The pressure on every man is so great, always has been. Remember how our fathers were afraid (not interested?) to show emotion? I heard my own son say once that men weren’t supposed to cry. He didn’t learn that from me, the cry baby that I am.

Yep, Paisley cries. Pissed my dad off many a times with that gift.

Christian men are under the gun with this as well. Yeah, Jesus wept so we are free to show a certain degree of goo but that’s balanced out (overwhelmed) by the pressure to be mini-pastors and demi-gods in the eyes of our family and peers.  I mean, when was the last time a man of God did not come off like a big wind bag or a know-it-all?

(Present company excluded, of course)

I wrote the song, “REAL MAN” so very long ago, back in the 80s when we smooth skinny guys who were well into adulthood but still without a full beard had to compete with guys like Tom Selleck (gay, just kidding).  Every time we turned on the TV we could see our wives immediately forget our achievements in life and we were reduced to… well, you know, the one they got stuck with. 

Now at least we have wispy fellas like Robert Pattenson to compare to. Heck, if he had been a poster boy back in the day I never would have joined a gym-or shaved my arms and legs hoping for thicker hair growth in the future.  (BTW: that trick only works when you DON’T want it to)

Life always comes pack to the one perfect Truth: comparing ourselves to others or comparing others to others is sin. We are all individuals in the eyes of God.

Break the mold, reinvent the wheel, and praise God for what Cyndi Lauper did for fashion…

And say, “Stop.”

To yourself, to the voices in your head, to the devil and to that idiot standing next to you who is uncomfortable with the fact that you are different. The older I get how obvious this all becomes: we only have a brief moment in this life to shine, to create, to live, to enjoy, to contribute, to be sexy, to serve and to save.

Why blow it coming down on ourselves or the next guy?