Calling all Men

My friend Martin and I have figured out most of the world's ills down here in Mexico while drinking a coke. Well, okay, maybe we've only solved one or two, but no one will listen to us. Maybe one of us should run for president of the US or Mexico. Or maybe not.

One thing we have figured out over the past 2 years and after having had many cokes. This is it. The church needs more strong men to come forward and live an example for others to follow. We need men who have commitment to Christ, who love their families, and who are not perfect, but authentic, real. We need men of prayer, men who can weather storms, men who don't quit.

We need men in places of leadership in the church, men who will teach, men who will serve in areas of their strength and in some areas that might stretch them. We need men to challenge each other, especially in the realm of leadership. We don't need any yesmen who say yes to every thing proposed just because the person presenting it had a nice, high tech presentation and appealed strongly to all involved. If it's a bad idea, say so. If it costs too much money, say so.

We need men who will struggle, wrestle in prayer over families in their neighborhood, at work, and in their church. Yes, wrestle, fight for other men and their families in prayer. We need men who will study the Word of God and dig in deep, not just wade in ankle deep with shallow Bible studies, but in depth , applying the whole Bible to life.

We need many good men to step up and be the example Christ desires and the example He lived.

Who´s following who?

This past week one of our former students, Carlos, who is now proud to proclaim he is in First Grade, was hanging out in front of the school with his brother. I was busy doing this and that and the other and noticed that Carlos was following me around, kind of like a puppy, but he didn´t wag his tail.

Normally when we have preschool going on we don´t allow kids who aren´t enrolled in preschool to come in, but I was feeling like the softy that I can be, sometimes. So, on this day I just let Carlos hang out with me. He wanted to know what he could do to help. I scratched my head, I didn´t know. For one thing Carlos´ speech is so garbled that you can hardly understand him, even if you are in his family. For another thing I didn´t really have any jobs for 6 year olds at the moment. So, I just let him follow.

But he found jobs. He grabbed the plastic bin I was lifting off the bodega floor and helped me, struggling all the way. He wrestled with all his might to accompany me with the plastic bin.

Later I picked up garbage and bits of trash around the grounds. Since Carlos doesn´t pick up garbage much he just watched me and followed me.

I wonder sometimes who´s following me and who´s watching me. After all, I am an American, bald guy living in a neighborhood as the only white guy. I work in yet another neighborhood where I am the only white guy. I guess you could say, I stick out like a sore thumb.

Who´s watching you? Who sees you doing the little daily things? What sort of a grade would they give you? What kind of a leader would they call you? Are you too busy to be followed?