Bob's Blog

Men need to be initiated into Godly manhood. We need to be mentored through the stages and levels of growth. The model I like to use is the one created by John Eldredge. Boyhood -> Cowboy -> Warrior -> Lover -> King -> Sage. This journey, through the stages, is made easier when men in the stages above, reach down and pull us up. Unfortunately, not enough of this is happening. In fact, because of the crisis of manhood in our world today, fewer and fewer Kings and Sages exist to help those below. The path through these stages has become overgrown and vaguely marked. Often, I feel like I am trying to navigate uncharted territory. It should not be this way. Men, we have an obligation and a duty to open this trail, to reach down and pull men up through the stages through which we have already passed. Kings and Sages, show yourselves. God is not finished with you! You are desperately needed.

"The young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." from The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith by Bruce Marshall I love the quote above! I heard it recently when listening to a Podcast by John Eldredge. As I have discussed before on this blog, men often take their search for affirmation, intimacy, and validation to the woman. It is God's intention that we approach the woman with our strength, to protect and to lead our families. Instead, all too often, we approach the woman in search of our strength. But, she cannot, nor was she intended to, provide that. She is not God! But, we keep searching, thinking the problem is with the woman that we have chosen, not our expectations. Indeed, her beauty is the pinnacle of God's creation. But her beauty is not the destination. Instead, that beauty is intended to be an arrow, pointing us straight to the heart of the Creator.

Due to a recent business trip, Liza and I found ourselves in London this past Palm Sunday afternoon. We had flown all night and had arrived at our hotel in Ascot, England around noon that day. Even though we were tired, we decided to make our way to London which is about an hour train ride from Ascot to Waterloo Station. After visiting the London Eye and Parliament Building, we made our way to Westminster Abbey to see if we might be able to attend a service. As luck would have it, we arrived at 2:59 PM and found that the Evensong Service started at 3:00 PM. Westminster Abbey, pictured above, was built between 1245 and 1517. In addition to being an acting church, it is in effect, as most abbeys are in England, an indoor cemetery. No less than a dozen kings and queens of England are buried in the Abbey. Others buried there include Sir Issac Newton, David Livingstone, William Wilberforce, Rudyard Kipling and even Charles Darwin. Some of you may remember seeing the Abbey on television in r