Last night I was able to watch the movie, Courageous again. Excellent movie! And this time I was able to watch it with all four of my sons present with me. What an opportunity! What a great chance to encourage teachable moments with my sons! If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it.
There is a brief snippet in the movie that doesn’t get much attention but it was (at least this time) probably the most profound and moving part that touched me so deeply. Actually there are two parts in order to understand the impact, one at the beginning and one toward the end. And without wrecking the movie for you, let me share a little bit about that.
There is a young police officer and he is referred often as “the rookie”. He is inexperienced and he makes some mistakes. Those mistakes weigh heavy on him not because anybody condemns him but just because he himself knows he can do better. He just isn’t there yet. Now, fast forward toward the end of the movie. After a big shoot out that the rookie police officer and his fellow officers were in, the older, senior officer walks over as the rookie is catching his breath and collecting his thoughts. The conversations goes something like this:
“Hey, you did good out there today.”
“Yeah, you mean for a rookie.”
(dramatic pause for effect)
“Your not a rookie.”
AWESOME!
Do you know what that meant to that young officer? It was like saying, “Welcome to the club” or “you are a man” or “I’ll fight in your foxhole anytime”. I know this is a movie but the concept that is clearly shown here whether of not that was the intent of the movie makers, is this – Older, wiser, more experienced men can and should encourage the younger generation of men and welcome them into the role of manhood! It is up to the elder men to train and establish the younger men as men! This is legacy! This is passing the baton! This is establishing manhood beyond yourself!
It is the young man that needs the older man to believe in him!
I loved it last night after the movie because our host said a few parting words but his final words before we left were this, and they spoke deeply to my heart; He said, “I believe in you.” That right there is awesome!
Men, we look at this and say that that is the fathers responsibility to his son and you’re right, it is but you know as well as I do that all of us are not handling the role and responsibility of “father” as well as we should. Truth be told, there are many young men out there that don’t even have a father. Those ‘sons’ need a dad. They need somebody to believe in them. They need someone that will say, “your not a rookie”. And they need that father to love them as a son.
Do you know a young man that needs you to believe in him?
I do.
Peace.
