Post date: Mar 6, 2010 10:01:50 AM
I first must make my apologies to the ladies of the church (bet that’s grabbed you attention!) This book is aimed at men, and predominantly fathers, but I must confess that after reading it, for the first time, it is the type of book that all men (and women) should read if they care about their family and how they, as the head of the house, should be leading.
The title comes from a military term used predominantly in Vietnam when a soldier was given the responsibility of leading a small group of soldiers on patrol in enemy territory. This man had sole responsibility for the men in his care, it is his leadership qualities that will determine whether these men live or die! This man is the Point Man. This analogy is then used to describe the man of the house. The father as the leader of the family unit, has a huge responsibility to lead his family into the ‘war zone’ that is modern living.
The book is really a guide to modern living, a roadmap if you like, to help, guide, correct and even rebuke the parental unit as it negotiates this world we live in. and Steve does this in a very open and clear way. Using humour quite often, relating to real people and real events and even using personal illustrations to try and get the message across. He is a very open and honest writer and you can feel his passion about the subject matter in every word he writes.
And some of the subjects that he does cover are quite difficult issues indeed. For example the second chapter is entitled save the boys. This deals with how men in general have become obsolete in their roles as the father figure and as a consequence there children have no real role models to look to for guidance, and sadly turn to many of the wrong things of this world to compensate.
Another chapter which is called Telling your children what you don’t want to tell them deals with the subject matter of sex education. A hot potato if ever there was one! What he says on the subject is that there are many people out there who are quite willing to teach our children on the subject, schools, professionals, organisations, but the real lessons need to be taught at home, by the parents, it is their responsibility. If you want your child to know what it’s all about then its up to you to tell them.
I suppose at this point I should say that there are probably hundreds if not thousands of books available on the subject of parenthood, Christian and secular. A few are probably very good, I would suspect the majority are terrible, but what makes Steve’s book stand out is that really the focus is not on the father or even the mother, the focus is not even on the child, the focus is on God. And ultimately God as our heavenly father is who we need to give us guidance and help.
I appreciate that some people would not find this book relevant to there own personal circumstances which is fine, but I am sure there are people who you know would find this book a great read. One other thing that is quite helpful is at the back is a discussion /study guide aimed at men’s groups. I have not gone through this myself but glancing through it, it looks very good.
Just a footnote on the author, Steve Farrar is the founder of Men’s Leadership Ministries based in Frisco, Texas. He is the author of Finishing strong, Standing tall, Getting there & Tempered steel. He is a graduate of Western seminary with an earned doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary. He is married with three grown children.
Mike Freeman