Digital Cowboy

I’m late delivering on this promise, but I said I would address the question of what makes a man.

Put simply, Christ-likeness and masculinity are synonymous. You can try to complicate it any way you want, but you’ll be wrong.

In a recent (rambling and unrelated) blog post, Matildah made reference to Christ as the “Perfect Man.” It’s very difficult to argue with that title and if you accept it, then you must accept that he is the standard.

So then, what is he like? Just as important, how close are you to that ideal? Let’s look at what he was like when he was on earth.

Could he “hold his liquor.” Yup. In fact, the Pharisees at one point accused him of being a drunk. (Matthew 11:19)

Did he defend what he believed even to the point of violence? Yup. (John 2:15)

Was he an anti-weapons pacifist? Nope. He said if you have no sword, sell your clothes to buy one. (Luke 22:36)

He was a carpenter and spent most of his life as an apprentice in the trade so he knew how to use tools and was most likely a master craftsman.

He was also a smart ass (when warranted) and was not afraid to take down a challenger harshly in a debate.

Sounds like a traditional definition of masculinity to me.

But there’s much more to him that is often overlooked by the chest-beating macho neanderthals of today. What’s sad is that some of them even consider themselves Christians. Most of them probably don’t know the Bible well enough to build the superficial case I just did for their silly ideas and know nothing of his most important characteristics.

He was also wise and meek and humble and patient and compassionate and generous. Those qualities all came from the spirit within. He had all the outward masculinity that insecure men beat their chests and spout about today. But he had something much stronger than that inside because he understood the spirit realm, his own human spirit, and how much more important that is than knowing how to build something or fight or “hold your liquor.”

Any man that feels a need to prove his masculinity is either ignorant or insecure. Often, the two go hand in hand.

He was also fearless. Not courageous. Fearless. Fear is weakness and completely un-masculine. Good luck banishing fear from your life completely without understanding your spiritual place.

UPDATE: I just got around to catching up with Tent Pegs and, once again he has said what I meant much better than I did. Dig around there a little. I doubt that I agree with him on everything, but he’s a fine example of a “real man.”

I’ve heard it said that an expert is any schmuck addressing a topic more than a hundred miles from home. I think that’s about right.

I watched a minor poker tournament today at which the “expert” commentator was some guy I’ve never heard of but allegedly has written a number of books on the game. I’ve never heard of any of his books, either. I’ve been watching and playing poker for quite a while and I’ve read a number of poker books. If I’ve never even heard of you, it’s unlikely – not impossible, but unlikely – that you’re an expert.

He did not disappoint. Big Time Poker Book Author repeatedly calculated odds wrong, told us proles the ridiculously stupid play he would make if he were in the player’s seat and even read the board wrong. At one point, one player held a J-9 and the flop came 10-Q-4. The other player in the hand had a Queen with a bad kicker and the “expert” called the hand as ” top pair against an inside straight draw.” The first time he said it, I let it slide. Anyone can misspeak. But before the hand was over, he had called it an inside straight draw no less than 4 times, while talking about what an unplayable hand it was because an inside straight is such a long shot.

(For those that don’t know poker, it was an open-ended straight which is a very strong drawing hand. On the flop, you have up to eight cards in the deck that will complete your hand and two chances to catch one of them. The odds are twice what they are with an inside straight and even that is worth drawing to some times.)

In another hand, a player bet on the flop and he started talking as if the hand was over because “there’s no way [player X] can call here.” Player X had a double belly buster draw and a flush draw against top pair. He called and went on to win the hand. Poker Genius responded to the win with, “Huh-huh. Well, I guess you see why he’s sitting there and I’m sitting here.”

Yes. That’s one reason, moron.

I used the word “proles” earlier because this was an amateur tournament and at one point the published poker genius actually said, “You’re watching the best of proletarian poker, right here.”

About 30 minutes into this 2 hour show, I was fantasizing about getting this guy across from me at a poker table and wondering why I haven’t written a poker book yet.

Maybe I will. Then I can be an expert, too.

I’ve felt out of place most of my life. I still do and I’ve learned that it’s a good thing. Whenever I start to fit in I start to become concerned. I’m sure that’s played a strong part in my fierce individualist philosophy. One of my life philosophies is, “When you find yourself in agreement with the majority it’s time to examine your premises again.”

But…

It seems that maybe I’m just a bit ahead of the curve. Since I was a young boy I’ve loved (in no particular order) God, NASCAR, poker, rodeo and boxing.

In case you haven’t noticed, all but the last is rising in popularity these days. God’s working a revival in this country like we’ve never seen in human history. Churches are springing up everywhere and growing fast. NASCAR is the most popular spectator sport in America, eclipsing even MLB, NBA and NFL by large margins.

Poker, in the last couple of years, has exploded in popularity.

I can now find NASCAR and poker on TV nearly every day. In some cases I have to make decisions about which NASCAR or poker show I want to watch because they are playing on multiple channels at once. I sometimes have to choose between poker on 3 different channels.

As for God, I have multiple 24/7 Christian stations on my satellite service and for 12 bucks a month I can get Sky Angel (again) and have 36 more channels of 24/7 ministry.

America’s a Christian, NASCAR, poker playing nation. The “blue staters” are the freaks here and they’re going to continue to fade into irrelevance if they continue their condescending, pseudo-intellectual path of imagined superiority.

This is a redneck country. It was birthed that way and it won’t be overthrown by a bunch of pansies that wear patches on their elbows and spend their whole lives in school.

I know there’s been a drought of postings here. I’ve gone almost as long as Elena has at times without a post. (I kid tease because I love, darlin’.)

I’ve been busy. So sue me. I haven’t been reading anyone else’s blogs much either. In fact, I’ve been spending very little time in front of the computer lately. (Of course, that’s relative. I am a geek after all.)

The girls are visiting their mother for a few weeks which means I’m here all alone now. I have a lot of work to do in both my personal and business spheres to get caught up from 8 months as full time Dad, but I should be back to my regular blogging pace (at least) within the next day or two. I certainly have a back log of topics to address. (I finally got smart enough to start a list so I don’t keep forgetting them.)

I may even get to another post or two of substance yet today. If not, stay tuned because…

I’m baaaack.

(Right now I have to go because I’ve had the DVR paused for about 35 minutes so I won’t miss the beginning of Bonanza on TV Land.)

Sorry again, everyone.

I disabled almost all of my spam blocking and re-enabled email notification after I discovered that it was filtering legitimate comments. Then I proceeded to receive about 400 spam comments (with an email for each one) in the next 48 hours. At one point they were coming in faster than I could delete them. They were all advertising one domain, so I hard-blocked all comments that included that domain name.

Apparently, that blocked everyone from commenting. I just got it fixed and you can all comment again.

This spam crap is really infuriating and totally pointless. In every case of blog spam that I’ve investigated on this blog, the site they were advertising was already down when they started spamming me. They’re annoying the ^%$# out of me and taking advantage of the people they’re selling the service to at the same time. Criminals.

I don’t want to have to require registration and login or do that stupid “type the number you see in this box to post a comment” crap. I really, really don’t. I’m looking at solutions… and I’m a geek. So rest assured, I will find one.

In the meantime, please accept my apologies for all of your comments from the last 48 hours, or so, being lost forever. I can assure you that it pisses me off at least as much as it does you.