Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

My amazingly hilarious and brilliant(it's true he's way more awesome than I am) is the author of the blog The Chapel Door.  He writes about a varied topics but most notably he writes about theology and the "tipping of sacred cows".  Sometimes said cows need their figurative(if not literal) tipping.

A few days back he wrote a post(that you can read here) about the emasculating of men our society and how that has negatively effected the church.  Basically it's a no holds barred look at the way we(men and women alike) view men and the way men act themselves.  Now I have no idea what it is like to be a man in our culture(nor would I want to).  But I do have a husband and a son.  And I work in a field that is very recently finding itself open to women so there are a lot of men around me regularly.  And I have noticed that chivalry and manners are traits that are very swiftly being swept aside.  Why I don't know but it breaks my heart for my son.

Before I ever got pregnant with Clayton we were praying for a child and specifically a son.  For the very simple reason that our world is in such short supply of "men".  Now I know that statistically men make up roughly half of the world's population.   Our culture is short on men that willingly and unashamedly stand up for their family.  Men that are not afraid of hard work.  Men that also aren't afraid or too dignified to help their wives with the housework or give the children a bath.  Men that take their families to church on the Lord's day and lead their families in private worship.  The reason we prayed so specifically for a son was to have the opportunity to raise a Godly man.  I know that anything that Clayton(and any futures) becomes is a direct result of God's sovereign hand and His perfect design.  But God chooses the foolishness of parenting to make babies in to adults.  Chad and I regularly say that we aren't raising a boy, we are raising a man.  It is our belief, hope, and prayer that God uses the things that we are attempting to teach Clayton to show a future generation the love of Christ. 

When we prayed for Clayton we didn't pray that God would call him to be a preacher so he could carry on the "family business".  We prayed that God would give a son because the church needs Godly men and it needs them now.  Chad and I believe that the father that brings his family to church on Sundays and teaches them how to worship and shows them how to love Him is just as important to the church as the pastor, if not more so.

In a world where feminism reigns(and there were some changes towards women that needed to be changed) and where women are supposed to be equal to men it makes me wonder if our men are getting the raw deal?  When we decide that women are equal(or better depending on the conversation) to men does that make them less than God has planned for them to be?  And for the record I believe that men and women are independently special and shouldn't be compared for equality.

 There are specific roles that women and men can fill better than the other one and should be allowed to fill that role.  A parenting example, Chad is a much better disciplinarian than I am.  I can and do discipline my child but it seems to come so much more naturally to Chad.  But I am much more nurturing than Chad is.  And that is by God's perfect design.  If we were both the same Clayton would either be raised in boot camp or in lala land.

So here's my point(or maybe even my soapbox), let's let our men be men the way God designed them to be.  And stop trying to make them in to a softer weaker version of themselves.  Let's let our men lead our homes.  Let's let our men protect our families in a world that is out to destroy the family.  I wouldn't want to be a man in today's society.  Ladies I think we have it so much easier for so many reasons.

Here's to men and boys that will be men very soon.  Thank you!