Be Encouraged for Back-to-School!

The start of the school season is here.  That time of year when kids wish that summer lasted a few more weeks, and mom’s wish their babies weren’t growing up so fast.  When teachers stress (or so I’m told) about getting their rooms ready, organized, and situated and fall sport coaches get geared up for practices to begin.  And our American way of life gets its schedule back.

Personally, I haven’t been this excited about a school year, well… maybe ever.  I’m actually pumped for school to start.  I can’t wait to welcome my students to my classroom for the first time!  I will begin teaching middle school and high school theology, having a total of seven classes per day.  It’s going to be a rollercoaster schedule, but I’m really excited about it.  I’m teaching 6th-10th grades, and 2 electives which I hope to highlight more in the future.  “Faith & Action” for 7th-9th graders and “Faith & Strength” for 11th-12th.  These classes are going to be amazing.  I have the honor and pleasure of helping to form these young minds and souls in the truths of Christ Jesus!  What better honor could their be?!

Whatever you’re feeling in regards to back-to-school, here’s a few things to keep in mind:

FOR KIDS: School is about more than grades, gossip, and gross cafeteria food.  Embrace school, and all the trials that come along with it, to help build you into the person God is calling you to be.  Set goals for yourself for what you’d like to achieve this year – whether they be academic, athletic, extra-curricular, or a mix of all of them.  Don’t take this time in your life for granted… soak it up, enjoy it, and live each day to the fullest.  I challenge you to be pro-active (don’t procrastinate!) with your homework, set your priorities straight, and to be determined to always be a positive influence in your school.  Be a heroicly virtuous leader among your peers!

FOR PARENTS: You have the power to shape the “mental game” of your child!  If you help them to see things correctly, to properly order their day, to set them up for success… they will be all the better for it!  Ask your child questions, engage them in what’s going on in school (don’t forget about the social aspect – so many parents don’t have a clue) and help them to set goals.  I like the idea of monthly, quarterly, and semester goal-setting.  (We’ll be goal-setting in my classes.)  Outlaw the lame, but ever so popular, question “How was school today?”  Instead, ask them engaging questions like: 1. What was the most important thing you said today?  2. How were you a leader at school today? (Notice that I don’t leave room for “I wasn’t a leader.”  Expect your child to execute leadership!  Learning their leadership style, possibly through their temperament, would be a great exercise.)  3. What did you do today to help you achieve your goals?  4. What mistakes did you make today and how will you make sure you don’t make them again?  (And so on. Choose one or two a day, don’t feel like you need to ask them all every day.  Come up with your own.)  Even small children can have conversations about these concepts, and it’s much more effective than one-word responses and helps teach children valuable communication skills.  In our house, we also go around the table, asking everyone these two questions: 1. What was your favorite part of the day? 2. How did you make the choice to love today?  GREAT for conversations!

A word to the dads: Dads, if you’re not actively involved in the schooling process of your children, make a “new school year” resolution and become involved.  An easy way to engage is to make sure that your family has dinner together every night and that you ask some of those important questions at that time.  I know there are a million and one excuses about why dinner doesn’t happen as a family, but it’s super important to “break bread” together. Lead the conversation, get to know the inner workings of your kid’s brain, and build the trust with them that you expect should be there.  It doesn’t just happen on its own – you have to work at it and earn it from them.  When you do, you’ll be effective in speaking into their lives – possibly the single most important thing you can do!  Go Dads!

May God bless your school year, your school, your teachers and coaches, and most imporantly, our children.

TrueMan up!

“To Be Thankful…”

I’ve been thinking that a number of my posts have been negative examples of males lately, or simply negative innature in one way or another.  I wanted to post this video of an incredible man.  Nick Vujicic is an awesome inspiration.  You may have seen him before, but I suggest that you watch this video all the way through.  Shortly into the video, he shares some principles for life.  The first thing he says is simple, and important considering that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.  He says, “I’ve learned to be thankful.”  Simple, but true.

“It’s a lie to think that you’re not good enough.  It’s a lie to think that you’re not worth anything.”  From Nick Vujicic, the man with no arms or legs.  Believe this!

Watch the video, then think of all the times that you’ve wanted something you shouldn’t have, and in turn, have been completely lacking in thankfulness for the things you do have.  This guy doesn’t have any arms or legs, for goodness sake!  He swims, plays soccer, fishes, drives boats!  This man is incredible… what do you have to complain about?  Nothing!

I thought a part of the story that is important for men who are either newly married, engaged to be married or hoping to one day be married, was the part of the story when he spoke about not needing hands to hold her heart.  Powerful.

TrueMan up!

In a World of Negativity, Think Positive

There’s a lot of junk happening lately and lots of bad stuff happening in the world.  We’ve got gigantic problems in Washington, we’re fighting a war in the Middle East where there hasn’t been peace, well, ever.  We’re constantly facing persecution for being “moral, ethical citizens”.  Babies are being destroyed for the sake of convenience and preference.  A good deal of the time, it doesn’t seem like anything is ever going to get better.

Look on the bright side, we have lots to be thankful for.  Someone, somewhere has it much, much worse than you or me.  Belly-achin’ and complainin’ about stuff isn’t going to make anything better.  Yes, there are plenty of really horrible things taking place in our world, but they shouldn’t effect our daily lives from being focused and centered on Christ.

Imagine how badly St. Paul had it… beatings, being stoned, imprisonment and so on!  (Read Philippians 2:12-18.)

Thinking positively helps us take a bad situation and turn it into something decent.  There’s serious power in the reality of the power of positive thought.  I encourage everyone to try three things over the next three days, and see if your attitude changes.

