547. Man Up, Wind Down - Fun Friday

Struggling to balance strength with rest in your Christian walk? This week's episode tackles the paradox at the heart of godly leadership: the power found in intentional rest, wise time management, and playful connection with your children.

Check out this weeks Book of the Week: Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

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Our devotionals dive deep into the pillars that define The Lion Within Us - health, wealth, and self. Whether you're seeking spiritual growth, financial wisdom, or personal development, these devotionals are tailor-made for you. Connect with The Lion Within Us on the Bible App. 👉 https://thelionwithin.us/bible/

Episode Transcript

Chris Grainger (00:03):
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast
serving Christian men who arehungry to be the leaders God
intends you to be.
I'm your host, chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, fun Fridaytime.
Are you excited?
I am, as we mentioned.
End of the week, guys,hallelujah.
Our scripture of the week thisweek has been in the book of
James, my favorite book of theBible, the first chapter, the
fifth verse.
If any of you lacks wisdom any,you should ask God, who gives

(00:29):
generously to all, withoutfinding fault, and it will be
given to you.
So, guys, go check out thatspiritual kickoff episode where
we unpack that verse at length,just trying to really give you
some insights to how you cansimplify and apply it to your
life.
And, if you missed the lastepisode, we unpacked the three
different areas wisdom, sorry,knowledge, understanding and
wisdom to just give you somethoughts, some areas to consider

(00:53):
with your own discipleshipjourney.
So, again, if you want to learnmore or connect with us about
your discipleship journey and sofar as getting help and
encouragement and equipping andmaybe you just need some fellow
brothers in Christ to comealongside of you head over to
thelinewithinus and primarily,look at our mastermind offering.
Okay, because the mastermind iswhere we bring guys together

(01:16):
and that is where the rubbermeets the road.
Guys, we put a ton of effortinto this.
We have a very structured anddefined process, but the big
thing is you got to have someguys, got to have some guys in
your corner personal board ofadvisors not, yes, man, not guys
who are just going to tell youwhat you want to hear.
Guys who actually going to careabout you, go listen to you,

(01:36):
and they're going to come to younot with their own opinions,
but with God's word.
What does God's word say?
Let's see if we can help youwith this situation through the
lens of god's word.
That's what it's all about.
So, again, the lion withinus iswhere you find all those
resources at.
Okay, guys, all right.
So now for a fun friday episode.
We do each and every week we douh, health, wealth and a self

(01:57):
tip, okay, and that is to giveyou some encouragement on.
Like the health, this mind andbody.
Like how do we strengthen ourmind and our body?
Wealth is stewardship of ourfinances and our careers, and
self is how do we improve andgrow as husbands and fathers,
because they're all ridiculouslyhard right, both those roles.
So for the health tip, thinkabout this.

(02:17):
Sabbath is for your health.
Okay, rest isn't weakness, no,it's obedience.
We have Okay, rest isn'tweakness, no, it's obedience.
We have to make that time torecover.
And this is again the areawhere I struggle with big time.
Is the Sabbath Just taking thattime to purposely unplug and
slow down?
So I'm not saying I got allthis figured out, but I do

(02:39):
recognize one thing God gave usthis because we need it.
And if we think we don't, we'rebasically saying God, I don't
need you, my ways are betterthan your ways.
That's what I'm saying when Idon't take the Sabbath.
So look, convicting myself here.
Definitely, recognize I need tohave more rest in my life, but
you have to make this a priority.
Ok, it doesn't mean you got tojust go to sleep, no, but you do

(03:02):
have to take the time to rest.
Guys, please don't ignore that.
The burnout is real.
Stress, anxiety is real.
There's so many things that arepulling at us as men.
Make sure you prioritize thattime to rest.
That wealth tip for you, fellows, is your time.
Think about this.
That's your greatest currencytime.

(03:22):
You better guard it.
And you start by guarding it byscheduling what matters most.
I think it's Cal Newport.
It's a book called Deep Work.
It's all about some big rocksand you put the big rocks on
your calendar so that you're notgoing to miss those.
And if you look at yourcalendar right now, what are

(03:44):
those big rocks?
Are they meetings with yourboss, meeting with clients, or
do you have any time on there atall for your personal
development as a disciple?
Do you have any time on yourcalendar that you know is a
non-negotiable around spendingtime with your kids?
Do you have any time on yourcalendar that's around spending
time with your wife, right,spending time with your fellow

(04:10):
brothers in Christ?
Are those non-negotiables orcan they take a back seat if
other important quote-unquoteitems start popping up?
I'm telling you guys, time isour greatest currency.
It's a finite amount.
We don't know how much we get,but we do know it's not like you
can't carry that stuff over tonext month.
It don't work that way.
You use it and lose it, period,fellas.
We have to keep that in mind,particularly as we steward the

(04:32):
gifts that God has given us.
Alright, now, self-tip this isfor you guys who have sons.
Rough housing is leadershiptraining.
It's just real fellas,wrestling, playing, laughing
with your kids throwing themaround, that strengthens their
confidence.
My kids, both my son and mydaughters actually our littles,

(04:55):
we call them they love it.
They want to be thrown on abeanbag chair.
I actually did that rightbefore I came out here to record
this episode.
I was like playing with one ofthem through a beanbag chair,
but that's good for them.
I mean, there's studies outthere that show as well, fellas,
that that type of activity,particularly for young boys, is
so important for theirfundamental growth.

