“Manhood is accepting responsibility, rejecting passivity, pursuing God passionately, leading courageously and finishing strong.”
Although Robert Lewis deserves some credit as an influence for this quote from his book “The Raising of a Modern Day Knight” this definition is actually our Ramos Family definition of manhood. The definition comes from my heart, readings, Scripture and life experiences compiled over nearly a half a century of life and the pursuit of manhood. Since the limits of time and space time cannot do the justice deserved in this devotional and the depth of meaning of The Definition someday I dream of writing a book on the topic.
Christmas 2011 was special for me because it was the year in which I literally etched The Definition in steel for my boys. I purchased four, Buck “Special” 119 fixed blade Bowie-style knives at BiMart. I chose this knife because of the Buck Family’s outspoken faith in Jesus Christ. Every knife contains a written statement of faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their "business partner". Secondly, I believe this is s do-all-things knife that will literally
last a lifetime and a tradition that I wished will one day be passed from my boys to theirs and through the generations of Ramos men.
Once I had the knives I found a small shop in Salem that would engrave the definition along with each of our names. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely!
My boys lit up as we opened our knives together and I explained to them what it meant to be a man. The best part of all was the my dad was there to not only witness his outdoor heritage passed down to his grandsons, but the godly heritage of his parents passed down as well.
When I look at The Definition etched in steel I realize that there is a lot that goes into making a man.
Manhood is a complex and a moving target for a society that has emasculated biblical manhood. It is vitally important, however, that we begin with some frame of reference- a baseline if you will. Without taking 200 pages to explain what each of the life aspects of manhood mean, my household defines manhood as you read above. Let me explain one aspect of The Definition; the progressive tense of the verbs that describe each of the five points of manhood.
Manhood is progressive.
Adult boys live and die on big events and the lie of “quality time” with their children, but manhood is a never-ending process. Men can never stop accepting responsibility for our actions and mandates, men must never falter in rejecting the passivity of Adam’s curse, men can never cease pursuing our God, men can never fall behind in leading with courage, and lastly men can never quit fighting for the things that matter most.
“Manhood is accepting responsibility, rejecting passivity, pursuing God passionately, leading courageously and finishing strong.”
