Last week I made my annual mancation to the giant man cave at Hillsong Men’s Conference with 3,500 other men from all over Australia.  It is something else to hear 3,500 men singing at the top of their lungs and to receive great practical teaching from the bible on how to man up, not to mention helping raise over $100,000 to help fight sex trafficking. If what we do doesn’t help others we are just having ourselves on.

The world needs men: men of character, men of compassion, men of integrity, men who will love their wives and their children and leave a legacy by reclaiming their destiny. It is the challenge that all men face and all men must run to. The theme of this year’s Hillsong Men’s Conference was ‘Man Up and Face Your Fears’.

Creativity and Hillsong are two words with the same meaning. These guys love to push the boundaries and reach down into men’s hearts in a way that sends shivers down the spine. They like to help make you laugh at the same time. This all the better because men love to laugh as a new report on Australian manhood is about to reveal (learn more about this next week). The bible is plain about the importance of laughter.

Proverbs 17:22 says,

‘Happiness is good medicine but sorrow is a disease’.

Not to be outdone in the creativity stakes this year ‘Sanga’ Samways called around unexpectedly with a TV camera to help five men face their fears:

Vincent was first and had a fear of snakes. He got a shock to see both Sanga and a snake at his front door early one morning. He ended up with the snake draped around him eating snake sweets.

Jason was second, with a fear of spiders. Watching this video if nothing else will send shivers up and down your spine.  Sanga playfully taunted him as Jason endured a 50 mm huntsman spider crawling up his leg and onto his head. The fact that Jason’s head was shaved made the spider’s progress all the more entertaining.

Will, who looked like he was a former enforcer with the Hell’s Angels bikie gang was dead scared of mice and Sanga’s non-stop teasing, as this well-muscled man put his hands into a cage filled with nine mice that, according to Sanga, hadn’t eaten for two weeks, was sure to put a smile on any man’s face.

The fourth man Matthew was scared of heights and so accordingly Sanga helped him face his fears by jumping out of a plane at 30,000 feet. Thankfully with a parachute attached.

Ryan, fifth man, was also afraid of heights and Sanga obligingly took him to a cliff near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains and allowed him to go over the cliff edge attached to a rope. Considering Sanga’s approach he would have made Ryan go over the cliff, with or without a rope.

The tables were eventually turned in no uncertain manner on Sanga at the Hillsong Men’s Conference. You see Sanga also had a fear of heights and he was forced to walk on ropes between two high buildings, live on video, while the five men whom he had relentlessly tormented, pelted him with eggs. Sanga was not pre-warned and his terrified reaction to using two ropes to get from one building to the other brought the house down. It was all captured on video and 3,500 men laughed themselves silly. Laughter is a medicine and men need to laugh, perhaps even more than women do. We men tend to take ourselves way too seriously and in the process we tie ourselves up in knots.

We all have to ‘man up and face our fears’. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through laughter.

• Laughter puts everything into perspective.
• Laughter helps your health.
• Laughter helps you live longer and
• Laughter helps you face your fears.

Lovework

Let’s explore the power of humour to help us build our family relationships, face our fears and come out smiling. Remember a happy dad is always better than a sad dad.

Our children love us to be happy – let’s try our best to meet their expectations.

Yours for more laughter

Warwick Marsh