December 17, 2024 • 48 mins
Imagine receiving a gift that not only enriches your daily routine but also strengthens your spiritual life. Join us as we explore the significance of devotionals and the special connection they can foster. This episode is packed with heartwarming stories about the powerful impact of devotionals as gifts, featuring insights from renowned authors Dan Britton and Jimmy Page. They share how their book, "Daily Wisdom for Men," intertwines biblical teachings with sports and leadership principles, offering a unique blend of inspiration and guidance.
We have the pleasure of delving into the inspiring paths of Dan and Jimmy, two visionary figures rooted in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Dan shares his transition to launching Sports Life after 34 years at FCA, focusing on leadership development through sports. Meanwhile, Jimmy recounts his spiritual evolution at Virginia Tech, leading to a fruitful collaboration with Dan. Together, they have written nine books blending faith, sports, and personal growth, aiming to equip men with the wisdom and strength to face life's challenges head-on. Their stories reveal the power of community and faith, symbolically illustrated through the spiritual armor of helmet, swords, compass, and shield.
Listen in as we unpack the symbolism behind facing life's storms, drawing analogies between the resilience of bison and the strength that comes from faith and community. We emphasize the importance of servant leadership, inspired by Jesus, where humility and discipline lead the charge. This episode also highlights the importance of praying for the men in our lives, encouraging them to embrace wisdom and live as warriors for God. The insights shared by Dan and Jimmy serve as a powerful reminder of the transformative potential of engaging with God's word, offering listeners a blueprint for spiritual and personal growth.
Connect:
Dan Britton - dan@sportslifeleadership.com; social media @fcadan
Jimmy Page - jimmy@beunstoppable.live; www.beunstoppable.live
Visit www.hollycurby.com for more information and to sign up for the monthly Holly's Happenings e-newsletter. Holly's Highlights podcast and the opinions and ideas shared within it are for entertainment purposes only. The advice should be confirmed with a qualified professional.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Well, friends, it is almost Christmas and I don't
know about you, but I still havea gift or two left to buy and
then I can actually sit back andenjoy this holiday season.
I'm actually really excited forthat.
However, the other day my daddecided to start pre-gifting
some of his gifts and he gaveone of his Christmas gifts to my
son and it was a devotion bookfor teens by Max Lucado.
(00:26):
Now my brother loves Max Lucado, has been to visit him, loves
all of his books.
But one thing that really helpsis my son tends to get up every
morning when I get up and myson will go downstairs while I'm
getting ready and he just likesto spend time with the Lord and
this devotional really helpshim be purposeful in that time.
And I totally get it becauseyears ago my brother actually
(00:48):
gifted me the Sarah Young JesusCalling Devotion and the
devotional magazine that I writefor, which is Lifeways Journey
Magazine.
My mom and I used to each do andthen we'd meet up and talk
about how God was speaking to usor where we saw God at in our
day.
So I just really believe thatdevotionals can help hold us
accountable and provide a senseof direction in our time with
(01:10):
the Lord.
They can also strengthen ourfaith, but overall they just
help us walk in truth and takethe wisdom we learn to then
apply in our life throughout theday, Not to mention that they
can also make great Christmasgifts for anyone and everyone on
your Christmas list, just as mydad's gift of the teen
devotional was for my son.
So that brings me to our guesttoday.
(01:31):
And when I read of a newdevotion for men called Daily
Wisdom for Men, I was intrigued,because I love devotionals and
so I do believe that a gooddevotion can help those wanting
to draw closer to the Lord.
And now, the unique thing aboutthis devotion is that it draws
on stories from the Bible, likesports and life, and includes
(01:53):
leadership and if you know me, Ireally look into how the
biblical principles tie intoleadership that we can put into
our everyday.
And it's geared toward men,which also helps who it's geared
toward to be able to read it.
So authors Dan Britton andJimmy Page share the In the
Trenches principles and boldchallenges in this devotional to
(02:14):
really empower readers to liveat their best, all while making
an eternal difference in thelives of others.
So, without further ado,welcome Dan and Jimmy, we are so
honored to have you today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Great to be here.
Great to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Now, dan, I understand that you're a speaker
, a writer and a coach whosegoal is to help people pursue
their passion, and that youserve with the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, where you'vebeen on staff for 34 years.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yes, I served for 34 years and actually transitioned
in August to start a new sportsministry called Sports Life and
really excited about takingeverything I learned for 34
years and focused on leadershipdevelopment in the world of
sports, so fired up to launchthis new initiative.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That is exciting.
Now, how did you get involvedwith that ministry?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
That is exciting.
Now, how did you get involvedwith that ministry?
Well, I had always heard aboutFCA, which again got birthed in
1954.
So 70 plus years.
But man, it was kind of heardabout it but never had the
ability.
When I was in high school, grewup in Northern Virginia, right
outside of DC, but when I wentto University of Delaware I
(03:24):
dreamed about playing collegelacrosse, got recruited to play
there and my dad was a formerAll-American lacrosse player at
the Naval Academy and so kind ofwanted to follow his footsteps
to play college lacrosse.
And so I went to University ofDelaware and what do you know?
They had a little FCA chapterthat met on Thursday nights at
Carpenter Sports Building inroom 215 at 730.
(03:46):
And I remember wandering intothat FCA group and they had a
big Campus Crusade gathering.
They had a big universitygathering with hundreds of
people.
And I walk into this little youknow athletic classroom, you
know, in the sports building,with 10 athletes, eight football
players, one swimmer and me alacrosse guy.
I was a lacrosse guy.
Athletes, eight footballplayers, one swimmer and me a
lacrosse guy.
(04:06):
I was a lacrosse guy and youknow what I found?
Holly is just circling up, justopening God's word, combining
faith and sports.
That's really how I fell in.
When I got back to NorthernVirginia I didn't have an FCA
director.
I came on staff and then cameto Kansas City, took on a VP
level and helped build FCAinternationally from one country
to over 100.
(04:26):
And anyways, great history,great legacy with FCA.
It's been awesome.
So that's kind of the story.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Wow, that is cool.
That is cool.
And, Jimmy, you're a health andwellness expert, a freedom
warrior, a Spartan athlete, ofcourse, podcaster, fellow
podcaster there and former 17year executive with the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Is that where you and Dan metwas Fellowship of Christian
Athletes?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Great question and yes, the answer is yes.
I actually came to Christ atVirginia Tech and then quickly
found the Fellowship ofChristian Athletes huddle on
campus.
I actually tried a bunch ofdifferent ministries there, all
of which were amazing you canimagine at a campus like that.
(05:12):
But I really found a home inFCA, kind of spoke the language
of sport and faith, two thingsthat I loved, and I grew in my
faith there and actually Ibecame the president of the
huddle there.
And then we were talking as aleadership group.
We needed to bring in a speaker, we wanted to bring in a pro
athlete.
And then we were talking as aleadership group we needed to
bring in a speaker.
We wanted to bring in a proathlete and and somebody
recommended this guy named DanBritton.
He said he's a pro lacrosseplayer and I'm like, wait,
there's pro lacrosse.
(05:33):
And I'm like, great, Well, ifhe'll come down, we'll get it,
We'll bring him.
And, uh, he spoke with our, ourhuddle.
He was amazing.
Uh, gave a really inspiringtalk to encourage our group, and
then we became fast friends andthen it wasn't until, oh, 15,
16, 17 years later that I cameon staff with FCA.
I had a 15-year career inhealth, wellness, medical
(05:56):
fitness, sports performancetraining and then came over to
work full-time with FCA for manyyears, before leaving just
three years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Wow, you've been busy .
Speaker 2 (06:06):
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Good Now, Dan, you've written nine books and Jimmy 10
.
Is that accurate?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yes, give or take.
I think we've writtenessentially the same number of
books, because we've writtenalmost everything together.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That was going to be kind of of those nine and 10.
How many have you co-authoredtogether?
That was going to be kind of ofthose nine and 10.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
How many have you coauthored together?
I think nine, yeah, ninetogether.
So I think I read one withanother friend and Jimmy wrote
one on fitness.
So we kind of made a commitment, like we got 20.
We want to get to 30, jimmy.
So we got 20, plus more booksto write by the time we croak.
So we've got a goal.
Yeah, we've kind plus morebooks to write by the time we
croak, so we got a goal.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, we've, you know , we've kind of learned how to
write together.
I mean, we we're, we kind ofcome from the same perspective,
that competitive mindset I wouldcall it.
You know, in in light of thebook we're going to talk about
today, daily Wisdom for Men.
You know we're talking througha biblical and a masculine lens.
So over time our voices havejust kind of, you know, merged
(07:07):
together.
No one would be able to tellwhat Dan's writing or what I'm
writing, unless they know thespecific story that we're
referring to.
So it's been a great ride.
We've got a lot more in thetank we hope to publish over the
next several years.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So that's a great partnership.
Great partnership.
Now, Jimmy, I also understandthat you are the founder of Be
Unstoppable Elite Leadership andthe Unstoppable Freedom
Alliance, which has you speakingabout leadership and culture
and human performance tobusinesses, including NFL and
NCAA and US Naval Academy.
The list goes on and on.
But in addition to all of that,you and your wife started a
(07:42):
cancer foundation.
Believe Big, Tell us a littlebit more about that foundation
and what drew you to start it.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, well, I love speaking on leadership, culture
and human performance, healthand fitness.
You know, helping people tomaximize their lives, and cancer
is one of those things thattouches most people now.
I mean, it's actually affectingessentially one in every two
people.
So, and part of your storyobviously is you've been touched
by cancer as well in yourfamily, and Ivelisse was
(08:09):
diagnosed years ago, in 2008,with four-stage colon cancer,
which then progressed towardsher liver, and they gave her
essentially almost zero chanceof surviving beyond two years,
and by the grace of God, she wasable to find a pathway to
healing that incorporated kindof some conventional treatments
(08:29):
like surgeries and diagnosticsand surgeries, but then we went
really this complimentary route,this integrative approach to
medicine, and she's beenthriving ever since.
She's been cancer-free for 15years.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Wow, praise God.
That is awesome.
That is awesome.
So you both have lived somelife and it sounds like you both
are testaments to theoverarching theme of your book
about charging into each day asa warrior for God, armed with
wisdom to overcome whatever lifebrings.
So tell us why this book andwhy this topic right now and why
(09:09):
this topic right now?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, I think, holly, that for us, again 35 years,
imagine having someone that, asProverbs, talks about iron,
sharpening iron, and I thinkmany times we dull each other
versus sharpen each other.
