25 (or more) Skills every man should know

Popular Mechanics put 25 skills on their cover, which they believe every man should know. Here is the list . . . .

1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network

While I can do all but #4 and #8 (although I could probably figure them out), I honestly believe this list is not entirely accurate - here are my additions:

1. Drive a stick shift
2. Kill and Clean a buck or other game animal
3. Change a flat tire (side note: nothing irks me more than seeing a “man” standing around watching his girlfriend or wife change a flat tire, because he cannot do it.)
4. Cook
5. Use Jumper cables
6. Know when to be the John Wayne “I’ll kick your ***” type of person, and when to be the compassionate type. (i.e. real men know when it is right to stand up and fight, and how to be compassionate to the sick or depressed).
7. Serve your country (it does not have to be in the military, there are other ways to serve)
8. Defend his house from intruders
9. Clean his firearms after defending his home
10. Take & give orders
11. Lead and be led when called upon to do either
12. Figure out how to install basic appliances - with or without the directions

Some of the things in the Popular Mechanics list are a bit on the geek side of things, but with the increase of technology in daily life it is important that a man can figure these things out. Nevertheless, it is disappointing that so many men have become so emasculated that their wives can do both lists, while they have to stand by and watch. So many men have become feminized to the point that their wives are more manly than they are, and their wife is not even trying!

Gone are the men like Theodore Roosevelt who said:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt was a real man. He knew how to stare down his opponent, and knock him down if needed, he was always faithful to his family and country, his endurance was almost superhuman, and his character was of utmost importance to him. We need more men like him, men who have bold ambition without walking over everyone in their way, who stand back up no matter how many times they are knocked down, and put his priorities in their place.

Some final clarification from another man:

IF

– by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!

By the way: I am mostly addressing external characteristics here. I realize, for any who may be concerned that I am not addressing the fact that a man should be able to help around the house, take care of himself, etc. I have also not addressed the heart issues of what a man should be to his wife, as commanded in the scriptures - those are of course of utmost importance, but they are just not the subject of this post.

Pregnant

We found out this week that Demetria is pregnant. Being the sensitive guy that I am, I walked up to a friend to mine and told him that I got my girlfriend pregnant - after he got over the shock he realized that my wife is my girlfriend. Demetria was just glad she was not there when I did that.

We are very thankful for this pregnancy, as we have been trying for two and a half years to have a child. The Lord has finally blessed us with this gift, and reminded us of His sovereignty, and perfect timing. We are praying for the development of this child, as the pregnancy is high risk. I am both excited and nervous about the possibility of being a father.

We are thankful that God is in control of everything, and therefore this child is not outside of His ability to protect and care for.

PSALM 139

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

     1     O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

     2     You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

You understand my thought from afar.

     3     You scrutinize my path and my lying down,

And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

     4     Even before there is a word on my tongue,

Behold, O Lord, You know it all.

     5     You have enclosed me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

     6     Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

     7     Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

     8     If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

     9     If I take the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

     10     Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

     11     If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,”

     12     Even the darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to You.

     13     For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother’s womb.

     14     I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well.

     15     My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

     16     Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were all written

The days that were ordained for me,

When as yet there was not one of them.

     17     How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

     18     If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I awake, I am still with You.

     19     O that You would slay the wicked, O God;

Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

     20     For they speak against You wickedly,

And Your enemies take Your name in vain.

     21     Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

     22     I hate them with the utmost hatred;

They have become my enemies.

     23     Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

     24     And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way.

New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ps 139:1-24.

Seminary

James (my step-brother) called today and mentioned that he had discovered my blog (hi James!) - so, I decided to rediscover my blog.

Seminary has been keeping me very busy - especially Greek. Greek is a hard language because it is much deeper than English. Greek can communicate in one word what it takes the English an entire sentence to communicate. There are more than 56 paradigms which I have to memorize, and each paradigm consists of many endings which can alter the meaning of a word - sometimes significantly! ARGH!!!

On the plus side, I have learned much more about grammar than I knew before. Maybe that is not to much of a shock since I failed seventh grade English - that is the grade where they try to cram all the grammar into your head. Better I learn now, than never - I guess.

Thursday of this week is my mid-term — that will be when I see if I really am learning anything.

Chaplaincy

I got word that I got into the chaplain candidate program, and I will be getting pinned with my 2nd Lieutenant rank within the next two weeks.

What a suprise

Psychiatrists are the least religious of all scientists - beliefs and presuppositions do make a difference, and they do tell you something.

