My Great Uncle, Charles Krieger, has always been one of my heroes.

A tailgunner in a B17 Flying Fortress during the War II, he was shot down over Germany and spent months under horrible conditions as a POW.

But there is a lot more to his story.

As a child I fondly looked up to Uncle Charles. Throughout my life I’ve told his story with a great sense of pride. At this point in my life, however, I am able to look back and truly understand why he was such a great man. Only now am I fully aware of the incredible example he left for me.

He was a man, and not just a man, but a godly man. He grew up on a farm, learning how to work the ground and tend to livestock. He got his degree in agriculture and became a teacher. He also loved Jesus, was very involved at his church, and remained a Gideon until the day he died. I still have several little Gideon New Testaments that he seemed to endlessly possess.

He was also a selfless young man, shipping off from Southwest Michigan to fight in WWII because that’s what needed to be done. He served in the 413th Bomb Squadron, 96th Bomb Group. After flying 12 or 13 missions in the B17, he was shot down over Germany and ended up hanging in a tree by his parachute.

Charles was eventually found by a German farmer and taken captive at the end of a pitchfork. He finished the war as a prisoner of the Nazis, being forced to march through German fields and farms through winter. . .

Charles was eventually found by a German farmer and taken captive at the end of a pitchfork. He finished the war as a prisoner of the Nazis, being forced to march through German fields and farms through winter. He survived on whatever rotten potatoes and cockroaches he could find. Praise God for preserving his life, and for the impact he was then able to have on so many people.

As a child, I always wanted to hear his war stories, but he would never talk about them. On occasion you might hear him respond to someone with a rhetorical, “You’re starving huh? No you’re not. You’re not starving until you have to eat a rotten potato.”

Of course growing up I was always so disappointed that he wouldn’t talk more about this, but as an adult I now have great respect for his meekness and resoluteness. He never complained. He never pulled his victim card. He at times literally put his hand to the plow and did what was necessary to survive. He did this his entire life, not just during the war. And he did it with a smile on his face, a sacrificial love for his family, and a joyful contented love of his Savior.

As a child, I always wanted to hear his war stories, but he would never talk about them. On occasion you might hear him respond to someone with a rhetorical, “You’re starving huh? No you’re not. You’re not starving until you have to eat a rotten potato.”

I dearly miss my Uncle Charles all the time. Some of my fondest memories as a child involved him. But I am incredibly grateful for the example he left me, one that has made an indelible mark on my life. Thankfully Charles did do an hour long interview shortly before he passed detailing his time during the war. It has been archived, and if you’re interested you can watch it here: https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.58381/.

Uncle Charles remains one of the best examples of godly manhood I’ve ever known. The apostle Paul commanded men in 1 Corinthians 16:13 to, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

Today we are so far removed from this, and sadly from the experiences and example of men like Uncle Charles, that many of the terms in Paul’s statement have been redefined. Faith in anything but a Protestant view of God has become the new norm. You are treated as leprous if you even smell like you have faith in Jesus Christ.

Apparently, men can now menstruate and birth babies. In fact, the current zeitgeist would be quick to label Paul’s exhortation as outdated, misogynistic, and reeking of toxic masculinity. To be “strong” today, one must stand up for the equal output of every intersection not described as either “white” or “male.” This is obviously not what Paul, through the inspiration of God’s Spirit, intended for nor requires of men. Nor is it what God requires.

Thankfully, God has provided for us the consummate example of a man that we should strive to emulate. Jesus Christ, the God-man, not only lived 33 years on this earth as the only perfect man, but also perfectly as a man. He faced all the same temptations we as men now face and defeated them all. He bled, he sweat, he cried. He built calluses on his hands through hard work and I’m willing to bet he had to pull splinters from those same hands. He was cut and bruised.

When facing his accusers, Christ did not turn his back or cower in fear, but looked them square in the eye. He set his face like flint towards what he knew was coming (Isaiah 50:5-8). This is precisely what it means to be watchful, to stand firm in the faith, to act like a man, and to be strong.

