When he was just a kid, author James A. Harrell Jr.'s parents divorced. As a youngster, he couldn't understand why his father never came to see him or his brothers or provide sustenance for their well-being. Harrell spent many sleepless and tearful nights longing for his father. That pain became even more apparent when his father died in 2000.

In the writings included in A Real Man Stands Tall, Harrell attempts to come to grips with this abandonment. He intimately shares what his life was like, and he offers scriptural-based testimony on the important role a father plays in...