Allen's Blog

                                                                                       What is a man?   An alphabetical list of attributes to which every man should attain.   D Discipline (Self-discipline) The word ‘discipline’ probably brings to mind one of two things: the spanking you got as a child or the strict regimen of a marine in training.   What value does discipline have in my every day life?   I’m not in the military nor am I under the constraints of my parents.   Doesn’t discipline imply restriction, limitations or being forbidden.   If you’ve ever tried to diet, this probably sounds familiar.   You’ve got to limit your food intake.   You can only eat at certain times of the day....

  What is a man?   An alphabetical list of attributes to which every man should attain.   C Courageous Webster’s definition, “The mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”   I’ve heard it said that it’s not the absence of fear, it’s acting in spite of fear.   The opposite of being courageous is being a coward, which might be defined as, “a higher level of fear than a situation calls for,   or a low level of confidence”. My boys have had to learn what true courage is.   As boys, at an early age they wanted to take risks.   “Dad, can we climb on the roof and ski down onto that big snow pile?”   “Dad, can we jump from the really high cliff over there.”   You notice that they’re asking me and not Mom.   They know they share something with me that Mom does not possess. Not courage necessarily, but the willingness to take risks.   In those situations and many others I would try to t...

  What is a man?   An alphabetical list of attributes to which every man should attain. B Behaves The eyes of the world are looking for real men.   In the Bible study curriculum “Experiencing God” Henry Blackaby quotes Dwight L. Moody when he says, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to him. By God’s help, I aim to be that man.”   What difference would it make if I dedicated myself to God in this manner?   What connection is there to God and my behavior?   And what does it really matter anyway?   I believe that my behavior is a reflection of all that I represent.   If I am an American visiting another country, the citizens there will watch me and say, “Oh, that’s an American.”   As I raised my children, they would look to me and say to themselves, “That’s what a husband and father does and says.”   And if I call myself a disciple of Jesus Christ, others will remark, “So that’s what a Christian is.” The ...

  What is a man?   An alphabetical list of attributes to which every man should attain. A Accountable A man does little in isolation.   Certainly, we like to be alone after talking with people all day, but isolation does not mean secrets.   We have nothing in our lives that we cannot share with our wives or another man.   (See Integrity).   We recognize the dangers of aloneness, so we gather other men around us.   We regularly confess our downfalls to a couple of men we trust.   We are accountable because others are watching us.   If we are fathers, we are the primary example for our children of what a man is.   Someone once told me that if I did not show love and affection to my daughter she would seek it out from others…I can feel my temperature rising even as I think about the prospects. The accountable man lives in freedom because he has surrendered his inner life to the safety of other men.   The secretive man never knows when ...

God, Fix Our Van! When our van broke down, our prayer for days was “God, please fix our van!”   Or “God, please make sure UPS delivers the part today!”   And then things began to happen and our prayer changed to “God, what would you have us do today?”   On a Saturday we left home to drive across the country to visit our children.   It was a grand plan: visit four days with our boys, go camping and then drive to see our daughter and do the same thing.   Things were going fine until we tried to climb a steep gravel road toward a reservoir and things began to heat up. Literally. The van overheated and BOOM! The thermostat housing exploded.   I tried to remain calm.   Hey, no one’s hurt, my boys have another car to go get help.   It’s not so bad……I wish I had been calmer. Plans look ruined.   What would we do now?   At least it was daylight and a tow truck was coming.   “Oh God, lead us to a good garage!”   And v...