1. Refrain from complaining.
2. Find a positive side to everything.
3. Do something kind for someone else at least once a day.

After three days, after you’ve tried these three things, comment back, or email, or post on Facebook, or wherever.  I want to know what you experienced.

Man up!

The Power to Positively Effect Change

I don’t typically follow mainstream media, news or happenings, and I definitely don’t follow the NBA, so this story was interesting to me when I heard about it.  Recently, in an interview with Maxim Magazine, LeBron James (Team Captain of the Cleveland Cavaliers) was quoted, when asked “If there was one guy on the planet you could dunk on, who would it be?”, as saying: “If it doesn’t have to be a basketball player, George W. Bush. I would dunk on his [ass], break the rim, and shatter the glass.”  (LeBron is a known-supporter of Barack Obama.)

The friend who told me about this LeBron story wrote this to me in our correspondence: “Boston just beat the Cavaliers with King James and Shaq. After LeBron’s majorly inappropriate comment about wanting to dunk and shatter the backboard over Pres. Bush (more than any other person), I have lost respect for LeBron. How about dunking over Osama Bin Laden? In LeBron’s role model position, you just don’t show that kind of disrespect for the President even if you don’t like him. Not to mention, his poor sportsmanship in losing the playoffs last year… he wouldn’t shake hands after the game. Your manly opinion on this?“

In response, I wrote: “In my humble opinion, LeBron has no class, no leadership and an immaturity that rivals others.  He who, in his position, could effect MAJOR POSITIVE CHANGE on a global level. On a manliness scale, he’d rank very very low. No virtue = Not Manly.”

The reason I highlighted positive change (both in my response to my friend and in the title of this post) is because LeBron could bring about so much positive change in this world, simply because of his stature, his following and his presence in the media.  The trouble here, is that if you ask a fan of LeBron if he’s effecting positive change in the world, they’ll emphatically say “Yes!”  It’s a clouded judgment that some people can’t see past because he appears to be so influential and such a boost for the sport.  A TRUE boost to the sport would be challenging men to live virtuous, moral lives.

Just my $.02 today.

Man up!

In Response to a Comment: More Positive Examples, Please

James,
I greatly appreciate your comment, keep ’em comin’!  The topic of negative/judgemental material has been brought to my attention before, and I would like to publicly respond.  I will write this post here, as well as respond to you in the comment section under “About TrueManhood’s Author”.

The first time I was asked about it, someone asked me, “Do I really believe that men are as bad off as I make them seem?”  My answer was emphatically “Yes!”.  I witness unconscionable behavior almost on a daily basis, and this behavior has become the socially accepted norm for males.  I also, on occasion, see an example of manliness lived out in our modern world – I typically write about it.

I’d like to draw attention to the majority of my past posts during the months of June/July 09; these posts are positive examples of men living out virtue and encouraing others to do the same.  Since Father’s Day, 7 of my last 9 posts have had optimistic and positive outlooks on men and their manliness.  The few posts that seem to have a negative and/or seemingly judgemental approach are written as real life examples of men who fail to live out the call that has been placed on all of our hearts since the dawn of time.  (See the discourse between God and Adam in The Book of Genesis.)  These few “negative” examples are in place in order to bring light to the darkness and to hopefully start to reverse a trend that I (I believe we all see it happening in front of us daily) see happening in our culture; this trend is that a stereotypical male lives a certain way.  I have referred to this as “cultural manliness” – the idea that a man is judged based on how much money, power, possessions and sex he has.  I desire to fight this stereotype, reverse it so that the trend is of virtuous men living out their God-given call and to win souls for Christ.

I would really appreciate any and all comments on this topic!

Man up!

It Depends on How You Look At It

My wife and I woke up this morning to our truck missing.  It was parked on the curb, locked.  Apparently, someone thought they wanted/needed it more than we do. 

I knew immediately, as Catherine came in from the driveway (preparing to leave for work this morning) and asked, “Dave, where did you park the Avalanche last night?”, that it was gone.  I got up to look out the front windows, knowing that my looking wasn’t going to bring it back.  I kissed her, told her it would be alright and she headed to work.  I calmly called the local PD and reported it stolen.  The officer was great and kept the conversation positive by saying “We have a 65% recovery rate, so don’t lose hope.”  I could have chosen to look at it much differently than I did.

It depends on how you look at it…

On the one hand, someone had the audacity to violate my property.  They found my possession more important for them to possess.  They put a scare in the families who, at one time, felt safe in our private cul de sac.  They caused me to question the security of my home and whether or not I should go out and purchase car alarms for each of my vehicles.  It caused me lots of paperwork and hassle.  They stole not only my vehicle but $4K worth of my stuff that was inside of it.  How dare they.

On the other hand, I’m probably going to get a newer, nicer vehicle.  I’ll most likely get all my possessions replaced and my family will move on and be stronger because we made a choice to look at the bright side.  Through adversity comes unity within a family unit.

This sort of incident can eat away at a person.  A person can let it consume them and let the emotions that come along with it form their attitude.  I’m choosing to respond differently.  I know that God will provide for us and that this happened for a reason.  Good can come from this and I’m positive that it will.  What good would it do me to complain?  What good would becoming angry or frustrated bring me?  Obviously, in this situation, what’s done is done.  If the police find it and it’s not damaged, great.  If it’s gone forever, then God is protecting my family from something.

When something like this happens to you or to someone close to you, set an example of how to react.  Staying even-keeled and consistent with your emotions will be a strong witness.  Remain strong in God the Father and know that He wants good for you.  Be strong.

Man up!