Raising Real Men

Today is St. Crispin’s Day, my son informs me, the 596th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt.    King Henry V of England was hopelessly outnumbered by the approaching French Army, but

Not many movies had me in tears in the opening sequence. “Courageous” did. I’m not an “early adopter” of whatever comes down the road–I think I didn’t upgrade to Windows 95 until Windows 98 came out. Movies are a little different, and there may not be many days left in the theater schedule for this…
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When Daniel was told not to pray, he knew he faced being thrown to the lions. When Christians in Tennessee are told not to pray, they may face a lion of a different kind, the unemployment “lion.”

Recently in Westmoreland, Tennessee, four high school football coaches bowed their heads during a student led prayer at a game.

We love to see the manly virtues played out in real life! Yesterday, we wrote in a Facebook note and shared the story of our courageous friend, missionary Mike Richardson and his determination to overcome fear to bring the gospel to those living in one of the most dangerous places on our continent – the…
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I was intrigued when our son sent me a link to a graphic illustration of the most commonly used words in toy advertisements for boys and girls. Scanning over the words, I see something very different than the original researcher did… The words used in advertising toys for boys are things like battle, power, heroes,…
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From time to time it’s helpful to ask, and try to answer, the question of just what is a “real man.”  I recently saw a book criticizing the commercialization of boyhood.  The cover artwork showed a hapless young man about ten or twelve years old.  He was wearing a football helmet, shoulder pads, and Superman…
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Yesterday while I was writing about our Thanksgiving traditions for this blog, I looked up George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in preparation for suggesting you share it with your family. As I read it, I felt increasingly sad. George Washington thanked God “for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.” I thought…
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We just love Thanksgiving! What a wonderful holiday! Leading up to the day, we teach our children great hymns of Thanksgiving, such as “We Gather Together,”  “Come Ye Thankful People, Come,”  “Count Your Blessings,” and “Now Thank We All Our God.” We particularly love “We Gather Together,” because it was a Dutch song of the proper…
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The problem of books and boys has been in the news lately.  It’s a known fact that boys generally read less than girls and seem to enjoy it less when they do read.  Teachers and librarians have worried about it for years, and some of their suggestions border on desperation.  Should we embrace comic books and…
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Ah, the weekend’s finally here.  Looking forward to the weekend is such an institution, even officially-atheist nations like China shut down for Sunday.  Here in America, Saturday’s time to catch up on some yardwork, maybe wash the car, but then it’s time to play.  Sometimes it seems like the weekend is our goal line for all the…
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