in themountains of Georgia, about 40
minutes from where Brett lives.
We've been into Dahlonega,georgia, probably 20 plus times
(36:13):
in five years since we've ownedthe home.
Never I mean he couldn't evenhe could have been in Walla
Walla Washington.
Never, I mean he couldn't evenhe could have been in Walla
Walla Washington.
So I asked Brett if he's willingto come down and speak to the
school.
He says sure.
The school says yes, they hirehim.
He spends a week in SouthFlorida.
(36:34):
He wraps up our father-sondiscipleship program.
He does the closing week andends up speaking to a bunch of
parents and uh, we've becomesuper close and we're sitting at
dinner one night and I'm likeBrett, we have an opportunity to
(36:55):
raise men together.
Why don't we do a rite ofpassage?
And he agreed.
So that was right beforeThanksgiving, the week before
Thanksgiving last year.
And since then we've beenworking diligently on a
father-son rite of passage campfor seven to 13 year old boys
(37:19):
and their dads to go out intothe wilderness, just as Jesus
did, to get away from the worldand give dads an opportunity to
be intentional with their sons,to experience a little suffering
together, to learn new skillsand then come together with
(37:39):
those new skills and put theminto use to learn how to
navigate land, to build ashelter, to build a fire out of
nothing, to build a trap and asnare, just like a world.
I mean we fall into traps andsnares because of this world.
Why in Christ and learn how touse the word of God in our daily
(38:10):
lives as that sword to protectour children and our families
and be intentional about it andtake away some great skills and
lifetime memories Awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
And the first one's coming up in May.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
May 2nd, 3rd and 4th and uh, such as Georgia, which
is in the blue Ridge mountains.
You can go to sonsofmencom anduh, that's obviously you can buy
Brett's book there, uh, andthen at the top you can see,
you'll see a link for the rightof passage camp.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I'm looking at it right now.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Yeah, and I just encourage you to check it out.
This is something that has beenlost.
It's something that needs to bebrought back.
It's so easy to hand our kidsone of these phones, a video
game, tv.
It's hard to take our kids bythe hands and lead them outside
(39:14):
and do something as simple aspulling weeds out of your
backyard together, and I cantell you that 30 minutes of
intentionality on getting onyour hands and knees with your
son or daughter and pullingweeds will change their life and
your life.
That's simple, it costs nothingand it'll make your yard look
(39:41):
better them, and it'll make youryard look better.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Amen, amen.
It's just an incrediblecoincidence Also there's a phase
one of the same days that thefather-son group is.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's right.
Yeah, you know, there there isa phase one, Markman, for Christ
weekend in Pennsylvania.
That weekend there's, um, youknow, gosh, I mean there's
there's so much going on andthere's so much opportunity, and
so really, I mean there'sthere's no excuse for I don't
know where to go, or I don'tknow where to start, or, you
(40:16):
know, I don't know who to cut,Like we've been saying now for
90 episodes, um, hey, if youdon't know, reach out to us.
We'll give you a long list ofresources that are right in your
neck of the woods, in yourregion, and so incredible
opportunities.
And so I'd encourage people tocheck out Sons of Men,
sonsofmencom, and this was great.
(40:42):
I mean honestly, Mark.
Any final words?
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Well, just quickly, and uh, this was great.
I mean honestly, um, Mark, anyfinal words?
Well, just quickly, Eric, thankyou.
Um, I, I heard words, the wordsthat resonate with me the most,
because you've, at the end here, intentionality, of course, but
I heard heart.
I heard you're on your knees, Iheard sweat over and over, and
these are those that formulayour heart being down on your
(41:08):
knees in front of our God.
You know sweating, because it'sour natural physical reaction
to what the hell am I gettinginto, but I love it and those
words really resonate with meand that's what I'll take with
me from here.
Thank you for that, and I thinkthat the name of this episode,
Sarge, is chaotic joy.
I think I love that more thananything else I learned today.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Chaotic joy is beautiful, beautiful, eric.
Thank you, brother.
Thank you for being with us inthe foxhole, thanks for sharing
your heart with us, thanks forsharing your story and for all
that you do.
We're cheering you on, man.
We're cheering you on Press on.
Keep going.
I want to highlight I know howmuch time you spend abiding in
(41:56):
him.
You're not just a human doing,you really do practice being
with the Father as his son.
That's important to note.
Speaker 4 (42:07):
That's, I think, a good point for for me to close
on that that abiding becauseit's through our abiding in him,
he will dwell in us and that'show he shows up.
And that that is a dailyroutine.
And that looks routine.
And that looks like waking upevery day and surrender,
(42:29):
surrendering your will, dying tothat, dying to yourself,
renouncing the things of thisworld that are going to attract
you and pull you, that willcreate your anxieties and fears.
That's you know those two.
