Godly Men and What They Look Like

As a 34 year old women, from America, who grew up without a father, not having many positive, strong male influences in my life in my growing up years, it has been a joy and privilege, to meet some men who are rooted in Christ, love themselves enough to love others well and share what the Lord has done in their lives, around the world.  God has renewed my faith, hope and dependence on Him as I see Christ in these men and has given me a better understanding of what characteristics I am believing/looking for in a husband.  

India, September, 2014 was my first month on the World Race.  My team and I worked with Morong in Bangalore, India.  Morong and his wife Sendme, are from Northwest India, the state of  Manipur and they met in Bangalore while Morong was in Bible College.  After Morong and Sendme were married, they felt the Lord calling them back to Bangalore to open a children’s home.  They both have sacrificed so much to care for the 32 children in their care and their 3 biological children.  Morong taught me about being a loving, caring father, his is a sacrificial love.  Morong lives by faith and uses his talents to help support the home, he is a talented screen printer and handicrafts-men.  He has shared his skills with the children and they will all make crafts to sell and work on printing projects together.  

Vietnam, was month 5 on my race and my team was partnered with Orphan Voice in Da Nang.  I met Sherman, who is from Texas originally.  He worked hard and was able to retire early.  He moved to Vietnam and taught English for 4 years and then moved to Da Nang and partnered with Orphan Voice.  We were his first team from the World Race.  Sherman not only came to ministry with us, he opened his home to us and shared some of his favorite places around town with us.  He openly shared about his life and allowed us to do the same.  Month 5, was a hard month for me, I was getting a bit weary in fighting the battles that were ragging within my team and Sherman unknowingly really encouraged me to stay strong in the fight, to keep loving the people around me well – all through him sharing his experiences. 

In Mongolia, I met Gumba, Boldo and Pyra.  All are fathers, all have come from tough backgrounds of gangs, alcoholism and neglect.  All have been radically changed by the love of God and are now making an impact in their families and communities, for the better.  Gumba gave me my first “Dad hug” and it was unexpected and amazing at the same time.  He went in for the full hug and held tight – I felt secure, known, valued, loved and safe in his hug.  He held on for a few minutes and did not rush it.  Pyra, hosted a teammate and I in his ger for 10 days.  We saw him work from sun up (5 am) until sun down (10:30 pm,) eat dinner, help with his children, climb into bed and just as he fell asleep, there was a strong wind that came and was making the vent flap, slap the side of the ger, he hopped right up when his wife asked him to fix it.  Pyra, worked outside for 30 minutes or so securing the flap and he was genuinely happy to help, without complaining or grumbling.  I learned about more about sacrificial, self-less, fatherly love from them.

Jason has lived in China for 10 years, he is from the USA originally.  He went to China working in the technology field, felt the call to start pastoring a church and began doing that.  Jason, taught me about chivalry and reinforced that it is not dead.  Jason renewed my entire team’s hopes for God fearing, genuine husbands, that are not afraid to love well.  He took the time to get to know each of us individually and as a crazy-zany-silly team.  He would open doors for us, paid for meals, brought food when people were ill, prayed for us, shared the connections that he had and took us sight seeing to places he knew we would love, like the bookstore/cafe/open mike shop in the picture. 

Now, as I begin the World Race 2.0, in South Africa with my first team, I met John.  John is a single father that has a 20 year old daughter and a 15 year old son.  John has a passion for his community and seeing the children in it embrace a brighter future.  John opened up his home, taking the couch and giving up his living space for the month.  He has invited the team, Women of Peace into his ministry going to schools and teaching life skills and sharing the gospel, visiting the convalescent home and spending time and gleaning wisdom for the people there, joining the youth group for their meetings and going door to door to pray for people.  John has a father’s heart, he cares deeply for these women, their relationship with the Lord and the impact they will have in the world.