men and God

"I don't naturally gravitate toward having quiet times with Jesus, where I simply bask in His love. My biological dad and I don't bask in each other's love. We go fishing. I'd like to go fishing with Jesus."

The above is from chapter 1 of the book I just started reading called Why Guys Need God by Mike Erre (pastor at rock harbor church in Costa Mesa,CA). I picked this book up at a men's conference about a year ago, but haven't really had the chance to read it yet. I decided to start this book this afternoon (I needed a day off from hunger games haha) since I had gotten off work at a reasonable time.

So far I've only gone through the first chapter, and it's a little interesting to see the perspective this pastor has. He touched upon some of the same things that David Murrow brings up in an article I read on Boundless a few months ago. I had a few issues with that article, which categorized men in the church into five fairly undesirable categories. It seemed like it was identifying a problem, and then simply leaving it there. While going through the first chapter of this book, I saw a few similar points, but this book tries to tackle the problem by asserting that guys need to not only be image-bearers of God, but also address the fact that we're men and need to act like it. Now he's not saying that all guys in church are wimpy pansies, but he makes the distinction between maleness (being male gender-wise) and masculinity (having a man identity - culturally and spiritually).

I think it's important to be able to pursue God while maintaining the masculinity that God gave us. I know that it's not necessarily something that we should be doing alone, and I think that's why churches with men's and outdoor ministries have been thriving lately. I feel sad that our church doesn't have a men's ministry that addresses that need, and that it's an important aspect of a christian community. I've always thought that girls simply connected better, I see it in Acacia all the time. They get together regularly for sister's breakfasts and stuff. It's like it comes naturally to them.

For guys it's not exactly like that. I don't feel a special instant connection to George or Dave or Joe, and that's ok because we're created differently than the girls. We're MEN! But men need support and the community just the same, though we would want to do it differently because as men we're created with a masculine mindset. As people, we're made in the image of God, and as men we play our own unique (manly) part in God's world.

I'm looking forward to the next few chapters, though I'm still not entirely sure what to expect, but I'll keep you folks updated if I come across anything interesting.