Surrender and renounce.
That'll create your anxietiesand fears.
That's you know those two.
Surrender and renounce.
That's emptying out.
Then you fill yourself with theWord of God, reading the Bible
(42:50):
every single day and thenlistening to Him to speak to you
and he will do that and thenbecoming obedient.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Amen Brother, thank you for being with us.
We appreciate you Absolutely.
Thank you, guys, peace.
Amen Brother, thank you forbeing with us.
We appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
Thank you guys, peace , peace.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
I shouldn't be amazed when I hear about God doing
incredible things.
He's God.
That's what he does.
Eric Butcher was spared fromdeath by God.
He was ministered to by God'speople.
He received scripture as if itwere a downloaded mp3 file and
(43:31):
now he regularly reads God'sword to the orphans and widows.
And he developed a retreat forfathers and sons to live out
their relationships with eachother in ways that glorify God.
Wow, the words that come tomind when I think through Eric's
story set apart redeemed,obedient, humble righteousness
(44:03):
and blessings in action.
Lord, please continue to usethis podcast to impact the lives
of all who listen.
I ask that you would bring hopeand healing to each and every
one of them.
Meet them right where they areand reveal yourself to them like
only you can do.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it
and invite others to theFoxhole.
You can find us wherever youdownload your favorite podcast.
Be sure to subscribe so youknow when new episodes drop, and
please rate us and commentthere too, as it'll help us get
found by others who couldbenefit.
Find, follow and like us onyour go-to social media networks
by searching Foxhole Symphonyor visit foxholesymphonycom to
make it super easy to find us.
Drop us a line with feedback,questions, topic requests.
(44:49):
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
Welcome to Foxhole Symphony, a podcast about the
transformational value of men inauthentic community.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
In our foxhole.
Men are equipped to buildrelationships that foster
belonging, accountability andgrowth.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Stop believing the lie that you can thrive in
isolation and instead join us onthe journey from broken to
whole.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Hello everyone.
They call me the maestro and weare back in the foxhole where
we actively pursue belonging,accountability and growth
through authentic relationships.
No masks, no agendas, just ironsharpening.
Iron.
Mark and Steve are in thefoxhole today with a special
guest and they are talkingchaotic joy.
Yes, that's what I said Chaoticjoy.
(00:51):
You know what time it is?
Get comfortable, open yournotes app and let's get this
symphony started.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Hey, welcome back to Foxhole Symphony Podcast.
I'm Sargege here with my goodfriend, mark in the foxhole.
What's up, brother?
Hey, what's shaking?
Well, when you say shake, and Iimmediately think of uh, bacon
and the thick slab maple baconthat you make for, uh, for the
brothers in your house on a raresaturday morning black pepper,
(01:21):
maple bacon, oh man oh yeah,well, mark, when you said shaken
, I uh immediately thought aboutshaking bacon.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I helped, so that old , that old ad.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
My, my, there's a, there's a joke that goes with
that.
It sounds something like thisyou say what's shaken and you
say, um uh, two cheeks and acouple of chins.
You know that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
That's the feedback you often get.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
But let's stick with bacon, because I haven't eaten
yet today.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Oh man, forget it.
Well, let's dive in.
Our guests have already heard athird voice in the foxhole, so
I want to introduce our guestthis morning.
Eric Butcher is becoming a dearfriend and here in Palm Beach,
and you know he's, he's anincredible man of God.
We're going to get to hear hisstory and his ministry.
(02:13):
He's a he's a businessman, has acouple of thriving businesses
in the the tech space, and butyou know, you, you you kind of
wouldn't know it because youknow, when I met Eric and we had
lunch, you know he's like I'mgoing off to this, you know,
nursing home this afternoon andlike, oh, what do you, what do
(02:33):
you do there?
Well, I read scripture to theelderly and I'm like, what do
you, what do you mean?
Like you just show up and readscriptures like yep, and so
we're going to hear about that.
I mean it's just, it's justwild, uh, being with him and
seeing what God does in justabout every environment that he
walks into, and um.
(02:53):
So, eric, I won't go too muchdeeper, cause we're going to
learn all about you, but welcometo the Foxhole, brother.
We're so glad you're with us.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Thanks Sarge, thanks Mark, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Thanks, Sarge, Thanks Mark, I'm happy to be here.
So let's dive right in and tellour listeners just a little bit
more about you, your family.
I mean, you've got a wife andson and I want to hear just a
little bit about that.
And then we'd love to jumpright into your story of how you
(03:27):
kind of came to the Lord a yearand a half ago, because it's a
pretty amazing turn of events.
So why don't you tell us just alittle bit about you and what
you did a year and a half ago?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I've been married it'll be 14years this year to my wife,
yolanda, and we have a 10,almost 11-year-old son, xander,
who is training every day forthe NHL.