And wisdom sharpens,foolishness dulls.
And so one thing that Jim and Ihave seen over the years, as
we've done life, family likeliterally seen our kids grow up
(09:31):
together.
Now, even on the other side ofnow, kids are getting married,
grandkids, but just God's gotsomething special in store.
So this daily wisdom for menwas really a byproduct of 35
years of our life work, beingable to put into one book and we
wanted to culminate everythingthat we have experienced
(09:51):
together and be able toliterally invest in other men
and say, hey, this is men,writing for men about issues
that men face.
And so again, it's leadership,it's sports, it's family, it's
relational dynamics, so manydifferent things.
But really I would say it's alife work.
And man we've written a lot ofother books, but man, a daily
(10:13):
devotion 365, it was a beast andit was a joy.
It was a beast and honestly nowit's funny.
Jimmy and I are both reading itas one of our devotions and we
literally will just highlight,we're texting even each other
and there's times that I read itand I'm like, jimmy was that
(10:33):
mine or yours, I'm not sure.
But again, after 35 years ofliterally this, of integration
into each other's lives, that'sgood, because now we're writing
alike, we're thinking alike,we're journeying together and
having that deep kind ofrelationship that the Lord
desires, that warriorrelationship as we talk about in
(10:55):
our book Wisdom Walks.
But I would say, holly, the bigthing for us is just on the
back of the cover of the book,is just simply this verse.
That really was the, theimpetus, the key for us to to go
.
If you really want to boil itall down into one thing, is
simply this is first corinthians16 13.
(11:15):
And basically there's fourlittle things that that paul
writes is.
He says you know, be on alert.
You know it's like be alert,like have your head on a swivel.
The first thing is just, man,the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion as it talks aboutPeter.
So you know, paul's likeliterally saying hey, be on
alert.
And we think about, in 1Chronicles, the men of Issachar,
(11:35):
when David was recruiting allthe men to go fight in Hebron,
and you know, 40,000 from thistribe and 20,000 from this and
then 200 from the men ofIssachar, that that that two
things understood the times andknew what to do.
So they, they, they haddiscernment and decisiveness.
They understood that.
So be alert.
We want to be men that arealert and we want to help men be
(11:58):
alert.
The second thing is have astrong foundation.
Paul writes in firstCorinthians 16, 13, be alert,
have a strong foundation.
We have to go deep, we have toget our face in the book.
We wanted to create a book thatpeople are connecting with the
word of God, growing deeper inthe walk with Christ, planting
their roots by the streams ofliving water, as it talks about
in Psalm 1, and have a strongfoundation.
(12:20):
And the third one, which reallyI would say is the real kick in
the pants, as my grandfatherused to always say, is act like
men.
Can you imagine?
The Bible says that Act likemen.
One of the translations says beye manly.
I like that translation.
Be ye manly, live like men, actlike men.
Another translation is just bemature, grow up and be mature.
(12:44):
No-transcript Like hey, powerup, be strong, be mighty in the
Lord.
And so really, that verse,holly became the catalyst that
said you know, we could havedone a 365 for leaders, we could
have done 365 for families, 365for a lot of athletes and
(13:06):
coaches, but when it came downto it is, we want to do a 365
devotion, a life work to be ableto encourage and sharpen men to
be at their best.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, I like that.
I like that.
I love how you keep going backto the iron sharpen iron.
Because, just as that book thatmy dad gave my son for to be
able to resonate with him, andthe women's ones I press into
men need there.
We need to be able to sharpeneach other up and we have a
church group, men's church group, at our church that they do a
(13:40):
men's meetup, so M-E-A-T, wherethey of course have stakes and
all of that, and I just thinkthings like that are so
beautiful for them to be able tocome together, encourage each
other, hold each otheraccountable, find fellowship
with one another, and that'sexactly what you're bringing to
this book to be able to do.
Now, what are ways that youguys designed Daily Wisdom for
Men to help specifically men?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, I think I'll tackle that and I'll tack on a
little bit about what Dan said.
For why this book?
Men have been told for a longtime that they've got to be more
like women, that masculinity inand of itself is toxic, and so
we're getting these mixedmessages.
You know, men need to be moresoft and more kind and whatever
the other things are andkindness is a virtue, by the way
(14:25):
but I think men arerediscovering what biblical
masculinity actually is, andthis book is designed to
reintroduce men to a biblicallook at masculinity.
What does it mean to be aprotector?
What does it mean to be aprovider?
What does it mean to be someonewho leads their family well?
And all those things areaddressed in the book.
(14:48):
So there's a lot of confusionabout what it is to be a man,
and I think what we're trying todo is say no, there is a strong
, courageous, biblical model ofwhat it looks like to be a man,
and I think what we're trying todo is say no, there is a strong
, courageous, biblical model ofwhat it looks like to be a man
and right now, in this culture,in today's day and age, we need
men to step up into theirGod-giving calling and design,
(15:08):
now more than ever before.
So this is not a soft kumbayabook I'm just going to warn the
men right now it is not.
But it will speak to the heartof a man, it will speak to the
masculine soul in such a waythat you're awakened to know
that your life matters, that youhave purpose and that you can
really make a difference forothers.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Great intentionality there, forsure.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
That's awesome.
That's awesome, greatintentionality there, for sure.
What are the four keyrelationships you'd say that men
must have to be able toovercome whatever challenges
life may bring.
Well, one of the things that weour very first book, that,
jimmy and I did was calledWisdom Walks we I mean Jimmy,
what was that?
How many years ago?
15 years ago, yeah, 15 yearsago.
And really, as we said, ourrelationship got birthed 35
years ago and I met him at ahuddle that I spoke at, and then
(16:03):
, shortly after that he moved upinto my neighborhood, into
Northern Virginia, and Godconnected Jimmy and I back
together, actually through amutual friend.
And then I had a former friendfrom college and then I met
another guy.
So these four guys cametogether, you know, in 1990, and
(16:24):
we called ourselves the fourhorsemen, like we had to any
good accountability group.
You got to give them a name,you know.
And so 1990, we formed a Fridaymorning accountability group.
This is back whenaccountability was huge and
men's groups were gettingtogether, and so we got together
every Friday for a couple ofhours, a couple of pots of
(16:45):
coffee, and really thatrelationship got formed, that we
created warrior relationship,this mutual accountability.
We're all at the same season oflife, we're all dealing with
the same issues and temptationsand struggles, and so we started
doing accountability and reallyfrom that we realized, okay,
(17:06):
accountability is great, haveBarnabas alongside and that's
the warrior relationship.
Those are the ones that growyou, that sharpen you, that
strengthen you hold youaccountable and make you better.
But you know, also at the sametime realize, hey, we need to
have some, some, some watchmen,some watchmen that are investing
in you, that are really the,the the pauls, the mentors, the
(17:27):
disciples that that areinvesting in you.
And so then we startedidentifying some men that were a
season above us and that wecould go to to get counsel from
on different issues.
That again, we're on thewatchman who could see a little
bit further out than we couldsee and be able to give us that
advice.
And then, at the same time, theother relationship is the one
(17:48):
below you, the workman, theworker that you're investing in,
the Timothy, that you'reputting your arm around and you
actually become their watchmanand you're actually investing in
them and they become yourdisciple.
And so we started encouragingeach other in this early dynamic
of creating some warriors andhave a watchman and then have
some workmen below you thatyou're actually pouring into.
(18:10):
And those are three of the fourrelationships.
And the last one, which wasreally important, is your
relationship yourself with Jesus.
It's the walker and the walkerrelationship is you yourself
sitting time, spending time atthe foot of Jesus, growing in
your own personal walk and noone can do the walker for you.
Now a lot of other people canhave influence around you, but
(18:32):
the walker is the first andforemost that in that inner
circle you're walking with Jesus.
And so really back 35 years ago, we kind of stumbled into this
concept of wisdom, walks, thesefour key relationships that
every man, the dream team whichis the walker, me with Jesus,
warrior with one or twoaccountability partners, a
(18:53):
watchman that's above you,that's investing in you, and
then you yourself having aworkman or worker that you're
investing in.
Those are the fourrelationships.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
That is priceless.
My mom I was raised, my dad wasour senior pastor and, of
course, my mom pastor's wife,and she would always, always
tell us you need to have amentor, so someone you're
learning from, and then someonethat you're pouring into, not
just stopping it with you, butsomeone you're pouring into and
it just sounds like that is sucha priceless group of being able
(19:23):
to truly soak up those who havegone before us and then pour in
to those who are coming behindus.
And you guys it sounds like youguys have executed that very,
very well.
That's awesome.
Now I have to compliment youboth and your publisher that
this book is beautiful.
To just hold it.
Just it feels good, from theleather binding and the shiny
(19:47):
silver and gold embossing, thepattern on the interior, the
foil Bible verse on the backcover that you've mentioned,
even the branded publisher logoon the spine.
It truly is just a well donebook and I know from my own
experience going through mypublisher picking up the book
and then releasing facelift.
Not much is in our say, butthere are some things that we
(20:07):
can stress which havesignificance to the book and can
speak to the reader, whether itbe the color palette, even
little symbols used.
So on the cover, as well as thepattern print on the interior
of the front and back cover ofyour book, you have four images
a warrior's helmet, a compassswords that are crossed over,
which look intentional like an X, and then you have a shield.
(20:30):
What do these signify?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, first of all, we do have a great publisher.
Shout out to Broad StreetPublishing.
He's been partnering with ussince 2010.
He believed in us beforeanybody knew about us and he
really gave us an opportunity.
But what they do is they doproduce unbelievable books.
I mean, you want to buy it,like you said.
I'm holding it now.
It's like having a good leatherBible.
(20:55):
It's the same thing.
This is a great companion forthat, you know.
So they're amazing and theygave us a lot of latitude to
have input on the design as well.
But they are genius in the waythey do books.
Those four images kind of camealong as almost some
foundational elements for us,and I'll speak to a couple of
those.
I know that the helmet right soyou've got this warrior's
(21:17):
helmet really signifies the mindof Christ.
It signifies the mind of Christhaving an eternal perspective,
kind of not being thrown aroundby your emotions and your
feelings, but instead applyingan eternal perspective, making
decisions in advance.
It's protecting what you seeand what you hear and being
(21:38):
careful where you go.
But it's all about the mind ofChrist.
It's about that eternalperspective, and I think that is
where most transformationstarts.
If you believe Romans, chapter12, it talks about hey, don't
conform any longer to thepattern of this world, but
instead be transformed by therenewing of your mind.
