The Lion Within Us: Serving Men in Their Journeys - A Conversation with Chris Grainger

[00:00:00] How do we reconnect with our faith as men, so before we can start to apply it to our lives? I think it starts with the community, brother. And that's one of the reasons we started what we started. Just because so many guys, you're right. They don't know where to start or they don't feel comfortable. But I found these guys will hop on a zoom call or they'll jump on a live stream.

And just let me start very simply start walking through and just showing them. Hey, we're just gonna read. We're gonna this is we're gonna read today and we're gonna see what it says. And we're gonna try to simplify and apply it because I read it and I do 3 things. I say, all right. So what happened, you know, and, you know, what happened is the 1st question.

Then. So what, you know, so why did this stuff happen? And then now what? And I just, you use that, that, that framework, when I read God's word, that's what we try to teach people. It's all about simplifying and applying it. How, what can, what does this, what can we boil this down to, so that I can apply today?

Because it's one thing, man, I was, I was talking to a lot of guys lately. I heard a great analogy [00:01:00] around like, if my wife, if, if I left my kid, my, my, our daughter, our oldest daughter, a note to take the trash out, and she came back, you know, the next day, And she gave me a speech on the history of the trash industry, you know, the gas mileage of trash trucks and then, well, how does recycling works and, you know, all the different, what's the wages for the people who work in that industry?

Yes, she didn't take the dog on trash out like you missed it. And I think that's where a lot of guys may start reading the Bible. They feel like they have to know everything. No, man, you don't have to know it all. You got to put some of it in action though. So just learn little pieces.

Here's the million dollar question. How do men like us reach our full potential, growing to the men we dream of being, while taking care of our responsibilities, working, being good husbands, fathers, and still take care of ourselves? Well, that's the big question. In this podcast, [00:02:00] we'll help you answer those questions and more.

My name is Brent and welcome to the Fallible Man Podcast.

Welcome to the Fallible Man Podcast, your home for all things man, husband, and father. Big shout out to Fallible Nation. You guys make this possible. And a warm welcome to our first time listeners. Thanks for checking us out. We hope you enjoy the show. My name is Brent. Today. My guest is host of the lion within us podcast.

Chris Granger, Chris, welcome to the fallible man podcast. Hey Brent. It's an honor to be here, sir. Now, Chris, we like to start things on the lighter note around here. So how's your trivia skills? Depends on the topic, man, but we'll go with it. Uh, I promise it will be absurdly annoying and, and I wouldn't have known it if I didn't look it up.

So I literally type in random trivia questions and answers and Google and just find some. So you're, you're how old are you, Chris? [00:03:00] I just had a birthday, 42. Okay. So you're in the, you're in the age range. But I'm guessing you're not much of a boy band bander. So this one may be a stretch. What 90s boy band member bought MySpace in 2011?

Was it A, Nick Lachey, B, Justin Timberlake, C, Sean Stockman, or D, AJ McLean? Uh, we'll go with C. Okay, guys. Do you know the rules? Don't cheat. Don't look. And if you're driving, please don't write it down. Just remember your answer. We'll come back to that later in the show. Chris, I don't do huge intros and accolades because no one cares.

In their own words, today, in this moment, who is Chris Granger in your own words? Hey bro, I'm just a podcaster who is trying to do what God's called me to do, and that's serve Christian men to help them be the leader that God intends them to be. Alright. Chris, if you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Oh, bro. Superpower. I'm probably [00:04:00] flying because I hate flying. So, uh, you know, if I could do it by myself without having to go to the airport, I just think that'd be dope. I could do without the airport security these days, for sure. Lines. What is your go to comfort food or guilty pleasure snack? Oh, anything chocolate, bro.

I mean, I got a sweet tooth. It's terrible. I used to be 330 pounds, but I was able to like knock out a lot of that sweet tooth, but it's still there. So, so chocolate sweets. Anything like that. I'm good. So Sarah's agreeing with you out there in the comments. Just if you could learn and master any skill instantly, what would it be?

And why any skill? What if you can learn or master and master any skill just instantly, like you, this is what I want to learn. And bam, you had it. What would it be? Uh, guitar, electric guitar, lead electric guitar. So I could step in and play my standard riffs and without missing a [00:05:00] beat. Nice. Nice. I haven't heard an instrument yet.

