Happy December, everyone! I just wanted to let you know that the eBook (.pdf) version of The Art and Science of Finishing Last has arrived! It only costs $7.00 and is so light and portable. If you already bought the hardcopy version from either this website or the trunk of my car, two things:

1. Thanks!

2. I would like to send you the eBook too, so if you email me I will send it along as quick as can be.

Maybe you like the future too, and would like to own this electronic book. If so, I will save you the time of going to the book page and instead, I’ll give you this button:

This was pointed out to me by a ninja gentleman in the field, and I tsk’ed at myself for never thinking of it!

“I am trying to get [your book] more in the hands of guys, but it is hard because by suggesting it to a fellow brother, it seems to suggest you think poorly of their ninja gentleman skills.”

How true it is. Much like giving your wife a “how to be a better wife” book for your anniversary, this book might carry some…implications. (But I have never had a wedding anniversary yet, so how can I know this? Pure speculation! Humbug!)*

Now this post will not be full of good ideas, because quite simply, I wrote the book assuming my target audience was people like me, who already felt a dissatisfaction with their ability to properly love their sisters like sisters, and have a keen desire to improve. I knew that if I wrote the book from the perspective of trying to persuade people to want to do better, I would never get anywhere persuasive. In other words I wanted to put the Good Things on parade instead of trying to convince people that the Bad Things exist…and I still hope and maintain that that will be persuasive enough.

But that’s the book itself. Or the topic itself. If you want to introduce this topic to brothers-in-Christ, how can you do it without sounding snide or sneering or pessimistic? I have some basic ideas, like seeing their good efforts and helping them imagine where those good efforts might lead. But all this thinking leads me to a very surprising conclusion:

I don’t know how to be a ninja gentlemen to ninja gentlemen!

How about yourself? Have your efforts to encourage brotherly and sisterly relationships led to good and healthy discussions, or to offended friends who believe that you are hinting at their caddishness? If the latter, how did you deal with it? If the former, how did you accomplish such a wonderful feat?

*P.S. My wife would not actually mind if I got her a book like that. But the fact that she wouldn’t mind, proves that she doesn’t need a book like that! (Don’t be jellus, the Bible forbids it.)

Two things:

1) I posted randomly somewhere on the internet and somebody was like “Jakeb Brasee! I know you, I have read your book. My husband and I are sneakily giving it to guys in our youth group.” That was eerie (because I have spent so many years hiding my secret internet identity) and awesome (because people are workin’ on being good brothers). Yep, I enjoyed that, so naturally you will too!

2) In the fine tradition of blogs everywhere, I only really return to apologize for not posting more, and offer these excuses: impending wedding, workin’ on a house, workin’ for the man. I will trust that God is my publicist, and await further instructions. In the meantimes I will wait, and contemplate, watching…always watching…

My mind these days is full of mortgages and 203(k) loans and all sorts of grown-up-y considerations like that. Soon, Lord willing, I will be one of the landed gentry! Benefits to owning a house are myriad. Among them:

1) I can put anything in my house, or throw anything away. ::dizzy with power::

2) Someday, I can ask someone to be Mrs. Jakeb Brasee without also asking her to be Homeless.

3) I can use my house as a base of operations, and dedicate the space to serving God (even the Gryphon Room).

I suspect that a Land-owning Ninja Gentleman enjoys unique advantages and suffers unique penalties. But what might those be? Certainly, a house will limit me geographically. It will also consume a chunk of time and money. But within my limited range I will have a more solid presence. I will be able to help solve problems that require a donation of Space — a silent, empty gift of terrific usefulness!

Offering a room to a sister would be, I think, improper…unless I vacate the house and live in a bin! I could do that. But I could do other things too, such as provide storage, take care of puppies, host secret meetings and family-of-God get-togethers (FIVE-HYPHEN-COMBO!!!).

I’ll have to wait and see. In the meantimes, dear Internet, why don’t you tell me? What uses might a big ol’ brick box have, for serving one’s sisters?

