Many of you aren't on facebook or Twitter to read this post, so I thought I would post this blog for your reading enjoyment. I love when my husband blogs. I watch him day in and day out be a great example of love to our daughter as well as to the kids in our hood. I'm so blessed to have him as a leader. Here are his thoughts....
"I’ve now been around our high school boys since they graduated from the 5th grade. I’ve spent countless hours with them: hanging out, eating, playing, fussing, pranking, teaching, and conversing about our role in God’s Kingdom. They, as well as some of their biological family, have become like family to our household. As we seek to build deeper relationships and establish trust and a good rapport there still seems to be an unspoken disconnect. I’d noticed it before, but the relationships sometimes go so well that the feelings that I often experience at times seemed to be the elephant in the room who keeps on farting. I don’t want to acknowledge or bring attention to it and its kind of funny when you sit back and observe but it can also stink at times.
I noticed that no matter how close I am to the young men that I’m around there is still a slight difference in the way that they relate and open up to my wife. Not only my wife, but women who are older than they are. As I sat back, observed and analyzed the reasons why this may have been happening, reality kicked in. Some of the mothers are strong women who grind it out on a daily basis showing love by providing food, clothing, shelter, and concern for them. Many dads don’t play active roles in the lives of these young men so some grow up with a deep level of trust, respect, and admiration for older women because of their mothers and other women in their family who nurture them.
It’s funny that as I sit at my dinner table to write this, a few young men just sat near me and confirmed everything that I’m saying. I can relate to this as well because growing up I had the same experience. Going through it and realizing this reality has helped me understand our young men a lot better, but reinforced even more the importance of being affirmed, trained, and discipled by godly men.
In Acts 16 you see Paul being introduced to a disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but his father was Greek. In 2 Timothy 1:5 you clearly see that Timothy’s mother and grandmother had a major impact on Timothy’s life and played a pivotal role in Timothy becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. It was huge for a young Timothy, who had been impacted by the older women in his life, to also be trained, affirmed, encouraged, and discipled by Paul, and to journey with him. As I think through our mission to disciple our youth as well as connecting them with godly mentors, I think of the relationship that Paul had with Timothy. My prayer is that the CGM staff men, as well as other godly men we partner with, would effectively help us carry out our mission by investing in our young men and affirming what it means to be a godly man."
Kevin King