So we're supporting his dreamof peewee hockey.
(03:54):
And you know, I moved here in2006 from Lexington, kentucky, a
small town in the middle of thestate, and you know I did not
know the Lord when I came here.
And you know, actually I camehere to sober up.
(04:15):
I was really caught up in drugsand alcohol in a pretty big way
and I needed a lot of help toget out of that.
And one would think thatthrough that experience that I
would come to know the Lordthrough surrender, because
there's a lot of surrenderingwhen you are getting out of the
(04:37):
world of drugs and alcohol.
But it wouldn't be untilOctober 24th 2023 that I
actually came to know the Lord.
Up until that point, god for meand my belief in Him was a
hedge against going to hell.
(04:59):
Since a little child I hadalways been told if you don't
believe in God, you're going tohell.
I'm like well, that's easy.
I believe in God and that wasthe extent of my faith.
I did not live a moral life,even in sobriety, I fell flat on
my face and grabbed on toeverything the world had to
(05:22):
offer, whether it be toys,whether it be lavish vacations,
whatever it may have been I justconsumed.
I was a consumer of self and ofothers, really.
But fast forward to April of2023, I was standing right where
(05:45):
I'm standing right now in myoffice on a conference call and
I suffered a major heart attackat three o'clock in the
afternoon and ended up righthere on the floor and my
business partner came and pickedme up and took me to the
(06:05):
hospital, saved my life, and thewhole event was a 24-hour stay,
which is kind of mind-blowingto think that you can suffer
100% blockage and be out of thehospital 24 hours later.
But I left the hospital withthree things.
It was a stint, obviously, afear and a question.
(06:27):
The fear was going to sleep atnight.
I was afraid that I was goingto die in my sleep and that was
a terrible way to put your headon the pillow every night.
And the question was what's thepurpose of this life?
Up at that moment, it reallywas to make as much money as I
(06:48):
possibly could through thesebusinesses and I was like there
has to be more to life than that.
We fast forward through.
I took the summer off from workafter the heart attack and, uh,
took it easy.
We went RVing and went to allkinds of cool places throughout
(07:11):
the Midwest and came back towork.
And, uh, october rolls aroundand, um, I get a call on a
Sunday afternoon, finding outthat my dad's colon had exploded
.
He was in really bad shape, hewas septic, he was in ICU.
(07:32):
I cleared my schedule and I wasdriving to the airport to go
see him.
Driving to the airport to go seehim, and for the first time in
my life, I saw a reflection ofmyself that I didn't like.
(07:53):
I saw an image of myself as asa chrome polisher and I was just
polishing this chrome.
Polishing this chrome and to beable to present myself as
however I needed to be presentedin whatever situation I found
myself in.
Um, but the issue became that Iwas rusting the inside out.
(08:17):
Um, and uh, this polishcouldn't get rid of the rust
anymore and this is all justkind of happening in my mind and
I immediately call my wife andI'm just explaining this to her
and she's like what do you need?
(08:38):
And I, I just start bawling myeyes out, and I had a second
kind of vision in my mind ofmyself in a dark pit with chains
just wrapped around my neck andmy whole life I've been able to
navigate any situation that Ifound myself in, but this
(08:58):
happening with my dad.
He was my God and it was hisself-will that I, I learned, I
learned my will from his willand, um, I get you know, I clean
myself up and I get on theplane.
I get to kentucky, I walkthrough the room where he's at
(09:20):
an icu and I see him and I, Ibreak in half.
I literally my soul fractures.
Uh, because here's a man that'sbeen able to neatly control
everything, um, that's nowincapable of doing so.
Um, and I spent four days withhim in the hospital.
I pull out my laptop and I juststart writing about my life,
(09:47):
just getting all of this newemotion out of me that I've
never had before, and it ends upin faith and religion.
And I had none, really, butwhat little bit I had I just
started writing about anddeconstructed, and from there I
(10:09):
came away with Moses being theanswer, the commandments,
something I could get behindboxes, I could check, so fast
forward.
I get home and I share thisrevelation with my wife, who's
been a lifelong believer, andshe thinks I'm going to convert
to Islam, and I basically tellher Jesus isn't real, the New
Testament's not real, and Ican't support Jesus.
(10:32):
And this was on a Saturdaymorning and, as I said, my son
plays hockey, so we had to go tohockey practice.
On the way to hockey there's achurch that we pass every day by
our house and it has a sign outfront that they change randomly
and as it says, jesus, questionmark john 14, 6.
Now, of course, I don't knowwhat that verse was at the time.
(10:53):
Neither did my wife but my son,who goes to christian schools
in the back seat, and he's likeI am the way, I am the truth, I
the life.
Nobody gets to the fatherexcept by me, which was
literally the verse I wasquestioning.
