The Wild in a Man

Vern at Storm Point, Yellowstone NP

Every summer we take the kids on a two-week family camping trip. This year our destination was Yellowstone National Park in the northwest corner of Wyoming. There would be mountains, lakes, wildlife including wolves and bears, tall pines and strange geological features like geysers for us to explore. We were all bursting with excitement as the one-ton dually effortlessly escorted our 37 foot fifth wheel camper into the wilderness of Wyoming.

Part of our route took us over the Togwotee pass and from there, we had our first view of The Grand Tetons. The rugged snow packed peaks seemed to rip into the brilliant clear blue sky with an air of great defiance. My husband Vern could hardly stay on the curvy road, he was so busy staring at those mountain peaks.

“Are you planning on staying on the road?” I would gently tease him as I gripped the arms of my seat. Each sharp curve in the steep road held the promise of certain death as there was nowhere to go if you came off the road except down some killer cliff.

Vern would just smile faintly, adjust the steering wheel slightly and continue staring at those mountains.

Vern on Slough Creek Trail
View of Sugarloaf Mountain, Yellowstone NP

And then it happened. Just like it does with every hike, every kayak trip, every hunting season.

Vern hums.

Now, it’s not a hum from his lips. It’s not even something you can hear with your ears. You may not even be able to sense it because you don’t live with him and lovingly study him like I do. The closest I can get to explain it to you is that his entire being goes from the screeching roar of an engine on full throttle to the strong steady hum of an engine going the distance.

And next thing you know, we are all humming along just like Vern. He gets that sense of home whenever we are out in the wild, and we just follow right along with him. It’s an addictive feeling to be where you belong. And this man of mine belongs in the wild. And I belong where he is.

Vern and Nancy sitting by a waterfall 

The city girl in me protests his wild nature sometimes. I want the comfort of civilization, and he could do without it. I have often asked myself why Vern is so attracted to the wild. Why does he hear the wild call to him like that? How does the adventure of the wild make him hum like that?  

Turns out it’s in his genes. In his ancestry. In the very marrow of his created being.

You see, I always thought that God created Adam AND Eve in the Garden of Eden. Not so. Genesis 2:7-8 states that God created Adam and THEN placed Adam in the garden. So if Adam was not created in the Garden, that means he was created in the wild. Eve was created in a shopping mall. I mean the Garden of Eden.

Have you ever visited a place that had meaning to you when you were young? Those places fascinate me. The building where I learned to roller skate. The school where I went to kindergarten. The house where I grew up.

Even the hospital where I was born holds a fascination for me because it is the place where I entered the world. First breathed the Earth’s air. So the wilderness is a place of fascination for men. It is where they were created. And that act of creating Man was the way God told them that they matter to Him and that He wants a relationship with them. Men seek out their creator in the wilderness so they can be reminded of who they are.

A creature of the wild. And it thrills them to know that’s what they are.

Now most men probably can’t put that into words. Even my man who has a strong and personal relationship with The Lord needs to be reminded that his soul craves the wild. Usually that conversation goes something like this at our house:

“Vern, don’t you need to go hunting this weekend?

“Hmmmm?” he will absently reply, distracted by some nonsensical Garden of Eden type problem that I probably created.

“Your engine isn’t running right.” I’ll say, vaguely waving in his general direction.

[Realization strikes him, grin emerges.] “Oh! Oh. Yes. I really do need to go hunting this weekend. You sure you can do without me?”

Oh yes. Certain of it. Because he is a wild thing and needs to go there to meet his creator and remember who he is. Not a creature of the garden but a creature of the wild.

Vern showing Matt a bald eagle nest at Yellowstone NP

Something in him realizes that his boys need that connection with the wild too. Not to say that our daughter doesn’t need time in the wild, but he’s a bit more intentional about taking the boys out to the wild with him.  And even though they are young teenagers, I can already tell when it has been too long since they have been in the wild. Their engines start to screech instead of hum too. It’s awful.

And if us girls are truthful with ourselves, we have to admit that we don’t do a good job of letting them leave the garden. We don’t really understand why they are not content in the garden since this is where WE are comfortable and where we were created.

But the garden is tame. And our men were created in the wild to be warriors.

It had been 40 days and nights since he had seen another human being. And what stood before him was not human but was instead a creature that stunk with hate. The man’s eyes raked across the creature, a steady gaze of determination devoid of any fear. His shoulders squared, his jaw clenched, he faced the enemy who threatened all that was important to him. To those on the outside, it would be a battle of words. But the creature and the man both knew it was more than that. It was also a physical battle and a spiritual battle. A shadow of the battle to come that would end all of the war.

The creature’s first mistake had been to approach the man there in the wild. It had forgotten that the man was more comfortable there than anywhere else on the planet and intentionally spent many hours and days alone in wilderness areas such as this. The man’s words poured out of him in confidence with every challenge the creature made. The man could not lose because he was in the wild and that reminded him of who he was and what was his purpose: He was Jesus the Christ and His purpose was to save the world.

Do you need to be saved, girls? Long to be rescued? Then what you need is a man of the wild. THE Man of the Wild. Not a tame lion who lives in a garden.

And since the man you married was created by THE ONE who invented the wilderness my suggestion to you is a simple one.

Send your man to the wild. 

He will remember who he is there. 

He will remember what his purpose is. 

He will learn to breathe again. 

To live again. 

To dream again. 

To face the enemy and win again.

Because Wild Men were created to defeat the enemy and protect you. They thrive on that knowledge. Their engines will hum and you will be blown away by how irresistible a wild thing can be when he has connected with his wild maker.