God has blessed my wife and me with one godly, intelligent, sweet, and beautiful daughter. We give thanks for her each and every day.
My wife and I have also been blessed with three wonderful sons… who are well on their way to becoming godly men in every way. They are gifts from God.
Perhaps it’s because I have three sons; Maybe it’s because I was once a boy; It might be because I see open season on boys in our culture; Or it could be because boys require lots of work… Whatever the reason, I have put a great deal of thought over the last handful of years regarding what it means to raise sons to become godly men. I’ve taught a class on the topic (which is ongoing). I blogged about it for a short season (but I keep coming back to having only one blog. I’m not smart enough to have more than one to keep up with). And I’ve read and continue to read everything I can get my hands on regarding raising sons (and for that matter, raising daughters as well…but that’s another post for another day).
One of the people who has thought long and hard on this subject is Douglas Wilson. He wrote a book about rearing “future men” that has influenced me a great deal. In fact, all of his books on parenting are top notch.
It occurred to me recently that I haven’t read his book, Future Men in about four or five years, so I thought it might be a good idea to blog about it… hitting the key ideas of each chapter (and not offering too many of my own thoughts along the way…though I’m making no promises). If nothing else, it will help me think through once again what it means to shepherd my own sons.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Wilson’s introduction to set the mood…
“I was once leading a seminar for teachers at our Christian school, and in the course of discussion mentioned that many of the girls in the school would, within a few short years, be adult women and would take their place in our midst. The teachers heard all this with aplomb, but when I went on to say that within a few short years the boys they were instructing would be lawyers, airline pilots, pastors, etc., the looks on the faces of the assembled teachers ranged from concern to mild panic. Boys take a lot of faith.” (p. 9)
Soli Deo Gloria,
Dale
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