From time to time our Moot Men offer their story to the group. Today, long time group member Tatsy Matsushita tells what it was like to be a Japanese American youth during WW2. Listen in to this fascinating story of how his ethnic race, during this era, affected their family, his schooling, career and his […]
The Power of a Father and Son Outdoor Adventure: Part 3, Planned Risk, Time and Space The Component of Planned Risk Planned Risk is also a necessary component of a well designed father and son outdoor adventure. Note the use of the word planned as opposed to the word reckless. Risk within any context is […]
The Power of a Father and Son Outdoor Adventure: Part 2, Newness and Focus The First Component of Adventure Design: Newness The first component of a well designed father and son outdoor adventure father and son outdoor adventure is newness. Newness is an inner stirring, which initiates our search to find what is out there. […]
The Power of a Father and Son Outdoor Adventure: Part 1, True Adventure When it comes to Christian retreats, Christ in the Rockies has hosted adventure camps for fathers and sons who come from all across the United States. Based in Colorado and since their beginning in 2007, Christ in the Rockies camps provide an […]
Jon Favreau’s film Chef dramatizes a relationship between a father and a son. Favreau stars in the film as Carl Casper, the father of his teenage son, Percy, played by Emjay Anthony. Carl and Percy have a unique relationship and it demonstrates common dynamics between fathers and sons. Because of this, Carl and Percy’s relationship […]
Jeff Nichol’s Mud is another film that depicts a relationship between a father, Tom, and a son, Ellis. What is the relationship between Tom and Ellis like? What can we learn from them as models of the father-son relationship? How might that apply to our own lives and relationships? If the father-son adventure is primarily […]
The reader should be aware that this article contains spoilers. In the Tim Burton film Big Fish, based on the novel by Daniel Wallace, Edward Bloom tells his son Will stories about past adventures, all of which seem to stretch the truth about what really happened. As an adult, Will believes that his father’s stories […]
David Schultz’s Ragamuffin is a portrayal of the life of Rich Mullins. One thing that makes this portrayal of Mullins’ life particularly interesting is the focus on Mullins’ relationship with his father. In the film at least, this focus is central to Mullins’ character development. Mullins’ relationship with his father affects him in profound ways, […]
When we view J. C. Chandler’s “All is Lost” starring Robert Redford as a parallel to the journey of authentic manhood we discover some interesting things. This is a survival story. In any survival story, characters are forced to deal with what really matters most. Perhaps a character does not know what matters most, but […]
There are particular values to which men on the journey of authentic manhood adhere. The book of Proverbs is a great resource for digging out those values. The book has a way of highlighting particular ideals and values, demonstrating that these values were esteemed at the time the text was written. Strangely enough the values […]
Work is one theme in Proverbs chapter 10. This is applicable to us because we spend much of our lives in our work. In this chapter, the father tells his son about work. The father is concerned not so much about what to do for work but about how to work in general. “A slack […]
Proverbs 2 starts with an appeal from a father to a son. This appeal and the instructions that follow play a part in the the son’s journey of authentic manhood. The speaker addresses him as “my son” and presents a situation of conditional logic, “if” you do X, “then” Y will be the result. In […]
In the film “A River Runs Through It,” directed by Robert Redford, brothers Norman and Paul Maclean grow up under their father John Maclean, a Presbyterian minister and fly fisherman. This film models themes in the journey of authentic manhood and gives us images specifically for the theme of the father’s blessing. For those of […]
Robert Redford directed “A River Runs Through It,” a film based on the story by Norman Maclean who is also the main character in Redford’s film. The story is largely autobiographical and is about Norman and his brother Paul who both grew up in Missoula, Montana under their father, the reverend John Maclean, a Presbyterian […]
In Proverbs 1:22–33 we see wisdom personified as a woman offering insight to those who would listen. For those of us on the journey of authentic manhood, we are invited into the rewards for seeking wisdom and we are told of the consequences for those who chose to ignore wisdom altogether. Also, we are further […]
Proverbs 1:8–19 is fascinating to read in light of the father son adventure. Verse 8 starts with “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” (Pr. 1:8). From this we know that the writer of this proverb is also a father imploring his son to listen to his instruction. This speaks […]
Proverbs is a remarkable book, especially when applying it to the journey of authentic manhood and the father-son adventure. In verses 2–6 of Proverbs 1, the reader is given a specific kind of information. Almost every verse in this section starts with a purpose statement. This section is meant to reveal the purpose of the […]
Part of the father son adventure is the father communicating his own story to the son. The story of the father gives the son a perspective about his dad that he did not have before. The father’s story allows the son to view his father in a different light and helps the son see his […]
How does this happen? Passing down the faith from one generation to the next is part of the father-son adventure. This happens through words and actions. It’s easy to focus solely on the words, to tell sons what Christians believe. This is important but perhaps more important than passing down the words is that fathers […]
Like many cultures, mainstream Christianity shares the value that rites of passage are a good thing for young men to go through. The belief is that young men need the benefits grained by the passage and the benefits may even be critical for them to correctly function as a man in the future. With so […]