Here’s the letter I wrote him and presented to him Thanksgiving morning, the day the process began:<\/DIV>
\n
Hayden, <\/P><\/DIV><\/DIV>
\n
Congratulations on being 12! Wow, your 11\u2019s are over and after this year you will officially be a teenager. Happy Birthday pal! I\u2019m so excited for you. <\/P>
\n
I wanted you to know that I am so proud of you Hayden. I cannot believe the young man you have become. Everything I\u2019ve ever wanted in a son is wrapped up in who you have become. As I look back over the last 12 years of your life I marvel at how God has shaped you into a person of character, integrity, and Godliness. <\/P>
\n
Last night at the dinner table I told you about how clearly I remember the day before you were born. I sat in front of that fireplace in our very first house in Rowlett, Texas, in 1996 and cried my eyes out before God. I cried because potentially, something could have been wrong with you, but even more than that, I believe I cried out to Him because of the gift he was giving me. You are incredibly special Hayden Davis. You will make your mark on the world in amazing ways. I\u2019ve always known that. I\u2019m glad to be your father, and I\u2019m glad I get to witness how God will use you. <\/P>
\n
The next few years it is my privilege and honor to shepherd this defining time in your life. More than this just being a letter of \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d and an expression of my pride for who you\u2019ve become, it is an invitation into a year of initiation – an initiation into manhood. <\/P>
\n
Over this year we will do many things together. The gifts you receive today will give hints of our first big trip that will take place in January. Every quarter there will be a special, secret trip you and I will embark on. Many times you won\u2019t know what\u2019s to come, I want you to trust me. Trust that I\u2019m doing what\u2019s right for you and planning events that will be memories for years to come. <\/P>
\n
Every month I will sit down with you and talk to you about what it takes to be a Christ-follower and leader in this world and how to navigate life in a way that honors the God who loves you so dearly. The men who are the closest to you will speak into your life during these months, teaching you the most valuable lessons they\u2019ve learned in life. They are my closest friends and they will also become your friends and confidants. <\/P>
\n
We\u2019ll openly discuss issues that are important to God and vital to you becoming a man of God. Issues such as; character, leadership, integrity, friendship, covenant, Godliness, eternity, destiny, and the out-there realities of things like sex, alcohol, and rock and roll! <\/P>
\n
I can\u2019t wait for this year Hayden. You will change so much from 12 to 13. As your dad, I commit to stand by your side and mentor you through this process. This will just be one year, but one that will define our relationship for the next 60. My prayer is that as you grow up, you and I will always be as tight as a father and son can be. <\/P>
\n
I will always believe in you and I\u2019ll always be right by your side cheering you on through each and every stage of your life <\/P>
\n
On this Thanksgiving Day, I couldn\u2019t be more thankful to have you in my life. Happy Birthday son.<\/P>
\n
I love you, <\/P>
\n
Dad <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My oldest biological son, Hayden, turned 12 yesterday. Throughout this past year, I’ve been reading many books on male initiation – how to begin training a boy into the ways of manhood. The best book on this subject by far is, Richard Rohr’s – Adam’s Return. This will be a year long process I will guide…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\n
How to Initiate a Young Man - A Father's Desperate Attempt - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Initiate a Young Man - A Father's Desperate Attempt - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My oldest biological son, Hayden, turned 12 yesterday. Throughout this past year, I’ve been reading many books on male initiation – how to begin training a boy into the ways of manhood. The best book on this subject by far is, Richard Rohr’s – Adam’s Return. This will be a year long process I will guide…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-28T15:18:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e20105362134e3970b-320wi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Initiate a Young Man - A Father's Desperate Attempt - Red Letters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Initiate a Young Man - A Father's Desperate Attempt - Red Letters","og_description":"My oldest biological son, Hayden, turned 12 yesterday. Throughout this past year, I’ve been reading many books on male initiation – how to begin training a boy into the ways of manhood. The best book on this subject by far is, Richard Rohr’s – Adam’s Return. This will be a year long process I will guide…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html","og_site_name":"Red Letters","article_published_time":"2008-11-28T15:18:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e20105362134e3970b-320wi"}],"author":"Tom Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html","name":"How to Initiate a Young Man - A Father's Desperate Attempt - Red Letters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e20105362134e3970b-320wi","datePublished":"2008-11-28T15:18:29+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-28T15:18:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e20105362134e3970b-320wi","contentUrl":"http:\/\/tomdavis.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83451b7fa69e20105362134e3970b-320wi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2008\/11\/how-to-initiate-a-young-man-a-fathers-desperate-attempt.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Initiate a Young Man – A Father’s Desperate Attempt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/","name":"Red Letters","description":"Christian, Christian Inspiration, Christian News, Christian Activism News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/c78d22af30aa2e0860a621fadf855b92","name":"Tom Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b5c\/b5c5842c5b6dd6c51062873d0bb1dfafx96.jpg","caption":"Tom Davis"},"description":"Tom Davis currently serves as CEO of Children's HopeChest (www.hopechest.org), a global orphan care ministry headquartered in Colorado Springs. A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}