Where's Dad? a book review

I just finished reading Don Miller's To Own a Dragon. It was a great read, although, someone will have to explain the title to me.

Reading Don Miller is a lot of fun. He makes you think. Blue Like Jazz was the book that put Miller on the map. My favorite book of Don's is Searching for God Knows What. Don knocked it out of the park with that one. I couldn't hang in there long enough to enjoy Through Painted Deserts, but my wife liked it.

To Own a Dragon was good, though. Miller really does have a writing style that is engaging and keeps the reader turning pages. I had a difficult time with one chapter: MANHOOD: The Right Equipment. In this chapter, Miller takes pot shots at all that we real men hold dear like NASCAR, football, trucks, eating wild game, and Promise Keepers rallies. And he didn't seem to care for Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge, either. But the most disturbing thing in that chapter is he said that "God's definition of a real man is a person with a penis!" All you need to be a man is to own a penis - hey, maybe that's what the title means.

Apart from that, I loved the book. The book is mostly about the mentors Don had in his life. He dedicates the book to men who are mentoring younger men and I love that. Don tells about elephants in one chapter; that part of the growth cycle in a male elephant's life is to be mentored by an older, experienced male elephant role model. Older elephants teach younger elephants how life works. If, for some reason, this very natural cycle is interupted, elephants grow up violent and dis-oriented in their world. Miller then explains that 85% of men in prison grow up without a father.

This book is full of wisdom and great information for guys who have a heart to disciple young men and teach what it means to be a man that follows Christ. Definitely pick it up.

Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt in the movie Fight Club, ranted about being part of generation abandoned by fathers and raised by women. Miller's book would have quenched Tyler's rage. But that would have ruined a really manly ending to the movie.