So the helmet is this idea ofreminding us to protect our mind
(22:00):
and to think on the thingsabove more than the temporary
circumstances we're facing.
And then I'll tackle maybe I'lljust tackle the swords.
You know the swords signify inscripture, they signify the word
of God, you know.
So this book relies heavily onthe word of God.
In fact, there is no book apartfrom the Word of God.
You can positive, think yourway out of some situations, but
(22:24):
positivity has its limitations.
The Word of God has nolimitations.
In fact, it has the power tobreak strongholds in your life,
to defeat the enemy's schemesagainst you.
So when we talk about hey, youget to learn the word, know the
word and use the word, put itinto action.
And that's the sword of theSpirit.
It's operating in the Spirit ofGod and understanding the Word
(22:46):
of God.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Great.
How about that Dan?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
you want to tackle the other two.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Yeah, man, I was taking notes, jimmy, that was
awesome, like slow down.
Um, yeah, yeah, it again itlike we could have had 20
symbols, just it.
We feel like there's so manykey elements foundationally for
men, but again we got to stripit down and make it simple.
(23:13):
And great job on the helmet andthe swords.
So the compass is simply theidea you know, kind of in the
verse stand firm in the faith.
It's just.
You know, we want to bePhilippians 3, 13 and 14.
The one thing I do is forgettingwhat's behind us.
Turning forward with his head,I press toward the goal it says
(23:33):
to win the prize, and that'shaving a clear purpose and
having a compass and wisdom forright living.
And so Compass was more aboutthe true north.
And you know, ali, today it'slike it doesn't take much to get
sideways right.
It just doesn't take much toget off the deep end.
And that's what we're finding.
(23:54):
And we're finding friends ofours who marriages are falling
apart, kids are wandering astray, and it's just man.
The true north is no longer truenorth and the compass wants to
have a singular focus, talkingabout direction and purpose, and
really that's the compass, youknow, is.
You know, not just the journeyalong the way, but also that
(24:18):
we're going to get to the rightplace, right Like we're going to
get to the right destination,and determination not desire
determination gets us to theright destination.
And then the last one is simplythe shield, you know, and
obviously as one of the piecesof armor, and you know we think
of actually the Proverbs 4, 23and 24, above all else, protect
(24:41):
the heart for the wellspring andalmost like you got to shield
and protect the heart and beable to have that provision and
that strength and fortitude ofresolve and being vigilant
against the things of the enemy.
And so we just feel like theflaming arrows are coming in
24-7 and having that sword.
(25:02):
So those are the last twoelements that we wanted to
highlight.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
A lot of intentionality behind that, for
sure, a lot of meaning.
Now, from your perspective,what are a couple of the most
important entries in the book,or are there some that you would
pull out?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start on that
.
And part of that we actuallysay humbly because, as Dan said,
we're going through the bookright now day to day.
A lot of our friends aretexting us pictures that they're
going through it and whatimpacted them, so we're super
excited about the impact thatit's having, I would say from my
perspective.
I mean, there's so many tochoose from right, but one of
(25:40):
them is titled Into the Stormand there's this idea of the
verse in 2 Corinthians 6,.
4 says, rather, as servants ofGod, we commend ourselves in
every way, in great endurance,in troubles, hardships and
distresses.
And the verse continuestroubles, hardships and
distresses.
One thing if you have any lifeon you at all, you know that
(26:03):
life is hard.
There's plenty of trials,there's plenty of challenges,
plenty of storms that are goingto come, and life is full of
storms and a lot of times we'llanticipate them.
Sometimes we create our ownstorms, but rest assured, storms
are going to be here.
And one of the things of livingin Colorado.
I moved from the East Coast toColorado with my wife and family
(26:23):
about seven years ago now.
What I discovered was there's abig difference between the way
cows and bison handle storms,and the reason we know that is
we've got plains all around us,we've got, obviously, the Rocky
Mountains, but when those stormscome up over the Rocky
Mountains, those two groups ofanimals operate very differently
.
In the storm, if you're a cow,the cows tend to scatter, they
(26:47):
get afraid, they run, they runin all directions, they're on
their own and they scatterliterally over the plain.
In fact, most of the time theyrun away from the storm, which,
unfortunately for a cow, keepsit in the storm longer, because
the storm moves from west toeast and it essentially follows
them.
So they remain in that stormmuch longer.
But bison, on the other hand,they come together, they
(27:09):
encourage each other.
Actually, there's a lot ofchatter, there's a lot of
talking, a lot of encouragement,believe it or not, and they run
towards the storm together,they face storms together.
In the end it shortens theirtime in the storm because
they're actually running throughit rather than running with it.
And I think that's a greatpicture of the way we're to
handle the storms in our lives.
(27:29):
Don't run away in fear.
Face them head on, but havesome people around you that can
face those storms with you insuch a way that number one
you're encouraged through it,you get warmth and companionship
throughout and in the end youget through that storm faster
and better than you would onyour own.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
So hey, into the storm, be a bison no-transcript
(28:16):
and we kind of go down thatrabbit hole a little bit and
explaining some different thingsand what can come up as
temptations or challenges thatall of us are going to face, let
alone the men that we werewatching in this video what they
were going through.
But what would you say are thebiggest challenges men face in
maintaining their faith in asecular world?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Wow, that's a $64,000 question.
You know, I think that itreally depends on the seasons
we're in, right?
So you know, obviously, jimmyand I right now we're empty
nesters and you know, we have athird grandchild on the way and
(29:01):
you know, I just had lunch todaywith guys I've been mentoring,
discipling for 10 years and youknow, one guy just got married,
you know, last month, and youknow, the other three have young
kids all under the age of 16,you know, and it's like they
don't have kids in college yet.
They don't understand.
You know, kids get married andagain, so I'm kind of the
(29:23):
watchman for them, right, andinvesting in them, just to hear
some of the struggles thatthey're going through and some
of the issues in the family arecompletely different to what I'm
experiencing.
But but I think that thestruggles that men are going
through today is, you know,being sold a lie.
You know, it's kind of goesback a little bit to what Jimmy
said about, you know, biblicalmasculinity.
(29:45):
You know, and, and you know,this isn't about rolling around
the dirt outside and you know,shooting guns, like, even though
those are fun things to do, butI just, I just think that that
there's this, this grittiness,this, this resolve, that that
the Lord wants for His, hischildren.
(30:08):
That are men, you know, and youknow that's really at our heart
and I think, more and more, wejust get so isolated and pulled
away with all the demands andcomplexities, get so isolated
and pulled away with all thedemands and complexities and we
lose focus as men of reallykeeping it simple.
You know, one of my lifeprinciples is we drift to
complexity but we drive tosimplicity.
And I think, for men, that wehave drifted to one more rock in
the backpack, you know one moreresponsibility, one more
(30:31):
expectation.
A sudden we wake up and it'slike, oh my gosh, I feel
paralyzed, there's nothing I cando because of all this
expectation that everyone put onme as a man of God.
I'm supposed to do this, I'msupposed to do this, and you
feel like failure, failure,failure, failure, failure,
failure.
It's a doom loop.
I try, I fail, I try, I fail, Itry, I fail, I give up, and
(30:56):
that's the doom loop.
And so, as men is, we're notexperiencing victory.
You know, I think, I think youknow one thing I've learned is
flesh knows one thing, andthat's failure.
The spirit only knows one thingthat's victory.
Well, men of God are notexperiencing victory.
You know, most men of God areexperiencing defeat, and it
simply goes back to I would saythis, holly, that you know I'm
big, you know about spendingtime in God's word.
(31:18):
My dad passed away in 2008.
He was the guy that just saidhey, the three D's of devotion
is drudgery, discipline anddelight.
Starts his drudgery like eatingbark, do it long enough, turns
into discipline, then get a bigsmile on his face.
He goes.
Then the word of God turns intothe delight that he wants.
And, holly, the thing thatJimmy and I are experiencing and
(31:39):
it's not about legalism andit's not about fundamentalism,
you know, it's not aboutchecking the box is are men of
God getting their face in thebook?
And the answer is no, no, Imean as simple as that.
You know, hey, you'restruggling with that.
And then I go hey, well, how'syour time in God's word?
Well, it's not good, but, hey,I'm struggling with this.
Can I get the answer Wait, wait, wait, wait, time out.
(32:01):
You just answered it Like how'syour time in God's word?
Well, no, I want this fixedover here, but I don't want to
do this over here.
Therefore, why we wrote DailyWisdom for Men.
We hope that.
Yes, daily Wisdom for Men is astarting point.
It's a shot in the arm, it is apart of your disciplines.
It's not the discipline youknow, it is an amazing biblical
(32:24):
truth, a stake in the groundeach and every day.
But at the same time, we hopeit's a starting point for people
to fall in love, for men of Godto fall in love with the Word
of God, starting point forpeople to fall in love, for men
of God to fall in love with theWord of God.
And I think the biggest thing,the biggest challenge, the
question you ask that's createdfor men, no matter what age and
(32:44):
what they're experiencing, ismen are not spending time with
the Lord and not spending timewith the Savior, and that is
evident right now of what'shappening in the world today.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, and if I could, holly, just jump in on that, I
think part of the problem isthat we lack vision.
So if you go one step backupstream, we lack vision for our
lives.
So we've been told what theAmerican dream is.
You kind of go to school, youdo the right things, you get a
degree, you get a job, you getmarried, you have kids, you have
a family, and that's theAmerican dream.
Well, the biblical dream is alittle bit different than that,
(33:19):
right.
And so I think, once you getthis idea that you can have a
clear vision for your life, forevery aspect of your life, that
you in Christ are a powerfulforce for good, a powerful force
for God, all of a sudden nowI've got a vision for my health,
and that informs everythingthat I do relative to my health.
(33:40):
I get a vision for my marriageand my most important
relationships.
I get a very clear vision aboutwhat God is expecting me to do
with my work, the things thatyou know, the work of my hands,
the contribution that I make.
I have a very clear vision forwhat type of man I'm going to be
spiritually.
What's my soul going to looklike?
Am I going to have thatcharacter in the mind of Christ.
(34:02):
So, as men, we're lazy.
We're spiritually lazy.
There's so many distractions,whether it's social media, the
latest Netflix series.
There's a thousand ways toNetflix series.
There's a thousand ways tomedicate and disappear, and you
can put a whole bunch of thingsin there.
(34:22):
Men are over-medicating withalcohol, with Netflix and with a
whole bunch of other garbage,because they lack vision.
They don't know what their lifecould amount to.
So we're encouraging them.
