The Week In Review
September 7, 2024
One Good Thing This Week
This week, a close friend and colleague got married in California. I flew in for the ceremony. I came in early to do something I have always wanted to do… drive the Pacific Coast Highway [at least some of it]. For 2+ hours, I drove, the ocean on my left and mountains and countryside on my right. It was phenomenal. The whole drive, I was overwhelmed by a sense of grandeur and smallness. How BIG God is and how SMALL I am… the ocean has a way of reinforcing that. As I drove, Proverbs 29:23 came to mind, "One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor."
The ocean is one of the most potent forces in the world, giving birth to volcanoes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. Ironically, the ocean gains its power because of its position— all other bodies of water flow into the ocean because the ocean sits lower than they do. Its lowliness gives the ocean its power.
So it is with the person of God. If you stay high, God will bring you low, but if you stay low, God will bring you high (Matt. 23:12; Lk. 14:11). As G. Campbell Morgan put it, "All God's thrones are reached by going downstairs."
Why is God moved to exalt the humble? God elevates the humble because the humble look most like His Son, King Jesus; "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name..." (Phil. 2:8-9).
Jesus embodied humility. When we are low, we look like Him. Like water to an ocean, God's grace flows downhill. Those who insist on living high and never bending low can never know the goodness and grace of God.
It was a good trip. The best trip.
“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.” — C.S. Lewis
One Concerning Thing This Week
More than 20 years ago, anthropologist David D. Gilmore published 'Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity,' a cross-cultural study of manliness around the world. One of the key findings from his study was that boys generally had to be ushered into manhood and masculinity by other men.
This is a key link that seems to be missing from our society [and churches]. This week, over and over again, I talked to and met with young men who had never been 'ushered' in.
“When I talk to my friends, I can literally count on one hand the number of friends I have who have a good relationship with their dad and actually have learned things from him…” — Gen Z Male
Many of the young men told me they had troubled relationships with their fathers or no father figure in their lives at all. In the 1960’s, the percentage of boys living apart from their biological fathers was 4%. Today it is 41%. When I think about this shift, I am reminded of what Richard Reeves asked:
“If you’re growing up in a single-parent household, and you go to a typical public school and typical medical system, there’s a decent chance that you will not encounter a male figure of authority until middle school or later. Not your doctor, not your teachers. No one else around you. What does that feel like?”
It feels like men are not important. It feels like men are not needed. Couple that with the embrace and rise of single-parent and female-led homes — men become obsolete.
In 1990, 33 percent of households were headed by women; now, it’s more than half. This change is mainly driven by the share of female-headed married households, which rose to 43 percent in 2021, up from only 8 percent in 1990 [source].
As a society [and church], we have to turn the tide. And turning the tide is less about programs and more about relationships. It’s about finding older men—faithful men, not flashy men, but older men who are living virtuous lives as men—and asking them to lead the way. This is a bottom-up strategy—everyday ordinary men who notice the crisis of identity hitting their younger counterparts and put themselves forward to help.
90% percent of this is on us older men. We must wake up and realize this is a problem that warrants investment and attention. The other 10% is on us pastors and leaders of men. We must help older men see the problem and call them to action.
Stat(s) I Found Fascinating [And Alarming] This Week
**Note, concerning this data, working class is defined simply as: doesn’t have a college degree. This is a limited definition but a common proxy.
Brothers, we can draw a direct line between a man’s work and his desire to live. Give a man good and meaningful work [blue OR white collar], and there is a high probability that he’ll desire to live a good and meaningful life.
My Favorite Meme This Week
For all the dads who show up and show out at their kids' sporting events, remember… The chances of your child becoming a pro-athlete are .02%. The chances of them standing before a holy God are 100%.
Dad, don’t allow sports to be a false god that distracts your kids from the true God. The same energy you bring to their athletic 'careers,' bring that energy and more to their spiritual lives.
Song I had on Repeat This Week
I think I want this played at my funeral… Jesus, I’m coming!
I will hasten to Him
Hasten so glad and free
Jesus greatest highest
I will come to Thee
Book(s) I Read This Week
This week, I read a profile of Palmer Luckey. It was absolutely fascinating. As the author put it,
“Luckey is the owner of the world’s largest video game collection, which he keeps buried 200 feet underground in a decommissioned U.S. Air Force nuclear missile base—which is the kind of thing a man can afford to buy when he single-handedly turns virtual reality from the laughingstock of the technology industry into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise by inventing the Oculus Rift in a camper trailer parked in the driveway of his parents’ duplex in Long Beach, California, where at 19 years old he lived alone and survived on frozen burritos and Mucho Mango AriZona tea.”
I had no idea Palmer invented Oculus, sold it to Facebook [for 2+ Billion], and then was fired by Mark Zuckerberg after he gave a $10,000 donation to a pro-Trump troll group. Palmer’s life has some serious Monte Cristo vibes: wealth, betrayal, hate, and revenge. Less physical wounds, more psychological wounds… As Dumas said, 'Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.'
If you want a sneak peek into the life of a misfit toy boy genius who reached the pinnacle of Silicon Valley only to be sent back to play with King Moonracer and the others, this 20-minute read is for you. Luckey is learning,
“Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish,” said Emmanuel, “know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.” — Alex Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Video I Watched This Week
Clear. Concise. Powerful. Who do you need to share this with?
What God Showed Me This Week
"Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'" — Acts 13:21-22
What was the main difference between Saul and David? Saul chose some of God’s will and some of his [Saul’s] will. David chose God’s will. All of God’s will.
This week, while reading this, a heavy weight fell upon me. After I am gone, what will be said of me? What will I be known for? Was it all for God? Or did I take a little for myself…
May it be said, 'I have found in Harp, the son of Chris, a man after my heart, who will do ALL my will.
I do not want to do some of what God wants me to do. I want to do ALL of it.
I do not want to experience some of what God has for me. I want to experience ALL of it.
I will not settle for some of His mercy, grace, power, provision, correction, instruction, blessing… I want ALL of it.
"Lord, help me discern your will and give me the courage to do your will. Always. All of it."
I hope you have a spectacular week. May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Love y’all,
—Harp
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I think we’ve been given an opportunity to change the trajectory for the next generation. Keep writing. You are a gift.
I look forward to this every Saturday morning! Love it!