“There are no little people and no little places.”
– No Little People (Francis Schaeffer)

This is not a bigoted post against people of lesser stature. Being short is probably real useful, if you want to go spelunking! Or race horses or crawl through the ventilation shaft or narrowly avoid decapitation by blind and low-flying buzzards.

No! This post is about how there are no people of little significance! Nor are there places of little significance. You do not need to, say, write a book about brotherliness in order to be a good brother. Remember that you ought to, as me own mother used to say, “Grow where you’re planted.” She still says that, but she used to, too.

I hope that you know that your role as a good brother, even if it is never recognized or celebrated — will be recognized and celebrated for the glory it brings to the Lord. Next time you feel thirsty for adventure, like your life amounts to Not Much At All, like you need to make a bold move and become Somebody…maybe you do. =) But bear in mind that probably every day, you have a chance to lend a hand, or an arm, or an ear or a thought or a prayer or a heart, to a veritable fleet of immortal daughters of God, perfect works-in-progress, as they wend their way through the world. Wend.

That’s all. Just remember that you are not a little person, and the place you live is not a little place. If you live just a plain old normal life…and if you live it Holy…then it is a Miraculous life. If you love your sisters, you have accomplished what few men do, and gained the only kind of reward worth having, plus perhaps a pretty smile for your trouble.

Learned me a word the other day, from a sister o’ mine. “Virtuous” — according to her Ethics class, virtue is “fulfilling the purpose for which you were made”. In other words, do whatcha should. Let’s say you are a hammer.  <note to self: M.C. HAMMER JOKE> If you are good at pounding stuff, then you are a VIRTUOUS hammer. If you are good at putting out fires, you’re a weird hammer and maybe useful sometimes, but not necessarily virtuous.

Drawing together my widely disparate thoughts with a desperate segue, it behooves us to learn what is a brother supposed to be anyhow? Otherwise you could end up working really really hard to get awesome at something you aren’t even supposed to be doing! Because I was thinking about steadfastness today, I am going to mention it as a great…virtue…that a Virtuous gentleman should possess.

So, Bibley goodness! 1 Timothy 6:11 — “But as for you, O man of God, flee [a buncha bad stuff]. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” See? There it is! That’s in the ESV, which I am told is the Extra Spiritual Version. The NASB uses “perseverance”, which is another great word that I’m bad at.

Yeh, I am bad at being steadfast, bad at persevering. Not forever, I hope! I’m pursuing those virtues, as commanded in the verse above. Aside from it being a personal proving ground, why did I pick steadfastness? Because I have seen that it surprises and delights and blesses our sisters in a special way. Sure, righteousness and godliness and faith and love and gentleness are just as important…they just aren’t as surprising. Girls are happy to see a godly guy — but they are sometimes astounded to see a guy who is consistently godly for years and does not waver!

If you would like to be more manly in a worthwhile sense, start by being *unwavering* in ways that matter. Hold steadfastly to eternal life, to the good news about Jesus, to the public display of your faith. More specifically to our point, be an unswervingly good brother. Reliability, reliability, counts for much. Do you want to be a good comforter? Half of today’s comfort comes from knowing that the same comfort can be found tomorrow. Reflect the nature of Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow. Do not let your love cast a shifting shadow — let it be something Reliable. Keep your word. Do what you say you will do. Be loving today and more loving tomorrow. Don’t wander away, don’t give up, don’t get bored, don’t stop praying or listening or caring for your sisters. Let her know that she is simply stuck with you — like family. =)

Soooo, questions! Do you struggle with steadfastness, finishing what you start? Do people find it easy to trust you, even after they’ve known you a while? How is God helping you to be faithful and reliable in all manner of things? How can you help others? How do you suppose women are blessed by brothers that can be counted on?

Sisters, if you have any stories of good examples, those are welcome here. ^_^

Look every1body! Two blog posts in one month. That’s steadfast, rite rite?