(05:15):
They can't hear no all the time.
They need some.
You know what?
Let's just get down and just goat it, you know, just have a
little fun.
I don't want to hurt anybody,but you know what?
Kids are tough man, kids aredoggling it tough.
Spend that time and build thoserelationships.
Build that sense of trust upwith your kids, and roughhousing

(05:35):
is a great way to do it.
All right, fellas.
So here are your three tipsyour health, wealth and yourself
.
That Sabbath is for your health.
Do not forget that.
Don't let anybody laugh andsteal that from you.
Wealth tip your time is yourgreatest currency.
Self-tip roughhousing isleadership training, fellas.
All right, guys.

(05:57):
Book of the week right here.
John Piper, let's go, don'twaste your life.
So I heard Pastor Joby talkabout this several years ago in
one of his sermons I think thisis one of the sermons that he
listened to.
That really just had a massiveimpact on his own personal
journey, his own personal walk.

(06:17):
I will say this If you get achance to listen to John Piper,
you're going to be blown away.
John Piper is phenomenalteacher, but he talks about his
search for a single passion andbreakthrough how risk is a right
thing for us, um, and how thegoal is gladly making others
glad.
God man, there's so many thingshere in this book.

(06:40):
I think this is actually asermon as well, or a sermon
series.
If you go search on YouTube,you can find it out there.
But, john Piper, don't wasteyour life.
For you guys, for you believers,for you Christians, for your
disciples out there, add this toyour library.
I mean, add it to your library.
John is a phenomenal Bibleteacher, one of the all-time

(07:00):
greats of all time.
All-time greats of all time.
That doesn't make any sense.
You know what I'm trying to saythere, fellas.
So, anyway, add that to yourlibrary there, guys.
All right, now let's get to ourdad jokes, fellas.
So I've got two dad jokes foryou this week.
First one is did you know thatyour pupils are the last part to

(07:24):
stop working when you die?
It's real, you know why?
Because they dilate.
I'm sorry, I think that'spretty good, they dilate.
There you go.
Number two of all theinventions in the last 100 years
, the dry erase board has to bethe most remarkable.
Now look, fellas, that's atoss-up this week.
I'm going to straight up.
I don't know why.

(07:44):
They're pretty good, but numberone did you know that your
pupils are the last part tostart working when you die?
They dilate.
Number two of the inventionsover the last 100 years, the dry
erase board has to be the mostremarkable.
So let me know which one youlike number one or number two?
Eye rolls, count, size, count,chuckles, touchdown.

(08:04):
If your wife just kind of givesyou that little grin, touchdown
, baby.
You know what I'm talking about.
All right, fellas, look, ifyou've got a couple of dad jokes
for us that you think we shoulduse support at thelinewithinus,
send me an email, send them inand we'll give you a shout out
on the show.
We'll also give some freematerial just for helping us out
.
How about that?
Okay, so the question of theweek we talked about all week is
what are some practical stepsyou can take?
We seek in God's wisdom dailyand it all comes down to that

(08:27):
practicality.
Again, the line within this isall about simplifying and
applying God's word.
So we want to help you withthis.
If you need help, if you needencouragement, if you just need
a little, head over tothelinewithinus, connect with us
.
Get started today so that wecan help you in your journey,
because nothing would encourageme more and brings more joy to

(08:48):
my life than seeing a fellowbrother in Christ grow as well.
So that's what it's all about.
Thank you so much for listening,by the way, for just taking
time to spend with us.
If you haven't left us a ratingor review and you're listening
on Apple in particular, thatwould help.
So if you just had a minute,just scroll down and hit the
five star and leave one or twosentences.

(09:09):
I'll read them.
All you know and they're soencouraging.
So that would be just a smallway you can support the show and
then, if you want to be a donor, head over to the line within
that US slash, donate, supportwhat we're doing there, but
really, what I want to help youwith is within our community,
within our mastermind.
Solutions out there, fellas, wehave lots of ways we're serving,

(09:30):
we're helping guys grow.
That's all found at the linewithin us, all right.
So thank you so much forlistening.
Hope to connect with yousometime again in the future.
Yeah, come back next week,prayerful, be here ready to rock
and roll and give you some moregood content.
Just going to encourage you todo what God's called you to do
and be the leader he's calledyou to be.
All right, so get after it,have a great day and just keep

(09:51):
on leashing the lion with it.
I've got something big to share.
We're making a major shiftbecause we know the battle is
real and it's time more men hadaccess to the support they need,
know the battle was real andit's time more men had access to
the support they need.
For too long, guys have beentrying to carry the weight alone
pressure at work, tension athome, wounds from the past, in a
world that demands strength butoffers no place to rest.

(10:13):
We see it, we've lived it, andthat's exactly why we built our
community.
It's a stronghold, a placewhere warriors can find rest,
truth and a band of brothersstanding beside them.
And starting now, we're makingit easier than ever to step in.
We've lowered the barrier tojust $15.99 a month.
That means, for less than thecost of a drive-thru lunch, you

(10:34):
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Inside you'll find access toour daily spiritual kickoffs
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If you've been waiting for theright time to jump in, this is
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Go to thelionwithinus and jointhe community and see for

(10:59):
yourself what happens when irontruly sharpens iron.