That night we went to afriend's house.
I met some missionaries thereand they told me I would never
(11:17):
know Jesus until he revealedhimself to me.
Of course I had no idea whatthat meant.
Course I had no idea what thatmeant.
Um and uh I forgot to mention.
On the flight back fromkentucky to come home, I sat
next to a baptist preacher and Ihad a simple question.
Of course you did, I did.
(11:38):
I had a simple question for him.
What a coincidence it was like.
And he was busy.
He was busy so he was preparingfor a nonprofit speech.
He was like the keynote speaker, but I told him about the heart
attack, I told him about myquestion and I was like, hey,
what's the purpose of life?
We got 90 minutes, so maybe youcan help me out with that.
(12:00):
And he started laughing.
He's like that's the easiestquestion I've ever been asked.
And he said to glorify God ineverything that we do.
I had no idea what that meantin that moment, but fast forward
, missionaries tell me that I'llnever know Jesus till he
(12:22):
reveals himself to me.
Also didn't know what thatmeant.
And they were legitimatedisciples of Jesus Christ.
They live by faith to fulfillthe Great Commission and they've
done so for 30 years.
They travel the world.
They're not affiliated withanyone but Jesus.
So they're truly special,special people, the best.
(12:44):
I get home and I go to bed.
I wake up early Monday morning,I open the book, the Bible to
the book of John, and I read thewhole thing and for the first
time in my life, the Bible opensup and I understand that.
Wow, this is actually arelatable book.
(13:05):
It came to life.
I can't even really describe it.
I was transported into it and Igo to work and I get home, we
put our son to bed, I come intomy room and I get on my hands
and knees and I have aconversation with Jesus and I
(13:26):
ask him to take my life.
I can't go to sleep in fearanymore and if you want to take
me, I'm ready to go, I'm readyto die.
However, if you don't want totake me, me, I don't want my
(13:51):
life anymore, I want your life.
And uh, and I ended with himasking for him to reveal himself
to me.
And if anyone has never donethat, I encourage you, do so,
but be ready for what willhappen next, because he will
absolutely reveal himself to you.
I go to sleep and at 1.45 inthe morning I'll pop up out of
(14:13):
bed and I'm literally gigglinglike a little boy.
It wakes up my wife Yolanda.
She's asking me what's going onand I'm just surprised.
I'm like what do you mean?
What's going on?
Don't you see this?
Like we're going to be inheaven?
I'm going to heaven.
We're going to be in heaventogether, like I was just in
that moment the veil betweenheaven and earth, it was just
like, spread wide open for me.
(14:34):
And for nine days followingthat it was like when Moses came
down from the mountain and Ijust was radiating this light of
Christ.
And I could talk for hoursabout the things that happened
in that nine-day period, butI'll leave you with this.
For nine days I was in a stateof chaotic joy.
(14:58):
Every one of those chains Ispoke about broke.
I had never cried so much in mylife.
I had never been so elated.
It was a roller coaster ofemotions.
It all culminated the followingThursday with a massage of all
(15:18):
things.
It was my wife's birthday and Idedicate my day to her every
year for her birthday birthday,and I dedicate my day to her
every year for her birthday.
And we did all kinds of fun,things like going to the hair
salon for three hours and doingmani and pedis, and going to
lunch together, and finally afoot massage.
And this lady comes out, I laydown, she starts washing my feet
(15:40):
and, um, a heat just wells upin my chest, unlike anything
I've ever experienced, and thenI'll start sweating and then I
start freaking out because thislady's now washing my feet and
I'm covered in sweat.
And then all of a sudden itjust goes away and the chaotic
(16:02):
joy Became peace, and I walkedout of that foot massage place a
different human being and theyear and a half that has been my
life since that moment has notbeen my life at all.
It's been his life through me,and that's what led to the
(16:26):
father-son ministry and thenursing home ministry, the
prison ministries and, I believe, when I was reading the Bible
the only you know vision, if youwill, or prophecy, or whatever
you want to call it I've onlyhad one of those.
And I was falling asleep and wasin a translucent in-between
(16:47):
space of consciousness and sleepand I just see James 1.22
plastered on business cards allover this country.
I didn't even know what James1.22 was or if it was even a
verse.
I immediately pop up, open myBible to James 1.22.
(17:07):
And it says don't just behearers of the word, go and do
what it says.
And it goes on to say not doing.
That is like looking in themirror, forgetting what, walking
away and forgetting what youlook like.
And then in 1.27, it goes on tosay to be religious is to take
care of the widows and theorphans and that really hit me
(17:31):
which leads to the nursing homeministry.
They're orphans, they'reforgotten about, somewhat
discarded part of our societywho are seeking salvation.
Same thing with prisoners.
80% of men in prison have onething in common the lack of a
(17:54):
father in the home.
