where have all the naugas gone? by Ken Akers   Find out more about the ministry of Free Will Baptist Master's Men by visiting www.fwbmastersmen.org.

THOSE WHO GREW UP IN THE 1950s and 1960s will never forget climbing into the car on hot summer days and sticking to the seats. After a few minutes in the sunshine, your legs felt as if they had been glued down, and by the time you arrived at your destination, you had melted into the seat. Who can forget that awful, sucking noise when you started to get out of the car!
 
Perhaps you remember girls wearing knee-high, shiny boots. Or the first recliners—the ones your mom cleaned with furniture polish. You had to be very careful not to jump into the recliner too fast because you might be seriously injured when you shot out the other side. Yes, those were the days...the days of nauga hide.
 
But what has happened to the wonderful material from which these items were made? Where have all the naugas gone? Although I have never seen such an animal, as a child, I clearly remember my parents talking about furniture, car seats, and more made from the hide of the nauga. What happened? Did some government agency put a stop to their use, or were they hunted into extinction? Did some new, synthetic material take their place? Maybe leather has become so popular that the hide of the nauga is no longer in great demand.

 
A quick Google search revealed some interesting facts. First, naugas aren’t animals at all! The word is spelled naugahyde—who knew? Second, naugahyde is still being used; they just changed a few things about it, made it more colorful and less sticky. Oh well, I guess that’s progress.
 
After solving the mystery of the naugas, I started on another quest to find out where all the real men have gone. I’m not talking about males. I’m talking about MEN —boys who grew up playing games like army, cowboys and Indians, and baseball; boys who stayed outside al day then wanted to camp under the stars at night.
 
Today, it seems that many boys are being raised in a passive, lethargic atmosphere. They would rather stay inside and play video games, watch television, or browse the Internet.
 
What has happened to real men who make a life-long commitment when they get married? Who spend time with their sons and daughters—playing, teaching, and setting the right example. Men who show their children what it means to love their wives, to be responsible and provide not only for physical needs but spiritual and emotional needs as well. What has happened to men who will stand for what is right, honest, and good and stand against what is wrong and dishonest in this world? While I won’t claim there are no real men left, there certainly are not as many as there used to be.
 
Where have all the real men gone?

You won’t find them on television where men are portrayed as bullies, twits, or idiots. Hopefully, you can still find them in our churches—men who believe in God, men who believe in and live out their faith and family values. Men who not only send their children to church but take them there and show them that real men still love Jesus!
 
I must admit I miss the days of naugahyde, the days when life was simpler, and the worst thing you saw on television was somebody smoking or fighting one of those guys in black hats. Today, life seems much more complex. But God’s values have not changed, and today’s real man still lives up to them!
 
Be sure to watch for my next article where you will learn where all the snipes have gone.
 
ABOUT THE WRITER: Ken Akers is the general director of Master’s Men, the men’s ministry of the National Association of Free Will Baptists. Visit www.fwbmastersmen.org to learn more about the organization.