Five years ago today Beth was born and our lives were forever changed. Michelle and I went from being newly-weds to being parents. We went from having only each other to worry about to now having this tiny helpless little person depending completely on us. We joined the "secret club" of parenthood, that everyone had tried to tell us things about, but we didn't really listen. Even if we had listened I'm not sure we would've believed. There are some things that you just have to experience.
With Beth the first thing we got to learn about was colic. Sleep wasn't happening for any of us. Tempers ran short sometimes. But, with patience and humility to each other, we endured. We thrived. She grew up and it went away. We slept again. She has the best smile. She makes her daddy proud.
Then she got a little brother, and we learned how to handle two. I liked this part as I got to snuggle with my girl more. She's a good big sister. She's kind and caring. She loves people in a way I know I ought to. She's sweet-hearted.
Next she accepted Jesus as her Saviour. She asked to be baptised. She wants to know more about who He is and what He has done. She makes my heart swell, and I pray she continues this way.
She's not perfect by any means, but she's mine. Thanks be to God for giving us this girl to raise up and may we have grace and patience to do so according to His will. I love you Elizabeth Ann.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Friday, September 9, 2016
When Real Men Are Gone
So I know it's been a while since I've written here. What can I say? Life gets busy and I honestly was feeling like I didn't have much to say that I hadn't already written here. But I'm teaching another section of the Quest for Authentic Manhood and with each new group come new questions and observations of the material. So last night we were going through the first session where we began formulating a concise definition of what authentic manhood looks like. But before he got there, he posited that God created men to be leaders. Dr. Lewis then pointed out that when men abandon this leadership chaos ensues. When Isaiah was told to pronounce judgment against Judah, God had him say this;
"For behold, the Lord God of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;
The mighty man and the warrior,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
And I will make mere lads their princes,
And capricious children will rule over them,
And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The youth will storm against the elder
And the inferior against the honorable.
When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
'You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,
And these ruins will be under your charge,'
He will protest on that day, saying,
'I will not be your healer,
For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
You should not appoint me ruler of the people.'
For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their speech and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against His glorious presence.
The expression of their faces bears witness against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.
Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For what he deserves will be done to him.
O My people! Their oppressors are children,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths." (Isaiah 3:1-12 NASB). God told Judah through Isaiah that their "real men" would be taken away and then would follow that boys and women would rise up and take charge. There would be ruin and a person would be asked to lead simply because he had a cloak. Men should be leaders but we all fall in fashion under one of the two Adams mentioned in Scripture. In Genesis we have Adam standing by while his wife was being attacked and lied to by the serpent. He did nothing. In the New Testament the second Adam, that is Jesus Christ, stood up and acted. He chose to come to Earth as a man and became the captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10). 1 Corinthians 15:45 compares the two: "So also it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." It was mentioned that boys take, but men give. The first Adam acted more like a boy than a man. Dr. Lewis encouraged us to see that Christ in the manger was more masculine than Adam in the garden. He acted. So the first part of the definition of authentic masculinity is "A real man is one who rejects passivity." Lord help us to ACT as men.
"For behold, the Lord God of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;
The mighty man and the warrior,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
And I will make mere lads their princes,
And capricious children will rule over them,
And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The youth will storm against the elder
And the inferior against the honorable.
When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
'You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,
And these ruins will be under your charge,'
He will protest on that day, saying,
'I will not be your healer,
For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
You should not appoint me ruler of the people.'
For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their speech and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against His glorious presence.
The expression of their faces bears witness against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.
Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For what he deserves will be done to him.
O My people! Their oppressors are children,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths." (Isaiah 3:1-12 NASB). God told Judah through Isaiah that their "real men" would be taken away and then would follow that boys and women would rise up and take charge. There would be ruin and a person would be asked to lead simply because he had a cloak. Men should be leaders but we all fall in fashion under one of the two Adams mentioned in Scripture. In Genesis we have Adam standing by while his wife was being attacked and lied to by the serpent. He did nothing. In the New Testament the second Adam, that is Jesus Christ, stood up and acted. He chose to come to Earth as a man and became the captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10). 1 Corinthians 15:45 compares the two: "So also it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul.' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." It was mentioned that boys take, but men give. The first Adam acted more like a boy than a man. Dr. Lewis encouraged us to see that Christ in the manger was more masculine than Adam in the garden. He acted. So the first part of the definition of authentic masculinity is "A real man is one who rejects passivity." Lord help us to ACT as men.
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