That goes to the father-sonministry.
Malachi 4.6, the very lastverse in the Old Testament, says
he will bring the hearts andthe minds of the fathers to the
children and the hearts and theminds of the children to the
father.
He will come and smite thisland.
(18:14):
Matthew opens up 42 generationsof fathers and sons.
This signifies the importanceof the father-son relationship.
Father God, son Jesusesuschrist, it's, it's biblical so,
but it all kind of goes back tojames 122.
(18:37):
Go and do so.
I've said a lot, so I'm gonnatake water yeah, man oh thank
you, brother, great thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Thank you, brother, great Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, so so good.
Um, so much there.
The main takeaway for me isthat churches need to keep
putting pithy uh sayings andverses on their phones no,
(19:06):
obviously.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
One word so many other takeaways, but how?
Cool.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
How cool that God, yeah, I mean puts this Baptist
preacher next to you on theplane.
And you know this.
I mean you know, sign out forit.
I mean all over, right, god wasjust pursuing you and you know
you sort of alluded to this.
But like the other piece thatI'll just add in here, like that
(19:33):
people may not realize, likegod, like god downloaded the
bible to you, like, as you canhear, mark and and listeners I
mean eric's just you knowquoting scripture, like like
crazy, I mean this is a year anda half ago and Eric, I had said
to him I was like how do youknow the scriptures so well?
(19:55):
Like I don't even understand,because I spent time with him
and I listened to him, like itis amazing and like not only is
he in the word and study it, butyou know, on one of those
evenings I don't know exactlywhich evening, but God just
downloaded the Bible to him andhe just do it.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
That night of my surrender, um, and that you know
, that's something that stillblows my wife's mind.
So my wife has studied theBible since 2016,.
Like, studied, studied, like,with the likes of, like, chuck
Miesler and other men like himuh, that are deep theologians
that you know, can, can, canspend hours on a single verse,
(20:38):
um, and we would sit up forhours.
I'm, I go to bed at eighto'clock and it gets eight, eight
, 30.
I'm in bed and by nine I'musually out.
We were staying up till twelveone o'clock in the morning and
she was just help me, help me,help me with questions about you
know what's the spiritualmeaning behind this and some of
(21:00):
these things I hadn't read yet,and she would just tell me a
parable or whatever, and I waslike, would just talk about that
.
It is a miracle, like I mean, Iread the Bible every day.
It's been over 500 days nowsince I have stayed in the word,
and that is our outlet.
(21:27):
It's our Holy Spirit batterycharger.
It is our outlet, it's our HolySpirit battery charger, it is
our sword, it's part of ourarmor to stay protected, and
every day I read it I findsomething new.
(21:48):
Just today, and I was in a rushthis morning I only had like
five minutes to read the Bible.
You know what I hit this versein Hebrews 12 and you know.
Go straight to my father's sonministry and let me pull it up
and I'll share with you what my,what the revelation was today,
(22:10):
and Hebrews 12, 11.
No discipline seems pleasant atthe time, but painful Later on.
However, it produces a harvestof righteousness and peace for
those who have been trained init.
Well, just last night I was in asituation with my own son where
I had to be the man ofdiscipline in the home and it
(22:33):
was hard and there's momentswhere I second guess myself am I
doing the right thing?
But it's a tough pill toswallow, discipline, especially
with our children.
But I needed to hear that versein the moment that I read it.
And that's the power of theword of God he shows up exactly
(22:57):
in the moment that you need himto, not on your timeline, on his
timeline, but it seems the morethat I say in the word of God,
the more he tends to show up inand around the world.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
If you don't mind me saying, pardon me, I think
you're called.
We are called to be asdemonstrative in our talk of
faith and discipline with ourkids as the world and social
media and Hollywood, etc.
The world and social media andHollywood, et cetera is in
(23:31):
yelling at our kids about thedarkness and not listening to
their parents and not worryingabout their faith and being
self-centered, et cetera, etcetera.
So here's a vote for whateveryou did.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Oh, mark, you're right and it really is.
And this is, you know, issomething I speak about often
because it's simple and it'seasy for our children to receive
the world, because the world isan inward flow of love.
You go to any bookstore.
(24:02):
They have a self-improvementsection.
Well, all of it is telling youhow to feel better about
yourself, self-empowerment, self, this, pick yourself up by the
bootstraps.
You got it.
Go get them all of thisself-empowerment culture and
(24:22):
then all of the things of thisworld that we have available to
us to feed that, to fillwhatever darkness that we have
inside of us, and our kids arewide open to receive it.
But the character and nature ofjesus christ is the antithesis
of that.
It is the outflowing, theoutpouring of love.
It is the greatest commandments.
(24:46):
Love thy god with all yourheart, mind and soul and love
thy neighbors.
