This weekend we celebrate our son passing into manhood. Passing into manhood sounds kind of corny, but there is no other word for it in English. We will be having a celebration where we mark his transition from childhood to adulthood.

We have lost those type of events in the modern world and because of this we have boys walking around acting like men. As fathers, we have a duty to call our children, especially our boys, into adulthood. As fathers, we are called to pull our boys out from under their mothers wing and bring them into the fold with other men to help refine their character as they learn to fly on their own. We call them into their destiny as Princes of the Kingdom and teach them how to live as a Godly man.

It is learning to fly where boys learn to be men. It is in sparring with other knights that a boy learns how to fight.

If we refuse to take on this role, if we shrink back and refuse to bless them, we will raise wild boys that are rebellious by nature and fight everyone for respect. If you tell a son who he is from birth, he will never have to find out on his own. Believe me, he will do everything he can to get the blessing of a father, it is a hole that must be filled. If his identity is not established from a Godly man, he will resort to establishing it with his carnal man. The base level response to identity is sexual identity and he will forever try and define himself with his genitals through power.

The same holds true for girls.

Girls that have never had their identity as a daughter of God, a Princess of the Kingdom, established from their earthly father will seek that identity from carnal men. You need look no further than teen pregnancy and abortion rates to realize we have a society full of boys and girls trying to be adults.

It is so easy to change this!

It is such an honor to raise children, they teach us so much. Looking back there are many things I would have done differently, but I did the best I could and in the end I have no regrets. All I had to do was be available and learn from my mistakes. I am certainly not perfect, God knows I still struggle, but I am willing to stumble for my kids. I don’t care how uncomfortable it was to talk to my son about sex, it needed to be done. I don’t care how much pain there was telling him my failures and insecurity in my own identity becuase no one told me I had what it took, I would not pass that on to him.

I love them too much to allow them to experience my failures.

We can use our experiences and failures to push us deeper inside or drive us to change the next generation. All it takes is a phone call, an email, a letter, a lunch. All we have to do is tell our sons they have what it takes to be a man, and tell our daughters they are beautiful.

They need to hear it.

They need to hear it from you, and they will spend the rest of their life trying to fill the void that only a Fathers blessing can fill.