In the United States, the dimensions of a typical prison cell are approximately six by eight feet, encased in steel or brick walls. One solid or barred door locks the cell from the exterior. Those condemned to life inside soon lose touch with the free world outside. Sadly, there’s another prison cell that holds…
Seeing Yourself as God Sees You
Do you have a photo of your spouse, significant other, or children as your phone background, eager to show them off at the first opportunity to anyone and everyone? What about your driver’s license photo? Do you delightedly show it to others? Pass it around at parties? Copy it to your online profile? Or…
A Man’s Deepest Question
The story of Adam’s fall is every man’s story. It is simple and straightforward, almost mythic in its brevity and depth. And so every man comes into the world set up for a loss of heart. Then comes the story we are much more aware of — our own story. Where Adam’s story seems…
Hunting Down the Spiders
My family recently moved to a new home on the south side of Nashville. “New” is probably a little misleading, but what can I say? It’s new to us. Actually, it’s a 1955 ranch-style home on a corner lot in a great neighborhood. I like the corner lot because that means more people can…
Win Not the Battle but the War
Editor’s note: All men have the common ground of facing some level of sexual temptation or discontent — whether married or single. In the brand new book Beyond the Battle, pastor Noah Filipiak offers up an accessible, effective, go-to resource for individual or small group use that brings freedom from sexual temptations and connects…
Becoming Powerful
The great problem of the earth and the great aim of the masculine journey boil down to this: when can you trust a man with power? ~ John Eldredge A thirty-year-old man is like a densely populated city; nothing new can be built… without something else being torn down. ~ Mike Mason Stand at…
Real Men Do Get Depressed
While many men who suffer from depression feel that somehow, and in some way, they are weak or deficient, I have found it most encouraging to reflect on great men who have suffered from depression. Many men from Scripture, including kings David and Solomon fell prey to it. While for a period of my childhood…
Where is Our Fear Taking Us?
Fear Frenzy You’ve probably heard that fear of public speaking is one of the greatest fears in our society. That doesn’t come from some random backwoods survey. It actually originated with Chapman University and their now famous “Survey of American Fears,” which started in 2014. Among others that year were walking alone at night, being…
A Broader Vision of Manhood
Every culture has its ideal vision of masculinity. Sociologist Erving Goffman once wrote, “In an important sense there is only one completely unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of college education, fully employed, of good complexion, weight, and height, and a recent record in sports… Any male who…
Turn Over Control to God
Turn Over Control to God How do we do that? How do we turn over the control of our lives to God as Jesus did, and as Jesus invites us to do? It’s not easy. I sometimes liken it to what trapeze artists do when they have to release their grasp on one bar in…