As Dan said, get back in theword.
We're going to take you there.
We're going to help you developa vision for your life so that
now you are compelled to live adifferent way, because you see
(34:42):
that you can make a difference,that God has chosen you for this
moment, and we really do needmen to step up and make a
difference.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Amen, amen.
I can picture exactly what youguys are saying in my own walk
with the Lord of when mychildren were younger.
They'd be looking through acatalog or something and they'd
see the devotion that I wasgoing through or maybe the Beth
Moore was being put in God'sword and fast forward today.
My daughter is going to be 18here soon and graduating and
(35:20):
there are some times that herlight will be on really late or
maybe she's up really early andI'll just go to check in on her
and she's just in there studyingthe word of God and I just
that's come full circle to whereshe's getting to delight in it.
And that is so important is youwere saying, dan, that just that
delight in God's Word.
And until you pass throughthose hurdles and where your
(35:43):
soul is almost battling, beingin His Word, right and the habit
forming and then really gettinginto it, you don't get to
experience what's on the otherside of that delight and what
God has for you.
So I cherish what both of youjust shared, because so true and
how important it is to havethat solid foundation, first and
(36:04):
foremost not about religion,but a relationship, having that
relationship with the Lord andthen being in His Word and what
that can do to our everyday life.
It's beautiful and it's prpriceless and it's invaluable in
just going through anychallenge of life.
Now, both of you come fromleadership backgrounds and are
(36:25):
still into investing in otherleaders.
What does it mean to be aleader in today's world, and how
can men specifically embodythat role of a leader?
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Wow, that is a again a great question, sally.
I feel like again, I would sayit's interesting that in the
Word of God the word leadershipisn't even used.
I mean, there's a lot ofreferences, there's a lot of
characteristics, but the wordleadership's not used.
But you know what word is useda ton in the Bible, a dozen.
(37:01):
Sometimes it's servant, and forsome reason Jesus had a lot of
opportunity to coin and createthis incredible leadership
philosophy, leadership dynamicand five steps to leadership,
greatness, and you know, steady,constantly, just put servant
plain old, serving in front ofeveryone.
You know, in in one of thegreatest acts of, of washing the
(37:22):
disciples feet, in in john 13,you know he, he gave a, a, an
example.
He literally said this is anexample.
I've given to you the only timehe's, this is an example.
Now go and do as I've done toyou, like, like, that's the play
, that's the play that he saidto run when it comes to
leadership.
So you know I, one of mydevotions is I talk about, you
(37:44):
know you have, you know, a.
You know you have a leaderleader, you have a servant
leader, or you just have aservant plain old, servant,
servant, servant, and you know Ihonestly, the word servant
leadership, I get it, I've usedit a million times, but servant
leadership is a man-made term.
It's a man-made term that we'vecreated because we're insecure
(38:05):
of letting go of the leadershipand just embracing servant that
Jesus said for us to embrace.
So we got to put a hyphenbetween it and go, okay, servant
leadership, I'm still a leaderbut I'm a servant.
I'm going to kind of get both.
You know, get both best of bothworlds and honestly, it just you
know Jesus constantly was aservant of servants.
That's a servant servant.
You know, I've come inliterally giving you an example
(38:28):
that the Messiah is actuallydoing.
The role of a servant works inthe disciples' feet and over and
over again Jesus gave usexamples and examples of what it
means to serve.
And so you know, for me, Ithink, at the heart of it is
this authentic leadership, theleadership of the heart, is this
(38:51):
birthing out of thisunderstanding that I'm a servant
of servants, not just a servant, but a servant who serves
servants.
And that is the key, I believe,is the genesis even for our
book, that we go, hey, we'regoing to take a different road,
the road less traveled, when itsays leader, power up, bow up,
strong up.
We're going to take a postureof humility and we're going to
(39:14):
be a servant.
That's what a man of God is isservant, servant.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah Well, and it's like to piggyback on that, dan,
it's you mentioned it that Jesusgave us an example.
Right, the whole purpose ofleadership is to show, lead by
example.
Like you, have to be living itout, and what we're calling men
to do is actually be a man ofGod not perfect, but making
(39:38):
progress.
You know, we're not going to beperfect, we're going to fail,
we're going to fall all thatnonsense but the point is we
need to be pursuing Christ insuch a way that we're making
progress, but ultimately, wehave to be leading by example.
And what I've seen is so manymen make so many excuses that it
actually is become routine.
(39:59):
Well, what's the excuse for younot being in the word today?
What's your excuse for notloving your wife today?
It's just, it's enough.
And what we're discovering isno, we actually need men to live
by example, lead by example.
Paul said follow me as I followChrist, imitate me, do what you
(40:19):
see me doing as I do what God isdoing.
So our life should be leadingby example and in the end, it's
going to take a lot ofdiscipline.
Dan mentioned the term gritearlier.
It's going to take a lot ofdiscipline, because discipline
means it leads to freedom.
Discipline leads to freedom.
The more discipline you applyin the things you know you need
(40:41):
to do, the more freedom you havein your everyday life.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Absolutely, absolutely.
How can men get the most out ofthis book?
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Buy a copy.
How about that?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I like it.
I like it.
Where can they?
Speaker 3 (40:55):
buy a copy.
Where can they?
Speaker 1 (40:55):
buy a copy.
How about that?
I like it.
I like it.
Where can they buy a copy?
Where can they buy a?
Speaker 3 (40:59):
copy all the major outlets.
I would say this, even holly I.
The joy has been for us is jimand I already we've given, given
away, like we don't get thebook free, like I know we're
authors but we still got to buyour own books.
But but we have like, boughtand literally given away
hundreds of books.
I'm going to the post officethis afternoon and mailing it to
(41:21):
three or four men that I know.
But in in, it's an incredibleability to gift a man of God,
write a note in the front of itand be able to give it to them
as a gift and and then to hearback later like, hey, I today I
read you know, actually I readit was Jimmy as a gift.
And and then to hear back laterlike, hey, today I read, you
know, actually I read jimmy'stoday was protect and defend and
it was awesome about neil meyer, that sword and a shovel.
(41:41):
And hey, you're doing both asyou're protecting, defending,
and.
And just start to hear thecomments and the text back of of
getting the most out of it andand I would say, getting the
most out of it's just not doingit by yourself, but doing it
with a warrior or two and beingable to pass that on and invest
in someone else's life and to beable to join together with them
.
I've even seen it with familymembers, like I've had people
(42:05):
going.
Man, I'm doing it with my son.
We had a chance to read itevery morning before he goes to
school.
Just a real blessing to seethat happen.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yeah, I love that you do that.
I do the same thing withfacelift.
It's especially this time ofyear.
I like to wrap it up and takeit to that gas attendant.
Take it to the grocery storeclerk, who I've started building
relationships with throughoutthe year and just want to
encourage them.
And what a gift ofencouragement Daily Wisdom for
Men is, and you're being able tospread that to others.
That's a beautiful thing.
(42:33):
So thank you for doing that.
Now, guys, here on Holly'sHighlights podcast, we have a
signature question that if youcould go back and encourage,
inspire or equip yourself as achild, what would you tell your
young self?
So, whichever one of you wantsto take that first, if you had
to go back and encourage,inspire or equip yourself as a
(42:55):
child, what would you tell youryoung self?
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Man Dan, are you prepared for this Geez?
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Sure, I'll leave out, go ahead, yeah, I'll give Jimmy
a second, obviously to say it'skind of like what's your
favorite Bible verse?
What's the one thing you tellyour younger self?
Like, okay, I could tell myyounger self 100 things you know
.
And but the one thing I wouldsay that I wish I knew earlier
is one of my really good friends, sean, who I knew when he was
(43:25):
16 and had a chance in the bestin interim, remember about 20
years ago.
He knew that things could botherme a lot, you know, and just
and just weigh me down.
And he just said this phrase.
He goes Dan, don't let anyoneor anybody, anyone or anything
rob you the joy that God has instore for you.
And you know, just this commentlike hit me like a ton of
(43:49):
bricks and I realized, wow, youknow, obviously happiness is the
external, but joy is only whatGod gives, which is internal.
Joy is the internal.
Obviously happiness is theexternal, but joy is only what
God gives, which is internal.
Joy is the internal work,happiness is the external work.
And you know, he knew Sean knewthat I was allowing people to
reach into my soul and literallyrob me of the joy that God had
put inside of me and it took.
(44:10):
It took.
It took breath out of me.
It took life out of me.
It took energy, took resolveout of me.
It took life out of me.
It took energy, it took resolveout of me and he said don't let
anything.
So there's a lot of things outthere, a lot of circumstances
and issues and stuff that areout of our control, that it's
not a person.
So don't let anything oranybody that becomes personal.
A lot of times family do that,but don't let anything or anyone
(44:32):
rob you of the joy that God hasin store for you.
Only do that, but don't letanything or anyone rob you of
the joy that God has in storefor you.
And I've always been a positiveperson, but have I been joyful?
That's a whole different thing.
And I don't want the world, Idon't want the flesh, I don't
want people, I don't want Satan,I don't want anyone or anything
(44:57):
rob me of the joy that God hasin store.
And if I knew that as a kid, ohmy gosh, give me another
God-stopper to chew on.
As a kid I'm ready to go?
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Yeah, that's great, applicable to all of us, for
sure.
How about you, jimmy?
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Yeah, mine's kind of like Dan's, Just don't take life
so seriously.
Life is a gift and it's meantto be enjoyed and as serious as
the issues are that we're facing, whether it's in our culture or
our home, you know it really isto focus in on loving the
people that are most importantto you really well, enjoying it,
(45:26):
not getting bogged down in theworries of life, but instead
keep your eyes on Jesus andreally enjoy the ride at a
different level.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, those are great .
Thank you so much for joiningus today, guys.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
How can our listeners connect further with you?
Well, probably the best way iswe have a couple of websites,
but we have a website ofgetwisdomnowcom Pretty easy
Getwisdomnowcom Where's the mainsource for all of our other
different assets and all of ourother different resources.
We've created a lot of actionplans.
We've created a lot ofdownloads, bible studies.
One of the things Jimmy andI've done is created nine
(46:07):
different reading plans onYouVersion.
So a lot of people do theYouVersion reading plan,
devotion plans, and over amillion people have downloaded
our nine different reading plans.
It's been phenomenal just tosee catalytically how that's
been used.
So you know, getwism now is akind of a landing hub for us,
but obviously you can go toAmazon and grab our books and
(46:30):
different things and we have agreat one word website get one
wordcom.
That's a book we read about.
