Choosing The Heroic Path

When you’re in Su00f70f35408dac58d4698286fe5f2719nday School you’re taught about Jesus being fully God and fully man.

But have you ever been thought about Jesus being fully man?

 Jesus was not just a human, but our model for masculine behavior as well.

With a world rejecting the importance of gender more and more everyday, I can’t think of a better time for a book embracing the manhood of Jesus and the masculine heart in general.

In The Heroic Path, author John Sowers does just this, charting his quest to find out what it means to be a man in a brutally honest and relatable fashion.

It’s not too manly of me to admit that I teared up often while reading the book. The stories of John’s struggles to be a man’s man and failing hard along the way are so relatable – so many things I have struggled with over the years.

In fact, I would bet there are more men like author John Sowers out there that can’t seem to maneuver a lawnmower than there are brawny lumberjack men nowadays.

Sowers has a lot of experience searching for masculinity. He details a life story of feeling outmanned by his peers at every turn from high school to adulthood. Continue reading

You May Be Wrong

bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-usa-1

I got rid of my first Bruce Springsteen CD. 

When I was in high school I purchased a copy of Born In The USA. I knew the songs everybody knew – the title track, “Glory Days”, “Dancing In The Dark”. I was all into exploring classic rock artists at the time and so I gave Bruce a shot.

I gave the CD one listen. I just couldn’t get into it. For some reasons Bruce’s brand of tunes didn’t connect to me at age 17.

So I took Born In The USA to the pawn shop and got some terrible trade-in value for it. The Boss and I went our separate ways.

I used to think I simply wasn’t a Bruce Springsteen fan. Then my tune dramatically changed.  Continue reading

So I Thought I Could Dance…

There I was, just an ordinary kid, on the precipice of the most important night of my life: the fifth-grade dance. If I had learned anything from watching hours of “Saved By The Bell” every morning before school, it was that true love is born at school dances.

nrcc.net

nrcc.net

Desperately desiring a girlfriend, I knew I needed to enhance my appearance for this night. This was my first school dance. It had to be perfect.

I picked out a snazzy shirt from my closet. I doused myself in drug-store cologne. I slicked my hair back and sprayed it down until it was brittle.

I looked good.

My best friend and I gave each other pep talks in the car on the way to the dance. I arrived with confidence, ready to find true love and dance the night away.

Instead, I spent the night stuffing my face with cookies and candy bars, standing scared against the wall for two straight hours. Continue reading