Category: Basic Training

Now that I finished the previous set of posts on Traits of a God Buddy Relationship, I’m going to write a series about what I have found as some of the foundations to my God Buddy concept. The first is my favorite Bible verse: Proverbs 27:17. I first discovered the power of being involved in the men’s group at our church during my personal struggles with work-life balance (which I wrote about in Why I needed a God Buddy). Not only did participation in the group get my mind off of the stressful job situation and help me through this struggle, but it also led to finding my original God Buddy, Bill Johnson. It was in that same men’s group that I began to learn some biblical concepts that helped my journey as a man and the realization that men need to have other godly men in their lives. As

Can technology and social media help you make closer friends? Depending on who you ask, the answer is “Yes”. But I might suggest the answer is also a resounding “No”! Sure, this statement seems strange in the era of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the plethora of social media options. On one hand, social media is good for keeping in touch. According to Pew Research’s study Using Social Media to Keep in Touch, roughly two-thirds (67%) of social media users say staying in touch with current friends and family members is the major reason they use social media sites. About half use it to reconnect with old friends. On the other hand, we frequently hear that over use of social media is having a negative impact on brain development of our youth and is weakening our interpersonal skills to the point that it affects our friendships. As I have written previously

We all have at least one guy in our group of friends who is generally fun to hang out or interesting, except that he has that one glaringly character trait that drives you crazy! Be aware though, you can also be “That Guy” and not even know it! In my last post about Barriers to Friendships, we learned about some of the qualities that make you a good friend. But there are also some traits that can will drive a wedge between you and other guys that can actually keep you from gaining any really close friends. Steve Kamb provides a very funny description about the different species of “That Guy” in this guest post on The Art of Manliness. Some of the species are far more deplorable than others but they all have one thing in common: a trait that irritates the snot out of friends. As you read