I wrote about a visionstatement for the year being one
word and that also is a veryrobust website.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Great, great, great resources to provide.
Also, and truly, what a perfectChristmas gift, especially as
we're getting ready to restartthe year.
Great time to open that up andstart day one.
So I definitely recommend toour listeners to head out there.
I'll definitely put all of thatinformation in the show notes
to make it a little bit moreaccessible for them too.
I think all of this brings agood opportunity for each of us
(47:05):
listening and here today to prayfor the men in our lives.
For me, from my dad, my brotherand my brother-in-law to my son
and my nephews, May they walkin wisdom and charge into each
day as a warrior for God, armedwith the wisdom to overcome
whatever life brings and justkeep in and into pressing into
God's word for sure.
(47:25):
Thank you, Dan and Jimmy, forsharing with us today and your
hard work and obedience andbringing us daily wisdom for men
.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
You bet, god bless you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
God bless, thank you.
Well, friends, it is almost Christmas and I don't
know about you, but I still havea gift or two left to buy and
then I can actually sit back andenjoy this holiday season.
I'm actually really excited forthat.
However, the other day my daddecided to start pre-gifting
some of his gifts and he gaveone of his Christmas gifts to my
son and it was a devotion bookfor teens by Max Lucado.
(00:26):
Now my brother loves Max Lucado, has been to visit him, loves
all of his books.
But one thing that really helpsis my son tends to get up every
morning when I get up and myson will go downstairs while I'm
getting ready and he just likesto spend time with the Lord and
this devotional really helpshim be purposeful in that time.
And I totally get it becauseyears ago my brother actually
(00:48):
gifted me the Sarah Young JesusCalling Devotion and the
devotional magazine that I writefor, which is Lifeways Journey
Magazine.
My mom and I used to each do andthen we'd meet up and talk
about how God was speaking to usor where we saw God at in our
day.
So I just really believe thatdevotionals can help hold us
accountable and provide a senseof direction in our time with
(01:10):
the Lord.
They can also strengthen ourfaith, but overall they just
help us walk in truth and takethe wisdom we learn to then
apply in our life throughout theday, Not to mention that they
can also make great Christmasgifts for anyone and everyone on
your Christmas list, just as mydad's gift of the teen
devotional was for my son.
So that brings me to our guesttoday.
(01:31):
And when I read of a newdevotion for men called Daily
Wisdom for Men, I was intrigued,because I love devotionals and
so I do believe that a gooddevotion can help those wanting
to draw closer to the Lord.
And now, the unique thing aboutthis devotion is that it draws
on stories from the Bible, likesports and life, and includes
(01:53):
leadership and if you know me, Ireally look into how the
biblical principles tie intoleadership that we can put into
our everyday.
And it's geared toward men,which also helps who it's geared
toward to be able to read it.
So authors Dan Britton andJimmy Page share the In the
Trenches principles and boldchallenges in this devotional to
(02:14):
really empower readers to liveat their best, all while making
an eternal difference in thelives of others.
So, without further ado,welcome Dan and Jimmy, we are so
honored to have you today.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Great to be here.
Great to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Now, dan, I understand that you're a speaker
, a writer and a coach whosegoal is to help people pursue
their passion, and that youserve with the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes, where you'vebeen on staff for 34 years.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yes, I served for 34 years and actually transitioned
in August to start a new sportsministry called Sports Life and
really excited about takingeverything I learned for 34
years and focused on leadershipdevelopment in the world of
sports, so fired up to launchthis new initiative.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
That is exciting.
Now, how did you get involvedwith that ministry?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
That is exciting.
Now, how did you get involvedwith that ministry?
Well, I had always heard aboutFCA, which again got birthed in
1954.
So 70 plus years.
But man, it was kind of heardabout it but never had the
ability.
When I was in high school, grewup in Northern Virginia, right
outside of DC, but when I wentto University of Delaware I
(03:24):
dreamed about playing collegelacrosse, got recruited to play
there and my dad was a formerAll-American lacrosse player at
the Naval Academy and so kind ofwanted to follow his footsteps
to play college lacrosse.
And so I went to University ofDelaware and what do you know?
They had a little FCA chapterthat met on Thursday nights at
Carpenter Sports Building inroom 215 at 730.
(03:46):
And I remember wandering intothat FCA group and they had a
big Campus Crusade gathering.
They had a big universitygathering with hundreds of
people.
And I walk into this little youknow athletic classroom, you
know, in the sports building,with 10 athletes, eight football
players, one swimmer and me alacrosse guy.
I was a lacrosse guy.
Athletes, eight footballplayers, one swimmer and me a
lacrosse guy.
(04:06):
I was a lacrosse guy and youknow what I found?
Holly is just circling up, justopening God's word, combining
faith and sports.
That's really how I fell in.
When I got back to NorthernVirginia I didn't have an FCA
director.
I came on staff and then cameto Kansas City, took on a VP
level and helped build FCAinternationally from one country
to over 100.
(04:26):
And anyways, great history,great legacy with FCA.
It's been awesome.
So that's kind of the story.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Wow, that is cool.
That is cool.
And, Jimmy, you're a health andwellness expert, a freedom
warrior, a Spartan athlete, ofcourse, podcaster, fellow
podcaster there and former 17year executive with the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Is that where you and Dan metwas Fellowship of Christian
Athletes?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Great question and yes, the answer is yes.
I actually came to Christ atVirginia Tech and then quickly
found the Fellowship ofChristian Athletes huddle on
campus.
I actually tried a bunch ofdifferent ministries there, all
of which were amazing you canimagine at a campus like that.
(05:12):
But I really found a home inFCA, kind of spoke the language
of sport and faith, two thingsthat I loved, and I grew in my
faith there and actually Ibecame the president of the
huddle there.
And then we were talking as aleadership group.
We needed to bring in a speaker, we wanted to bring in a pro
athlete.
And then we were talking as aleadership group we needed to
bring in a speaker.
We wanted to bring in a proathlete and and somebody
recommended this guy named DanBritton.
He said he's a pro lacrosseplayer and I'm like, wait,
there's pro lacrosse.
(05:33):
And I'm like, great, Well, ifhe'll come down, we'll get it,
We'll bring him.
And, uh, he spoke with our, ourhuddle.
He was amazing.
Uh, gave a really inspiringtalk to encourage our group, and
then we became fast friends andthen it wasn't until, oh, 15,
16, 17 years later that I cameon staff with FCA.
I had a 15-year career inhealth, wellness, medical
(05:56):
fitness, sports performancetraining and then came over to
work full-time with FCA for manyyears, before leaving just
three years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Wow, you've been busy .
Speaker 2 (06:06):
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Good Now, Dan, you've written nine books and Jimmy 10
.
Is that accurate?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yes, give or take.
I think we've writtenessentially the same number of
books, because we've writtenalmost everything together.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
That was going to be kind of of those nine and 10.
How many have you co-authoredtogether?
That was going to be kind of ofthose nine and 10.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
How many have you coauthored together?
I think nine, yeah, ninetogether.
So I think I read one withanother friend and Jimmy wrote
one on fitness.
So we kind of made a commitment, like we got 20.
We want to get to 30, jimmy.
So we got 20, plus more booksto write by the time we croak.
So we've got a goal.
Yeah, we've kind plus morebooks to write by the time we
croak, so we got a goal.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, we've, you know , we've kind of learned how to
write together.
I mean, we we're, we kind ofcome from the same perspective,
that competitive mindset I wouldcall it.
You know, in in light of thebook we're going to talk about
today, daily Wisdom for Men.
You know we're talking througha biblical and a masculine lens.
So over time our voices havejust kind of, you know, merged
(07:07):
together.
No one would be able to tellwhat Dan's writing or what I'm
writing, unless they know thespecific story that we're
referring to.
So it's been a great ride.
We've got a lot more in thetank we hope to publish over the
next several years.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So that's a great partnership.
Great partnership.
Now, Jimmy, I also understandthat you are the founder of Be
Unstoppable Elite Leadership andthe Unstoppable Freedom
Alliance, which has you speakingabout leadership and culture
and human performance tobusinesses, including NFL and
NCAA and US Naval Academy.
The list goes on and on.
But in addition to all of that,you and your wife started a
(07:42):
cancer foundation.
Believe Big, Tell us a littlebit more about that foundation
and what drew you to start it.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, well, I love speaking on leadership, culture
and human performance, healthand fitness.
You know, helping people tomaximize their lives, and cancer
is one of those things thattouches most people now.
I mean, it's actually affectingessentially one in every two
people.
So, and part of your storyobviously is you've been touched
by cancer as well in yourfamily, and Ivelisse was
(08:09):
diagnosed years ago, in 2008,with four-stage colon cancer,
which then progressed towardsher liver, and they gave her
essentially almost zero chanceof surviving beyond two years,
and by the grace of God, she wasable to find a pathway to
healing that incorporated kindof some conventional treatments
(08:29):
like surgeries and diagnosticsand surgeries, but then we went
really this complimentary route,this integrative approach to
medicine, and she's beenthriving ever since.
She's been cancer-free for 15years.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Wow, praise God.
That is awesome.
That is awesome.
So you both have lived somelife and it sounds like you both
are testaments to theoverarching theme of your book
about charging into each day asa warrior for God, armed with
wisdom to overcome whatever lifebrings.
So tell us why this book andwhy this topic right now and why
(09:09):
this topic right now?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Yeah, I think, holly, that for us, again 35 years,
imagine having someone that, asProverbs, talks about iron,
sharpening iron, and I thinkmany times we dull each other
versus sharpen each other.
And wisdom sharpens,foolishness dulls.
And so one thing that Jim and Ihave seen over the years, as
we've done life, family likeliterally seen our kids grow up
(09:31):
together.
Now, even on the other side ofnow, kids are getting married,
grandkids, but just God's gotsomething special in store.
So this daily wisdom for menwas really a byproduct of 35
years of our life work, beingable to put into one book and we
wanted to culminate everythingthat we have experienced
(09:51):
together and be able toliterally invest in other men
and say, hey, this is men,writing for men about issues
that men face.
And so again, it's leadership,it's sports, it's family, it's
relational dynamics, so manydifferent things.
But really I would say it's alife work.
And man we've written a lot ofother books, but man, a daily
(10:13):
devotion 365, it was a beast andit was a joy.
It was a beast and honestly nowit's funny.
Jimmy and I are both reading itas one of our devotions and we
literally will just highlight,we're texting even each other
and there's times that I read itand I'm like, jimmy was that
(10:33):
mine or yours, I'm not sure.
