The young man, who lives in my house and doesn't want to be blogged about, has had a mother who has prayed consistently through out his life that no matter what is his life's work, be it grand or humble, that he would still to be a mighty man of God. He's getting there too, to his credit and God's.
One of our family's favorite movies is SecondHand Lions. We especially love the speech Robert Duvall's character, Uncle Hub, gives in part to his young nephew with a promise to give in whole when he's ready. The speech, "What Every Boy Needs to Know About Being A Man," is good, just short of great, because God is not factored into it; but we parents can do that when we discuss the movie. Every boy needs to know that Jesus is his true love and the giver of all those characteristics that are important to a boy: goodness, honor, courage, virtue and love.
Here is what Uncle Hub had to say:
"Sometimes, the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that money and power... money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and love... true love never dies. You remember that boy, you remember that. Doesn't matter if they're true or not. A man should believe in those things because
those are the things worth believing in."
Uncle Hub's Speech
One of the unexpected things I've found about becoming men of strength is that Christ will first make us weak. The world tells us our whole lives that masculinity is a list of traits, interests, or actions, but the truth is that the Lord will make us stronger than we could have ever imagined apart from trying to muster up strength in ourselves. It can feel disheartening when we examine our own hearts and find weakness and desperation rather than strength, but when we bring this to the light of the Lord He comes in and heals all of those broken crevices and restores them in Himself, so that we can move mountains as men walking by the Spirit.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I've really enjoyed your youtube channel. I made a mix CD for a close friend using several songs you've uploaded, and she loved it :-)
Thank you. Your excellent comment rightly says what it means to become a man of strength.
ReplyDelete