Category: Basic Training

In this current series of posts, I’ve described some important aspects of my growth as a man of God and their foundations for my God Buddy concept.  It was not until I understood who I was — and Whose I was, did this growth really begin for me though. For most men, the answer to the question, “Who am I?” really begins when we know “Whose am I? “. Let’s have a little vocabulary lesson. The Difference between “Who’s” and “Whose?” According to Dictionary.com, “Whose” is the possessive form of the pronoun who, while who’s is a contraction of the words who is or who has. More simply: Who owns vs who has. Also, capitalizing the first letter is considered “reverential capitalization”, which is the practice of capitalizing religious words, particularly pronouns, that refers to a deity or divine being. For Christians, it means “of God” or “of Jesus Christ”. Identifying Who We Are As Men Today, we

There is a difference between retreat and isolation. One is good for a man’s soul and the other is not so good.  An important foundation for my GodBuddy concept came when I realized that men need to get away and retreat with other men. Now, I don’t mean retreat in a military sense but to change the pace and relaxation to recharge their batteries. A quick Google search will present you with a vast array of wellness retreats, yoga retreats, and detox retreats that are mainly targeted at women. For men though, the options are significantly less, which presumes that women need to retreat more than their male counterparts. But I would suggest the opposite is true. Why is it essential that every man needs some time away either in solitude or for adventure and to hang out with other like-minded guys?  First, here are some definitions: Retreat: (Noun) a place of

At one time, I had no vision for what it meant to be a man. But another concept that became foundational for my God Buddy concept was that men need a proper balance of their masculine and feminine traits. This leads to the proper use of their masculinity. Like many men, I once had an understanding of manhood that leaned toward more traditional masculinity, in which a boy became a man once he graduated from high school, lost his virginity, or made enough money to live on his own. However, I now believe that men need to return to a position of equality with our female companions and learn how to properly use our masculinity. This means discarding the harmful ideologies of the improper use of masculinity that results in unchecked anger, violence, and sexism. It also means we must encourage and embrace the positive aspects of masculinity such as courage,