Be all that you can be!

Allow me to borrow a phrase from the Army for  a moment and ask men this question: Would you be all that you could be today if you had grown up under the nurturing guidance of a healthy, loving father? Imagine being taught the many lessons of life from him as you walked along the journey of adolescence, from toddler to teenager, one experience at a time,  into early manhood. Imagine being able to pick up the phone and get advice about anything and being able to discuss problems with a trusted advisor until you have a peace about the way forward. Imagine being able to make decisions without the paralyzing fear of failure that haunts so many men today. Imagine being able to relate to women in a healthy, respectful, and thoughtful way instead of seeing them as a means to satisfy something missing within yourself. There are so many areas of manhood that could be brought into the light as examples of our deficiency in training.
Masculinity is caught more than it is taught, which is why we have so few men today that are capable of intimate, caring relationships. The only way to catch it is by spending countless minutes, hours, days, and experiences with a healthy father figure and trusted mentor. How often does that happen in today's hectic world? Abandonment is epidemic in our culture. The vast majority of men have been abandoned and left to figure these things out on their own, and often do with devastating results. As a result, young men band together with like-minded peers and form beliefs that cripple them later in life. The world is full of ill-equipped and untrained men and our women are paying a price for it.
If you are reading this and find yourself in the abandoned category, I want you to know it is not too late to get what was withheld from you and become the person you were created to be. YOU CAN FINISH STRONG. I use the term "reparented" to describe the process of giving your life to Christ and allowing Him to heal the broken places and install the missing pieces that have come from a fallen world and dysfunctional people...kind of an extreme make-over for men. He will bring the right people, places, and things into your life and create a new person in you from the inside-out. He will enable you to live a life that is more than you can imagine or dream if you allow Him to have his way with you. Most people never experience God in this way because they won't allow themselves to be put in a vulnerable position where they are out of their comfort zone and God is all they have. Obedience will take you through the fear and onto the path of becoming all you can be-all He created you to be. Just say yes!

"The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights" (Hab. 3:19).