Giving Thanks post #3

I had every intention today to write about my son, who I am also very grateful for ... that was until I got a phone call. I think very highly of my Pastors (Rick and Vickey) They are incredible people who love the Lord with all their hearts, souls and minds. They live their life for Him and it is very apparent. They make no apologies for serving God in all they do and say.
So not secret, I am a single mom who has 1 son who .. bless his heart... lives in a family full of girls. I mean the whole family, NOT just his immediate family. Ethan was the first boy born in 25 years in our family and then there was not another one until He was 6 years old. (More on all that later) So anyway, my son is such a boy! He lives to skateboard, loves to fish and would love to learn to hunt (among other things). So today Pastor Rick calls me and tells me there is going to be a youth hunting trip come up and wants to know if he can take Ethan. Here is a man who is very busy running a church, sheparding a congregation, working another job and he wants to take my son hunting. WOW! He has such a passion to pour into the lives of young men who need older Godly men to help them grow. How blessed we are to have such leadership. I believe this attitude also affects the attitudes of the other men in the body. Recently we were at a church event and one of the older gentlemen buddied up with Ethan. He took the time to teach Ethan about how to greet someone, to shake their had with a good firm grip and to look them in the eye. A group of men also had Ethan come out on a workday, taught him about doing some yard work on our new property and then showed him how to prepare to have a bonfire. They took time, they invested in his life and I know he is not the only one. These men see the value of pouring into - investing in the lives of young men who are being raised up to be our future. These men are playing an instrumental role in raising up a generation of fatherless children. Children who have been cast aside by the men whose DNA they share or like in Ethan's case who have not had a father in their life due to illness.

So today I am thankful for men willing to shape the lives of boys by investing their time and talent, their wisdom and knowledge into a young man without a father. Men who are willing to answer the call of desperation for single mom's who don't know how to teach their son's how to be a Godly man.