Resource Ready!

Over the recent and long holiday weekend, my wife and I had the pleasure of going back to our home town in Pennsylvania to be with our families. It was a great trip! When we are home we typically go to my wife's family's home Church. After hearing a solid sermon from the lead pastor, I proceeded to get my second cup of coffee. The cafe area was packed with people and I did my best to break through the crowd to get my precious coffee. As I was preparing the mix, I was approached by a man who started asking me about the Manturity blog. He was friends with my wife's family and had heard about it. I believe he also leads small groups for men at their Church. I told him where to find it and to share some thoughts on some of the topics. Towards the end of the conversation, a lady (also getting coffee) overheard us talking and asked excitedly what the blog was about. I told her it was a blog for establishing spiritual maturity in today's man. After saying this she went on to tell me that her husband was currently leaving her and she was going to be left raising their boy on her own. She asked if me if I had any advice or could help her out in any way. Although I was frustrated for a moment that a man was leaving his wife, his boy and the Church; I had to press on quickly to see if I could offer this lady some resources that would be effective and influential. (Can this situation verify that my coffee addiction is ok :) ?

With my wife by my side, I was able to share with her some very fruitful information. I first told her to keep praying for her husband and for her marriage, and don't stop! I then told her about a couple books that she should read. The first was 'Raising a Modern Day Knight' by author Robert Lewis. To be honest, I have never read this book, but it is on my list (especially now that I am having a son). But I have read the reviews, watched the book trailer and have reviewed the author. The second book I mentioned that I have read a couple times is 'The Way of the Wild Heart' or the updated book 'Fathered by God' by author John Eldredge. Both are the same book, but 'Fathered by God' is in paperback and is slightly shorter. I told her that this book describes that path to manhood from Boyhood all the way to the Sage. You can read my review of it here. I told her that these books talk about how a Father should raise a son, but if the Father is not around then the mother must read it. The lady seemed satisfied with the information and I pray that she gets the books and reads them. My wife was also able to confirm what I was telling the lady and even described some of the information to her. I always share what I read and learn with my wife and I can see that she takes it all in. It was great to have her confirm the message and be by my side through this experience. Although the experience went well, I was not completely satisfied.

I went from there asking myself if I was Resource Ready. Am I prepared for what people are going to ask me? Have I done my homework so that I can properly provide answers to those in need or with questions? Do you feel like your resource ready? If you were a man regularly attending church and was approached with something like this or something similar, what would you do? What would you say? This is important! This is part of being a good Disciple! I know we won't always have all the answers, but are we preparing ourselves the best we can? This idea has been on my mind ever since I encountered this. This has affected me enough to start building a new 'resources' page for Manturity; a place that goes through the stages of a man's life and provides resources for people to use. Check it out here! This is just another example of how God speaks to us, but we have to be listening. I heard Him and I'm responding!

Are you Resource Ready?
Share your story if you have ever encountered 

anything like this situation.

MAN UP! -Book Review

MAN UP! BECOMING A GODLY MAN IN AN UNGODLY WORLD is a book I recently had the pleasure of reading. The book was written by author and speaker Jody Burkeen. The book starts out with a powerful testimony about the journey Jody had to go through to truly find God. It's a testimony of a man fighting false desires and continually going up against the strikes of the enemy. A testimony of truth and honesty. He fought many of the battles we men face each and everyday and he didn't sugar coat it. In Jody's own words he had to MAN UP and stop being a spiritual sissy!

The book is divided up into some powerful, faith packed chapters. He doesn't just point out the life of Christ, but he points out how we are to mold our life after Christ. This applies in so many areas and Jody nails them in this book. He doesn't stop there though. He takes each chapter and asks some hard and relevant questions. Questions that demand answers from every man! Here is a brief outline of the chapters.

