Man Stuff

~Crockett and Tubbs doing man stuff~

Responsibilities and expectations are the basis of guilt and shame and judgement, and they provide the essential framework that promotes performance as the basis for identity and value.

~William Paul Young The Shack~ 

It's been said that the pre teen years are a hellacious time for a child growing up in this world.  Still considered a child and not yet an adult can definately lead to some confusion for many a young man.  I recall one of the more popular television series while I was going through those years myself was the action series Miami Vice.  Ohhh how I dreamed of cruising around town in a corvette all night when I grew up.  Well, that really didn't work out the way I thought it would.  Life rarely does.  The point I'm tring to make here is this, when does a child stop being a kid and start doing "man stuff?"  Is it after his very first shave?  Is it after he changes his first tire?  When he learns to drive?  Personally, I don't think that we can put a timeline on such things.  People will grow and mature in different ways.  I have seen grown men struggle with basic life skills.  I have also seen pre teen kids who have more maturity than kids twice their age.  I believe that this is part of those moments we experience as we grow.  The child who is forced into the role of being the man of the house at a young age may very well have more maturity for his age.  Then again, a child who is privelidged and spoiled may very well be slow in showing his own maturity.  I've been around enough children in my life to come to the realization that, as adults, we cannot place expectations upon our children which they will never be able to achieve.  As a kid, I was constantly warned to not be like my older brother.  Now, my brother is not a bad person, he just made some poor choices at times.  In reality, I could never be like my brother, nor could my brother be just like me.  We were both unique in our own way.  So, when is it that I started doing man stuff?  I don't remember really.  I just know that it was something that happened over time.

11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 

1 Corinthians 13: 11 - 12 NKJV 

In his letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul possibly tells us of his own transition into manhood.  As Paul tells us, when he was a child he spoke and understood as a child.  However, when he became a man, he put away such childish things...and concentrated on doing man stuff.  Now, I believe that Paul was refereing to his faith and belief in Christ Jesus, but the same principal applies to our own maturity.  When the time comes, we will all put aside those childish ways we once relished in and turn to more adult behaviors.  For this is what we are expected to do.  How many of us have criticized someone as being "childish" who engaged in behaviors which so many of us have so long ago put aside?  Like it or not, we expect that one will mature in time and that their behavior will follow suit.  Trust me, I've seen many men doing man stuff who didn't have the maturity of a man.  They had yet to put aside such childish things.  At the end of the day, it doesn't really take a man to do man stuff, but it does indeed take a man to know when to put aside those childish things.  

~Scott~