Every
year my two boys and I read Thoughts For Young Men by J.C Ryle. I
don’t know of any book that hits young men between they eyes
any better than this masterpiece. We have gone through a Men and Boys'
Bible study on this book at Trinity. Anytime I can find solid
advice for my boys or our young ladies at our Church, I do everything I
can to put it in the hands or in front of the eyes
of our parents. The last two weeks I have highlighted two great posts
from Kate Conner, but in reading these post she had a link from another
blogger that gave his advice to young men and I would be cheating you if
I didn’t post this. You can read it here
or go to his blog, but by all means read it and go through these with
the students in your home. Hope it encourages you!
Ten Things I Want to Tell Teenage Boys
(Young Men)
First a disclaimer : This post is a complete 100% rip-off of something Brooke’s cousin Kate wrote on her blog a couple of weeks
ago and it took off. Here it is : Ten Things I Want to Tell Teenage Girls
- It’s brilliant and you should read it and then follow all of Kate’s writings because she is awesome at it.
Her post has blown up and I’ve been seeing people post it on twitter and facebook that I know don’t even know Kate. I love that
it’s happening and it inspired me to come up with a list of my own directed toward boys. So thank you Kate for inspiring me.
Now 10 things I want to tell teenage boys (young men)
1.
Pull your pants up. No one wants to see your crack hanging out or
your underwear. It makes you look like an idiot. No one with any sort
of authority will ever take you seriously, it’s hard to run, jump or
move. It’s not slimming and it’s not 1990 anymore.
Do I need more reasons?
2.
Look people in the eye/Have a good handshake. These two things
will tell me a lot about a young man. It will tell me if they are
confident, driven and respectful. If I was hiring more team members and
someone came in didn’t have a good handshake and
didn’t look me in the eye while I was talking to them I wouldn’t hire
them. They could be super qualified for the position but without those
two things I’m not interested.
3.
Open the car door for your girlfriend/fiance/wife. When Brooke
and I started dating about four years ago I decided that I was going to
open the door for her every time we got in the car and I still do to
this day. As men we need to make sure that our
lady knows she matters to us and that she is important and there is no
better way to continue to tell her this then opening a door for her.
There are times when I will get in the car and Brooke will look at me
and say, “You know you’ve been opening the door
for me for 4 years...That means so much to me.” It’s easy and it shows
respect and kindness. Do it!
(Ladies- If a guy doesn’t open the door for you, tell him he should start.)
4.
Not trying isn’t cool. Try hard in school, in sports, at work and at whatever else you do. It is worth it and will pay off.
5.
You are not entitled to anything. Life is hard and takes work. No
one is going to hand anything to you for free. You haven’t “earned”
anything. You need to work and work hard to earn things. Stop acting
like the world owes you something, like your teachers,
parents and bosses owe you something. They don’t, you have to work for
everything.
6.
Develop good eating habits. I know this might seem like silly
advice and sound very motherly, but you will thank me in 20 years when
you can still see and touch your toes. If you are skinny right now and
eat whatever you want just know that it won’t
last forever. Your metabolism will slow down and weight will just start
to hang around your gut. You don’t want a gut. You want to stay thin
and fit because you’ll live longer, your wife will be more attracted to
you and you’ll be able to actually play with
your kids longer. If you can develop those habits now, it will pay off
big in the future.
7.
Stop swearing. It’s not tough, it’s not cool, it makes you sound unintelligent.
8.
Stop looking at Porn : This will ruin your marriage, your life
and your ability to enjoy sex. I used to work as an intern for XXXchurch
and we would meet young man after young man whose life was ruined by
being addicted to porn. It’s not worth it.
9.
Have integrity. Stand for truth and always do the right thing.
Sometimes it’s a lot harder but it’s always worth it. Leave a legacy
that is good.
10.
Be a real man. Real men are not the men you see on TV or movies.
Real men are kind, compassionate, respectful and honest. They fight for
truth and justice. They love their wives whole heartedly and deeply.
They care for those who need help. They work
hard.
I was not a real young man. I was kind a punk kid coming out of high school and through most of college. I didn’t do half those things on that list. I made bad choices that I regretted. I don’t look at them as learning experience, I look at them as mistakes and if I could go back and change them I would. Don’t live with the idea that “you only live once” or “you have to do something to learn from it.” That type of living is idiotic and full of shame and regret. Instead, live honestly now.
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