Wild at Heart - Review

I recently finished the book Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge.

What a great book.

Now, for one, he may be a little "outside the box" for some Christian readers, but the substance and insight into manhood he provides in the book was priceless to me.

I have sought to know for a while now more clearly what real and biblical manhood looks like. I long to be the husband, father, friend, etc. that I am meant to be. Mr. Eldredge takes time in this book to share what manhood really is from God's perspective, all the while sharing real and personal thoughts from his own life and the lives of those he interacts with.

He gets into the deep hurts of a man, the longings inside a man, a man's relationship with women, and more.

The book provided great personal insight for me into my own life - revealing deep hurts and wrong tendencies - and my own journey to become to man God has made me to be.

I would highly recommend this book to any man (or woman - my wife learned more about me reading it!), especially those looking to grow into the man God wants them to be.

Happy reading!

Male, or Man? Part III

I can't escape it. I keep being brought back to it.

Manhood.

What does it look like? Who can I look to? What makes you a real man?

In a conversation with a friend a little while ago, we got talking about the generations of men before us. Those of my grandfathers' generation. They were men. Real men.

Those who lived through or around the Great Depression, and through the difficulties of WWII, seemed to exude an ora of manhood. Hard-working, disciplined, focused, frugal, respectable men. They were strong in their decisions and convictions, strong in their successes, and in their failures.

Somehow these men became the men they were. Maybe they were a product of their time, having lived through such difficult times in our country, maybe it was the traditional values that they held to, or their strong sense of morals and honor of God above, or maybe they were well-trained by the generation before them...

These wise men of our day, including my both my Grandfathers, are a stark contrast to what media portrays as manhood in our day. A stark contrast to "males" in our nation.

I guess I am on a journey. A journey to find men, true men, as God designed a man to be.

Somewhere, manhood has gotten lost in translation...

Male, or Man? Part II

As part of my journey in manhood, I recently picked up a book I've had for a while, Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge. I started reading it after a conversation with a friend regarding manhood, as he had recently gone through a study on the book.

I'm not too far into it but am liking it so far. I'll check back with a personal review once finished...

To Manhood.

Male, or Man?

Taken from The Art of Manliness, here.

My brother recently turned me on to The Art of Manliness. I have enjoyed what I have seen in the site so far, and appreciate their heart - Restoring the lost art of manliness.


One of the strong desires in my heart lately is to be a man - in more than the body part kind of way - but to have the heart, will, strength, courage, vision, love, and gentleness that a man was meant to have. To be the man that God has created me to be.

Unfortunately, manhood and men in general are not celebrated or encouraged in today's day. You don't have to look too far to see a man being portrayed as a dumb, sloppy, disconnected, selfish, sports hungry, video-game addicted man (rather, male I should say, as there is a difference). And, as men we have fulfilled that role pretty well.

I want to be a part of the generation of real men. Sacrificial men. Strong men. God's men. It was A.W. Tozer who said:

The most critical need of the church at this moment is men, bold men, free men. The church must seek, in prayer and much humility, the coming again of men made of the stuff of which prophets and martyrs are made.

So I encourage you, men, in your journey to be the man that God meant for you to be, check out The Art of Manliness. Though I don't believe it is written from a biblical perspective, manliness is biblical, and there are many articles there that will help you in restoring the lost art of manliness.

By the way, here is a great article I read recently on being a frugal man - an area I have been growing in (and still growing) over the past couple of years. Click here to check it out.