How will your son learn what it means to be a man?

I want to be an effective father, and I want my son to know just how much he means to me.

A few years ago, I read a book by Robert Lewis called "Raising a Modern-Day Knight." In the book, Lewis provides a blueprint for fathers to use today to raise their sons in a Godly manner. Since reading "Raising a Modern-Day Knight," I have implemented some of the suggestions in the fathering of my eight-year-old son.

Now I'm taking it to the next level -- I and a friend of mine, Chris Blom, will be taking a small group of fathers of sons through the "Raising a Modern-Day Knight" curriculum.

The curriculum includes DVDs hosted by Lewis, along with Family Life founder Dennis Rainey. We hope to help dads:

• Discover the key issues that separate fathers and sons.
• Learn how to offer special manhood instructions their sons can use throughout their lives.
• Communicate the definition of authentic manhood clearly -- giving their sons a compelling vision for life.

Raising a Modern-Day Knight also provides:

• an overall fatherhood game plan -- what sons need to see, receive, experience and hear each year of life from ages one to 21!
• age-appropriate ways fathers can create special ceremonies as their sons grow and mature.
• what every dad needs to know as he leads his son on this great adventure called authentic manhood!

I have felt a stirring in my heart to do this for a long time, and I'm excited that it's finally coming to fruition. We are starting out with an orientation session on March 15. If you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and are interested in coming to the orientation session, contact me.

An evening of hope

The last time I had heard of a house concert, it was from some MTV contest in the early '90s where Slaughter performed in a person's living room.

Well, tonight my wife and I are going to a house concert at the house of our friends Tom and Deb Henderson.

Jason Gray will be appearing at their house. The concert is called "An Evening of Hope" to mark the one-year anniversary of the passing of the Hendersons' son, Ian.

I, as many people in this world do, miss Ian a lot. I remember chasing him and my son in the gym at Living Waters Church. My son Branson and Ian would have so much energy. It didn't take long for me to get tired from chasing those fast boys. When I wanted to quit, Ian would say, "C'mon, Mr. Brant! Chase us some more!" And somehow I would find enough energy to chase them again.

I'm looking forward to tonight. By the way, the photo is of Ian and Tom Henderson driving a go-cart in Brainerd, Minn., in 2007.

Christ-Life Solution: Phase Two

Tonight I start "Christ-Life Solution:  Phase Two" at my church. It should be interesting. While Phase One took an introspective look at my past and God's presence in my life throughout my ups and downs, Phase Two deals with God in the present.

I look forward to changing my thinking to the way that God wants it to be.

Ya gotta have faith

It's important to have faith. Faith that God's plan works out better than any plan we might have. Faith that God will take care of us. Faith that even though we don't understand it, God knows what He's doing.

I was struck this week while reading Hebrews. There's an amazing summary of the stories of the Bible where people needed to have faith. And because they had faith, miraculous things happened.

The summary is in Hebrews 11:1-40. Check it out.