Contagious Candor
Theme of the Week: Hold Back or Open Up?
Friday, June 13, 2008
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: So put away all falsehood and "tell your neighbor the truth" because we all belong to each other (Ephesians 4:25). Bonus Reading: Galatians 6:1-3
A team of Christian men recently conducted a Manhood Without Models seminar at Seattle Pacific University. Each of us on the team—two pastors, three laymen— honestly shared our own stories, including both failures and victories, and the lessons we'd learned from them.
Dwight, one of those who attended the seminar, was an elder from a prominent local evangelical church. "I've never heard honesty like this before," Dwight said in one of the small discussion groups. He went on to share his own story of private pain about his rebellious son, who had run away from home twice in the last year. "I haven't told anyone else about this before today," he admitted, "especially anyone at church. I was too afraid of what they'd think. But hearing you men share about your own struggles has helped me to see that I need to reach out for help too."
I called Dwight a couple of weeks after the seminar to ask how he was doing. "Great!" he exclaimed. "My son and my wife and I have started working with a family counselor, and it's going really well! I can't thank you and the other men enough for modeling that it's okay to reach out for help."
—Patrick Means in Men's Secret Wars
My Response: What experience of failure or victory should I share to help my buddies get real?
Thought to Apply: You can never establish a personal relationship without opening up your own heart. —Paul Tournier (Swiss psychologist)
Adapted from Men's Secret Wars (Revell, 1996, 1999, 2006) by permission.
Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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