“I’m good!” The words easily rolled off my tongue — my standard response to any inquiry on my well-being. I didn’t say “Okay,” as I knew that would generate another question that I wasn’t prepared to answer. I wasn’t good — I wasn’t even okay. I had just found out that a senior Marine officer had initiated steps that would essentially finish my career. At that moment, I felt like I had been blindsided and gut-punched all at once. My wife, Lynne, was calm and collected. She urged me to call a friend, a fellow Christian living in Belgium with whom we had just spent several days. As he answered the phone, it was evident that he knew something was wrong.

John was very patient in drawing me out and getting me to unload this burden that was crushing my spirit. He made several recommendations, and then we prayed together before hanging up. A brother far away had refreshed my soul. He cared enough to spend time with me. I’ve since learned the benefit of having brothers in Christ who respond to a call for help. In my church, we call it “blowing the trumpet.” When Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he faced threats of an armed attack, so he instructed the various groups to respond to whichever part of the wall they heard the trumpet blow. It’s a good analogy of what we, as Christian men, need to do in our time of need. Not everything that happens to us is a “call to arms.”

Scripture gives us ample evidence of the need to have several godly men with whom we can be brutally frank and honest about our lives. They need to know our weaknesses and shortcomings so that they can pray with insight. Jesus had His inner circle of Peter, James, and John with whom He sought solace as He prayed in the Garden. Unlike Jesus, “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3, ESV), we are jars of clay, weak and lacking wisdom. God will not give any of us “all wisdom.” If He did, we would become arrogant, lacking in humility or compassion in our interactions with other believers. He wants us to be dependent on each other. “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22).

No one is an island unto himself (contrary to the 1965 song “I Am A Rock” by Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel). We need other men to lock shields with. In the military we say “I have your six,” which means your six o'clock. Using the clock method of direction, twelve o'clock is straight ahead, three o'clock is to your right, and nine o'clock is to your left. Having your six o'clock means I have your back. The enemy never attacks us head-on at a place of strength. He comes at us from a place of vulnerability, our blind side, which is why I need mighty men around me, as do you.

Scripture exhorts us to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Several verses later we are told that “each will have to bear his own load” (6:5). The word translated as “burden” in 6:2 is the Greek word baros, defined as “a weight, anything pressing on one physically, or spiritually, or that makes a demand on one’s resources” (Vine’s Dictionary). The word translated as “load” in 6:5 is the Greek word phortion, defined as “something carried” (Vine’s). Let me put it in modern-day terms. In combat, every man has his own pack that he carries. A machine-gunner carries his own pack plus the machine gun. Other squad members will carry boxes of machine-gun ammo to keep the machine-gunner from being overly burdened. We each have our own pack, and God gives us the strength to carry it. But the burdens are never meant to be carried alone. God will not give me the strength for that, but He will give me godly men to come to my aid if I will blow the trumpet!

The only thing that will keep me from blowing the trumpet is pride, and Scripture tells us that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Satan wants us to think we can manage things on our own, but that will lead to spiritual destruction. Today, I can say “I’m good” because I have mighty men who will come when I sound the trumpet. How about you? What say ye, Man of Valor?