As he writes, “A man needs to feel the rhythms of the earth he needs to have in hand something real – the tiller of a boat, set of reins, the roughness of rope, or simply a shovel. And if a man fails to understand what it means to be a man, then he’ll become either pitiful or dangerous, and both are unacceptable outcomes.Įldredge communicates what most men don’t, which is men need spaces to engage in manly pursuits. She’ll misunderstand half the people on the planet as she mis-navigates herself through life. In Wild at Heart, John Eldridge argues, “There are three desires I find written so deeply into my heart I know now I can no longer disregard them without losing my soul… in the heart of every man is a desperate desire for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to love.” If a women does not understand this, she’ll never understand her husband, dad, sons, or brothers. In fact, it should be required reading for women, young and old, as they seek to understand men. The book really is written for women and men who have lost their spine. Wild at Heart is ostensibly a book for men, but we men know this stuff – or at least men should know.

And John Eldredge makes the case as to why the man trip is just the tip of the iceberg. Whatever it’s called, men and women agree it’s healthy. The earth sometimes trembles at the eye rolls from wives, mostly in jest, when their husbands announce an upcoming man trip or hunting trip or boys’ weekend.

The “man trip” is a necessary, albeit sometimes annoying part of modern life. During their trials, they eventually catch up with their old selves and discover who they were meant to be.

During their time away, they are challenged and humiliated by unfamiliar surroundings of the wild west. At the request of their wives, the three friends are forced to get out into the wild and figure out how to be men again. There was a comedy years ago titled City Slickers in which three men from the city go out on a cattle drive.

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