Raising a Man

What I Was Thinking . . . was I've raised a Godly man. I catch myself saying "I" or "I've" but really it should be "we" or "we've", because my husband had such a huge part in raising our kids, but just humor me during my writings as I take the credit, as this is MY blog. :-)

I've tried to think back at some things that took place in raising Chris that might help young mothers that are trying to raise their son.

I believe I know the day he learned the value of hard work. He was probably about 10 - 12 years old and he loved playing baseball. He wanted a special bat so badly, but that bat cost $85.00. I thought it was ridiculous myself, but my husband (a huge baseball fan as well) thought it was such a great bat (whatever, isn't a bat just a bat? I guess it's a guy thing). Well, a deal was made. My husband told Chris that he would pay half of the purchase price of that special bat and Chris would be responsible for the other half. Well, I knew in the back of my mind that he would never be able to save that up before baseball season was over, but this is what he did:

We came home from that sporting goods store and we didn't see Chris for about four hours; he was out and about in our neighborhood earning money for his bat. Do you know he came home with the money and we took him immediately back to that sporting goods store where he bought his special bat. Chris washed several cars, mowed a few lawns and even bathed the neighbor's dog. I really can't remember all he did, but it was enough money to pay for half of that special bat; boy, how time goes by.

This poured over into the rest of Chris' life, as he has always been able to earn money somewhere. He has always been willing to pull weeds, do clean-ups in yards, etc. When he was a senior in high school and through the summer before college he had three jobs: he had his own lawn business, he worked at McDonalds and he threw newspapers at 3am before school.

He is now in the ministry as a youth pastor and music director. I know you must have a very disciplined life to be in the ministry. There are so many demands of you and usually there is just no days off. Dealing with people and encouraging people is a very tough job. Do you think just because we taught him a valuable lesson early in his life that this prepared him for the ministry? I do.

When you teach a boy the value of hard work, you have taught a boy to become a man. That's what I was thinking.

(pictured is Chris and his wife Sarah ~ both serving God in Indiana)