You still have time.

The Ford pickup was not in my stocking or driveway, so I still have room. I have a visiting dog that would look really nice in a pickup. Kona—not named after the coffee—loves to adventure including jumping in an open vehicle door to go joust with squirrels or ride to Staples. She rides straight up looking out the windshield and pawing at my hand to pet her.

Noting the bright sun, I decided we would run to Staples and since Starbucks is close, we would get a cup and sit in solar heat warming the car to read and pray. I was very comfortable enjoying the beautiful day, reading a stimulating book and drinking coffee. Kona wasn’t into coffee, reading or praying. Restless, indicating the seat wasn’t large enough to fit her; serious boredom settled in. So we packed it up and went home. Kona was really glad to see Carole.

I was looking forward to the prayer time—I really needed it. I heard someone say yesterday, “We live in a toxic social and cultural atmosphere.” My rule has been you can live in your toxic world if you want to. Just stay away from me! Toxic people just don’t worry about it. Every male leader I know is talking about the state of manhood from declining sperm count to testosterone, and how current destructive chatter is that a male presence on the earth was Mother God’s biggest mistake.

The women running for the Presidency in 2020 are running on the platform of diminishing or exiling men. They sound like they interned for a veterinarian. But these women—not all of them ladies, as described by an earlier age—sneak onto news broadcasts to say, “Oh! Just sit down and shut up. And while you’re doing that stand up and do something right for a change.” Think what they intend to do with executive orders.

So I really needed to pray. To be delivered from the permeating fog, to renew my mind, to gain wisdom as James 1:5 promises and to rediscover true north. And clarity would be good.

Brain specialist, Dr. Caroline Leaf, says that thoughts become energy. That energy can fill the atmosphere and infect bystanders. We need positive, creative atmospheres to overcome the negative energy that can become demonic and lethal.

Stephen Mansfield, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Senator Ben Sasse, Brett McCay (Art of Manliness), John Eldridge & Sons are talking about destruction in the wake of generations of males who did not learn how to be men. Growing in a culture of women, boys have few or no models of manhood and few close adult male friends who conferred status. (Only other males can confer manhood. “You are the man!”) Representative Trey Gowdy tells stories of a friend of his father who was instrumental in Gowdy’s learning what a man does and what describes him. Like a tribe or an uncle.

“…spreading global gloom.”

That headline described the results of  holiday spending and the downward expectation of major retailers’ projected earnings. It also describes the mental-emotional and spiritual effect upon families, cities and nations when confident, competent men are photo shopped out of the picture.

We live in chaos. Rudderless and few anchors. That is why we are also living in addiction. Those who monitor our rivers say there are measurable amounts of anti-anxiety and anti-depression drugs in the water. It is how we manage the craziness and the negative energy blown into our faces and souls like second-hand smoke, but many times more toxic. The men and women who are not talking about manhood are writing and talking about depression and anxiety. The opioid crisis and the things above are a connected network—the dots connect.

“Socrates taught, it is almost impossible to educate someone with an answer until he or she is invested in asking a question.” (Senator Ben Sasse, The Vanishing American Adult, St Martin’s Press, 2017)

The lack of curiosity or belief that there are answers to the chaos leading to demise of civilization and downward thrust of all things civil keeps people from searching, seeking , asking. I was going to pray for a Great American Awakening that fits the current culture. I have a small clue what it might look like. It probably won’t look anything like those of the past.  

My wife was folding blankets the other morning and said to me,

“Time to put the night away”

That sounded like a clarion call to me.

A woman approached Dwight L. Moody to say, “I don’t like the way you do evangelism.” He responded, “I like my way of doing it more than the way you’re not doing it.”

I don’t know if a wall (regardless of building materials) is the best way to deal with the southern border. I listen to the pro-barrier people and to opponents. I’m not hearing any other solutions. None! I want to hear a better plan with every rejection of the one proposed. Give me your alternative plan!

In a morning article, a mother talked about how the current attacks on boys and men are affecting her grade school son. As attacks on boys and men grow more outrageous, an entire generation has a stereotypical reputation that is dubbed as projected adolescence.

There are solutions. I like Senator Ben Sasse’s thinking as outlined in his book “The Vanishing American Adult.”  

It is indeed time to put the night away. To this point, I like what Ben Sasse sees as the plan to build adults, to build character and rebuild a nation. I will repeat his plan in my next communiqué. He calls them “Five Character-Building Habits.”

© D. Dean Benton — Writer, Wonderer, Witness