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Why “Real Men” Are Romantics At Heart

The big assumption on this topic is that romance is something exclusive to women, which doesn’t make much sense to me. When I think of a grand romantic gesture like a candle-light dinner at a nice restaurant or a surprise getaway, there’s usually a guy involved. Right? Ok think of it this way…in order for a woman to get whisked away for a weekend, someone has to be doing the whisking. Right?

Chick flicks, candle-light dinners and long walks on the beach may not be the first things that come to mind for a guy on the topic of romance, but many woman might be surprised how romantic a good man can be. Of course we like to hold our breath and puff out our chests to look strong, but despite our tough guy exteriors, women might be surprised to know that most men desire romance with the right woman — just not always the kind of romance women might have in mind.

Men like adventure and want to go out and do things together. Spending quality time and playing (get your mind out of the gutter) with their woman makes a guy feel close and loving and intimate; it offers an escape from the ordinary, a time to focus on each other — all things that women want from romance too. Right?

Why It’s Important For Guys To Act Like Men

With all the headlines about young men being confused about their sexual identity or masculinity, I think it’s time for men of God to rise up and model out authentic manhood. If you haven’t figured it out, there is an exploding subculture that is built on a foundation of accepting people who feel they cannot fit into the mainstream. Today’s culture, instead of being shaped by Jesus Christ, is being shaped by; hashtags, celebrity personalities, music, politics, do whatever you want, fill in the blank ________ that’s proving attractive to young adults.

Seems like every person has specific experiences and reasons for how their sexuality has developed. I still affirm to Scripture’s blueprint, which maintains that sexual identity except that of a heterosexual male or female is outside of God’s original intention and plan for human sexuality. The attack on manhood is on a steep trajectory and the message is clear that masculinity is a cultural cancer, unless you’re a woman pretending to be a man.

Ok, so in a world so confused with identity where do we start?

Men Your Words Have Power, So Speak Life To Your Kids

First things first men. How much time are you spending with your kids? Doing life with them, having fun, teaching them whats important and leaving a legacy? If you spend quality of time with your kids, awesome. If you don’t, you need to get your head out of your @$$ and start.

For most men we have our sights set on stuff such as; a house (and a vacation home), car, boat, money, climbing the corporate ladder, fill in the blank ________. Most of us don’t leave much room for things that really matter and our values become our kids values.

Ok guys, here’s a test. You’re walking on the beach and a genie bottle washed up onto the shore. Of course all your senses tell you it’s not real, but you rub the lamp anyways out of curiosity and out pops a genie. Here’s the catch…instead of three wishes, the genie only gives you one wish.

What do you wish for?

What A Leper And Centurion Can Teach Us About Compassion

It’s hard to do good for people who don’t deserve it, isn’t it?

We all have those people we work with or people in our families that we would rather punch in the face than give a minute of our time to. I bet you can name a few people right now that would you rather work around or completely remove from your life. Words like compassion, friendly, joy don’t seem to fit into our narrative with these so called toxic people. Right?

Am I making sense here?

This is a tension that many of us live with day in and day out. I wrestle with this too, but check out one of the story that Jesus invites us into. Remember the story of the Sermon on the Mount? You know, love your enemy, turn the other check and yup…even go the extra mile. Or, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Before we walk this out…I’m not talking about justified self defense or protecting your family here.

Sounds great doing a study on the sermon on the mount or reading it in your daily devotional, but living out in real life…well that’s a quite a different thing all together. Well it gets better because Jesus brings it all in by ending the sermon with this, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

OK, let’s hit the pause button here. In the last couple of months using the sermon on the mount as the litmus test, are you a wise man or a foolish one?

8 Tips On “How To Dad” From A Cheerios Commercial

Attended a CIO conference recently and one of the keynote speakers used the Peanut Butter Cheerios #HowToDad commercial to highlight leadership. Honestly, I’ve never tried Peanut Butter Cheerios but can totally appreciate how awesome this commercial is. Not in highlighting a product but how awesome dads are and that they do matter in today’s society despite a major de-emphasis on the role.

Here’s a bit of the background story of the commercial from the creators website.

Created by Tribal Worldwide Toronto, the socially-driven campaign features an upbeat online video that celebrates the insight that dads parent differently, and places Peanut Butter Cheerios at the heart of all the zany, funny and epic situations that kids get themselves into under dad’s watch. The video then drives viewers to HowToDad.ca for bite-sized sharable content that resonates with dads. Four 15-second preroll spots, widespread display advertising and targeted promoted social posts round out the program, which is all unified under the #HowToDad tagline. “It just made sense to declare Peanut Butter Cheerios as ‘The Official Cereal of Dadhood,’ because like great dads, Peanut Butter Cheerios lie somewhere in the intersection of awesome and responsible,” says Josh Stein, creative director, Tribal Worldwide – Toronto. “Dads are awesome and it’s awesome to be a dad. The new campaign creatively acknowledges that today, dads play a significant role in raising children, and celebrate their contribution.ⁱ

At Heartstone Journey, we know more and more dads are stepping up and experiencing the satisfaction and reward of taking a more active role in the lives of our kids…and dads should be celebrated! I love this commercial because if really does a great job at portraying the reality of life of a dad and family. I also want to give a huge shout out to Tribal Worldwide because they didn’t pick the idiot dad stereotype or the passive dad routine to be “funny”…they picked an authentic dad!

This commercial shows the simple ways dads are awesome and is a reminder that dads do matter and they have an impact on the relationships with their kids. Before reading on, click play, watch the commercial and you’ll see why the campaign is awesome.

Why “Real Men” Are Romantics At Heart

Why It’s Important For Guys To Act Like Men

Men Your Words Have Power, So Speak Life To Your Kids

What A Leper And Centurion Can Teach Us About Compassion

8 Tips On “How To Dad” From A Cheerios Commercial

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