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| Prayer of Jabez for Teens was good. And short! Finished it in about 4 days without a whole lot of reading time. I encourage ya'll to read it up. It's sort of a manuel on a certain prayer that can really help your spiritual life.
Now, I don't believe that praying a certain prayer over and over works wonders if the words are empty. I don't like thinking of prayers like spells that makes God do things. Rather, prayers are just conversations with God. The prayer of jabez helps create an outline of a prayer that, when expressed from the heart, can show improvement in your life. I've begun saying my own prayer of jabez and expect some things to happen soon.
I've also began reading Every Young Man's Battle again. But not from where I left off. I decided to skip way ahead and get to some of the more important parts. I mean, the book is good, but too repetative in most parts.
Upcoming readings:
Lady In Waiting
The Five Love Languages
What Would Jesus Do Today?
How To Hear From God
I & II Corinthians
Hebrews
Luke | | |
| I finished reading Wild at Heart. It was great. Word to yo' second cousin.
I was reading "Every Young Man's Battle", but I've decided to stop. It's too repetitive. Plus, it sounds just like a repeat of several chapters from Wild At Heart.
So, I believe I'll read a few select chapters from "Lady In Waiting" (if I can stand it), then move on to either the Prayer of Jabez or The Five Languages of Love. Jabez is short though, no problem.
Continuing to try and work out a regular bible-reading routine. It's hard though. So easy to not do it and not really feel bad about it. But it keeps us and God close. Always learning about Him, keeping Him in our minds, being in unity with Him. It's good stuff.
Someone, preferably strong and muscly-armed, threaten to beat me if I don't exercise and practice guitar daily. I mean really...
Clay C | | |
| After a long-than-expected hiatus, let's return to exploring the male soul.
Part One - Wild at Heart
Westward Expansion Against the Soul
Last part I briefly covered the very beginning of the first chapter, explaining the difference between men and women. This next part is not so much about "What makes a man". Rather, it is "How the church defines a man". Brace yourself, this may get uncomfortably real.
Man was not designed to spend countless hours in front of a television, at a computer, answering phone calls, wearing a suit every day, or wasting away his life at in a cubicle. The world has made it a job of evolving man into a machine that performs certain functions without conflict. The buisiness world requires men to be punctual, efficient, and trim. "Corporate policies and procedures are designed with one aim: to harness a man to the plow and make him produce."
The problem is that society cannot make up it's mind about men. "Having spent the last thirty years redefining masculinity into something more sensitive, safe, manageable and, well, feminine, it now berates men for not being men." Where are all the real men? they say. You asked them to be women.
How can a man know he is one when his highest aim is minding his manners?
This is where Eldredge moves to the topic of the church. It would be nice to think that the Christian church invites men to be men. You've probably heard it said in church that we need real men. Manly men. But what do we have instead? Really nice guys. And who lead them to become this? Why, the church.
The church leads men to believe their purpose is to be a good boy. No risk-takers, no heroes, just plain ol' goodie guys. Who's ever had a boyhood dream of growing up to be a nice guy? What woman dreams of their prince being a nice guy and nothing else? It's obvious: most Christian men are bored.
The church wants men, but they only grow moral, nice guys. Society wants the great American hero, but it stresses men to be sensitive and metrosexual. Women want the dashing men of their dreams, but they overly stress the ideas of 'understanding a woman' and 'being more compassionate and emotional'. All of this leads the masculinity of a man to inmasculinity and/or feminism.
The church wants more manly men. Corporate America wants hairless, robotic men. There is a gender confusion in America! And society still wonders where all the men went. "The answer is simply this: We have not invited a man to know and live from his deep heart."
Note: The above comment about feminism was not an attack on women or hinting that women are beneath men.
Next time: The Invitation and the heart of man.
Clay C | | |
| OK. It is time to begin. The first book I'm reading (all the way through) is Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. Discovering the secret of a man's soul. So why exactly discuss this? Why even read it?
This book was recommended to me by a friend, Matt Lyda. I was unsure of what the book was about as well. Discovering the secret of a man's soul? Gimme a break! How cheesy. But he loaned me the book and I began to read anyway. As I read, I realize that this is not a book on how to win the heart of a girl. It is not how to become a man of the church. No. This book is about the revival of the masculine spirit of man. A spirit, that in this day, has been hidden away.
This will mostly be quotes from the book, my thoughts on it, additions, etc. I'll keep it short, easy to follow, not boring. If it becomes an overwhelming bunch of thoughts and ideas, let me know. I'll try to break it up into easier sections.
Part One - Wild at Heart
"...the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed." Genesis 2:7 - 8
Adam and Eve were created very differently. You know that very well. But something I myself have never taken into notice is where Adam and Eve were created. Eve was created in the garden. Adam, on the other hand, was created outside the garden, in the wilderness. As Eldredge says, "Man was born in the outback, from the untamed part of creation."
Men long to explore, to seek adventure, to conquer the wilderness. It is undoubtable. Marco Polo, Scott and Amundsen, Peary and Cook, Magellan, Powell. All men. All feeding their desire, their instinct, to explore the unexplored. To tame the untamable.
"Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of a man. The masculine heart needs a place where nothing is prefabricated, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, on-line, microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, cell phones, or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul. Where, finally, the geography around us corresponds to the geography of our hearts."
That's all for now. Later: What makes a man.
Clay C | | |
| The next few posts will be on this book. It's really a great book. Not just for men, either. But definately a must read for all men.
I believe I need to begin printing out a weekly prayer list to help me in my prayer life. To organize my prayers and to not leave anything out.
Until next time.
Clay C | | |
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