Ready to Pop! 

 “You look about ready to pop! When are you due?” a stranger asked me one day in the checkout aisle of the supermarket near our home in Fortville.

“Oh, last Saturday,” I said, smiling.

Her eyes got big, her mouth dropped open, and she didn’t know quite what to say. I could tell she was afraid that my water would break any second and the baby would drop out, right in front of her.

“Don’t worry,” I replied. “My last three were over a week late.”

Serbia and the Ceasefire

During my time in Hungary, there wasn't much talk of the war that raged just a few miles south in Yugoslavia. My roommate, Gingie, sometimes shared her grief as she heard news of the bombings, but mostly kept her sadness inside. Her own city in Serbia was under attack, and American planes had dropped the bombs that killed her neighbors and destroyed buildings in her city. 

She told me her family turned to the black market just to get groceries because trade embargos made it illegal to import food into the country. She would go home on weekends to bring supplies from Hungary to her parents. Some of the other students at the Bible college happened to be from Croatia, and we all knew they dreaded news of the violent Serbian attacks that ravaged their towns and villages, leaving thousands dead and homeless. Though our countries were all on opposite sides of the conflict, Americans, Serbians, and Croatians all prayed together for peace. We were thankful for the unity we shared in the Lord.

The war escalated into one of Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, but everything seemed so peaceful in Szeged where we lived just 40 miles away. One spring day, Gingie was all smiles. The warring parties agreed to a ceasefire, and Yugoslavia was enjoying a moment of peace. From her perspective, this was the perfect time for me to join her on a trip to her beloved hometown. I packed my backpack with extra snacks, just in case we couldn’t buy food, and headed to the bus station...

Boys will be boys... but someday they need to GROW UP and be independent and responsible.  We live in a society where it is normal for "men-boys" to live with mom beyond age 30, spending all their free time with online games and... porn. 

Our daughters are growing up with dreams of their own, and SUDDENLY they are asking the question - "Where are the men who will be the good husbands, the good providers, the good fathers?" Why have boys suddenly (since 1992) become much more prone to failure in school, disinterest in real life, they are flaky in their relationships, and in disinterested when it comes to finding and keeping a good job?  Many guys in their late twenties STILL feel entitled to their mother's constant help with meals and laundry, and they refuse to grow up.  
What happened in the early nineties that has begun to change the way the brains of boys develop, causing them to shirk at manhood and choose a life of self indulgence and immaturity?  Whose fault is it? 

How do we keep this from happening to our sons?  What can parents do to rescue their sons from the fate of over 50% of American men who still depend on momma in their twenties?