Affirming Manhood for Our Sons

 As we look out the large windows of our home, the back yard is alive with activity.  Autumn leaves float to the ground providing an orange carpet for the yard.  Barren trees now make it possible to see the squirrels doing impressive acrobatics from limb to limb.  Gray misty fog rolls in reminding us that Frankenstorm and winter are bearing down upon us.  Inside we sit warm and comfortable around the fireplace enjoying a late Saturday morning breakfast. 

 

Saturday actually began early for Diana and I as we attended a Super Saturday Seminar, and I spoke about the power of ceremony in affirming manhood on our sons.  “How many of you remember your wedding ceremony?”  I asked to start the session. Hands go up.  “Of course you do.  You remember many of the details of your wedding, as you do other important ceremonies in your life like baptism, graduations and award presentations. 

 

“Ceremonies place value upon an event.  They establish it in our memory and empower a life of vision for the future.  This morning I want to capture your imagination with the advantages of a manhood ceremony for your son.” 

 

Why bestow blessing and confer manhood on our boys?  Well to help give them clarity.  We live in a society that is increasingly blurring that clarity.  But then again churches and Christian parents can add to the confusion as well.  When we set our sights on just raising “nice” boys, we deny the internal drive God has created in them for adventure and conquest.  Repelling from Utah’s arches, climbing 14 thousand feet mountains, doing a missions trip in the slums of Africa is not so different then leaving Ur on a quest, having the courage to take Jericho, or challenging a giant with a sling shot.  But in our low risk, comfort driven, be safe approach to parenthood, we can deny them the adventure of manhood. 

 

Boys want to know if they have what it takes to be a man.  As fathers we have been given the opportunity to model and confirm this in their lives.  My dad gave me such a gift when I was 21.  At that time my grandfather’s brother in Pennsylvania was dying of cancer.   I lived with him for the last few weeks of his life bathing, feeding, serving him and was with him in his dying moment.  When I returned home one of the first things dad did was affirm to me, “You have become a man.”  It was a rite of passage statement.  Ceremony provides us with opportunity to capture this same type of moment with our sons.  I’ll share some specifics next journal. 

 

Christ Coming Into View

This summer was filled with snatching a few minutes here and there to prepare for teaching the book of James.  As always I learned far more in preparation than I was able to convey in the class.  For instance I learned that the half brother to Jesus used excellent Greek, spoke with authority and wrote with more poetic imagery then all Paul’s letters combined. 

The bigger lesson for me was one of vantage point. I discovered or better said rediscovered that the primary importance of study and teaching is to see Christ coming into view.  That’s what Paul was getting at when he said, “I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified.”  Of all the points that we can make and all the perspectives we can emphasis, this one is central.  As teachers we return again and again to the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ.  Our message is Christ.

To me it’s a natural bridge into my day in, day out life.  I want to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection in the details.  Not getting side tracked by blessings or success, worries or uncertainties, but seeing Him.

My friend Kim is one of the best at this that I know of.  He just keeps reducing the clutter, reducing the clutter until the preeminence of Christ shines through.  He reads about, dwells on, prays over, rejoices in and talks about the comprehensive message of the Gospel.  More than once he told me in effect that this is his one sermon for the church.

Christ is our life in the best of times and in the worst of times.  In the best of times we tend to think of it in terms of joy, vibrancy, fullness and aliveness.  In the worst of times these are not diminished, but undergo a metamorphosis into hope, rest, peace and assurance.  It is two sides of the same coin, both are abundant. Either way Christ comes into view giving us just what we need – HIMSELF. 

 

Ramblings

Rambling - straggling or sprawling haphazardly; unplanned

 It’s peaceful to ramble once in a while.  It’s especially nice to be a straggler on a forest path among a thicket of pine trees with a thick layer of pine needles under your feet.  Time is wasted for a moment, and plans fly out the window.

 

Î My mother came from Tennessee for a week’s visit this month.  I think our daily activity made her head spin a bit.  Evening slowed down with cups of tea, a game, or getting to know the stories of Narnia.  The two of us spent some special time together Friday afternoon and ended up at an art gallery.  Then it was off to King Tut’s drive-in for hamburgers and onion rings.
 

Î We have been playing a lot of board games since Daniel moved back home.  He has introduced us to Monopoly Deal and Settlers of Catan, but our favorite has been 7 Wonders.  I consistently come in third place, but surprise of all surprises I finally won for the first time the other day. 

 

Î We’ve been listening to some John MacMurray lately.  He taught at Timberline when Daniel was there as a student.  Here’s something he said that’s thought provoking, “God is and has never been alone.  The very nature of God as a person is that He exists in relationship.  This truth is expressed in Jesus’ words that He and the Father are one.  God is in Him and He is in God.  They are united in mutual love and communion yet without the loss of personal distinctness.  Their relationship is a rich and unclouded fellowship that is so deep and true, so open and close and fired by sure pure love that Jesus says they are one.” 