Before building his Kingdom here on earth, he had to first learn how to build a chair, from scratch, using tools he probably also built. Existing as the pure manifestation of love, he loved his friends and family selflessly and sacrificially. When faced with temptation by the rebel scum, Satan himself, after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, despite being hungry, he did not become hangry, but defeated his arch nemesis by quoting Scripture (Matthew 4:1-11).

When facing his accusers, Christ did not turn his back or cower in fear, but looked them square in the eye. He set his face like flint towards what he knew was coming (Isaiah 50:5-8). This is precisely what it means to be watchful, to stand firm in the faith, to act like a man, and to be strong.

Ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, has been quoted as saying, “Soft lands breed soft men.” I don’t know if there could be a more accurate description of our land and the men it is currently breeding.

As the last remnants of the Greatest Generation, and effects thereof, slowly fade away into corridors of time, we are left with a weak, selfish, and lazy, me-first snowflake brood of soft boys who can shave.

As the last remnants of the Greatest Generation, and effects thereof, slowly fade away into corridors of time, we are left with a weak, selfish, and lazy, me-first snowflake brood of soft boys who can shave. This effeminate generation of males looks for handouts like a hog looks for table scraps, lazily wallowing in the mud of their own creation, fattened by the ease of life established by our faithful Founding Fathers through the sacrifice of their own comforts, blood, and even their very existence.

These lifetime basement-dwelling gamers wouldn’t know a 2x4 if it hit them upside the head. The only thing they know how to build is a virtual fortress on Minecraft. The only calluses they have obtained on their hands strikingly resemble that of an Xbox controller. The only enemy they know how to defeat is on the latest version of Halo.

Instead of building themselves up through prayer and the reading of the Word in preparation for spiritual warfare, they strive tirelessly day and night to beat the most recent edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This is the plight we have in front of us. One that can only be defeated by raising up our young men in the light of Paul’s admonition with Christ as our standard.

Our soft land is breeding soft men, because of a soft Church; and we have a soft Church because of soft pastors. If we expect our land to be strong, and produce strong men, then we need a strong Church, and that must start with strong pastors once again leading the charge from their pulpits.

If we expect our land to be strong, and produce strong men, then we need a strong Church, and that must start with strong pastors once again leading the charge from their pulpits.

Like Christ, we must be willing to get our hands dirty. We need to quit our weekly golf games and learn how to bleed and sweat.

We need to love our wives and children as Christ loved his family: tirelessly, faithfully, and sacrificially.

We must intentionally train up our boys to be men who know what hard work looks like, who can design and build something from scratch; who aren’t afraid to pull a splinter from their tired and worn hands; who can pick themselves up after being knocked down, bruised, and battered; who don’t look for handouts, but ways to better themselves; and finally who respect authority.

Our boys need to be anti-gamers; capable of building something real, and defeating real enemies, and understanding the reality of spiritual warfare.

When faced with temptation by the enemy, we must know enough Scripture to defeat him. When facing the accusers of the woke mob, we need to courageously look them in the eye, grounded on the principles of God’s Word.

We must love and protect our daughters enough to never let them leave the house dressed like inner-city prostitutes. We must show them an example of what a godly man looks like, so that they will look for that same type of man to love and respect as their future husbands.

We must love our wives as Christ loved the Church, cherishing them and washing them in the water of the Word.

When faced with temptation by the enemy, we must know enough Scripture to defeat him. When facing the accusers of the woke mob, we need to courageously look them in the eye, grounded on the principles of God’s Word. We must set our faces like flint towards persecution, instead of cowardly running away and hiding in our spiritual bunkers.

If we wish to be treated with respect, not only in our homes, but also in our churches and in the world, then we need to live as respectable men; and respectable men are watchful, they stand firm in the faith, and they are strong. This is what it means to act like men.