My teammates and I are currently living with an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem an
d so we have celebrated Shabbat (the Sabbath) with him. As part of the Shabbat we read Proverbs 31:10-31, which opens with the question: “An excellent wife who can find?”(ESV). Our host pointed out that the subject of the opening line is “who”; meaning that the passage is not written for women, but for men. It is also implying that there are women in the character of the Proverbs 31 woman who exist in the world, so men who are reading Proverbs 31 should be reading it with the mindset of “that is the kind of woman I want for a wife”.
I had known before that Solomon wrote Proverbs for men, but I never really thought about it much. I now find it intriguing that we so often put the emphasis on women to strive after becoming a Proverbs 31 woman, rather than on men to seek out a Proverbs 31 woman. I agree that every woman should aspire to this; however, men are required to be looking for those qualities in a woman and not only that, but also building the women in their lives to become that kind of woman.
Please don’t misunderstand me; this is not a men-bashing blog! On the contrary I hope that this is an encouraging post for all of my brothers in Christ who read it and a challenge to my sisters in Christ to build up the men in their lives.
One of my frustrations in living my life for Chr-st and truly surrendering to Him and living a “radical” existence is that so often there are only other women around me (or at least the majority are women). I’ll give a couple of examples of what I mean:
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I attended a leadership training program last fall and there were 68 girls and 16 guys.
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On this World Race August Squad there are fewer than 30 guys out of the 83 Racers; and that is significantly higher than some of the previous Races.
Where are the men? Why do men not aspire to the things of G-d? What is it about our culture or the way we women have treated men that they no longer aspire to be the leaders that our Father intended them to be? The feminism movement has played a major part and still influences women’s attitudes toward men. Wives who undermine their husband’s authority as the head of the family also play a part. In fact, any unbiblical expression of women toward men tempers their desire to attain to the leadership for which G-d has created them. I don’t really have all the answers. I just want to point out that as much as we women are desiring men of G-d to rise up, we are squashing any vestige of desire in them to rise up and lead us. Once again, don’t misunderstand me; I am not saying that it is wrong for women to be leaders, either. We just need to be careful to follow the bibl-cal model.
I am continually learning and growing in my walk with Chr-st. I am so blessed on this Race to have two amazing men of G-d, Austin and Sam, 
in my family Shekinah who are helping me (and the other women of G-d) to learn how to submit to godly authority and to speak life into my brothers in Chr-st. I am also extremely grateful for the other men who are on the Race and who are challenging me in my walk as well! I have to admit that I have failed many times with my brothers back home, so if I get nothing else out of this trip, hopefully when I return home from this trip I will better know how to encourage Andrew and Bryan in their walks with Him and raise them up as men of G-d.
My friends, Eric and Leslie Ludy, have a passion for raising a generation of leaders – both men and women – who are fully surrendered to Chr-st. Eric specifically calls out men to be the leaders in the Kingdom, though, and next summer, June 2010, Eric and his friend, Steve Gallagher, are launching a “School of Honor” called Ellerslie in Windsor, Colorado. You’ll have to check out the website (just click on “Ellerslie”) for all the information, but I can tell you that Eric’s vision is to raise up warriors in the Kingdom of the stock of William Wallace (Braveheart, anyone?), and I, for one, am extremely excited to see the men and women who aspire to this vision and calling, and are willing to put in the time and effort to begin building their lives around Chr-st, come out of this school as leaders of the Kingdom for our generation around the world!
Unfortunately for myself, I won’t have the privilege of participating in this first “school of honor”, as I will still be “in the field” when the school begins; however, I want to do my part to spread the word about this exciting opportunity for men, women, and even married couples, to expand, begin, or revive, their intimate relationship with Chr-st and truly learn to press in to Him and to all that He wants for their lives.