First Week of Seminary

The first week of seminary has finished and now I have my complete homework list. After finishing up my schedule today, I am glad that I did not take any more classes than I did. I am finishing the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling program also, which makes my homework a bit more than it normally would be for someone taking a lighter load.

I am very pleased that I am able to attend seminary at The Master’s Seminary - professors are genuine, God-fearing men, who love God and are faithful to His Word. While many seminary’s are compromising and giving in to fads The Masters Seminary is standing out above the crowd, and eternity will show the results of their faithfulness.

How to Make an Effective Preacher

I heard John MacArthur read this several years ago at a Shepherd’s Conference; I finally found it online and I am posting it here. The office of “Pastor” is a serious one, and not one to be taken lightly, the Pastor is a Shepherd of God’s flock, and not an executive or entrepreneur.

How to Make an Effective Preacher —Author Unknown—

    “How do you make an effective preacher?”

Fling him into his office. Tear the ‘Office’ sign from the door and nail on the sign, ‘Study’. Take him off the mailing list. Lock him up with his books and his typewriter and his Bible. Slam him down on his knees before texts and broken hearts and the lives of a superficial flock and a holy God.

Force him to be the one man in our surfeited communities who knows about God. Throw him into the ring to box with God until he learns how short his arms are. Engage him to wrestle with God all the night through. And let him come out only when he’s bruised and beaten into being a blessing.

Shut his mouth forever spouting remarks, and stop his tongue forever tripping lightly over every non-essential. Require him to have something to say before he dares break the silence. Bend his knees in the lonesome valley.

Burn his eyes with weary study. Wreck his emotional poise with worry for God. And make him exchange his pious stance for a humble walk with God and man. Make him spend and be spent for the glory of God. Rip out his telephone. Burn up his ecclesiastical success sheets.

Put water in his gas tank. Give him a Bible and tie him to the pulpit. And make him preach the Word of the living God!

Test him. Quiz him. Examine him. Humiliate him for his ignorance of things divine. Shame him for his good compre­hension of finances, batting averages, and political in-fighting. Laugh at his frustrated effort to play psychiatrist. Form a choir and raise a chant and haunt him with it night and day - ‘Sir, we would see Jesus.’

When at long last he dares assay the pulpit, ask him if he has a word from God. If he does not, then dismiss him. Tell him you can read the morning paper and digest the television commentaries, and think through the day’s superficial pro­blems, and manage the community’s weary drives, and bless the sordid baked potatoes and green beans, ad infinitum, better than he can.

Command him not to come back until he’s read and reread, written and rewritten, until he can stand up, worn and forlorn, and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’

Break him across the board of his ill-gotten popularity. Smack him hard with his own prestige. Corner him with questions about God. Cover him with demands for celestial wisdom. And give him no escape until he’s back against the wall of the Word.

And sit down before him and listen to the only word he has left - God’s Word. Let him be totally ignorant of the down­-street gossip, but give him a chapter and order him to walk around it, camp on it, sup with it, and come at last to speak it backward and forward, until all he says about it rings with the truth of eternity.

And when he’s burned out by the flaming Word, when he’s consumed at last by the fiery grace blazing through him, and when he’s privileged to translate the truth of God to man, finally transferred from earth to heaven, then bear him away gently and blow a muted trumpet and lay him down softly. Place a two-edged sword in his coffin, and raise the tomb triumphant. For he was a brave soldier of the Word. And ere he died, he had become a man of God.

Seminary Orientation

This is orientation week at the Master’s Seminary. Since it will be my first semester there, I have been busy with orientation classes and work. The last two days of this week I have an English refresher course, where I am reminded of why I hated my English classes all through high school and college. Now is the time to get serious about it because this will lead into learning the languages of God’s Word, and properly handling the text in order to properly teach people what it says.

There is a guy at the seminary named Erik Bauer,  I am wondering if he is related to Jack Bauer.

Next week . . . classes start.

Uncle Thomas Bartow

My uncle Thom died today, he had pancreatic cancer . . .

Certified Personal Trainer

I haven’t written in quite a while . . .in fact I haven’t done anything in a while except study for my certification. All that study has finally paid off - yesterday I got back the results of my test and I passed with a 90%. That’s pretty good for someone who barely understood the book when he got it.

The next step is to get my business going. I’m getting a business started which incorporates personal training and mixed martial arts training. I have already filed my DBA, business tax license, and written out a thorough business plan. Next step is to build up some capital and start advertising.