Sunday, October 10, 2010

MEN!! Stand up! Be courageous! LEAD!!

Luke 10:27
He answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

A very dear friend of our family passed away last month. He was one of the few men who I looked up to in this world. One of the men who cause me to continue to believe that good, godly men exist. I called him: "Uncle Danny". He was a man's man. A veteran. A great father to Tony & Eric. A loving husband to Teri. A man of God. A man who followed Luke 10:27 with everything he had. And I will always love him for being all of those things.
I remember my dad & Uncle Danny would come out and play baseball with us kids growing up. He always had the heart of a child- he loved to have fun and laugh. I loved watching him wrestle with the boys... teaching his sons to be men. Even as a kid, I found something awe-inspiring about it. I loved how he taught them to be tough and unafraid even in the face of uncertainty. I will always be eternally thankful for the godly example that Danny was to me.
I am SO sick of the obsession of our society to feminize men. I gotta tell ya, the boys I always liked as a kid were the ones that got muddy and caught bugs and snakes and weren't afraid to skin their knees or bleed or be ADVENTUROUS. And guess what? I still like those kind of guys!!! A guy I dated in college pursued me like that day was his last day on earth. He risked looking like an idiot to get my attention and it worked. He loved to get dirty and sweaty and guess what? I thought it was sexy.

I remember my little brother, pretending to be a superhero, took a flying leap off the sofa when he was about 3 years old. I'm pretty sure the coffee table knocked him out cold. All I remember was the end result was a pretty black eye and my mom freaking out. All I'm saying is... what happened to the little boy sense of adventure in men?? What happened to the little boys who weren't afraid to get caught passing love letters in class? The boys who climbed trees and built treehouses? What happened to the boys who dressed up like superheros and firemen? (Not that I advocate grown men dressing up like superheros in skin-tight pants). Men: Look for your sense of adventure... if it's lost... go find it.

My girlfriends and I considering setting up camp in the men's clothing section at Bass Pro Shop hoping to check out the men shopping for Carhartt gear.
Ok, that's a joke... kind of. The truth is that real men have been missing from our society for awhile and we'd like to know where all of you manly men are. Please tell me you're not a dying breed. I have to watch "Man, Woman, Wild" to catch glimpses of a man. I'd like to see the girlie men in our society go hang out with that guy, Mykel Hawke. Mykel and Uncle Danny would have been great buds.
I recently bought a book called "The Ultimate Man's Survival Guide". I don't know why I bought it but I'm glad I did. It's encouraged me that there are still real men out there who LOVE GOD & aren't afraid to get dirty. I love it. Let me tell you, if any guy interested in me doesn't have this book at the top of their favorite list... then we probably aren't going to work out. I had lunch with my parents this weekend and of course my parents brought up my dating life. You know, like "what are you doing to meet people"? Ugh. My response was to tell them about a conversation my roomie had with a friend recently. This friend was also inquiring about whether we girls were dating and what we were doing. He said: "You just need to put yourself out there." REALLY? IT'S THAT EASY??!! We just need to put ourselves OUT THERE?? Hmm, ok. So my very wise roomie asked: "Ok, where is this elusive out there? Is there a secret hiding place?" And not surprising, after much discussion our friend could offer no advice outside of church singles groups. Anyway, back to the response that I gave my parents... I told my Dad: "I want my husband to be like you, Dad. A man who lives his life honorably as unto the Lord." And guess what? THAT'S THE TRUTH!! THAT'S WHAT WE CHRISTIAN WOMEN REALLY WANT! Sounds simple, huh? I live MY LIFE in that way... and I expect him to do the same. What's so damn complicated about it??


The truth is that I'm not going to go hunting for anyone. I'm sure my man is looking for me. And I'm sure my God who created the UNIVERSE and EVERYTHING in it, can manage to get us together. My bro met his wife at a dog park. Another couple I know met because she was his waitress and she accidentally spilled a drink on him as she was passing by. Seriously, God is big enough... He can handle this. This entry is not about me or my dating life. The purpose is to encourage men to BE MEN!!!! To encourage you that we want you to be men and LIVE "The Ultimate Man's Survival Guide". Most importantly, we want you to live Luke 10:27!! Because if you do that... then you can't help but be real men.