You love yourself.
We already know that we loveourselves.
That's assumed.
Don't fill that.
Use that self-love and give itaway.
Amen, it's free.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, hey, sarge, you notice that little tidbit when
Eric was talking about James1.22.
So I know why you like him.
Now it wasn't hard to figureout why you two were
magnetically connected about thedon't just be here are the
words, but go and do it.
Yeah, see, you said do.
Eric and Sarge and I are suchdo oriented.
We're human doings, we're nothuman beings, so that that fits
(25:30):
really nicely with us.
Thank you, you can join theclub Welcome to the box.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, that was easy.
So, eric, here's, I have aquestion for you and I really
you know we talk a lot aboutthis, obviously, where you know,
the podcast is about thetransformational value of being
an authentic community.
You are like a doer, you're outthere, you're serving, you're
(25:56):
loving, you're going, you'redoing your promptings, your
obedience to the promptings ofthe Spirit.
I've witnessed and I've watchedand I participated in and it's,
it's, it's awesome.
Um, my question is you know, inthis last year and a half, what
, what role, if any, has youknow community played in?
(26:22):
You know, your growth?
Like you're, you're, you knowyou've clearly, like you know
you heard from God.
He pursued you, you're you're,you know you've, clearly, like
you know you heard from God, hepursued you, you're, you
surrendered.
You know holiness beginsbetween you know God and us as
individuals, god and our soul,and then you know the, the full
expression of holiness plays outin community.
(26:43):
So what does that look like foryou, you, you know, in the last
year and a half?
So, um.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Before christ I had one friend and he was awesome
because he would tell meeverything I wanted to hear, but
mostly it was about him, uh,but when I did have a need he
would be sure to tell me what Iwanted to hear.
After Christ, after gettingsaved, was really the first time
(27:23):
I became vulnerable in front ofother men.
I wasn't taught to do that withmy father and I was afraid of
fear and judgment.
With the friends oracquaintances that I've had
throughout my life.
I wasn't a popular kid, so Iwould always you know, hence the
(27:44):
chrome.
I would always polish that sono one could ever really see who
I was.
Um, but to have a friend oractually a brotherhood that, um,
I could go to and say I failedas a father, I am failing as a
(28:10):
husband, without any fear ofjudgment.
For them to come around me andspeak encouragement over me,
pray, pray into me, pray for me,pray over my family, it has
been integral to every aspect ofmy faith.
(28:32):
I'm surrounded daily by eithermen that I'm discipling or men
that are discipling me, and it'snot just one that there's like,
it's I don't know, it'scountless at this point, and it
(28:56):
reminds me.
This is so important toremember.
When we, when we start readingthe book of Acts, so much is
happening and like Jesus istranscending the heaven, all the
disciples are gathered around,they go up in the upper room,
like what's you know?
Right before they go up in theupper room, 10 days before that
jesus transcends to heaven, andhe's like, oh, by the way, guys,
(29:17):
hang tight, my father's gonnagive you a gift.
And and like what do they do?
They're like, okay, just putyourself in their shoes for a
minute, just see Jesus transcendto heaven.
He's like just, be cool, chillout, dad's going to give you a
gift.
Well, for 10 days, from thatmoment to the day of Pentecost,
(29:39):
they just hung out together, armin arm, side by side.
They didn't go off and do theirown thing, they didn't go into
their own little silos.
They stayed in brotherhood andunity and in that community and
it grew.
And then they went up to theupper room.
The Holy Spirit came down, ittouched them and it transformed
everything.
Had they not stuck together inthat brotherhood, everything,
(30:05):
had they not stuck together inthat brotherhood, we probably
wouldn't be here today talkingabout this, because I'm not sure
what would have happened tochristianity because it could
have been lost in that moment,and that is I.
I would go far, so far as tosay that family and community,
our immediate family and ourclose, close friend groups, all
(30:26):
of this community is the fabricthat holds society together.
Staten wants to rip that apartbecause it's a lot easier to
pick off one than it is to pickoff 12.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yeah, yeah, it's awesome, thank you.
Thank you for sharing thatSorry.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
So one word answer integral.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yeah, yeah, it's helpful.
So I want to make sure we havetime to, you know, touch on the
father and sons ministry,because I know how dear that is
to your heart and there's.
You know there's been a lot ofum work that's gone into that
and you know it's it's, it's umforming and shaping and I know
(31:15):
you do a lot of different thingswith you know, uh, with with
dads, but tell us a little bitabout that ministry and you know
, and, of course, how people canfind out more about it.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Uh, the ministry started out ofmy failures, um, you know, just
like my businesses started outof.
I think I can do that better.
That's how these companies, howI started these companies.
Well, as a father, after I gotsaved, that was my exact thought
.
I think I can do this betterthan I have been doing.
