dis-'man-t&l

Spiritual mothers
Chemical fathers
Wish I learned to love you more
Lonesome brothers
Trustless daughters
Children of Divorce - Alive In Wild Paint

Sometimes I look at the people around me in everyday life, and wonder what type of father, or what type of mother they'll be. Chances are, they're destined to follow in the very footsteps of their parents, and statistically, that's for the worse. 50 percent of first marriages will end in divorce, 67 percent for second marriages, and 74 percent for third marriages. If that doesn't make you stop for a second and think, then it proves the point, how unimportant or overlooked this fact is. The idea that statistics are needed for not only second, but third marriages as well, serves to fulfill this epidemic.

The family in America is broken. If parents aren't divorced, some should be. And even when conflict isn't drastic enough for divorce, there are certainly times in which spouses and children are threatened with the idea or feeling that they aren't loved.

I want to focus on fathers, because men are created to be leaders and providers, and the abundance of broken father-to-son relationships has crippled society leaving a gapping hole void of true leadership. And if you follow this problem back through generations, most likely, the father wasn't loved rightly by his father, and his father from his father. What a vicious damaging circle. You would be hard pressed to convince me that the majority of the world's problems are caused by something other than this need for a true father and his love, equating real leadership.

When you look at the gruesome, unexplainable, majestic, beautiful trials of Christ, it was only because of His relationship with His Father and His unfailing love that Jesus could endure. Christ was the beloved son. There was not ONE DOUBT in His tempted mind that He was unloved.

I don't have the answer. Christ is the only antidote "other" enough to heal this father wound. Growing closer to Christ personally, surely, but also experiencing His love through others. I'm convinced of the later because that's exactly what the Father and Creator of existence did. He demonstrated His love through a man. . . Christ.

I just watched Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn. A pretty amazing movie showcasing a young man's attempt to become a man in a broken world. But through Chris' attempt to truly find himself and be re-birthed as a man, he abandons parts of the very thing God intended to lead us into manhood. . . people. Much of the film and Chris' adventure revolves around the relationships he builds along the way, yet at the end of Chris' adventure, he comes to a realization, discovering that "Happiness is only real when shared".

There's something to be said about the brokenness of the family in regards to the current state of the world. And regardless of people's acceptance of who Christ is, everyone feels that void and brokenness in some form, and in turn, they try to put duct-tape over a gapping wound that can only be healed by their true Father and His boundless love.

Go love someone, because statistics say, they need it.

Name drop of the day: Alive In Wild Paint