Manliness, Bible Studies and Being Different

The car was in the workshop and runners had been sent to collect spare parts from across the island. So there was nothing to do but wait in the lounge for the long-suffering, accompanied by a fishtank, a Mountain Dew-stocked fridge, car rally trophies, medals and photos, dusty dumbells in a corner, a stash of BMW and Top Gear and on the uppermost shelf, FHM, Maxim, New Man and Men's Health.

You couldn't mistake the lounge for anything but macho and masculine.

Just a few days prior, while we were patting tummies and sighing with satisfaction after a good chup gor mei lunch cooked by a lovely couple, one of the guys suggested that the structure of bible studies should be relooked. No point following the way things are done in all churches. Creativity. Innovation. And shaking things up abit.

Males, he said, weren't into this "sharing after bible study" business. It made real men very uncomfortable. Why not go out for a game of soccer or shoot a few hoops after bible study and let the girls carry on with their chit-chat sharing?

All around, there was deep laughter and rumbles of assent and then, excited plans for tennis and football.

Then someone looked up from inspecting an empty tub of Island Creamery's teh tarik ice-cream and the Voice of Reason spoke,"Actually, as the church, aren't we meant to be different from the world? Shouldn't we decide to do what is helpful to our godliness? Shouldn't God and the Bible tell us how men should live rather than be anxious to do what the world thinks is manly?"

And that voice, of course, belonged to a woman.

;-)