Courageous The Movie – a serious challenge to fathers

Last weekend we held our annual TripleM Men’s Camp at Lake Nillahcootie Camp. Deciding to have a 2 night camp really helped the experience and allowed more time for ministry with the men. The highlight for the camp was the movie Courageous.

It has now prompted us to review our men’s program along the lines of The Resolution which formed part of the movie. I will be writing more each week on the lessons we learned and hope it helps others. As a taste of what the Courageous Movie is all about, here is the link to the trailer.

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Advice to newly weds

My son married a wonderful girl in a garden service in late January. I was one proud Dad. During the speeches, I got a chance to say some things to the young couple, and I thought it worthwhile sharing here.

  1. Always Love
  2. Always Forgive
  3. Always Talk
  4. Always Join together
  5. Always Discuss big decisions
  6. Always Pray
  7. Always Hold on to your common fain in Christ

What do I ask from a daughter in law?

  • Know you are always welcome in our family.
  • Know you are in our hearts.
  • Always love and Support Graham on life’s journey together.

To my son

  • Honour your vows
  • Be the man that God has called you to be
  • Believe in the great future you have together

To both of you, may God’s richest blessings be upon you both!

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Good on you Jim

Melbourne football great, Jim Stynes has just announced his resignation as Club President. I just want to honour him for his great example to all of us.

Let’s consider some of his fine attributes:

Courage – evident on the football field, much more in evidence in his ongoing fight against brain cancer. It still might be a death sentence for him, but he continues to fight on and come back with his cheery Irish smile despite the difficulties.

Integrity – there is no doubting the genuine character of the man. A man without guile. A man of honesty.

Dedication – this is multi-layered. Dedicated to his family. Dedicated to his beloved football club. Dedicated to doing all that can be done to beat the disease. But most importantly, dedicated to life.

So Jim, we salute you for the example and inspiration you gives us all.

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How important is a promise?

Politics is an interesting place to shine the light and look for examples of values, good and bad. The most recent example is the Government approach to its “written promise” to MP Andrew Wilkie on Poker Machine reform. This article is not a discussion on that reform in itself, it is to focus on the nature of promises we make.

I found this interesting observation about keeping promises:

Keeping promises demonstrates our “True Inner Self.” It shows whether or not we have corruptible or incorruptible morals (fruitful seed) inside of us.  http://dianagrayministries.net/bible/bs_vows.html

I like the concept of our “true inner self”. Jesus spoke about the corruption and evil that comes out of your heart.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:19

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 1 Peter 2:1

So the challenge is this. The world is full of malice, deceit and hypocrisy. We can live lives the way the world does or we can live life as God wants us to … with integrity and with honesty. Sometimes we might fail, but this does not mean we give into the temptation to live lives the way the world does.

Oh that our leaders actually make promises that they are prepared to keep.

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What is truth?

I was listening to a conversation about societies issues and the question of truth came up. Is there such a thing as absolute truth? There is scientific truth, based on experimental, observable and measureable data. But is that truth? Once a famous astronomer said there were canals on Mars and everyone accepted this “truth” until it was refuted by better observations. Then there is the question of moral truth. Are there an absolute set of truths to live your life by? If there is, who determines what it includes?

In a post modern society, moral truth is actually about what is true to the individual and less about a series of absolutes. This is actually the chaos theory at work, we all make up our own minds about what is true and right and just and live accordingly, even if everyone else has a different view on what is true and right and just.

At Real Men Challenge, we begin from the perspective that we are people created by God to live according to the moral truths provided by God. A series of absolutes, that don’t change and are not subject to societal whims. The challenge for men is to find out what those truths are and then live by them.

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