Hero

Hero: Becoming the Man she Desires

By

Fred & Jasen Stoeker

I was given another book to review in the Library Thing Early Reviewer program. Click here to learn more about the program and read my previous review.

When I put my name on the hat for a copy of hero, I was unaware that this is the third book of a trilogy (Every Young Man's Battle and Tactics being the previous two). This book is thoroughly readable without reading the other two. I enjoyed this book so much that I am planning to read the first two later on this Summer.

In Hero the authors take a disheartening topic the failure of young men particularly Christian young men to be sexually pure and make an invigorating, hopeful but still immensely practical approach to male female relationships.

Fred Stoeker, His son Jasen, and his daughter in law Rose tell a story of victorious G rated living in a R/NC-17 world. Many books with multiple authors lose something in the transition. Not the case here, brief casual introductions make transitions as easy to follow as if they were merely microphone changes in a lecture hall.

Hero faces the cold hard facts that Christians particularly men are falling deep into lives filled with pornography, masturbation, and multiple partner sexual relations prior to and during marriage. Hero takes the life stand of Jasen Stoeker to not kiss a girl until he kissed his wife on his wedding day. The book basically begins with that kiss and then weaves it's message through the Stoeker family history of being statistics in the Playboy revolution to Fred's desire to make a change in that history and Jasen's stands for purity in Jr. high., high school and college along with Rose giving her back story and a needed feminine perspective.

I strongly recommend this book for all men but especially for fathers and single young men.

Next Time: Newspaper Chicken

But Dad, I'm not a boy or How Heaven is like going to the bathroom.

Two weeks ago we were at church and I needed to take Lucy to the bathroom. So being a boy, I took her to the boy's washroom. Which is when she reminded me that she was not a boy. It seems like all our children have taken umbrage with going to the wrong bathroom at one time or another. Lucy seemed genuinely concerned on this occasion that she was doing something wrong by being a girl in a boys room.

I told her that since I was a boy, she was allowed to be there, since she was with me. I went on to say that she could only go in the boys room when I brought here in there. And at that moment, maybe because we were in a church bathroom, the salvivic implications of our experience hit me.

Here is how getting in to heaven is a lot like going to the Bathroom:

Heaven is a place where sinful man is not welcome on their own. Man's sin has hampered our ability to be welcome in the home of the holy creator of the Universe. Man's attempts to get to God on our own (religion) all fail miserably.

Man can only get into Heaven as a result of God's doing and not their own. When the idea struck me walking out of the bathroom that I can only get into Heaven with God this verse from Ephesians came to my mind:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result if works, so that no one may boast.

Now, no analogies are perfect, especially those relating spiritual things; particularly those pertaining to washrooms. In order for Lucy to go into the boys washroom, I have to bring her in every time. This analogy would be similar to the sacrificial system in the Old Testament. What Jesus did on the cross for us, was to make heaven accessible to all who would believe.

So that is how going to the bathroom reminded me of the wonder of God's redemptive love.

Next Time: Hero

P.S. Salvivic means of or relating to salvation. I paid a lot of money for 1 year of seminary, might as well use a word or two from time to time.

The Civil Rights Game.

Well it's Thursday and time for me to tell you three things. Here they are ...

1) Our family celebrated the end of our school years by going to Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio this weekend. We did many amazing things like going to a Waffle House for the first time since my years spent in South Carolina. But by far the best part of the weekend was going to Major League Baseball's Civil Rights Game. Now, when my friend Patrick and I decided to take our families to a Cincinnati Reds game sometime this summer, we didn't decide to go based on the Civil Rights Game, we just wanted to go to any game preferably when one of the Chicago teams was in town. We were planning on going to see the Cubs play the Reds but that weekend did not work out on our schedule. So I noticed that my beloved White Sox were coming to Cincinnati on a weekend that did work out for all.

Great American Ballpark is an incredible place to take a family to a ball game. Located on the Ohio River, with Kentucky directly across offers a breathtaking view. The Ballpark offers many of the amenities that I love about U.S. Cellular Field, where the White Sox play. They shoot off fireworks when The Reds hit homers, as well as have many baseball skill related games for children to play. They also have a playground on the main level.

Beyond the view, and the amenities, the pregame presentation is what really made the evening a hit. The Civil Rights game is now in it's third year but the past two seasons the game has been a preseason game. This also marked the first year that the game was held at a major league ballpark. Earlier in the day a luncheon was held honoring three people who had made a mark on civil rights with Beacon awards. As the game began these winners were paraded onto the field for a presentation of the awards.

The winner of the Beacon of Life was Hank Aaron. The winner of the Beacon of Change was Muhammad Ali. The winner of the Beacon of Hope was Bill Cosby. I wept like a baby (I'm crying now just recollecting it) as they showed a video retrospective of Aaron, one of the heroes of my youth. Watching him hitting the home run breaking Babe Ruth's record on the jumbo tron reminded me of watching him do it live on t.v. so many years ago. I didn't know about the countless death threats he received then, which make his accomplish so much more inspiring.

Similar memories and thoughts greeted me during the retrospectives for Ali and Cosby. My family had come for a baseball game but instead were part of history.

The White Sox eventually prevailed in an ugly, error filled affair. But even if they lost, which seemed likely when they were losing 5-0 in the third, the game would still rank as the best regular season game I have ever attended. The Civil Rights game is being played again next year in Cincinnati, which has our family contemplating attending again.

2. And The Winner is . . .

Crazy Dave here. Cristina over at Home School Juggling is the winner of the Tony Dungy Book and Bible. Congratulations. Contact me Cristina so I can mail you your prize.

3. A New Thursday Staple.

Just got home from playing some baseball. Some of the home school families in our area are getting together and playing some baseball every Thursday. Charlie is having a great time! Being part of a Boy Sandwich family (a boy between two girls) he doesn't always get his fill of guy stuff. He was on the winning side of a 26-12 game today. I grew up on the pick-up game. Just get 6-20 kids together and play ball. While you still see that in basketball and football, baseball has been pretty much regulated to leagues and picnics. I better cut this short, I had to pitch today and I am having trouble moving my arms at all. For More Triple Plays go see Michelle at Psalm 104:24

Next Time: But Daddy I'm Not a Boy or How Heaven is Like Going to the Bathroom.

The Run Around Place

Call it what you will, the indoor park, play land, play place at the mall. You know the place where your kids can play while you rest your weary feet?. We call ours The Runaround Place.

We have been going to the one at our mall since we moved to this area 8 years ago. It is really cool and has a health theme. The run-a-round place works for our family because. . .

1) It's free. You got it fun on a budget. I think all 3 kids now prefer spending time at the children's section of Barnes and Noble. But alas they have all discovered that things can be bought there. Nothing is for sale at The Runaround Place, unless you count the fact that is in a mall. Okay, point taken.

2) It gives our poor home schooled children the opportunity for much neglected socialization. Yes, I am being sarcastic. But the kids always enjoy making friends there.

3) It allows us as parents to watch our kids grow before our eyes. We see the little crawlers and think wow remember when Charlie used to do that?

4) It teaches our kids that places other than home, have rules and they need to be followed. There is a height requirement, a requirement to wear socks and rules about how to place nicely.

5) It teaches our kids that life isn't always fair. Our oldest is now taller than the height requirement and our second oldest is right on the cusp. Yet every time we are there they see bigger kids playing when they should not, or kids playing without socks. This gives child and parents alike an exercise in living out a good example.

I won't give you the runaround, this place works for us. To see what works for others out in Blogtopia go to We Are That Family. Also to participate in my Tony Dungy Book and Bible give-a-way before this Thursday click here.

Next Time: The Civil Rights Game