Girls…and Boys on Hormones!

That's My Teenage Son

By the time a young man has entered puberty he is well aware of the female of our species.  He is aware of the young women around him with every aspect of his consciousness.  He is alert to how everything he does and says reflects in the perception that females have of him.  He is [...]

The Power of Fathers

That's My Teenage Son

One way to judge the degree of power or influence that something has is to observe what happens when it is absent.  God has given men, especially fathers, tremendous power to influence the lives of those around them.  In particular the lives of women and children are hugely impacted by what a man does or [...]

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

That's My Teenage Son

The type of men we are determines the type of men our boys become.  In his book, Man of Steel and Velvet, Aubrey Andelin talks about the importance of men being both strong and tender.  He likens a man’s character to a building having a strong foundation of steel to support the structure; while the [...]

A Father’s Protection

That's My Teenage Son

There is an old legend regarding the Cherokee Indian youth’s Rite of Passage. When a boy is ready to become a man, the father takes his son into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a tree stump the entire night and not remove the blindfold until the [...]

The Kind of Person I Yearn to Be

Becoming Your Spouses Other Half

As a new year dawns it is a perfect opportunity to have a fresh slate and become the kind of person we want to be.  But our past and our self-destructive behavior are frequently our own worst enemy. One of the challenges I notice many people face is the lack of mental self-discipline.  This often [...]

Boys and Elephants

A number of years ago there was a problem with the elephant herds on a game preserve in Africa.  Because they were protected, the herds were growing to such a size that they were destroying the countryside and even farm crops in a search for food.  The local experts decided that the way to control [...]

Expectations Make the Man

Oftentimes the expectations we have for our children have a tendency to come to fruition.  With that in mind it is important we have high expectations for our boys.  We should strive to have them aspire to greatness.  Why not exhort them to aspire to greatness?  The rule of thumb in the business world is [...]

Perpetuating the Cycle

Fatherless boys tend to follow in the footsteps modeled for them, perpetuating fatherlessness onto future generations.  Here is a fairly simple illustration of just one way this manifests itself using very broad generalizations.  When boys are raised only by women they grow up learning the communication style of women.  They use more words, they speak [...]

A Culture Without Vision Perishes

A blind man once asked a wise man, “Is there anything worse than losing your eye sight?” The wise man replied, “Yes…losing your vision.” One of the most important character traits a leader possesses is vision.  As a culture we are losing our most valuable resource—male leadership.  We have lost our vision of what role [...]

Boys Need Men

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Early in the movie, GoodFellas, Ray Liotta’s character is a teenage boy working for the neighborhood “wiseguys” or members of the Mafia.  When he is arrested for the first time he is greeted as a conquering hero by all the older “made” wiseguys after he walks out of the courtroom.  These powerful, rich men now [...]