But again, after 35 years ofliterally this, of integration
into each other's lives, that'sgood, because now we're writing
alike, we're thinking alike,we're journeying together and
having that deep kind ofrelationship that the Lord
desires, that warriorrelationship as we talk about in
(10:55):
our book Wisdom Walks.
But I would say, holly, the bigthing for us is just on the
back of the cover of the book,is just simply this verse.
That really was the, theimpetus, the key for us to to go
.
If you really want to boil itall down into one thing, is
simply this is first corinthians16 13.
(11:15):
And basically there's fourlittle things that that paul
writes is.
He says you know, be on alert.
You know it's like be alert,like have your head on a swivel.
The first thing is just, man,the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion as it talks aboutPeter.
So you know, paul's likeliterally saying hey, be on
alert.
And we think about, in 1Chronicles, the men of Issachar,
(11:35):
when David was recruiting allthe men to go fight in Hebron,
and you know, 40,000 from thistribe and 20,000 from this and
then 200 from the men ofIssachar, that that that two
things understood the times andknew what to do.
So they, they, they haddiscernment and decisiveness.
They understood that.
So be alert.
We want to be men that arealert and we want to help men be
(11:58):
alert.
The second thing is have astrong foundation.
Paul writes in firstCorinthians 16, 13, be alert,
have a strong foundation.
We have to go deep, we have toget our face in the book.
We wanted to create a book thatpeople are connecting with the
word of God, growing deeper inthe walk with Christ, planting
their roots by the streams ofliving water, as it talks about
in Psalm 1, and have a strongfoundation.
(12:20):
And the third one, which reallyI would say is the real kick in
the pants, as my grandfatherused to always say, is act like
men.
Can you imagine?
The Bible says that Act likemen.
One of the translations says beye manly.
I like that translation.
Be ye manly, live like men, actlike men.
Another translation is just bemature, grow up and be mature.
(12:44):
No-transcript Like hey, powerup, be strong, be mighty in the
Lord.
And so really, that verse,holly became the catalyst that
said you know, we could havedone a 365 for leaders, we could
have done 365 for families, 365for a lot of athletes and
(13:06):
coaches, but when it came downto it is, we want to do a 365
devotion, a life work to be ableto encourage and sharpen men to
be at their best.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, I like that.
I like that.
I love how you keep going backto the iron sharpen iron.
Because, just as that book thatmy dad gave my son for to be
able to resonate with him, andthe women's ones I press into
men need there.
We need to be able to sharpeneach other up and we have a
church group, men's church group, at our church that they do a
(13:40):
men's meetup, so M-E-A-T, wherethey of course have stakes and
all of that, and I just thinkthings like that are so
beautiful for them to be able tocome together, encourage each
other, hold each otheraccountable, find fellowship
with one another, and that'sexactly what you're bringing to
this book to be able to do.
Now, what are ways that youguys designed Daily Wisdom for
Men to help specifically men?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, I think I'll tackle that and I'll tack on a
little bit about what Dan said.
For why this book?
Men have been told for a longtime that they've got to be more
like women, that masculinity inand of itself is toxic, and so
we're getting these mixedmessages.
You know, men need to be moresoft and more kind and whatever
the other things are andkindness is a virtue, by the way
(14:25):
but I think men arerediscovering what biblical
masculinity actually is, andthis book is designed to
reintroduce men to a biblicallook at masculinity.
What does it mean to be aprotector?
What does it mean to be aprovider?
What does it mean to be someonewho leads their family well?
And all those things areaddressed in the book.
(14:48):
So there's a lot of confusionabout what it is to be a man,
and I think what we're trying todo is say no, there is a strong
, courageous, biblical model ofwhat it looks like to be a man,
and I think what we're trying todo is say no, there is a strong
, courageous, biblical model ofwhat it looks like to be a man
and right now, in this culture,in today's day and age, we need
men to step up into theirGod-giving calling and design,
(15:08):
now more than ever before.
So this is not a soft kumbayabook I'm just going to warn the
men right now it is not.
But it will speak to the heartof a man, it will speak to the
masculine soul in such a waythat you're awakened to know
that your life matters, that youhave purpose and that you can
really make a difference forothers.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Great intentionality there, forsure.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
That's awesome.
That's awesome, greatintentionality there, for sure.
What are the four keyrelationships you'd say that men
must have to be able toovercome whatever challenges
life may bring.
Well, one of the things that weour very first book, that,
jimmy and I did was calledWisdom Walks we I mean Jimmy,
what was that?
How many years ago?
15 years ago, yeah, 15 yearsago.
And really, as we said, ourrelationship got birthed 35
years ago and I met him at ahuddle that I spoke at, and then
(16:03):
, shortly after that he moved upinto my neighborhood, into
Northern Virginia, and Godconnected Jimmy and I back
together, actually through amutual friend.
And then I had a former friendfrom college and then I met
another guy.
So these four guys cametogether, you know, in 1990, and
(16:24):
we called ourselves the fourhorsemen, like we had to any
good accountability group.
You got to give them a name,you know.
And so 1990, we formed a Fridaymorning accountability group.
This is back whenaccountability was huge and
men's groups were gettingtogether, and so we got together
every Friday for a couple ofhours, a couple of pots of
(16:45):
coffee, and really thatrelationship got formed, that we
created warrior relationship,this mutual accountability.
We're all at the same season oflife, we're all dealing with
the same issues and temptationsand struggles, and so we started
doing accountability and reallyfrom that we realized, okay,
(17:06):
accountability is great, haveBarnabas alongside and that's
the warrior relationship.
Those are the ones that growyou, that sharpen you, that
strengthen you hold youaccountable and make you better.
But you know, also at the sametime realize, hey, we need to
have some, some, some watchmen,some watchmen that are investing
in you, that are really the,the the pauls, the mentors, the
(17:27):
disciples that that areinvesting in you.
And so then we startedidentifying some men that were a
season above us and that wecould go to to get counsel from
on different issues.
That again, we're on thewatchman who could see a little
bit further out than we couldsee and be able to give us that
advice.
And then, at the same time, theother relationship is the one
(17:48):
below you, the workman, theworker that you're investing in,
the Timothy, that you'reputting your arm around and you
actually become their watchmanand you're actually investing in
them and they become yourdisciple.
And so we started encouragingeach other in this early dynamic
of creating some warriors andhave a watchman and then have
some workmen below you thatyou're actually pouring into.
(18:10):
And those are three of the fourrelationships.
And the last one, which wasreally important, is your
relationship yourself with Jesus.
It's the walker and the walkerrelationship is you yourself
sitting time, spending time atthe foot of Jesus, growing in
your own personal walk and noone can do the walker for you.
Now a lot of other people canhave influence around you, but
(18:32):
the walker is the first andforemost that in that inner
circle you're walking with Jesus.
And so really back 35 years ago, we kind of stumbled into this
concept of wisdom, walks, thesefour key relationships that
every man, the dream team whichis the walker, me with Jesus,
warrior with one or twoaccountability partners, a
(18:53):
watchman that's above you,that's investing in you, and
then you yourself having aworkman or worker that you're
investing in.
Those are the fourrelationships.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
That is priceless.
My mom I was raised, my dad wasour senior pastor and, of
course, my mom pastor's wife,and she would always, always
tell us you need to have amentor, so someone you're
learning from, and then someonethat you're pouring into, not
just stopping it with you, butsomeone you're pouring into and
it just sounds like that is sucha priceless group of being able
(19:23):
to truly soak up those who havegone before us and then pour in
to those who are coming behindus.
And you guys it sounds like youguys have executed that very,
very well.
That's awesome.
Now I have to compliment youboth and your publisher that
this book is beautiful.
To just hold it.
Just it feels good, from theleather binding and the shiny
(19:47):
silver and gold embossing, thepattern on the interior, the
foil Bible verse on the backcover that you've mentioned,
even the branded publisher logoon the spine.
It truly is just a well donebook and I know from my own
experience going through mypublisher picking up the book
and then releasing facelift.
Not much is in our say, butthere are some things that we
(20:07):
can stress which havesignificance to the book and can
speak to the reader, whether itbe the color palette, even
little symbols used.
So on the cover, as well as thepattern print on the interior
of the front and back cover ofyour book, you have four images
a warrior's helmet, a compassswords that are crossed over,
which look intentional like an X, and then you have a shield.
(20:30):
What do these signify?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Well, first of all, we do have a great publisher.
Shout out to Broad StreetPublishing.
He's been partnering with ussince 2010.
He believed in us beforeanybody knew about us and he
really gave us an opportunity.
But what they do is they doproduce unbelievable books.
I mean, you want to buy it,like you said.
I'm holding it now.
It's like having a good leatherBible.
(20:55):
It's the same thing.
This is a great companion forthat, you know.
So they're amazing and theygave us a lot of latitude to
have input on the design as well.
But they are genius in the waythey do books.
Those four images kind of camealong as almost some
foundational elements for us,and I'll speak to a couple of
those.
I know that the helmet right soyou've got this warrior's
(21:17):
helmet really signifies the mindof Christ.
It signifies the mind of Christhaving an eternal perspective,
kind of not being thrown aroundby your emotions and your
feelings, but instead applyingan eternal perspective, making
decisions in advance.
It's protecting what you seeand what you hear and being
(21:38):
careful where you go.
But it's all about the mind ofChrist.
It's about that eternalperspective, and I think that is
where most transformationstarts.
If you believe Romans, chapter12, it talks about hey, don't
conform any longer to thepattern of this world, but
instead be transformed by therenewing of your mind.
So the helmet is this idea ofreminding us to protect our mind
(22:00):
and to think on the thingsabove more than the temporary
circumstances we're facing.
And then I'll tackle maybe I'lljust tackle the swords.
You know the swords signify inscripture, they signify the word
of God, you know.
So this book relies heavily onthe word of God.
In fact, there is no book apartfrom the Word of God.
You can positive, think yourway out of some situations, but
(22:24):
positivity has its limitations.
The Word of God has nolimitations.
In fact, it has the power tobreak strongholds in your life,
to defeat the enemy's schemesagainst you.
So when we talk about hey, youget to learn the word, know the
word and use the word, put itinto action.
And that's the sword of theSpirit.
It's operating in the Spirit ofGod and understanding the Word
(22:46):
of God.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Great.
How about that Dan?
Speaker 2 (22:49):
you want to tackle the other two.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Yeah, man, I was taking notes, jimmy, that was
awesome, like slow down.
Um, yeah, yeah, it again itlike we could have had 20
symbols, just it.
