If there ever was a candidate for macho man of the year, Clark would be it. Large and burly, he had a reputation for being tough and fearless. He would take no guff from anyone. All his life Clark had been known as one who would rather fight than negotiate. Back in his school days he spent plenty of time in detention halls, in fact, he took pride in his reputation as one who was crusty and mean.

Terry was a 40-year-old commercial artist, who came to counseling because his wife was concerned about his “anger problem.” He was quick to point out that he never got angry with her—that wasn’t the problem. He simply got angry at everything else. If he was working on a layout and the lead in his pencil broke, it was hard to tell what would happen next. If it was a good day, it might take several “breaks” before he lost control. If it was a bad day, the first time the lead broke he would erupt into a rage, sometimes even tearing up the design he’d been working on.

An old children’s rhyme says, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” While this playground quotation should be true, anyone involved in counseling knows it is rarely reality.

One of the areas of greatest need for men’s ministry is encouraging and sup- porting Christian men in their roles as fathers. When you have the opportunity to talk to dads on a personal level, you quickly learn that they understand their role as a father is an important and high- stakes venture. They know that their in- volvement as a father makes a difference in the lives of their children, and they are painfully aware that there are many things they could be doing better.

LONELY CHILDREN. We all have a picture of them in our minds. Our hearts ache when we hear our children cry, “Mommy, Julie doesn’t want to sit with me at lunch.” Or our son confesses, “Daddy, why am I always the last one picked?” And we wonder whether or not our children are lonely children. It is important to realize that most children go through seasons where they struggle socially how to make friends or how to negotiate differences and arguments when keeping friends.