Another Christian Leader Fallen
(5-minute read)
Amid a dozen head-spinning news items involving the killing of another U.S. citizen, loss of trust on the global stage (Davos), and others, you may have missed this gut-wrenching story. One of my favorite Christian authors, Philip Yancey, has disclosed an eight-year affair. His books, The Jesus I Never Knew and What’s So Amazing About Grace, were a great help to me during some very challenging times in my life—and in the life of my family.
I have read some raw ...
The Boy Crisis in America… Continues
Several years ago, I wrote about a New York Times article titled “The Crisis of Boys and Men.” That article echoed the central warning of Tender Lions: Building the Vital Relationship Between Father and Son—a message my son and I have been writing and speaking about for the past six years. In many ways, it feels like we’ve been trying to speak calmly while standing in front of a cultural tsunami of screaming masculine might.
Simply put: boys and men in America are struggling—and ...
Life Through a Straw…it still Sucks!
(3-minute read – an edited version from several years ago)
Years ago, I had a stroke that wiped out almost all my vision. Imagine trying to see life through a McDonald’s soda straw…for real. No peripheral vision, no depth perception. Just complete blackness, except for that little round view directly in front. Taking a slow walk was difficult and driving was out of the question. I told a friend it felt like looking at life through a straw, and he said, “That sucks.” I laughed ...
The Gospel According to Gladwell: 3 Leadership Principles for Turbulent Times
(4 minute read)
“When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters – first and foremost – how they behave….This is called the ‘principle of legitimacy,’” Malcolm Gladwell, David & Goliath
Gladwell writes concerning the principles of legitimacy that first, “The people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice.” I recall a specific work situation where I and other colleagues had creative ideas. We knew how to improve things, ...
Father’s Day Wish
This Father's Day I'm choosing to remember, learn, and even benefit from the relationship between my dad and I…the good, the bad, and even the ugly.
I have wonderful memories and lessons learned from Harold Henry Becker, now sainted for eight years. Dad was the most honest man I’ve ever met, faithful and supportive of my mother for over 59 years, a hard worker, intensely loyal to friends, generous with his time and money, possessed a simple and deep faith in God, and he was present at ...
Living Open-Handed
Let’s try a quick experiment. Tightly clench your fist. Now, look at your hand. What can you give away while your fist is clenched tightly? What can you receive? What can you hold in your hand? Obviously…nothing. I used this illustration in a workshop recently to describe the difference between living with a spirit of abundance versus scarcity. A doctor in the audience said, “Being turned in on ourselves is our natural state. Even when we die our hands stay closed.” It seems that our ...
10 Reasons Demonstrating that the Boy Crisis in America Continues:
This week’s blog has excerpts from a September 29 New York Times article “The Crisis of Men and Boys” by David Brooks. The article captures many of the serious negative implications of fatherless that Tender Lions: Building the Vital Relationship Between Father and Son reveals, and we’ve been writing and speaking about for the last three years.
The basic premise of the article is that boys and men are struggling in America, and it’s not getting better. Here is some of the ...