Making a Difference

Some boys grow up to manhood without influential role models.  It must feel like getting in the game with two strikes already called.  I am fortunate and blessed to have two very important men in my life and a host of others who have stood as encouragers and mentors.  My biological father died when I was seven years old, but not before I was marked with experiences with him which have shaped my living and filled my storehouse of memories.  And what I have often realized is that his loss at such an early age had a shaping power all its own,   

In the last few days I have stood at the grave of a second influential male model.  Five years after my biological father died, my mother re-married and a Methodist minister came into my life who had a tremendous influence on a boy about to enter the teenage years.  He was always patient and kind as he held the reins, but not too tightly.  How much he influenced me is, perhaps, most evident in the fact that when it came time to decide how to live my life, I chose to walk in the footsteps of him and his father as a Methodist minister.  When he died a week ago, he was 91 years old and it was my privilege a few days later to offer a eulogy and remembrance.   

I was fortunate and blessed by these two men.  In a day when the traditional two parent family has taken a beating, it is often hard for boys moving toward manhood to have that strong male role model.  It still remains important.  One of the ways we can provide some help, particularly those of us who are men, is to understand the influence we might have on someone else and to find ways we can gently offer care to those who might not even realize the need.  It is a good way for us to "make the most of the time."  (Ephesians 5:16)