 

Î On the Saturday returning to Tennessee, we stopped in for a cup of coffee in Wytheville.  There in the Shoppe was a lady working on her computer and wearing a Louisiana State shirt.  We talked about their game coming up that day with Florida and the state of LSU football in general.  When I told her I was from Tennessee she said, “I can’t believe you don’t hate me.”  I felt very much like Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well in that moment.

 

Î I’ve been reading The Wilderness World of John Muir lately.  There is far more reverence and Scriptural inferences than you might imagine from the man who founded the Sierra Club.  Reading these journal entries have inspired me to a fresh appreciation of the glorious autumn handiwork of God and wish I could spend time with my friend Wade birding in the backwoods of West Virginia. 

 

 

 

Breaking Storybox News

 Diana was outside working in the garden when I came home one Friday afternoon recently.  Out there among the tomatoes and kale, the peppers and radishes, the eggplant and corn, she was practicing square foot gardening.  I strolled into basement, then into the spare room to check the mail.  Looking over the inbox I saw a note from David Firth.  “David Firth, who is David Firth?”  It’s probably junk mail, ”  I thought.  Then I read it. Jumping to my feet, I ran out the door.  “Why didn’t you tell me about the email?” I called to Diana.  Her reply was a confused glance that said, “Huh!”  I yelled back, “Maria won!”

Last March the youth group attended a Dare2Share conference in Dayton, Ohio.  It’s a ministry that equips teens to relationally and relentlessly reach their generation for Christ.  Zane Black is one of the conference speakers and his wife Rachel helps to host the event.  They also work at Timberline Lodge.  This is the same couple we met at the Rocky Mountain Roastary while we were in Colorado hearing stories of beater cars, long distance courtship and God’s provision. 

 

At the conference Maria connected with Rachel who insisted she take a brochure for the drawing.  She took it but with little commitment or enthusiasm.  Back home she learned a paper also needed to be written and a deadline met.  It took her a few weeks of procrastination to get around to it, but she finally did it just meeting the deadline.  We waited for word of a winner but heard nothing.  The time of the drawing came and went.  We continued to wait, eventually resigning ourselves to the fact that someone else had been awarded the prize. 

 

Then came the letter came from David Firth.  “I am delighted to confirm that you have won the 2012 Scholarship Challenge competition.  This means you can attend a Torchbearers Bible School program of up to 12 months from any of our participating centres around the world.”  What?  Could this really be so?  I wrote back, “Our daughter Maria won the 2012 Scholarship Challenge competition? Our daughter? Just want to make sure before we get overly excited.”  In just a few moments came the reply, “Yes she did! From over 200 entries at 7 different Dare2Share conferences, Maria's name was drawn (by our founder's wife, Joan Thomas).”

 

Here’s one that belongs in the story box along with the other stories we are keeping alive.  Maria just won a complete one year scholarship to any of the 26 Torchbearer Schools of her choosing.  Australia, Costa Rica, England, Colorado, Austria, Canada, Texas, Japan all await.

A Priceless Gift

It wasn’t an ordinary day. Actually it was especially special - Diana’s birthday. We were all seated at in the breakfast nook enjoying the early morning meal when I looked across the street and saw a small backhoe digging a ditch in my neighbor’s yard. Talk about perfect timing. We had needed a gas line dug for months. In a moment I was out the door, arranging the work and negotiating the price. It turned out to be the perfect birthday gift.

That was last year though, and I needed something just as nice for this year. Then a few days ago without prior planning, we had a friend over to do some fix-it projects. Our basement commode was worn out and needed replacing. As it turned out we went to Lowes to pick up a new one on Diana’s birthday.   The American Standard, white, elongated, water saving model was once again just the right gift. As if that wasn’t good enough I also got her a very nice albeit very used compost bin.

 

So who is this lady who is graced with such special gifts?  Diana and I met in Bible College, she the daughter of a pastor, I the son of a millwright factory worker.  The summer before our senior year she worked in Humbolt Park, a notorious Chicago neighborhood infested with rats, gangs and drug dealers.  She returned to school in the fall radiant, and I was smitten.

 

Our first date was a church picnic with everything about that September fall day being perfect.  We spent every minute together, feasting on the food, hanging out with friends, playing softball and talking the afternoon away.  Months later someone asked about our first date.  When I told them it was the picnic, Diana balked.  “That wasn’t our first date,” she insisted.  I assured her in my mind and in my intention it was.  “I wondered why you were hanging around all day” she said, “I thought you were just offering me a ride.”  She ended up getting the ride of her life.  I on the other hand got a priceless gift. 

 

So what about next year’s gift? Suggestions are welcome, but I’m thinking along the lines of garden tools, paint, a plumbers snake or a new sewer line.