Gardening and Man Talk

I was holding off on posting about this until I knew that Grimm hadn't destroyed it. I think it's safe to say he now has the understanding of what will happen enough to stay out.

This past weekend we put together the frame for the raised bed and planted some plants in pots in the garden. We (by which I mean Ricci) got all the mulch and dividers straightened out. We planted tomato, marigold (thanks Adam), petunias, citronella, mint and lamb's ear in pots, and we have jalepeños and bell peppers that are waiting to be put into the raised bed. I just don't quite trust my dog enough to leave them alone without some sort of border so we don't have any dirt or plants in the raised bed right now.






And here's the table my folks got us for my birthday. Check out the sweet Texas star base for the umbrella.




Also get ready because I think I'm gonna start have Man Talk Thursdays. I'm taking two classes at church (Experiencing God and The Man Class) as well as co-directing Cubbies and I'm learning a lot about Godly manhood and leadership. So next week I'm going to start passing along the little bit of wisdom that I've accumulated.

Actually I will say this for Man Talk right now:

I think every guy should read Wild at Heart by John Eldridge, Every Man's Battle by Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, and Mike Yorkey and Six Battles Every Man Must Win by Bill Perkins.

All three tread on similar ground and some even repeat each other but it's all Godly advice so we call that reinforcement. Every Man's Battle deals with how sexuality has permeated our society and how we as men allow God to free us from sexual sins. Wild at Heart and Six Battles go more into Godly masculinity. WaH speaks more about how God has designed men, how we deal with wounds in our past and how we start acting like mature Christians. Six Battles is similar but with an emphasis on David's Mighty Men as examples of how if we put our lives in God's hands and stop settling and being passive He can make us into bad dudes. And by bad dudes I mean men that don't compromise and who get angry and fight not for stupid things like sports teams but for what matters to God.

It's been a tough semester of self examination and ironing out a lot of little areas where I say no to God or just roll over and settle for passivity. But I can't remember a time in my life where I've grown as much. Okay I have to stop for now or I'll go on forever. Thanks for dropping in.