We feel like there's so manykey elements foundationally for
men, but again we got to stripit down and make it simple.
(23:13):
And great job on the helmet andthe swords.
So the compass is simply theidea you know, kind of in the
verse stand firm in the faith.
It's just.
You know, we want to bePhilippians 3, 13 and 14.
The one thing I do is forgettingwhat's behind us.
Turning forward with his head,I press toward the goal it says
(23:33):
to win the prize, and that'shaving a clear purpose and
having a compass and wisdom forright living.
And so Compass was more aboutthe true north.
And you know, ali, today it'slike it doesn't take much to get
sideways right.
It just doesn't take much toget off the deep end.
And that's what we're finding.
(23:54):
And we're finding friends ofours who marriages are falling
apart, kids are wandering astray, and it's just man.
The true north is no longer truenorth and the compass wants to
have a singular focus, talkingabout direction and purpose, and
really that's the compass, youknow, is.
You know, not just the journeyalong the way, but also that
(24:18):
we're going to get to the rightplace, right Like we're going to
get to the right destination,and determination not desire
determination gets us to theright destination.
And then the last one is simplythe shield, you know, and
obviously as one of the piecesof armor, and you know we think
of actually the Proverbs 4, 23and 24, above all else, protect
(24:41):
the heart for the wellspring andalmost like you got to shield
and protect the heart and beable to have that provision and
that strength and fortitude ofresolve and being vigilant
against the things of the enemy.
And so we just feel like theflaming arrows are coming in
24-7 and having that sword.
(25:02):
So those are the last twoelements that we wanted to
highlight.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
A lot of intentionality behind that, for
sure, a lot of meaning.
Now, from your perspective,what are a couple of the most
important entries in the book,or are there some that you would
pull out?
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start on that
.
And part of that we actuallysay humbly because, as Dan said,
we're going through the bookright now day to day.
A lot of our friends aretexting us pictures that they're
going through it and whatimpacted them, so we're super
excited about the impact thatit's having, I would say from my
perspective.
I mean, there's so many tochoose from right, but one of
(25:40):
them is titled Into the Stormand there's this idea of the
verse in 2 Corinthians 6,.
4 says, rather, as servants ofGod, we commend ourselves in
every way, in great endurance,in troubles, hardships and
distresses.
And the verse continuestroubles, hardships and
distresses.
One thing if you have any lifeon you at all, you know that
(26:03):
life is hard.
There's plenty of trials,there's plenty of challenges,
plenty of storms that are goingto come, and life is full of
storms and a lot of times we'llanticipate them.
Sometimes we create our ownstorms, but rest assured, storms
are going to be here.
And one of the things of livingin Colorado.
I moved from the East Coast toColorado with my wife and family
(26:23):
about seven years ago now.
What I discovered was there's abig difference between the way
cows and bison handle storms,and the reason we know that is
we've got plains all around us,we've got, obviously, the Rocky
Mountains, but when those stormscome up over the Rocky
Mountains, those two groups ofanimals operate very differently
.
In the storm, if you're a cow,the cows tend to scatter, they
(26:47):
get afraid, they run, they runin all directions, they're on
their own and they scatterliterally over the plain.
In fact, most of the time theyrun away from the storm, which,
unfortunately for a cow, keepsit in the storm longer, because
the storm moves from west toeast and it essentially follows
them.
So they remain in that stormmuch longer.
But bison, on the other hand,they come together, they
(27:09):
encourage each other.
Actually, there's a lot ofchatter, there's a lot of
talking, a lot of encouragement,believe it or not, and they run
towards the storm together,they face storms together.
In the end it shortens theirtime in the storm because
they're actually running throughit rather than running with it.
And I think that's a greatpicture of the way we're to
handle the storms in our lives.
(27:29):
Don't run away in fear.
Face them head on, but havesome people around you that can
face those storms with you insuch a way that number one
you're encouraged through it,you get warmth and companionship
throughout and in the end youget through that storm faster
and better than you would onyour own.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
So hey, into the storm, be a bison no-transcript
(28:16):
and we kind of go down thatrabbit hole a little bit and
explaining some different thingsand what can come up as
temptations or challenges thatall of us are going to face, let
alone the men that we werewatching in this video what they
were going through.
But what would you say are thebiggest challenges men face in
maintaining their faith in asecular world?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Wow, that's a $64,000 question.
You know, I think that itreally depends on the seasons
we're in, right?
So you know, obviously, jimmyand I right now we're empty
nesters and you know, we have athird grandchild on the way and
(29:01):
you know, I just had lunch todaywith guys I've been mentoring,
discipling for 10 years and youknow, one guy just got married,
you know, last month, and youknow, the other three have young
kids all under the age of 16,you know, and it's like they
don't have kids in college yet.
They don't understand.
You know, kids get married andagain, so I'm kind of the
(29:23):
watchman for them, right, andinvesting in them, just to hear
some of the struggles thatthey're going through and some
of the issues in the family arecompletely different to what I'm
experiencing.
But but I think that thestruggles that men are going
through today is, you know,being sold a lie.
You know, it's kind of goesback a little bit to what Jimmy
said about, you know, biblicalmasculinity.
(29:45):
You know, and, and you know,this isn't about rolling around
the dirt outside and you know,shooting guns, like, even though
those are fun things to do, butI just, I just think that that
there's this, this grittiness,this, this resolve, that that
the Lord wants for His, hischildren.
(30:08):
That are men, you know, and youknow that's really at our heart
and I think, more and more, wejust get so isolated and pulled
away with all the demands andcomplexities, get so isolated
and pulled away with all thedemands and complexities and we
lose focus as men of reallykeeping it simple.
You know, one of my lifeprinciples is we drift to
complexity but we drive tosimplicity.
And I think, for men, that wehave drifted to one more rock in
the backpack, you know one moreresponsibility, one more
(30:31):
expectation.
A sudden we wake up and it'slike, oh my gosh, I feel
paralyzed, there's nothing I cando because of all this
expectation that everyone put onme as a man of God.
I'm supposed to do this, I'msupposed to do this, and you
feel like failure, failure,failure, failure, failure,
failure.
It's a doom loop.
I try, I fail, I try, I fail, Itry, I fail, I give up, and
(30:56):
that's the doom loop.
And so, as men is, we're notexperiencing victory.
You know, I think, I think youknow one thing I've learned is
flesh knows one thing, andthat's failure.
The spirit only knows one thingthat's victory.
Well, men of God are notexperiencing victory.
You know, most men of God areexperiencing defeat, and it
simply goes back to I would saythis, holly, that you know I'm
big, you know about spendingtime in God's word.
(31:18):
My dad passed away in 2008.
He was the guy that just saidhey, the three D's of devotion
is drudgery, discipline anddelight.
Starts his drudgery like eatingbark, do it long enough, turns
into discipline, then get a bigsmile on his face.
He goes.
Then the word of God turns intothe delight that he wants.
And, holly, the thing thatJimmy and I are experiencing and
(31:39):
it's not about legalism andit's not about fundamentalism,
you know, it's not aboutchecking the box is are men of
God getting their face in thebook?
And the answer is no, no, Imean as simple as that.
You know, hey, you'restruggling with that.
And then I go hey, well, how'syour time in God's word?
Well, it's not good, but, hey,I'm struggling with this.
Can I get the answer Wait, wait, wait, wait, time out.
(32:01):
You just answered it Like how'syour time in God's word?
Well, no, I want this fixedover here, but I don't want to
do this over here.
Therefore, why we wrote DailyWisdom for Men.
We hope that.
Yes, daily Wisdom for Men is astarting point.
It's a shot in the arm, it is apart of your disciplines.
It's not the discipline youknow, it is an amazing biblical
(32:24):
truth, a stake in the groundeach and every day.
But at the same time, we hopeit's a starting point for people
to fall in love, for men of Godto fall in love with the Word
of God, starting point forpeople to fall in love, for men
of God to fall in love with theWord of God.
And I think the biggest thing,the biggest challenge, the
question you ask that's createdfor men, no matter what age and
(32:44):
what they're experiencing, ismen are not spending time with
the Lord and not spending timewith the Savior, and that is
evident right now of what'shappening in the world today.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, and if I could, holly, just jump in on that, I
think part of the problem isthat we lack vision.
So if you go one step backupstream, we lack vision for our
lives.
So we've been told what theAmerican dream is.
You kind of go to school, youdo the right things, you get a
degree, you get a job, you getmarried, you have kids, you have
a family, and that's theAmerican dream.
Well, the biblical dream is alittle bit different than that,
(33:19):
right.
And so I think, once you getthis idea that you can have a
clear vision for your life, forevery aspect of your life, that
you in Christ are a powerfulforce for good, a powerful force
for God, all of a sudden nowI've got a vision for my health,
and that informs everythingthat I do relative to my health.
(33:40):
I get a vision for my marriageand my most important
relationships.
I get a very clear vision aboutwhat God is expecting me to do
with my work, the things thatyou know, the work of my hands,
the contribution that I make.
I have a very clear vision forwhat type of man I'm going to be
spiritually.
What's my soul going to looklike?
Am I going to have thatcharacter in the mind of Christ.
(34:02):
So, as men, we're lazy.
We're spiritually lazy.
There's so many distractions,whether it's social media, the
latest Netflix series.
There's a thousand ways toNetflix series.
There's a thousand ways tomedicate and disappear, and you
can put a whole bunch of thingsin there.
(34:22):
Men are over-medicating withalcohol, with Netflix and with a
whole bunch of other garbage,because they lack vision.
They don't know what their lifecould amount to.
So we're encouraging them.
As Dan said, get back in theword.
We're going to take you there.
We're going to help you developa vision for your life so that
now you are compelled to live adifferent way, because you see
(34:42):
that you can make a difference,that God has chosen you for this
moment, and we really do needmen to step up and make a
difference.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Amen, amen.
I can picture exactly what youguys are saying in my own walk
with the Lord of when mychildren were younger.
They'd be looking through acatalog or something and they'd
see the devotion that I wasgoing through or maybe the Beth
Moore was being put in God'sword and fast forward today.
My daughter is going to be 18here soon and graduating and
(35:20):
there are some times that herlight will be on really late or
maybe she's up really early andI'll just go to check in on her
and she's just in there studyingthe word of God and I just
that's come full circle to whereshe's getting to delight in it.
And that is so important is youwere saying, dan, that just that
delight in God's Word.
And until you pass throughthose hurdles and where your
(35:43):
soul is almost battling, beingin His Word, right and the habit
forming and then really gettinginto it, you don't get to
experience what's on the otherside of that delight and what
God has for you.