I've been dabbling in some ancestry stuff recently. I gotta tell you, it's also boosted my belief that men are created to be courageous. Looking at my genealogy, it's filled with guys who were warriors, soldiers, fighters, victors. They were the type of men who were naturally "ultimate". Men who weren't afraid to risk everything for the people they loved. Men who went against the grain went the going got tough. And I believe many of them loved God with
all their hearts and with all their souls and with all their strength and with all their minds.
Certain things really fire me up. And this is one of those things. Men: Please stand up and be men. Take off your girlie clothes, put down that "messenger bag", go camping, go fishing, make a fire, and sleep under the stars. Don't forget to take your bible and talk to God. I'm praying that He will help you be the men that He has created you to be. The men that we need you to be. Don't let us down... go watch Braveheart, put some warrior paint on your face and get revved up. We need men to stand up for the truth of God's Word. We need men to stand up for their country. We need men to stand up for their families. We need men to stand up. STAND UP! STAND UP! STAND UP!!!!!!!!!

There are only a few songs that cause me to involuntarily move. I've been listening to "Cosmic Love" while writing this... it's just the kind of song that makes me want to get up, march & fight. Maybe I like it because she's shouting at the top of her lungs and I can hear gun-fire somewhere in the background. But unlike this song, I believe that the men in this world aren't going to leave us "in the dark". I'm praying that men of God will stand up & be courageous & be the leaders that God has created them to be.

I love what Jesus says to Saul (aka Paul) in Acts 26: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," the Lord replied. 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."

Men: You can thank my father & my Uncle Danny for my crazy 100% faith in the "manly man". I can hear your hearts beating. Don't leave us in the dark. We need you. We miss you. Live Luke 10:27. Help us light the darkness.

9 comments:

Tara Lynn Thompson said...

You were kidding about Bass Pro? I was thinking it was time to go back.

Love the passion Kster. Love it!

kristin said...

Hey, I said I was kind of kidding... which really means that I'm not kidding at all.
So I'm all about roaming Bass Pro again... and I'm totally up for another rodeo too! There's just something about those bull-riders... dirt, boots, fearless spirit... love those guys.

Sarah Jo said...

Time for men to put down the X-Box controllers, go outside, break a sweat and get their hands dirty.

LINDSEY CLAIRE said...

Great post, K-Lamb! Love the passion and the "We need you. We miss you." line at the end!

Wild at Heart was the book that gave me hope that men like this still exist... it's all about true masculinity and how the heart of men should refelct the heart of God, who is an adventurous, passionate, bold warrior... another John Eldredge book you would definitely enjoy!!

Tina said...

I'm not kidding - I think the men at Bass Pro and the rodeo are some of the sexiest men out there ... I have always said it was something about living in Oklahoma that makes you want to breathe dirt and leather. But I have to agree out of all the men I have dated, even the one I attempted to make a life with, they have been manly men.
Stand strong ladies. If the years in my life have taught me one thing it is time to own your life. It is never to late to step up to the plate and ask for what we want and expect to get it.
Take the time to grow in yourself. Learn what you want for you. As you do this you will cross paths with the one that is meant to be. Don't be fake about yourself or you will be looking in the wrong place.
Don't be afraid of getting dirty. Your man may be looking for a girl who looks good in dirt also.

kristin said...

Sarah- Agreed!

Lindz- Thanks for mentioning that book! I've been wanting to read it and meant to include it in this post. Wild at Heart sounds like a fantastic book! Another one that I hope is on my man's fav list!

Tina- Thanks for sharing! and for all the encouragement! Believe me, I'm one girl who isn't afraid to strap on a pair of boots and get dirt under my nails! Ha!

HUGS to all of you!

Sarah Jo said...

Tina, I love your comment about breathing dirt and leather. My dad is a cowboy and a farmer, and those smells are how I relate to masculinity. He also comes home smelling like grease and always has caloused hands with damaged fingernails from all the fixing he does. Now that's a MAN!

SLM said...

I've been meaning to write about the death of the manly man for awhile now. I'm tired of seeing all of these androgynous movie stars...I call all girlie-men Dempseys now. Give me Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jason Stathom over Ryan Gosling ANY day!!!

You need to find yourself a soldier!! Doesn't get any more manly than an infantryman!! :-)

kristin said...

Hi SLM!
Yes, I think you're right... I think I do need an infantryman! I saw your Ranger graduation post on your blog... I would love going to see that sometime. Looks like it was pretty awesome!
And I'm with you- not a fan of the girlie-men Dempseys! Ha! If you haven't seen it, you should check out The Expendables!
Thank you for stopping by & leaving a note!