Manspeak

During the summer, men do spontaneously primitive things. Like hurl themselves blindly into some uncharted wilderness-like location, throw their rubber sheets over a tree limb and sleep on the gound. Often times, they do this with absolutely no preparation whatsoever, and because of the fall and our inherent pride, they assume they can survive these dangerously primitive situations. Jeff Sanders, in Popular Mechanics, field director of Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Boulder, Utah helps us understand some of the steps necessary to surviving these self/stupidity-inflicted, precariously primitive predicaments.

Manskills #6. Find Potable Water

• Don’t exert yourself in the heat of the day. You may lose more water by sweating that you’ll gain by digging. Ravines and valleys are carved by running water, so head for the bottom. In deserts, with only occasional flow, look for cottonwoods, willows and other light-green vegetation that grows in wet areas. When the sun or moon is low in the sky, scan the horizon for reflections that may reveal the location of small pools. (Don’t worry if the water looks scummy. Waterborne illnesses won’t kick in for at least three days’ dehydration can kill in a single day.) Collect morning dew by wiping grass with a cloth, then wringing out the water. If you have plastic bags, wrapping them around the boughs of deciduous trees yields 1 or 2 ounces a day.

Don’t overestimate yourselves, fellas. Potable water in your spontaneously self-inflicted wilderness survival predicament is harder to find than you’d think. Let that be a lesson to you.

More to come later. In the mean time, happy survival to you.

–joshcan

A Hearty Hello to all of you men/aspiring men/random female readers,

In a Popular Mechanics magazine I recently stole from a friend of mine (sorry Jason), I saw an article titled “100 Skills Every Man Should Know.” It intrigued me, because I’m always looking for easy ways to seem more manly. I’ll take any little thing I can to add to my repertoire of skills and useless talents, in hopes that I can at least look the part of a manly man, until, God willing, I may at some point become one.

Anyway, throughout the summer, I hope to post a few of these, to keep you on your toes, and growing in your outward manifestations of your (hopefully) inward, (primarily) Godly masculinity.

(1)   Split Firewood (Originally written by Nathan Waterfield)

• “Seasoned splitters use a maul, not an ax, to prep firewood. (With its slim taper, an ax head often gets stuck in the end grain.) Don’t use a chopping block–it reduces the arc of the swing, which decreases power. Instead, place the log on the ground, 5 inches closer that the length of the maul handle. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart; place your dominant hand at the bottom of the handle and the other hand three-quarters up the handle.
• Rest the maul on the wood, then lifet all the way up–your bottom arm should be straight and your top arm slightly bent. As you begin the downward motion, slide your top hand down to your bottom hand, Use your whole body, not just your arms, and bend your knees slightly, snapping them back a split second before hitting the wood. You want to drive the maul through the wood, so complete the swing once you make contact.

This is for all those guys in the southern hemisphere who are now experiencing winter, by the way. Or us Norther Hemi guys who want to get in some practice before the treacherous mid-south winters billow our way.

–joshcan

A man needs to own ties and know how to tie them. (Clip-ons don’t count!) Check out these resources from Ben Silver that walk through several knots and include helpful videos.

Ascot
Bow Tie
Cross Knot
Four-in-Hand
Half-Windsor
Windsor
Prince Albert
Small Knot

by Mike Plewniak

Dr. Mohler posts about a recent Boston Globe article about the “proliferation of “man” terms indicates a confusion over manhood and masculinity.”

Mohler’s thoughts:

“This really does get to the heart of the issue. Men should not expect to be comfortable with an understanding of masculinity that is not based in these roles and responsibilities. When manhood is not defined in these normative terms, confusion necessarily follows — complete with a new and confusing vocabulary.

In a biblical perspective, manhood is defined in these roles and responsibilities.  A man is defined in terms of who he is and what he does in obedience to God.  A society that rejects or sidelines these roles and responsibilities — that does not honor fatherhood and hold it out as expectation — will sow seeds of disastrous confusion.  The damage to our language is among the least of our problems.

While the Bible clearly honors men who forfeit the blessings of wife and children for the sake of the Gospel (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 7:7-9, 32-28), the history of the Christian church indicates that these represent a minority.  The normative expectation is that a young man will mature to take on the role of “father/protector/provider” that Peters correctly sees as “not considered as necessary or desirable as it once was” within the secular culture.  Those men who are faithfully living out these responsibilities are not likely to be too concerned about finding true masculinity.  They are living it.

When this expectation is no longer normative, it should be no surprise that men struggle to define masculinity.  The focus shifts from family to fashion accessories.  Our language betrays our confusion, but the confusion reveals a larger betrayal.

We lie to ourselves if we believe that we can hold onto a healthy masculinity without honoring true manhood.”