Was handed an article last night from the latest issue of Equip to Disciple magazine, and, after reading it this morning, have a broad range of emotions that I’m dealing with. The article is entitled Boys, Masculinity, and the Church: Why Boys Need a Strong Men’s Ministry and basically deals with the fact that our calling as men is much higher than simply being the nice guy who would not disturb the proverbial goose.
I have two main reactions to this article…
On the one hand, I am very glad that articles like this that call guys to authentic manhood are being written and on the other hand, I’m kindof ticked that there is a need for them to be written at all. As I relate in my blog post Jesus and Fight Club, I grew up with the righteousness=peace-at-all-costs mentality and bought into the idea that God’s plan for my life was for me to get my behavior in order and become a Christian nice-guy. I was good at it too.
I just remembered a thought that I had from my Senior year of High School. For those of you who don’t know, I started preaching during my Sophomore year and was bound and determined that no one at Ranburne High School or the surrounding area would EVER be able to call me a hypocrite or question my love for Jesus. I made peace-at-all-costs righteousness an art-form. I was as sincere as I knew to be at the time, but unfortunately was on the path of becoming the dutiful and safe Christian nice-guy following Christ out of my head instead of the bold, adventurous, risk-taking disciple who was actively engaged in the bloody battle between good and evil, following Christ out of the wild-heart given to me by wild-hearted Father.
Ok, back to my thought. It was 1988 and we were playing the Woodland Bobcats…our arch-rival…in a torrential downpour. Because Ranburne was one of the smallest 2A schools in the state at the time and we usually had less than 30 guys out for the football team, most of us “went both ways”…meaning we played both offense and defense. I was the lanky quarterback who also played defensive end (not at the same time). Now my nice-guy personna worked great for playing quarterback because quarterbacks and kickers are probably the only players on a football team that can get away with a polite and courteous disposition. Not so much as a defensive end.
So sometime during the 2nd quarter, Woodland has the ball and I get a clear shot at their QB and I take it. I was not known as a ferocious hitter (see nice-guy notes above), but this was a pretty good shot from his blind-side. To continue to set the stage for this moment, you have to realize that the house I grew up in was less than a quarter mile from Woodland’s football field. (I could sit in the backyard and listen to the PA announcer and hear him as clearly as if we were at the game.) I attended church with all the guys who went to the rival school and their parents were in the stands sitting in the downpour also. So as I’m getting up from making this hit, this is the conversation going on in my head…
“Wow…I hit him pretty hard.”
“That felt pretty good.”
“I hope no one thinks I was being too aggressive.”
“I wonder how aggressive Jesus would be if he was playing defensive end?”
Pathetic, I know, but a result of the “peace-at-all-costs” brand of righteousness I inherited while trying hard to be a nice guy. Oh how I would love to strap on one of those purple helmets again now that I have abandoned my “peace-at-all-costs” thinking! If I could go back, I would have hit him harder with reckless abandon and probably done a little dance afterwards and have the entire Bobcat crowd exasperated with what a showboat I was.
Thankfully, the real, rugged, calloused-hands Jesus of the New Testament is replacing the fair-skinned, delicate, effeminant, felt-board Jesus that so many of us grew up studying in Sunday School. Our God is a wild-hearted God who will not be boxed into a formula or process and is calling real men to follow with reckless abandon into the epic battle between good and evil.
Brothers, we need good tacklers!
Reflections of a Ragamuffin 
I’ve grown away from the church for many reasons — the rampant hypocrisy among the clergy (think Ted Haggard) and the tendency of the church to think quantity over quality to mention a few. I haven’t lost faith in God, just faith in organized religion.
I think you’re onto something. Churches want us weak so we not only won’t be aggressive against others but against them when they do something questionable.
Thanks for your comment. Would love to continue this conversation with you and encourage you to read my blog post called “Jesus and Fight Club” if you have not already. If you want to email me directly, send to traylor@traylorlovvorn.com.