That's that's a man there. So there are so many cool instruments though. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of cool skills, but if I could just sit and just jam a guitar and just play Simple Man, Free Bird, Sweet Home Alabama, bro, I would never leave the house. I mean, it'd be incredible. Well, see, I'm not arguing with you on that.

It's, it's for me, it's like, which instrument would I actually pick? Cause I've always wanted to be able to play a guitar, but like my wife can play the piano. I'd love to be able to play the piano. I just, I'm just in awe of her skill there. Yeah. My wife, she plays piano. We have a baby grant. So I had the piano player and my, my 11 year old, she likes to play the drums.

So I just need a good guitar player, man. So you're in your own band there. You're good to go, right? That's right. What purchase of a hundred dollars or less have you made in the last year? That's had the biggest impact on your life. A hundred dollars or less purchase. Um, I'm trying, I'm thinking right now on, I just bought [00:06:00] bro, a pair of bib overalls cause we're moving to a farm.

So yeah, that's it. The bib overall, let's go moving out to a farm, huh? Yeah. 23 acres. We feel like God's calling us there. So we are actually, we're selling this house. We actually close on it tomorrow and then we're closing on the farm in a week. And now we're moving out there. It used to be old horse farm.

This was built in the 1950s. We have a house of six people. We're going down to a 1600 square foot house built in the night in the 1950s. Uh, but man, it's all about the adventure. So yeah, the overalls that's, that's, that's the best to purchase. Congratulations, man. That sounds very cool. Thanks, man. Good endeavor.

Sarah and I would like to get some, some land. The one regret about the house we live in is when we bought it, we didn't think we're going to be here. Right. I had moved every three years for most of my life. We never intended to stay here. That was 16 years ago. And so the only regret is [00:07:00] if we thought we were going to stay here, we would have bought something outside of town with just a couple acres.

It doesn't have to be much, just, just something. So I'm not hugging my neighbors. Well, part of the reason is we feel like God's calling us to, to do some events for, for men and their sons and daughters and. This has a three acre pond, it has fields, it has a horse barn, I mean, it's got things that we can build and advance some infrastructure there so we can have some live events and, and let guys and, you know, reconnect with the creator.

So, uh, there's more behind it, but, uh, I mean, that's, we're, we're taking a big chance, but we're just, we're just going to lean in and go with it, man. It's going to turn out great, man. I just, I know it's going to turn out awesome. I can't wait to hear about the events you're going to have there. Now, Chris, what are you most proud of in your life?

Oh, what am I most proud of, man? That's a tough question. I would probably just have to say my, my children right now. They're they, two of them are of age. They, they decided to follow the Lord. And, and then with that, I don't take any credit there. [00:08:00] He's, he's moved on their hearts. And my littles, we got two bigs and two littles.

We have a 12 year old and 11 year old in a 22 month old and a. Sorry about that. And a, and a eight month old. So yeah, man, they're, uh, we're split up like that, but just, they bring me so much joy. I bring, I'm so proud of all of them. I'm, I'm, uh, okay. I'm just totally distracted. If you're listening to the audio, you need to go look at Chris's website and we'll have that for you.

But I'm looking at the logo for, for Line within and right behind you. And Dude, that is just so killer. Like just and that woman. Oh man, that's just awesome. I got, I gotta. So they're thinking, man, I need to update my background a little bit. It's like, I started going on a lot of shows, man. I told my buddy, I was like, Oh bro, we got to have something better than a green screen.

So we came up with this and. I think it's pretty cool. I'm generally pretty happy with my flag, but I'm looking at the yard. The quality of the art was just so good in that brother. That's awesome. Thanks, man. Thanks. And [00:09:00] your flag is pretty awesome though, man. So that's something that just stated factually what this was all about.

That's it. That's it. So Chris, what's one just wholly random fact that people don't know about you. It could be like, you don't like peas or. You are a phenomenal gymnastics champion and nobody knows anything. Uh, a little, I'll say a little fact about me is, uh, I, uh, man, I'm kind of, I have a lot of things that run through my mind.

I work out every day and, but I always start off with the exercise bike, which is so boring, right? I mean, everybody does all these things that are like, you know, intense and all that, but I just like getting on the bike and sweating, man. So it's, uh, It's nothing flashy, nothing sexy by any means, but look, Hey, it's, it's the way I actually get a lot of my reading done.

