Man Week 2011

It's Man Week! Which really means that my wife is out of town. She flew home to Oklahoma to spend some time with the fam over the holidays, and I will meet up with her here in a few days. However, until that time I am excited about man week! I have some great things planned out for this week. Nazi Zombie night, poker night, and chicken wings!

Now some might think that sounds like some amazing manly activities! Others might those are not manly activities! You need to build something, seduce some girl, and beat someone up! I am not sure where we get our ideas on manly behavior, if I had to guess I would say culture, but then again culture has to develop from something. So I would actually have to go a little deeper and say it derives from our desires. For example, I believe that men desire respect (hence why Paul encourages wives to respect their husbands in Ephesians 5:33). Therefore, because men desire to be respected we work hard to be known and respected for our achievements, therefore we live in a culture that values work and individual success (not sure how this would look in another culture, just my observation).

Now lets take a look at Genesis. God created us in his image and note that this image is not gender specific, man is not the full image of God and neither is women. Humanity was created in the image of God. Which I take to believe that both men and women bear an image of God and some images are more prevalent in the different genders. Men= logical, problem solvers, providers etc. Women = nurturing, smart, creative, etc. (not an exhaustive list and many of these things can be flip flopped).

If we are God's image bearers, although a tainted image thanks to sin, we should strive to set the example of being Godly men. This is especially true when I look at ministry with youth. How am I bearing God's image of manhood to the junior high and high school boys that I interact with? I can easily feed into what they hear everyday, that they need to be athletic, suave , and hyper-sexual. I could joke with them that they need to build more muscle mass, or give them a hard time or encourage them about pursuing girls (which is not a bad thing). OR I could help them realize what the desires that God has placed in their lives, and how they can glorify him in everything from pursuing girls, playing sports, or created beautiful flower arrangements.

In summary, it's not the activities that we do that make us men, it's how we bear the image of Christ in the activities that we do as men. This man week is not about defining manhood and masculinity. It's really just a group of guys with common interests getting together and having fun with God at the center...especially why we blow the heads off of zombies!

Just Starting

Every now and then people have this idea that their ideas are something and that they should be heard. This happens to me often. Not that I feel like I have really anything profound or wise to say, but more for the comfort of just writing ideas down and knowing that someone might find comforts in the words that they hear. For me, my prayer is that I don't write out of my wisdom because it is tainted, but that I write out of the wisdom that I receive from God. For "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", therefore in reverence to God as my knowledge giver flows my desire to share His thoughts that are given to me and to receive other ideas and reflections on the same subjects.  

There are a few options that a person can utilize to have their thoughts known.

1. They can write a book. Writing a book requires money and some street cred in the field you are writing. These are two things that I lack.

2. I could obnoxiously stand on a soap box in a crowed public area. Not the most inviting.

3. I can write a blog. It's free, it's easy, and for most of the time non-hostile.

Option three is the route I have chosen... obviously. The problem that I have with writing a blog is putting forth thought and effort and then have no one read it. I realize that this blog will attract a certain group, and I purposefully write this about a subject that I am passionate about and have some knowledge about. It makes for better reading and writing. Therefore, this blog focuses on youth ministry, since that is what I do; Theology, since I believe all people are theologians; and how my life experiences intersect with these two subjects.

With all that laid out I invite whoever wants to keep up to do so and travel along with me through reflections, ideas, statements, and yearnings of the things of God.