Boys & Weapons

In our staff meeting yesterday morning, the group went on a tangent. Discussing the need for the Church to minister to Men more. And what would it look like if the church was 60% Men instead of the reality which is 40% now.

Capes and swords, bandanas, camouflage and six-shooters-- these are the uniforms of boyhood. Little boys yearn to know they are powerful, they are dangerous, they are someone to be reckoned with. How many parents have tried in vain to prevent little Timmy from playing with guns? Give it up. If you do not supply a boy with weapons, he will make them from whatever materials are at hand. Boys chew their graham crackers into the shape of hand guns at the the breakfast table. At least I did. Every stick or fallen branch is a spear, or better, a bazooka. Despite what many modern educators would say, this is not a psychological disturbance brought on by violent television or video games. Aggression is a part of the masculine design, we are hardwired for it. If we believe that man is made in the image of God, then we would do well to remember that "the LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name" (Ex. 15:3).

Little girls do not invent games where large numbers of people die, where bloodshed is a prerequisite for having fun. Hockey, for example, was not a feminine creation. A boyw ants to attack something -- and so does a man, even if it's only a little white ball on a tee.

"No one is hurt?" "No one wins? What's the point?" The boy is a warrior, the boy is his name. Life needs a man to be fierce -- and fiercely devoted. The wounds he will take throughout his life will cause him to lose heart if all he has been trained to be is soft.

Like it or not, there is something fierce in the heart of every man. We, as a church, should be careful not to burry a man's heart's desires.