Don't Waste Your Summer - Noble Warriors

School’s out, and it’s officially summertime. What are your boys going to do?

When I was a boy, “summer” spelled freedom. Bare feet, playing outside until dark, then catching lightning bugs and maybe a few frogs or snakes. As a teen, it meant looking forward to getting a driver’s license and getting that first job, going off to college, or doing any kind of work I was old enough to do. That usually came with a lot of dirt or grease under my fingernails.

But there has been a cultural shift for boys of all ages. They aren’t looking forward to those milestones like we did. There is a propensity for the current generation of boys to spend their lives in a virtual world devoid of real, tangible life experiences and relationships. They’re largely hanging out in their bedrooms, and it’s affecting their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. We are fighting a tidal wave that is drowning boys in permanent adolescence.

Before we start to sound like grumpy, old men muttering “kids these days” under our breath, we have to ask ourselves, “What are we going to do about it?” In Searching for Tom Sawyer: How Parents and Congregations Can Stop the Exodus of Boys from Church, author Tim Wright says,

“Ultimately, deep down inside each boy is the God-created desire to matter, to make a difference in the world, to be a good who grows up to be an honorable man. Inside each boy is the yearning for a vision he can grow into – a vision Jesus calls him into with powerful words: Follow me!”

Men, we need to provide that vision for our boys. We need to show them that Jesus. And we can start this summer.

Get Him Out of His Room

Our boys aren’t going to find that vision Jesus is calling him into while he’s holed up in his bedroom, prioritizing virtual over real-life experiences.

Bedrooms are a comfort zone. If we are going to raise men who follow Jesus wherever He leads them, we need to kill the comfort zone. Before we blame the kids, look at what they are up against. Christianity Today reports in Why Young Men Are Failing to Launch that “this is not something wrong with the kids so much as it is something wrong for the kids.”

Opportunities to socialize, work, or play are dwindling. Society makes it a challenge for employers to hire boys until they are older, and increasing the minimum wage makes it challenging for beginners to thrive. I’m not sure if being a paperboy is even a thing these days. They can win in the entrepreneurial world if they have the ambition, know-how, and equipment to mow lawns, walk dogs, or rake leaves. Those aspirations require one more thing – the support of parents.

We are reluctant for our kids to experience hardships. They don’t overcome because parents overcome on their behalf. It’s so pervasive we’ve got ever-increasing terms for it: over-parenting, helicopter parenting, and the ultimate lawn mower parenting, where we mow over any obstacle in their way. When we swoop in to rescue our offspring from the work of escaping the chrysalis, out emerge weak, underdeveloped, fledgling men, ill-equipped to overcome challenges. Guys who dominate the latest and greatest virtual dominion feel like they’ve got it all together, but they’ve never taken a risk. It’s foolish to call ourselves courageous if we never do anything that requires courage.

Raise Up Godly Men This Summer

“The call to discipleship for boys is the call to harness the power of testosterone for the cause of Jesus.” (Tim Wright)

The call of Jesus is compelling. Christian discipleship and raising up godly men should reveal a compelling vision of Christ and godly manhood. This summer, instill this vision in our boys of all ages. Take him out for breakfast once a week. Sit and talk. Do a study together. Use a book like Robert Lewis’s Raising a Modern Day Knight to study what it means to be a godly man and celebrate that progression in your son’s life. Use Seasons of a Leader’s Life: Learning, Leading, and Leaving a Legacy by Jeff Iorg to study Peter.

Show your boys it’s good and right to leave their comfort zone. Have you ever been white water rafting? Rock climbing? You might be a little uncomfortable, too. It will give you the open door to study Joshua and how God told him over and over to be courageous. He will learn it’s OK to take risks, face challenges, feel afraid, and move forward despite the fear. In fact, it’s what he is wired to do. And just like Joshua, God will be with him wherever he goes.

God created our boys in his image. They’re not wired to sit in their bedroom in a virtual world. They are wired to follow Christ wherever He leads. Let’s start this summer.