(31:50):
So I became intentional andthat's such a key word, being
intentional about every aspectof being a husband and being a
father, especially the father ofa boy.
And what became evident to meis for me to succeed, I would
(32:13):
have to become a son of Christ.
I did that.
I did it through humility andvulnerability and my son
witnessed that happen and hegoes to a local Christian school
here called the King's Academy.
And I approached theadministration and I was hungry
and thirsty and asked them doyou have a father-son
discipleship program that me andmy son can join?
(32:36):
And they said no, we don't.
And I asked if they would mindif I did some research and could
find something to bring to theschool.
I said go for it.
And I went home.
I did a bunch of research.
I couldn't find anything.
I woke up the next day at 3 amand I wrote a six-week
(32:57):
father-son discipleship programand just the framework of it and
built around the prodigal sonand flushed it out over the
following weeks and submitted itto the school and at the end of
the school year, administrationmet and agreed to roll this
program out.
(33:17):
Now, literally a miracle thatthis happened.
And, um, we ran the program inthe fall of 2024.
Uh, I partnered up with theelementary principal and we had
a total of about 50 fathers andsons joined the program and a
(33:38):
couple weeks in, um, my wife andI are sitting in the parking
lot of the school and she's likeyou know, this is a really cool
thing that you're doing.
You should probably think about, you know, packaging it up and
taking it to churches and takingit to other Christian schools.
I'm like, yeah, sounds like agreat idea.
And being that she's from amarketing background, she's like
, well, you need a name for this.
(33:59):
So here I am, she's comingrattling off names.
I'm on godaddy, everything'staken.
And she's like, oh, I got it, Igot it.
Sons of men like, oh, yes, thatis a really good name for this.
Godaddy says it's taken and Iget immediately indignant.
I'm like who has this domain?
(34:20):
This is my domain and I go tosonsofmencom and come to find
out an author owns it.
They wrote a book called Sons ofMen and it's about raising
biblical sons and becoming abiblical father.
It's not available on Amazon.
(34:42):
It's only available on amazon.
It's only available on sons ofmen.
And he has a comment section.
And I was like hey, I'm eric,we're on the same path.
Give me a call, I can't wait toread your book.
I get the book and I startreading it.
This is before we have ourconversation with, before I have
(35:04):
a conversation with the author.
And I start sweating.
Because here I am.
I'm like Mr Dad, right, I wrotethis program.
I'm rolling it out.
I'm like I got this fatherhoodthing figured out.
I'm reading this book.
I'm like thinking to myself, ohman, I've got a lot to learn.
Sanctification makes me visiblysweat.
(35:29):
So I'm like sweaty and I'm likeI, I gotta put this book down.
Like that's like I went, likeI'm in a little like neurotic in
my head.
I was like, oh man, I'm sowrong.
Anyway, I ended up speaking tothe author, brett Ernest.
We have a three hourconversation and I find out that
(35:53):
he's in Dahlonega, georgia,small town, georgia, up in the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
We have a home up in themountains of Georgia, about 40
minutes from where Brett lives.
We've been into Dahlonega,georgia, probably 20 plus times
(36:13):
in five years since we've ownedthe home.
Never I mean he couldn't evenhe could have been in Walla
Walla Washington.
Never, I mean he couldn't evenhe could have been in Walla
Walla Washington.
So I asked Brett if he's willingto come down and speak to the
school.
He says sure.
The school says yes, they hirehim.
He spends a week in SouthFlorida.
(36:34):
He wraps up our father-sondiscipleship program.
He does the closing week andends up speaking to a bunch of
parents and uh, we've becomesuper close and we're sitting at
dinner one night and I'm likeBrett, we have an opportunity to
(36:55):
raise men together.
Why don't we do a rite ofpassage?
And he agreed.
So that was right beforeThanksgiving, the week before
Thanksgiving last year.
And since then we've beenworking diligently on a
father-son rite of passage campfor seven to 13 year old boys
(37:19):
and their dads to go out intothe wilderness, just as Jesus
did, to get away from the worldand give dads an opportunity to
be intentional with their sons,to experience a little suffering
together, to learn new skillsand then come together with
(37:39):
those new skills and put theminto use to learn how to
navigate land, to build ashelter, to build a fire out of
nothing, to build a trap and asnare, just like a world.
I mean we fall into traps andsnares because of this world.
Why in Christ and learn how touse the word of God in our daily
(38:10):
lives as that sword to protectour children and our families
and be intentional about it andtake away some great skills and
lifetime memories Awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
And the first one's coming up in May.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
May 2nd, 3rd and 4th and uh, such as Georgia, which
is in the blue Ridge mountains.
You can go to sonsofmencom anduh, that's obviously you can buy
Brett's book there, uh, andthen at the top you can see,
you'll see a link for the rightof passage camp.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
I'm looking at it right now.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
Yeah, and I just encourage you to check it out.
