Thank You For Moms

I love the Olympics! Certain events grab my attention more than others, but there are only a few that are totally a bore.  I love to watch the snowboarding, and the downhill skiing.  Can't imagine flying so high and turning flips or flying down hills at 80 mph covering 2500 of elevation. It's a little like NASCAR (which I don't watch), I like to see the crashes, as long as they don't get hurt.  The slow motion is cool. I also love figure skating! Don't like the falls in this one. In fact, my heart skips a beat, I hold my breath, and I worry every time everyone jumps on the ice. Watching that 15 yr-old phenom from Russia skate by herself, wow. She was awesome, and made it look so effortless. The pairs is my favorite, though.  I love it when it looks like they are in love; guess I'm a romantic. And I read a post the other day about how the pairs figure skating is such a display of God's design for roles in marriage.

If you have been watching, you have surely seen the ads sponsored by Proctor and Gamble about the investments of moms into the lives of Olympians. Nothing wrong with thanking moms and giving them the praise they deserve. And they do deserve it! But along with the culture, the liberal media intentionally choose to avoid the role of fathers.  Even in the camera pictures, they always show the moms anxiously waiting outcomes, and watching their precious children compete.

Just a couple of thoughts from my soapbox. 1) I have been watching with my children.  And I wonder if the subtle message is being injected into their minds.  I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the culture affects our worldviews.  Do our kids think: Mom is a hero, and dad is there too, somewhere. What a great picture of the biblical family for them to see. Whatever. Even if it is not your children, the major network choices reinforce this concept in a way that does women no favors (nor their families). Other media outlets do the same, sitcoms and dramas for instance.  Most feature bumbling fathers, or absentee dads whose lives are in trouble because the are stupid, or because they are out with their buds or other women. News shows and documentary types are always highlighting the new intentionally stay-at-home dads or so-called (and oxymoronic) gay marriage. OK, now I am being a sexist, right?  Equality before God, yes.  Role distinction, yes! Where are the ads about dads?

2) I do think that men have contributed to our own portrayal. What is manhood?  When does it begin? The Jews knew. But our culture has created a time called "adolescence" which gives our sons the time to "sow their wild oats" and be irresponsible till they graduate college.  And some go on past that living in the basement till their 30's. We have not taken our place as leaders and role models. We need to stand up and be the heroes and the protectors. We need to be the spiritual leaders of our homes. How many men I've seen led by their wives and children to go to church here, or lead the family in making them go at all.  We don't disciple our children and we don't lay down our lives for our wives as Christ did for His.  In the church, most of the workers are women, with men standing idly by.

Come on, men! The gauntlet is laid before us through the life of Jesus and through the lives of the saints and martyrs who have gone before.  Strong and powerful at times.  Willing to die at times. Willing to comfort and still broken hearts at times. Willing to confront sin within and mortify it without. Walking closely and humbly with their God all the time.  We need men to be men, not men like our culture defines it, but real men, who love Jesus, and strive with all their heart not to waste their lives, but demonstrating Christ to the world.