"It is staying power that makes and marks a man. Not climbing ladders. Not grabbing for gusto. Not frenzied movement. Certainly not leaving our wives. Not abandoning our families. Not disappearing into passivity. Today's real men are a vanishing breed, and it's killing our culture. The curse of our day is not so much the AIDS epidemic as it is men who don't know what a man is and who cut and run from their wives and families. Have you noticed how badly men run in our culture?
- One third of Americal children are not living with their natural fathers.
- Over 15 million kids are growing up on homes without any father.
- Seventy percent of men in prison grew up without a father.
Often when I read statistics like these, the names of men I have known personally come to mind. Some of those names and faces had been part of the church I pastor. But they are gone now. Gone from their wives, their children, their homes, and their church. I confess their names bring a measure of disrespect to my mind. I know they experienced pain. I know there was pressure. I know it wasn't easy. I know there are 'two sides'. But the bottom line is, they ran. They didn't stay. Didn't keep their word. 'Til death do us part' was evidently a Hollywood line to them. They wanted to be men. They wanted to be strong and virile. But when they ran, what strength they lost. They were looking for their virility, and in thinking they would find it somewhere else, they lost it. But it's still out there in front of them like some cruel mirage they'll never reach. For them it wasn't 'women and children first.' It was 'me first'. That's a little boy, not a man. In their frantic chase after 'happiness' they lost their manhood, perhaps never to regain it."
Strong words. True though- Stu
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