TOUGH TOUCH

It’s a rough world with tough men who need a tender touch.

The country of Brazil has a special place in my heart. In the early 1980’s, following God’s call, I moved our family to Brazil where we served as missionaries for three years. I still try to keep in touch with news of happenings in Brazil.

Last week in Brazil, a powerful gang, able to communicate via cell phone with other gang members in over 70 prisons, unleashed a reign of terror. They killed at least 80 people. Prisoners displayed their victims whose bodies were mutilated and decapitated. Fortunately at the end of the violence over 200 hostages were freed.

Gang members outside prison torched 60 buses, and attacked police stations and banks. Angered and humiliated by the uprisings, law enforcement officers roamed through neighborhoods of San Paulo with guns drawn, killing more than 100 people they claimed were connected to the gang.

Yesterday I visited the elementary school classroom of my wife. She teaches in the Early Intervention Program that seeks to help students who are in academic trouble. Often these same students have behavior problems as well.

I got to meet a handful of her pupils. And they are “more than a handful” challenge. One sixth grader boy bragged to me how he had beat up a boy the day before. On and on he talked about “going down in history” by being reckless and wild.

Last night Cissy and I had my three sons for dinner. We feasted on fine steak, potato, salad, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Grrrrrrr …. real man food!

What do the accounts of prison riots, elementary school students, and dinner with my sons have in common? All are stories of males seeking to be real men.

This morning I read a sermon by John Piper. I think it points to what it means to be a real man in a tough world. The message was based on Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

The gist of his message is that the aim of Jesus Christ is not to reform the manners of society, but to change the hearts of sinners like you and me.

Real men (and women …. and boys and girls) need to focus our hearts being set right and pure by the grace of God. With a tender heart we will be right with God and one another.

Last night after dinner my sons and I played bocce on the lawn. We decided the losers would get to be real men and clear the dinner table. Yet when we finished the game we found the grace of a tender woman already had the table cleared.

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