This blog entry marks the beginning of a climb that I would like to take.  Though all members of the family are welcome to come along, I will be focusing most of my posts on guys like me.  Men who are deep in the trenches of trying to raise a family in the 21^st century.  A time in history that affords no man a simple walk on the beach.  Times have changed.  The America we were born into is a very different country than our children are being born into.

There are countless blogs and news sources today that will give you ample information as to just how badly we are behaving as a country.  This blog is going to attempt to begin focusing on the struggles that we as men face and the solutions that our God invites us to put in place.  I truly believe that I am speaking to the men who will shape the future of our country. Nothing will change for the better in our country until men wake up and see the heights that God intends for them to climb with their family.

 As we begin this climb, please know that I see blogs as a double-edged sword.  The power they wield is amazing.  On one hand they give us a chance to positively encourage, challenge, and support others.  On the other hand they can easily give off false impressions that he or she who is blogging has somehow mastered the hard parts of life and are now sitting back at their laptop consulting others how to join their success.

 Brothers, I am facing the very same winds you are.  The winds of hardship that expose my fears and insecurities.  Yet it is in those very moments of exposure that Christ can come in and refine my faith and build muscle like never before.  If you are coming to this blog to find a formula for success in your family and a perfect role model, you might need to keep googling.  What you will find here is a father of 8 children and 16 years of marriage who is seeking to do life differently than he was taught in public school or is told in the secular media.  Not for the sake of being different, but for the desire of being holy, as my Lord has called me to be.

 The holy heights ahead require that you and I be humble and courageous.  We have no business climbing without a rope.  Today let’s just focus on that.  The rope.  I call it the Rope of Grace.  God alone gives it and God alone holds it.  He has made it available to you and me brother so that we can climb by faith.  His free gift of grace leaves me no room for boasting, but only for praising.  Praising Him for saving me from a fatal fall on the rocks of my sinful nature.  You and I have the hope of a lifetime of climbing because of that Rope.

 So if you are going to be climbing with me in this blog I pray that you have discovered just how precious and strong our God’s Rope of Grace is.  Believe me, we’ll need it even more as we attempt to climb the heights ahead.