Boys to men

I was 'The Mandate' on Saturday.  It a men-only Christian conference, the speaker was Mark Driscoll with praise by Paul Balouche. 



Mark Driscoll



Mark Discoll is the Preaching and Theology Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  A church which started as a house group in the mid-nineties and now has around 10,000 members.  He has plently to say.  He's a bible man, he's blunt and forthright, some may say arrogant as well.  Driscoll is what might be descibed as 'not everyone's cup of tea'.

He challenged me though and for that I thank him.  He challenged me to be a better worshipper, husband, and warrior, to fulfill my duties, to man-up.

When does a man become a man? Driscoll bemaons the attitude of young men which tells them they are still boys, lads out for a good time.  No sense of reaponsibility, no need to work, save money, plan for the future.  No need to treat the women in their lives with respect and love.  Able to place their social life above their family, to refuse to be a good example to younger brothers and sisiters in the Lord, to sleep with their girlfriends, to get drunk.   Christian men acting like worldly boys.  Christian men acting like they have never met Jesus.

Last week I posted about a little boy dressed-up like a little girl.  Maybe the greater concern is that so many men are 'dressed-up' like little boys.

If you are reading this as a single woman demand from the boys around you that they grow-up.  Do not accept irresponsibility from them, do not accept them touching you inappropriately or treating you disrespectfully.  You are worthy of the best - demand the best.

It's to late for me to change how I behaved when I was a single man, I can only try to be a better married man.  Many still have the opportunity to become men while they are young; don't waste it.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

1 Corinthians 13:11

Man up

Boys wear blue, girls wear pink.

Boys like cars, girls like ponies.
Boys like Action Man, girls like Barbies.
Boys like building, girls like cooking.

Boys and girls are different, right?

One thing that seems to unite children of both genders is a love of Scooby-Doo. Who could blame them, it's great.  A little boy in America loves Scooby-Doo so much that he decided to go as one of the characters to a Halloween fancy-dress party. 

Little did he know that his desire to go as a Scooby-doo character was going to cause a huge ruckus resulting in his mother having to defend herself on the television.  The reason was that his favourite character was Daphne.

Was she right to let her son dress as a woman?  He was only five so what harm can it do?  Men these days are happy to wear pink shirts or ties or socks so surely it's not a huge leap to throw on a skirt of a morning.

It is undoubtedly strange to see a five year old boy dressed as a girl. The question is though - does it matter?

Discuss.