Did you see the outcome of Proposition 8 on the California ballot last week?

52.3% of the voters told their state government that marriage in California should remain consistent with thousands of years of civilization’s history… between a man and a woman.

Not surprisingly, this has stirred up a hornet’s nest of opposition, protesting, and new legal challenges from those who want homosexuality to be legally endorsed.

So what does this have to do with us family dads?

Actually, a lot.

Perhaps most important is a reminder of the masculine love our sons need from us as their dad, and the wounds that can go deep into their soul when they do not receive it from us.

In John Eldredge’s wildly popular book, Wild At Heart, which he wrote to help men heal from the wounds of our past and discover the secret of our souls, he says that what is missing in the hearts of those who are homosexual is masculine love, but the problem is that they’ve sexualized it.

Eldredge references Joseph Nicolosi who says that homosexuality is an attempt to repair the wound by filling it with masculinity, either the masculine love that was missing or the masculine strength many men feel they do not possess.

Sons can carry deep wounds in their hearts from fathers through our hurtful words, our neglect, abandonment, abuse, lack of attention and affirmation, our workaholism, our failure to validate their own masculinity…

All of which communicates to them… “I as your father do not love you. I am not proud of you. You are not worth my time, attention, and resources.”

Let me encourage you today, dad, to express your love to your son often. Affirm him. Encourage him. Spend time with him.

Even if he is difficult to love.

Teach him by your example and your words what it means to be a man — a man who loves God, loves his family, and loves people.

He desperately craves your masculine love.

Blessings to you and your family,
Joey Watkins
Founder, FamilyDads

PS - If you have not read Wild At Heart, it has excellent insights for us men and is highly recommended. It’s on sale right now at www.DadResources.com

If you have a son, grandson, work with boys, teach a boys Bible study, or know another dad who has boys, then this message is for you…

As part of the transition to manhood, boys desperately need their dads or other adult men in their lives to teach them about work, and to develop healthy attitudes toward work and a willingness to work for God’s glory.

The best way to do this is apprenticeship, where a boy “shadows” his dad or other adult men and learns about work and character by example.

An excellent resource I am using to teach my own sons about work is “Created For Work: Practical Insights For Young Men.”

The author, a dad himself and a carpenter by trade, tells inspiring stories from his own life and work — real-world stories that fascinate boys.

He uses these stories along with Scripture to reveal truths about diligence, initiative, honesty, promptness, responsibility, and many more aspects of character and work ethic.

Two of my sons favorite chapters are “Dirt” and “The Donut Race.” “Dirt” is about a guy who never lets dirt get in the way of completing his work. “The Donut Race” is about two boys who race each other to a donut shop one morning before school. One boy obeys the traffic laws, while the other one speeds. It’s an effective and humorous lesson on haste and also teaches how hasty people miss God because God is never in a hurry.

Having personally read this book with my own son when he was 8, and now re-reading it again with him at age 10, I give “Created For Work” two thumbs up as an excellent way for dads to spend quality time with their sons as well as impress on their minds key character qualities about work through reading together fun “guy-stories” and discussing the questions at the end of each chapter.

If you have a son, grandson, or know a boy or group of boys between the ages of 8 and 16, this book is highly recommended as an interactive resource. It is also an excellent gift idea for a boy or dad!

Learn More or Order This Resource

Mothers Day is this Sunday, May 11th. It is an opportunity for us dads to honor the two most important women in our life: our mother and our wife.