It's Better to Build Boys than Mend Men

Throw another book on the "need to read" list:

Children have plenty of buddies. In an age when kids all around us are growing up without strong, positive guidance from their parents (who are busy, distracted, gone, or choose to be buddies instead of parents) children need someone they can look to with respect to help them build their lives.

When he was thirteen years old, Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, had such a man step into his life: a Sunday school teacher who modeled love, respect, hard work, and discipline. Cathy decided to follow that model, and today he has some 130 foster grandchildren, many of whom have broken their family’s generational cycle of neglect through the encouragement of Cathy and other adults who reached out to them.

In It’s Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men, Truett Cathy lays out a simple model for adults desiring to reach out to youth and challenges readers to allow God to work through them to change the life of a child. His book is filled with stories illustrating the principles of discipline, trust, reputation, generosity, common sense, peer pressure, and family stability.

Readers who follow their hearts into children’s lives will find that their own lives are enriched as well.

I'll post a review once I get a chance...

BetterMen?

Christian men don't have the exclusive desire to be better husbands & fathers. There are quite a few non-Christian organizations devoted to mentoring and helping men to be "better men".

While I believe that apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ it is impossible to become the men we were designed to be, I can't just sweep these secular organizations under the rug...they truly have some good insight and have many of the same goals.

Ultimately while their mission might be the same (initiating men into manhood, mentoring, building community, etc), the primary belief they base their programs on is that men are fundamentally "good" and just need the support of other men to become "better".

Christians on the other hand believe we are fundamentally "bad" (ie, sinners) and that only by the saving grace of God can we become "new", and through a relationship with Him, he helps us to operate as men in this "newness".

Check out this website to see this topic from a non-Christian perspective:

BetterMen

Things I've Learned From My Boys

It's Friday and I haven't posted in a long time, so I'm breaking a guidelines and making a totally frivolous post.

However it strikes me that if you haven't experienced one of these (or something fairly close) with your boys, perhaps you need to let loose a little and let them get wild. As long as there are no lives on the line, boyhood should be about taking some chances and making mistakes.

The following came from an anonymous Mother ... Things I've learned from my Boys (honest and not kidding):

1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. House 4 inches deep.
2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3. A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late
8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9. A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.
10. Certain Lego pieces will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12. Super glue is forever.
13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15. VCR's do not eject "PB &J" sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18. You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20. The fire department in Austin,TX has a 5-minute response time.
21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24. 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

The Men of Honor & Ladies of Honor

Here's a cool ministry that is attempting to minister to both boys & girls, men & women. It looks like they offer both training and retreat-style camps.

I really like the "axioms" from their mission statement:

The Men Of Honor Axioms

I am a winner... I am a man of honor;
I do the right thing... because it's the right thing to do; My word is my bond.
C.H.I.P.
Character, Honesty, Integrity, Perseverance.
If there is no man... I will be the man;
Manhood and Christ-likeness are synonymous;
Being a male is a matter of birth;
Being a man is a matter of choice;
There is no greatness outside of God;
1, 2, 3... YES!

The Ladies Of Honor Axioms

I am a leader... I am a Lady of Honor
My attitude... Is my choice
I do the right thing... Because it is the right thing to do
I learn to listen... Because I listen to learn
A good leader... Is a good follower
To be a Godly leader... I must follow Christ
L.I.G.H.T.
Loyalty, Integrity, Generosity, Honesty, Trustworthiness
I am not ordinary... I am extraordinary
My inner beauty... Is the jewel that shines within me
Ladies of Honor... Shine
1,2,3... YES!

The Men of Honor & Ladies of Honor Homepage