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Mentoring future men is not a mandate for the weak of heart or the fearful in spirit.  It’s true that raising up a child is the sole responsibility of mom and dad, but God new that life was going to be hard and that it is so much richer if we do life together.  Royal Rangers gives dads and unfair advantage over the enemy and the inevitable attacks he will mount against our children.

Sex is one of those topics that we seem to avoid in Ranger circles, but I can assure you that the world doesn’t.  To the contrary, sex education is taught is schools as early as kindergarten, and it doesn’t stop there.  Boys are bombarded online and on TV with everything sex is not to a Christ follower.  I can’t think of a better program than Royal Rangers to help cement God’s design for sex and intimacy.

In this episode we’re going to hit four main topics:

1. Religious tradition?
2. Unshakeable Connectivity
3. The Foe at Your Fingertips
4. The Talk

Religious Tradition?

Is marriage between one man and one women just religious tradition that should evolve in our progressive culture?  The attack on the traditional family and marriage has never been fiercer.  I can remember television shows in my childhood that celebrated the traditional family and highlighted the strength that children drew from their families that helped them tackle many of life’s challenges.  Today you would be hard pressed to find a single show that had one family group resembling the traditional family.  Worse yet, in many cultural circles, Christians that have an absolute belief in the traditional family are said to be homophobes.

Genius 2 describes a man leaving his mother and father and joining with his wife.  This is reinforced throughout scripture many times employing something so much stronger then even the familial bonds between children and parents.  Jesus is described as the bridegroom and the church the bride.  A strong analogy for something that is deemed to lack real importance in our modern culture.

Studies continue to show the overwhelming benefits children gain standing on traditional family foundation, but it’s not about studies or statistics it’s about you and your family and the daily fight to hold them together inside the marriage institution God designed.  I love this saying, “love won’t sustain your marriage, your marriage will sustain your love.”

Unshakable Connectivity

Sex is the most deeply connective a man and women can take part in.  Sex is not just something pleasurable for two consenting adults.  Every sexual encounter comes with an emotional connection that last a lifetime.  Want proof?  Look at it’s abuses.  Within our justice system there is a special category for sexual offenses.  It’s not just assault its sexual assault.  Sometime these sexual abuses tilt an individual on an axis they never recover from.  Sexual abuses on children on looked at as some of societies worst offenses.

Many women have intuitively figured this out.  Look at Taylor Swift’s song Remember Me, “Some day when you leave me I bet these memories follow you around.  Say you’ll remember me again even if it’s just pretend.  Say you’ll remember me in your wildest dreams.”  Sad, but all high schools have those girls that seek popularity through sexual encounters and know that those boys will never shake those memories.

It’s rarely possible to erase the consequences of our sexual failures, but it is almost always possible, through Jesus, to atone for our mistakes and move on in the hope that all things work together for good for those who love God.

Sex inside the boundaries and convent of a marriage was meant to be fearlessly intimate and connect a husband and wife in ways that are deeper than any other human experience.

The Foe at Your Fingertips

Dads and moms pay close attention here.  Pornography is at your boys’ fingertips and is available anytime of the day or night.  This will be your boy’s greatest foe and without your help and accountability it will rob your young men of everything God has planned for them.  Some states say the pornography is reaching the kindergartens.   Phones, computers, tablets and the internet are wonderful tools but if you don’t take firm steps to monitor your children’s use you will leave a door open that the enemy will exploit.

The Talk

From experience I know how uneasy these types of conversations can be but let me assure you that your boys already know more than you are about to cover.  That’s the point.  If your son is in sixth grade you are probable a few years behind the conversation.  Your sons 24 year old elementary school teacher has already started the talk.

• Have frequent small conversations. Start with how important their mom is to you and how God brought the two of you together.  Describe to you boys how sacred life is and how sacred your marriage union is.
• Those who live life in a payday mentality will never enjoy the payoff. We all know those who live for the Friday paycheck and the weekend that follows.  Monday is usually a day to tally up the regrets.  God intended the journey to be rich and full.  Dating a young lady in an abstinence minded relationship builds the kind of friendship that makes life’s adventures exciting and memorable.  A landmark study out of the University of Pennsylvania of more that 600 teens found that 52% of those taught an abstinence message waited to have sex compared to the current national sex education curriculum that resulted in only 33% waiting.
• I was always told that fantasy is always perfect, but reality never is. The truth is, satan only offers fantasy, but God offers reality.  It’s real!!!
• Talk about expectations. When you set the bar as a parent you create a line in the sand that must be crossed.  Boys will find to cross that line when the challenge comes.
• Set boundaries around social media, games, movies, and internet use. Never compromise.  Don’t do what’s easy for you here.
• Grant your boys their privacy but not their secrecy.

You can do it dads and moms and Royal Rangers will be here to help, encourage and stand shoulder to shoulder with you.