Living Life in 3D – Part 2 – Here’s how it’s working for me.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17

I’ve found this simple truth impacts my life most when I live it out in 3 dimensions.
Sounds simple but how do you make this a reality in your life?

Here is how it is working for me.

Remember, living life in 3 D means I intentionally cultivate relationships with a variety of guys…

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17

I’ve found this simple truth impacts my life most when I live it out in 3 dimensions.
Sounds simple but how do you make this a reality in your life?

Here is how it is working for me.

Remember, living life in 3 D means I intentionally cultivate relationships with a variety of guys…

One who walks ahead of me, who is a trusted guide.
One who walks beside me, who is my peer.
One who walks behind me, who I can mentor.

(read Living Life in 3D – Part One here http://blogs.bible.org/impact/steve_eichner/living_life_in_3d)
First I had to realize that this is what healthy accountability was all about.
Not a one dimensional thing, but relationships lived out in 3 D.

Then I needed to ask God to show me who these men might be.

A while back I faced the challenge that although I already had a few men walking in front of me and behind me, the men walking beside me had moved on. At first it was no big deal but over time I realized that I had gradually lost the point men in my life.

Remember I need a brother to walk beside me on my spiritual journey. This companionship through mutual accountability assures we have each other’s backs in pushing forward on our spiritual journey.

As I looked around and wondered who I would enjoy connecting with… most others guys were either already tied in somewhere or had major schedule conflicts.

So I decide to pray about it.
I prayed about it over a period of 8 months.

I just kept asking God to provide that guy to walk beside me. I felt frustrated as I prayed because I believed I was praying for something God wanted in my life and there was no clear answer.

Here is what happened…there was a guy I had thought about approaching.

Problem was he was real busy with a crazy work schedule. After praying about it I just asked him. He seemed interested at first. I gave him an easy out….simply told him I knew he was real busy and to let me know if he ever wanted to do something like that. Never heard a word after that…so figured he took the out.I kept praying.

3 months later he said he’d like to talk more about it…that it was something that was missing in his life.

Now about a year later we continue to meet about every 2 weeks over our lunch breaks.

Over the last year among other things we have challenged each other to love our children, to serve and sacrifice for our wives, to avoid laziness in our times in with God, and to lead well in the arenas God has placed us. We gain perspective, godly counsel, and have each other’s backs.

In the past year we have both experienced significant disappointments – the kind where you feel someone has knocked the wind out of you and each time we just ‘happened’ to have our accountability time scheduled within days of the disappointing event.

God also answered my prayer as I was able to reconnect with my own brother Tim. I live in Philly and he lives in Florida. We connect via our cells each Tuesday on our commute home from work for accountability.

These are really divinely appointed times in my schedule.
You do not know what you are missing until you experience living life in 3 D.

Do you have a man walking in front, beside and behind you? Is there is a man missing in your life?

If so, will you start to regularly ask God to bring him into your life?
You will be amazed at what God does over time.

Again, I’d love to hear your stories of how these ‘3 men’ in your live have impacted your life as you live life in 3D.