We live in a fragile world.We wrote this book as inspirational comedy, but we'd be making a huge mistake if we didn't address the underlying fragility of our world. Our environment, our political systems, our sense of community, and often even our personal relationships... they are all fragile!
You're probably thinking, "What a downer!"
But here's the caveat: while the world we live in is often fragile, God is not.
He invites us to have a Sworn friendship with him, and when we enter the fragile world with this Sworn covenant, we learn how to also develop Sworn friendships with those around us as well.
These are true, brotherly friendships that help us to heal our wounds and continually develop into people that can put more good into the world around them.
If you're still reading, you're probably thinking...
What is "Sworn friendship," anyway?Sworn friendship goes far beyond the superficial concepts of friendship. You may have golfing buddies, fishing buddies, and even great people in your life in church or work environments. But if you don't have an honest, deep relationship with these people, these are not Sworn friendships.
A Sworn friendship is created through a natural process of knitting together two souls through openness, loyalty, and a mutual desire to improve your connections with God. It fills a hole that so many men lose as they get older and take on the responsibility of life. And sadly, some people never experience this level of friendship at all.
As an aid to changing your perspective on friendship, we want to teach you about the six essential ingredients of a Sworn friendship, which will dramatically change your life and the lives of many people around you.
But it's kind of weird...We get it. All this talk about two (or more) men being open and loyal to each other can sometimes sound very strange when so many of us have been taught to bottle up our emotions and "be a man."
This type of close bond isn't always traditionally seen as something two grown men share between one another.
We wrote this book to make you laugh, but even more, to challenge you to see what your relationships with God and your fellow men really mean.
What is actually "weird" is being an island, refusing to heal and grow both in your relationships with God, your fellow men, and even yourself.
You know if there is a problem, but you may not know yet how Sworn friendships are the solution.
It's not an instructional manual!There is no one-size-fits-all solution to Sworn friendship, and we're not going to claim there is one direct path to healing or improving your relationships. We have framed this book through our own experiences, through the growth of the Sworn friendship we share and nurture together and with others in our circle.
So don't worry, we aren't going to make you go out and hug 10 men by the end of the week. This isn't about practicing "fake it until you make it." It isn't self-help literature aimed to make you feel better for a few moments and then be forgotten as nothing changes in your life.
This book is about finding the truth and letting the "practice" you exhibit to the world reflect on who you truly are inside.
Not only will you be amazed by how becoming open to your fellow man helps build your friendships, but how it will affect your relationships in all levels of your life, including your relationship with God and even yourself.
