My Highlights from Chapters 1-3

Someone To Look Up To:

• Men and the boys who become them have a need for respect, but they are ready to give it as well.
• Boys really like having someone they can look up to, someone to admire, someone to claim as their hero.
• What we admire, we tend to become.
• the Bible is full of examples of admirable men.
• The boy's first hero should definitely be his dad...A child's first ideas about God come from ideas about his father...As he grows, though, the boy's ultimate hero should be Christ.
• Television and movies are a critical area because men tend to be very visual.
• **I felt like they went a little overboard with their censorship...but I did like the idea of talking about a movie's theme and discussing how that theme is being taught through the plot, characters, etc.
• They will have heroes. For their own sakes, make sure they're the right ones

Is There Not A Cause?:

• Adults sometimes equate a desire for adventure with immaturity and recklessness. The Bible makes a distinction and so should we.
• Boys need to have the freedom to take reasonable risks...A carefully considered risk, prayerfully undertaken, is not recklessness.
• temptations and sins are sometimes "the excess or perversion" of godly traits.
• Reckless behavior, particularly in young boys, may be the uncontrolled expression of a legitimate, even godly, desire to strive after great and noble deeds
• Our boys should be active and adventurous, but careful of themselves at the ultimate extreme, understanding that life is a gift and their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
• *If he hasn't faced the trial yet, or he's in the midst of it - encourage him. If he's been to the wars and is limping home wounded - comfort him. Once the wounds are bound up, encourage him to rise and face the fight again.

Standing Alone:

• **Even being a history major I did not realize how young some of the men were that they mention!
• "Who is the youngest person who can do this job right now?"
• Introduce [them] into adult roles, little by little
• they need an opportunity to start standing on their own when they don't have to do it very long - think of it like teaching a baby to walk
• "Do they have a way of escape from bad influences, and can they hand the responsibility?"
• A tiny bit of responsibility is given, and when that is handled faithfully, give more.
• A young man can't stand alone if he doesn't know God
• consistently strive for your young men to be young men