Let Your Boys Be Boys

I stole this from a post that Jenifer did on Facebook. She's an amazing mom to our daughters but equally as extraordinary as she parents our sons. And she is a lot wiser than I am. They brief story below is told by her...

This is a map of the mission groups going out from our church this week. Landon will be on the trip to Zimbabwe. You'll never believe how God worked it all out...

When Landon was little I nearly shut down the "Wild at Heart" outdoorsy call God had on him. I had Lindsey first so the two of us girls just sort of set a pattern of wanting to tell Landon not to get dirty, to not wiggle so much, to do things our way. I truly didn't REALLY understand and appreciate the differences between  little girls and boys. Praise God He spoke to my heart in Vail, Colorado many years ago when Landon was around 7. He had been tucking and skiing straight down the hill all day, scaring me to death. Later, we were walking through the village there and Landon jumped up on a small brick wall. God stopped me before I griped him out for not walking on the sidewalk like Lindsey and I and I know HE said, "let him go." I'm so glad I listened.

Now he is an incredible mountain climber (among MANY other outdoor interests). He does free climbing with all sorts of complicated gear including "cams" that he puts in cracks and ropes himself into. He scales sides of mountains that I truly don't even want to see. But guess what? A missionary in Zimbabwe that our church has supported for several years asked if we had someone who could come and establish some climbing routes in the mountains near their headquarters. They are looking to establish an outdoor education ministry of sorts, as well as make it a destination for avid climbers.

So tomorrow Landon gets on a plane for Africa with a bunch of college kids from our church. A few of them (including my Wild at Heart son) will be climbing mountains, scaling cliffs, and bolting holds into the rocks for the Kingdom.

Mamas, let your boys be boys! God needs their strength!!