By Pastor Jon
And in their presence also!
I find these words very moving and positively challenging, and in more ways than just one.
“My father sowed the seeds of poetry, because he wrote poems for special occasions, and he read poems to the family. Even in the months before his death at 87, I would ask him to read his poems to me, and he would weep at certain points as he read about his six-year-old son.” – John Piper
This is true masculinity. We too often, in the church, prove by our witness that we have confused manliness with hardness. It takes real strength to both weep before your mature son, and not do so with an overwhelming grief this time has passed. This is believing the Gospel reversal!
In a day when gender stereotypes are playing a confused tune, may this type of manfulness increasingly rise to life’s surface inside the church, and personally through you (and me)!
For the Fame of His Name