TIME TO MAN UP PERSONALLY

MAN UP IN YOUR MARRIAGE

MAN UP IN YOUR FATHERHOOD

MAN UP IN YOUR CHURCH

MAN UP AT WORK

MAN UP AND BE ACCOUNTABLE

MAN UP AND BE A DISCIPLE

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

As you can see these chapters go right to the heart of the man. The core. He takes each chapter and gives you great examples and explains how to apply them to your life. The questions at the end are the cherries on top. They bring the entire chapter together and ultimately into your personal life. Don't let these questions go unanswered; don't skip them and move on. Take ten minutes, grab and pen and paper and have a heart check. Pray and see where you stand with God on the issues brought up in each chapter. As Jody would say, Stop being a Spiritual Sissy and Man Up! 

The book doesn't end at the last chapter though. Jody does something great and asks you for more. As men, we all want more; but we have to make sure we want the right things. Well 30 days beyond the book chapters is the "more" we need. Develop your personal testimony, read the scriptures, keep a journal and PRAY! Sounds easy enough, right? There is also an Accountability Covenant near the back of the book. You'll have to read Chapter 6 to learn more about that. This by the way is my second favorite chapter, next to MAN UP AND BE A DISCIPLE. 

I encourage everyone to check out this book. It's a short, easy read that is packed with some powerful life changing material. Read the first part of the book here for free and click the picture below to pick yourself up a copy. Now MAN UP!

Manly Spiritual Maturity

So what does manhood or being manly have to do with Spiritual Maturity? If you asked me a few years ago, I probably would have fought this idea saying that "I am a man already" or "I can be mature, even if I'm not being a good Christian". Of course, now, I would say I was very immature in general and spiritually. The hard fact is that I am much more mature now that I am truly following Christ and I make it a daily effort to do even better. So men, where does it start? When do you know you either are being a spiritually mature man or you need to start? Some guys might wait until they finally move out of the house. Some guys might think it's after they landed that first big job. Some think it's when you get married (I know for a fact that that is not true). Some men might wait until their wife drops an emotional bomb on them or even leaves them. Some men might wake up after this or just move on doing what they do. Where does it begin?

DISCIPLESHIP

Definition? A follower of the doctrines of a teacher or a school of thought.

Let's be honest, we are all a disciple of something. We all come from different backgrounds, different teachers, different parents and different beliefs. We may have been taught how to be a man from our Father, a close mentor or just by what we have observed over the years. Some of us learned the discipline basics early in life. For me, it was taking out the trash weekly. It was mowing the lawn weekly. And it was listening to my fathers instruction as it was handed out. Your teachers at your school and college. Your boss and coworkers now. All of this has influenced you and shaped who you are now. But are you really being a man? Are you really spiritually mature? When you look up the word Disciple, you get a couple standard definitions and then you get the definition of a follower of Christ. Stop and think about the disciples of Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, you have most likely heard the stories of Christ and his 12 disciples. These were the men that dropped everything for Jesus. Without going too deep with their stories, you can see how a disciple must make a change. He must acknowledge that their is a right and wrong way and make a choice. In the disciples cases, they chose to be Spiritually Mature and follow Jesus wherever he desired to go. Are you willing to even drop one thing?

Personally I grew up knowing about Christ, but that was as far as it went. I could talk the talk, shake the hands and play the part. My father is a great man, but he showed me no example of being a real follower of Christ. He taught me key values in life that took me far, but still life required more. Life hit me after I got married. This was the time when I was required to be more mature. I had a wife, a new job and thought life was mine for the taking. Read 'Why the Train Tracks' to hear how I finally began my path to Spiritual Maturity. Think about it, you're living for something already. But what is it? Following Christ, thirsting for spiritual maturity and being His disciple turned out to be the manliest thing I could have ever done. Confidence issues? Christ can change it. Marriage issues? Christ can change that too. Work issues? Yep, you guessed right, Christ can change that too. Depression? Fear? Failure? I could go on for awhile, but I think you get the idea.

Be a man. Be a disciple. Lead by following.

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