So I cherish what both of youjust shared, because so true and
how important it is to havethat solid foundation, first and
(36:04):
foremost not about religion,but a relationship, having that
relationship with the Lord andthen being in His Word and what
that can do to our everyday life.
It's beautiful and it's prpriceless and it's invaluable in
just going through anychallenge of life.
Now, both of you come fromleadership backgrounds and are
(36:25):
still into investing in otherleaders.
What does it mean to be aleader in today's world, and how
can men specifically embodythat role of a leader?
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Wow, that is a again a great question, sally.
I feel like again, I would sayit's interesting that in the
Word of God the word leadershipisn't even used.
I mean, there's a lot ofreferences, there's a lot of
characteristics, but the wordleadership's not used.
But you know what word is useda ton in the Bible, a dozen.
(37:01):
Sometimes it's servant, and forsome reason Jesus had a lot of
opportunity to coin and createthis incredible leadership
philosophy, leadership dynamicand five steps to leadership,
greatness, and you know, steady,constantly, just put servant
plain old, serving in front ofeveryone.
You know, in in one of thegreatest acts of, of washing the
(37:22):
disciples feet, in in john 13,you know he, he gave a, a, an
example.
He literally said this is anexample.
I've given to you the only timehe's, this is an example.
Now go and do as I've done toyou, like, like, that's the play
, that's the play that he saidto run when it comes to
leadership.
So you know I, one of mydevotions is I talk about, you
(37:44):
know you have, you know, a.
You know you have a leaderleader, you have a servant
leader, or you just have aservant plain old, servant,
servant, servant, and you know Ihonestly, the word servant
leadership, I get it, I've usedit a million times, but servant
leadership is a man-made term.
It's a man-made term that we'vecreated because we're insecure
(38:05):
of letting go of the leadershipand just embracing servant that
Jesus said for us to embrace.
So we got to put a hyphenbetween it and go, okay, servant
leadership, I'm still a leaderbut I'm a servant.
I'm going to kind of get both.
You know, get both best of bothworlds and honestly, it just you
know Jesus constantly was aservant of servants.
That's a servant servant.
You know, I've come inliterally giving you an example
(38:28):
that the Messiah is actuallydoing.
The role of a servant works inthe disciples' feet and over and
over again Jesus gave usexamples and examples of what it
means to serve.
And so you know, for me, Ithink, at the heart of it is
this authentic leadership, theleadership of the heart, is this
(38:51):
birthing out of thisunderstanding that I'm a servant
of servants, not just a servant, but a servant who serves
servants.
And that is the key, I believe,is the genesis even for our
book, that we go, hey, we'regoing to take a different road,
the road less traveled, when itsays leader, power up, bow up,
strong up.
We're going to take a postureof humility and we're going to
(39:14):
be a servant.
That's what a man of God is isservant, servant.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah Well, and it's like to piggyback on that, dan,
it's you mentioned it that Jesusgave us an example.
Right, the whole purpose ofleadership is to show, lead by
example.
Like you, have to be living itout, and what we're calling men
to do is actually be a man ofGod not perfect, but making
(39:38):
progress.
You know, we're not going to beperfect, we're going to fail,
we're going to fall all thatnonsense but the point is we
need to be pursuing Christ insuch a way that we're making
progress, but ultimately, wehave to be leading by example.
And what I've seen is so manymen make so many excuses that it
actually is become routine.
(39:59):
Well, what's the excuse for younot being in the word today?
What's your excuse for notloving your wife today?
It's just, it's enough.
And what we're discovering isno, we actually need men to live
by example, lead by example.
Paul said follow me as I followChrist, imitate me, do what you
(40:19):
see me doing as I do what God isdoing.
So our life should be leadingby example and in the end, it's
going to take a lot ofdiscipline.
Dan mentioned the term gritearlier.
It's going to take a lot ofdiscipline, because discipline
means it leads to freedom.
Discipline leads to freedom.
The more discipline you applyin the things you know you need
(40:41):
to do, the more freedom you havein your everyday life.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Absolutely, absolutely.
How can men get the most out ofthis book?
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Buy a copy.
How about that?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I like it.
I like it.
Where can they?
Speaker 3 (40:55):
buy a copy.
Where can they?
Speaker 1 (40:55):
buy a copy.
How about that?
I like it.
I like it.
Where can they buy a copy?
Where can they buy a?
Speaker 3 (40:59):
copy all the major outlets.
I would say this, even holly I.
The joy has been for us is jimand I already we've given, given
away, like we don't get thebook free, like I know we're
authors but we still got to buyour own books.
But but we have like, boughtand literally given away
hundreds of books.
I'm going to the post officethis afternoon and mailing it to
(41:21):
three or four men that I know.
But in in, it's an incredibleability to gift a man of God,
write a note in the front of itand be able to give it to them
as a gift and and then to hearback later like, hey, I today I
read you know, actually I readit was Jimmy as a gift.
And and then to hear back laterlike, hey, today I read, you
know, actually I read jimmy'stoday was protect and defend and
it was awesome about neil meyer, that sword and a shovel.
(41:41):
And hey, you're doing both asyou're protecting, defending,
and.
And just start to hear thecomments and the text back of of
getting the most out of it andand I would say, getting the
most out of it's just not doingit by yourself, but doing it
with a warrior or two and beingable to pass that on and invest
in someone else's life and to beable to join together with them
.
I've even seen it with familymembers, like I've had people
(42:05):
going.
Man, I'm doing it with my son.
We had a chance to read itevery morning before he goes to
school.
Just a real blessing to seethat happen.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Yeah, I love that you do that.
I do the same thing withfacelift.
It's especially this time ofyear.
I like to wrap it up and takeit to that gas attendant.
Take it to the grocery storeclerk, who I've started building
relationships with throughoutthe year and just want to
encourage them.
And what a gift ofencouragement Daily Wisdom for
Men is, and you're being able tospread that to others.
That's a beautiful thing.
(42:33):
So thank you for doing that.
Now, guys, here on Holly'sHighlights podcast, we have a
signature question that if youcould go back and encourage,
inspire or equip yourself as achild, what would you tell your
young self?
So, whichever one of you wantsto take that first, if you had
to go back and encourage,inspire or equip yourself as a
(42:55):
child, what would you tell youryoung self?
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Man Dan, are you prepared for this Geez?
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Sure, I'll leave out, go ahead, yeah, I'll give Jimmy
a second, obviously to say it'skind of like what's your
favorite Bible verse?
What's the one thing you tellyour younger self?
Like, okay, I could tell myyounger self 100 things you know
.
And but the one thing I wouldsay that I wish I knew earlier
is one of my really good friends, sean, who I knew when he was
(43:25):
16 and had a chance in the bestin interim, remember about 20
years ago.
He knew that things could botherme a lot, you know, and just
and just weigh me down.
And he just said this phrase.
He goes Dan, don't let anyoneor anybody, anyone or anything
rob you the joy that God has instore for you.
And you know, just this commentlike hit me like a ton of
(43:49):
bricks and I realized, wow, youknow, obviously happiness is the
external, but joy is only whatGod gives, which is internal.
Joy is the internal.
Obviously happiness is theexternal, but joy is only what
God gives, which is internal.
Joy is the internal work,happiness is the external work.
And you know, he knew Sean knewthat I was allowing people to
reach into my soul and literallyrob me of the joy that God had
put inside of me and it took.
(44:10):
It took.
It took breath out of me.
It took life out of me.
It took energy, took resolveout of me.
It took life out of me.
It took energy, it took resolveout of me and he said don't let
anything.
So there's a lot of things outthere, a lot of circumstances
and issues and stuff that areout of our control, that it's
not a person.
So don't let anything oranybody that becomes personal.
A lot of times family do that,but don't let anything or anyone
(44:32):
rob you of the joy that God hasin store for you.
Only do that, but don't letanything or anyone rob you of
the joy that God has in storefor you.
And I've always been a positiveperson, but have I been joyful?
That's a whole different thing.
And I don't want the world, Idon't want the flesh, I don't
want people, I don't want Satan,I don't want anyone or anything
(44:57):
rob me of the joy that God hasin store.
And if I knew that as a kid, ohmy gosh, give me another
God-stopper to chew on.
As a kid I'm ready to go?
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Yeah, that's great, applicable to all of us, for
sure.
How about you, jimmy?
Speaker 2 (45:05):
Yeah, mine's kind of like Dan's, Just don't take life
so seriously.
Life is a gift and it's meantto be enjoyed and as serious as
the issues are that we're facing, whether it's in our culture or
our home, you know it really isto focus in on loving the
people that are most importantto you really well, enjoying it,
(45:26):
not getting bogged down in theworries of life, but instead
keep your eyes on Jesus andreally enjoy the ride at a
different level.
Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, those are great .
Thank you so much for joiningus today, guys.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
How can our listeners connect further with you?
Well, probably the best way iswe have a couple of websites,
but we have a website ofgetwisdomnowcom Pretty easy
Getwisdomnowcom Where's the mainsource for all of our other
different assets and all of ourother different resources.
We've created a lot of actionplans.
We've created a lot ofdownloads, bible studies.
One of the things Jimmy andI've done is created nine
(46:07):
different reading plans onYouVersion.
So a lot of people do theYouVersion reading plan,
devotion plans, and over amillion people have downloaded
our nine different reading plans.
It's been phenomenal just tosee catalytically how that's
been used.
So you know, getwism now is akind of a landing hub for us,
but obviously you can go toAmazon and grab our books and
(46:30):
different things and we have agreat one word website get one
wordcom.
That's a book we read about.
I wrote about a visionstatement for the year being one
word and that also is a veryrobust website.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Great, great, great resources to provide.
Also, and truly, what a perfectChristmas gift, especially as
we're getting ready to restartthe year.
Great time to open that up andstart day one.
So I definitely recommend toour listeners to head out there.
I'll definitely put all of thatinformation in the show notes
to make it a little bit moreaccessible for them too.
I think all of this brings agood opportunity for each of us
(47:05):
listening and here today to prayfor the men in our lives.
For me, from my dad, my brotherand my brother-in-law to my son
and my nephews, May they walkin wisdom and charge into each
day as a warrior for God, armedwith the wisdom to overcome
whatever life brings and justkeep in and into pressing into
God's word for sure.
(47:25):
Thank you, Dan and Jimmy, forsharing with us today and your
hard work and obedience andbringing us daily wisdom for men
.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
You bet, god bless you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
God bless, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.