men.

"The world cries for men who are strong--strong in conviction, strong to lead, to stand, to suffer. I pray that you will be that kind of man--glad that God made you a man, glad to shoulder the burden of manliness in a time when to do so will often bring contempt."--Mark of a Man

Men ought to be men. Not as the world says, but as God says. And women ought to appreciate them (and be downright thankful) that they are, in fact, men. (Not women!) Unfortunately in our culture, to be a Man (as Jesus would have it)usually means disdain will accompany it.

For a man to bear such a calling, and even more, to embrace it, would be a very radical stance in a world engrossed with the watered-down version of such masculinity.

Sometimes I'm not so sure where the lies end and the truth begins...oh the philosophies of our society. They make it quite confusing, don't they?

As women, we ought to encourage men to be (wait for it...) men. We too must learn what makes the heart of a man; by starting with the One who made him. But we must keep in mind, if we don't start with the One who made him, then we won't know the fabric of his soul, his gifts, and the places where he needs the heart of a woman. If we don't begin "in the beginning" like the good Book says, we will go around with misconceptions and lofty expectations of what makes a man truly a man. If we don't, we cannot and will not appreciate him for who he is--and the inherent limitations that come with manhood. Oh there are limitations to womanhood too. It would serve our best interest to learn those as well.

But we must keep in mind that our limitations do not shackle us (like culture would tell us); but instead, they free us. A train traveling 100mph down the coastline has its limitations; it is limited to the track and the course it's following. A train is not inhibited by the tracks, but it's precisely the "limitations" of such tracks that free and empower it to get wherever its going.

We live in a culture where men are told to live outside of the train tracks. Women are told it too. And better yet, we both get away with it (or so we think) because its "progress." But little do we all know, there are catastrophic train accidents everywhere.

I can't even see the tracks anymore.

And we wonder where all the "good men have gone." Simple answer: we haven't let them be men.