It was God's idea ...

Last night our Tuesday men's group watched a presentation called "Where have all the good men gone." It was part of a program called No Regrets, which is a gathering of men (a men's ministry retreat) highlighted by presentations from various speakers focusing on "equipping leaders to disciple the men of their churches and communities." 

This particular presenter, Joby Martin, a pastor in the Jacksonville, FL area, hit on some pretty good points, leading off with this one, "Make no apologies for being a man...it was God's idea."  So I'll let that set in a little and you can see where he's going with his presentation. No regrets for what he says, facts are facts. But as the presentation went on, he got into some thought provoking points.  I took notes so I'll just hit the highlights and let you think about his meaning.

1.  For every mile of road, there are two miles of ditches. Keep yourself on the straight and narrow because there's lots of trouble around you. Men - stay centered.

2.  When does a boy become a man? It used to be that there were only two stages of a male's life -- being a boy and being a man. But today there is a third stage -- it's called being a "dude." So now one goes from being a boy, to being a dude to being a man. Martin points out that "dudes" are the dangerous ones whose life path doesn't always continue on to being a man. Some live in "dudedom" forever.

3.  Society used to have a "right of passage" when a boy became a man. We (Americans) don't universally have that in our culture these days. We don't send our boys out into the wilderness, tell them that we will see them in 10 days or so and they will either survive or become lion food. What happened to that tradition? This particular point resulted in quite a bit of discussion amongst the men of our group.

A big part of Martin's presentation, again, centered on equipping leaders to disciple the men of their churches and communities, was the point he made that men are held responsible for things. Dude's are not. He went on to say:

4.  God held Adam responsible (for his actions in the Garden) even though he was not the first one to sin because he was the man and men are supposed to be responsible. I suspect there might be some (a lot?) of pushback from some readers, but Martin's point was that in the church men are responsible and supposed to be leaders. Again ... No Regrets.

At the end of his presentation, Martin pointed out that when God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden and they saw themselves as naked, they were forced to cover themselves. In order to do this they had to kill animals for their furs and this was the first time that blood was shed as a result of sin. Very interesting point.

So, that was our Tuesday Night Men's Meeting. Lots of really good discussion and I can't wait to see what we'll see and discuss next week.

Parting thought:

    A boy gives false promises, a man honors his commitments.

    A boy thinks of "me," a man thinks of "us."

    A boy blames others, a man takes responsibility.

Your pain is a divine rite of passage through which you will be reborn as a being of strength, wisdom and purpose. Bryant McGill

Hooah