This is something that has beenlost.
It's something that needs to bebrought back.
It's so easy to hand our kidsone of these phones, a video
game, tv.
It's hard to take our kids bythe hands and lead them outside
(39:14):
and do something as simple aspulling weeds out of your
backyard together, and I cantell you that 30 minutes of
intentionality on getting onyour hands and knees with your
son or daughter and pullingweeds will change their life and
your life.
That's simple, it costs nothingand it'll make your yard look
(39:41):
better them, and it'll make youryard look better.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Amen, amen.
It's just an incrediblecoincidence Also there's a phase
one of the same days that thefather-son group is.
Speaker 2 (39:55):
That's right.
Yeah, you know, there there isa phase one, Markman, for Christ
weekend in Pennsylvania.
That weekend there's, um, youknow, gosh, I mean there's
there's so much going on andthere's so much opportunity, and
so really, I mean there'sthere's no excuse for I don't
know where to go, or I don'tknow where to start, or, you
(40:16):
know, I don't know who to cut,Like we've been saying now for
90 episodes, um, hey, if youdon't know, reach out to us.
We'll give you a long list ofresources that are right in your
neck of the woods, in yourregion, and so incredible
opportunities.
And so I'd encourage people tocheck out Sons of Men,
sonsofmencom, and this was great.
(40:42):
I mean honestly, Mark.
Any final words?
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Well, just quickly, and uh, this was great.
I mean honestly, um, Mark, anyfinal words?
Well, just quickly, Eric, thankyou.
Um, I, I heard words, the wordsthat resonate with me the most,
because you've, at the end here, intentionality, of course, but
I heard heart.
I heard you're on your knees, Iheard sweat over and over, and
these are those that formulayour heart being down on your
(41:08):
knees in front of our God.
You know sweating, because it'sour natural physical reaction
to what the hell am I gettinginto, but I love it and those
words really resonate with meand that's what I'll take with
me from here.
Thank you for that, and I thinkthat the name of this episode,
Sarge, is chaotic joy.
I think I love that more thananything else I learned today.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Chaotic joy is beautiful, beautiful, eric.
Thank you, brother.
Thank you for being with us inthe foxhole, thanks for sharing
your heart with us, thanks forsharing your story and for all
that you do.
We're cheering you on, man.
We're cheering you on Press on.
Keep going.
I want to highlight I know howmuch time you spend abiding in
(41:56):
him.
You're not just a human doing,you really do practice being
with the Father as his son.
That's important to note.
Speaker 4 (42:07):
That's, I think, a good point for for me to close
on that that abiding becauseit's through our abiding in him,
he will dwell in us and that'show he shows up.
And that that is a dailyroutine.
And that looks routine.
And that looks like waking upevery day and surrender,
(42:29):
surrendering your will, dying tothat, dying to yourself,
renouncing the things of thisworld that are going to attract
you and pull you, that willcreate your anxieties and fears.
That's you know those two.
Surrender and renounce.
That'll create your anxietiesand fears.
That's you know those two.
Surrender and renounce.
That's emptying out.
Then you fill yourself with theWord of God, reading the Bible
(42:50):
every single day and thenlistening to Him to speak to you
and he will do that and thenbecoming obedient.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
Amen Brother, thank you for being with us.
We appreciate you Absolutely.
Thank you, guys, peace.
Amen Brother, thank you forbeing with us.
We appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
Thank you guys, peace , peace.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
I shouldn't be amazed when I hear about God doing
incredible things.
He's God.
That's what he does.
Eric Butcher was spared fromdeath by God.
He was ministered to by God'speople.
He received scripture as if itwere a downloaded mp3 file and
(43:31):
now he regularly reads God'sword to the orphans and widows.
And he developed a retreat forfathers and sons to live out
their relationships with eachother in ways that glorify God.
Wow, the words that come tomind when I think through Eric's
story set apart redeemed,obedient, humble righteousness
(44:03):
and blessings in action.
Lord, please continue to usethis podcast to impact the lives
of all who listen.
I ask that you would bring hopeand healing to each and every
one of them.
Meet them right where they areand reveal yourself to them like
only you can do.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it
and invite others to theFoxhole.
You can find us wherever youdownload your favorite podcast.
Be sure to subscribe so youknow when new episodes drop, and
please rate us and commentthere too, as it'll help us get
found by others who couldbenefit.
Find, follow and like us onyour go-to social media networks
by searching Foxhole Symphonyor visit foxholesymphonycom to
make it super easy to find us.
Drop us a line with feedback,questions, topic requests.
(44:49):
Who knows, maybe you'll be aguest on a future episode.
In the meantime, prepare tomove, embrace discomfort and
just be you.
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