We're men, we're men in tights.
We roam around the forest looking for fights.
We're men, we're men in tights.
We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that's right!
We may look like sissies, but watch what you say or else we'll put out your lights!
We're men, we're men in tights,
Always on guard defending the people's rights…
Hopefully you've seen the movie, “Robin Hood, Men in Tights”, with Cary Ewes. If not, then the above song lyrics will have no meaning for you at all. If you have seen it, then I apologize because now that tune is going to be stuck in your head all day.
I wanted to start with this because this scene in the movie was a humorous attempt to make Robin Hood’s band of Merry men seem tougher, since they wore tights all through the movie. It was a parody, of course, and only added jest to their already unmanly attire as they pranced around in a dance routine.
 |
| Dana Carvey as the Church Lady |
When I was probably ten years old my Grandma took me to a small Pentecostal church. That was quite an experience for a first timer at church. I realized real quick I didn't want any part of that. I didn't go back. I wasn't interested in what the “Church Lady” had to offer.
Later, during my high school years, a local church (the one right across from our high school) hired a youth pastor that was in his mid-twenties. I had never heard of anything like this. A young man of position in a church. My curiosity was piqued. I met the new pastor after one night when me and several friends were not being very good boys. We did some donuts in the front lawn of the school. The new youth pastor happened to be in his office at the time and saw it all. (We were probably in my truck).
He caught up to us a few days later and made a deal with us. Come to the “Christian Rock Band” concert next week at the auditorium and he’d keep our little secret from the authorities. We went. It was good. I began to see Christianity in a new light that contrasted the Pentecostal church by leaps and bounds.
It also just so happened that this girl I had a crush on went to his church. So I decided to go. Once there I was captivated by the ideals of this Savior they spoke about. I eventually got saved and was baptized. But, the men I saw in this church still puzzled me. None really looked like they wanted to be there. They all looked uncomfortable as if they had been dressed up by their wives and drug there against their will. That may not have been what was in their minds, but it looked it like to me. Even though I had been saved, it didn't stick very well, I didn't want to be one of those guys “drug” to church. I guess you could say I was the seed sown on rocky ground (Matthew 13:20-21). I drifted on the fringe for a time after that.
It wasn't until many years later that I experienced what I now define as real Christian men. I was in the military and one of my co-workers invited me to his church. It was the “big church” in town. I went, hesitantly I’ll admit. They actually got me there by inviting my oldest son as friend of their child’s. It was a good ploy, I’m glad they did it.
I met many men there. They were the most genuine and loving men I’d ever encountered. It was weird to me (no offense meant by this next remark, but it’s what I felt…). They were like women. Caring, understanding, and sincere-very foreign to me at the time. They really cared about me and as near as I could tell, they loved me in a brotherly way and I had just met them! Problem was, this scared me a little too. They didn't seem like manly men. I wasn't sure I wanted to be this kind of guy either.
Over time I got to know them. They hunted and fished. Rode motorcycles and worked on race cars. There were cops, football coaches and even a fighter pilot. There were military men of all sorts. Softball players and weight lifters. The leader of this group was a former Major League Baseball pitcher. These were manly men! I was dumbfounded.
That was where I learned the most important lesson of my spiritual life. Being a Christian man doesn't take away any of your manly qualities, it only adds more to them.
 |
| Manly Man |
I think a lot of those stereotypes I had early on have slowly waned over the years. People like Mike Singletary, Reggie White, and this guy on the right have shown you can be both manly and Christian. That message is getting to the youth of today much easier and clearer than it did to my generation.
But there are problems still out there. Many Christian men still struggle with this balance. Many non-Christian men still see it as losing something rather than gaining something. The balance of being tough and no-nonsense, lean-mean-fighting-machines and displaying the love Christ commands to us to display is on an intricate scale.
But know that balance can be accomplished. Jesus was the perfect example of this. He was the most loving man ever to walk the earth, but also the mostly manly man as well.
A future post will provide more insight into this Christian manliness, but for now I leave you with this.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14:
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Do everything in love.
God Bless,
Rob
www.starvt.com
No comments:
Post a Comment