So people ask me all the time, how do you consume so much content? Cause I have authors sending me stuff, you know, consistent my, [00:10:00] my, my, I'm sure like you, man, you're the reading list is ridiculous, but it's get on the bike and it's just an easy way. And I've been doing it for 12 years now. And I usually go to a bike about every two years, but yeah, man, it's just, that's a not many people know that, but that's how I secrets out now.

That's how I read so much. You know what, from one podcast or another, I, I deeply appreciate that. Because I, I have so many guests who are like, Oh my goodness. You actually read my book before the interview. Right. I told you up front. I don't do an interview about a book without reading the books. Like, yeah, everybody says that, but not everybody reads the book.

So well done. Well done. Uh, I, you know, I didn't think that was a thing until I had so many authors who were like totally surprised when I. Oh yeah, my books and I got bookmarks and things underlined and they're like, you actually read it? Like, yeah, I make some, most podcasters, because I tell 'em like, I don't do PDFs, I don't do electronic versions.

They're like, you want a hard copy? I'm like, yes. I actually like, I like holding it, making [00:11:00] notes, and they're like, oh, so yeah. We're we, we like hard copy books around here. Oh yeah, that, that's the bookshelf behind me. Nice. Nice. Those are all interviews. I actually put a page. On my website, because I had one of my, uh, listeners one time I was doing a live show.

You, you recommend a lot of books. Do you have like a place where you have all those written down? Create a library page on my website and it's got all my authors I've interviewed at the top, but then it's got like books I recommend for business or for relationships. Anything I've referenced in the podcast goes there.

So that's awesome. We do a book of the week every week on our show, and we have a book page too. And I've had a lot of feedback from that page of just people just go through and they look to add to their library and recommendations because they're all Christian friendly. And, you know, usually around leadership have a masculine tone to them.

So, yeah, man, it's good to put that stuff out there. So what's something everyone should know about you before we dig into today's subject matter? Oh, I guess the main thing about me is [00:12:00] like, you know, bro, I mean, I follow Christ. That's it. So if, you know, if you, if you're not down with that or don't want to listen, I won't talk a lot about usually faith just comes out into what I do.

You know, I don't not going to hit anybody across the head with a Bible. I'm not a Bible pumper or anything like that. I just, I like loving on people and I, and it's all about pointing it to him, pointing it to him. So, uh, that's, that's pretty much me in a nutshell. Fair enough. Guys, we've been getting no, Chris, just a little bit in the next part of the show, we're going to dive into modern masculinity versus biblical masculinity.

We're going to roll our sponsor and we will be right back with more from Chris Granger. Now, before we go any further, I wanted to share with you guys. I don't always tell you how much I love doing my podcast. Like I passionately love what I'm doing. And one of the things that makes my life better as a podcaster is to work with a company like Grow Your Show.

Grow your show is a one stop podcast. Do it all. Now I use grow your show for my marketing, but grow your show [00:13:00] is literally a one stop shop. You can record your episode and just drop it off with them. And they take it from there. It's amazing. If you are interested in picking up podcasting as a hobby, or maybe you're looking to expand your business and use podcasting in that aspect, talk to my friends over grow your show.

Adam will take care of you. I guarantee it. I trust him. He's my friend. He's my business. Colleague, and I wouldn't trust anybody else with my show. Hey guys, welcome back. In the first part of the show, we spent some time just getting to know who Chris is, and this part of the show, we're going to dive into modern masculinity versus biblical masculinity.

Now, Chris, before we travel down this very interesting road, take a minute and tell us a little bit about the line within this podcast. Yeah, I mean, I could use a dot us for finish that. Yeah, yeah, man, we, we went and got the land within dot us just because we felt like it was a little bit easier. So just to kind of stick with the theme, but yeah, it's basically, we talk about Christian leadership, how, how to be the [00:14:00] leader that God intends you to be kind of focused on three areas, health, wealth, and self.

And we, so we break that down to stronger minds and bodies, better stewards of our finances and our careers, and then taking, you know, me and better husbands and fathers. So we put, we wrap all that around. You know biblical principles. So usually we bring in We'll have interviews where we talk to guys who, you know, they go out and they've, they've had experiences, they've learned things, they teach things.

And it's just very relatable. It's very authentic. It's very transparent. I think that's why guys like it. The Monday episode is just me breaking down just a little bit of scripture. We call it a spiritual kickoff. That actually Brent is crazy. That's gets almost more downloads than anything else is that weekly spiritual kickoff.

I think guys just like, you know, a guy like myself. You know, from just a, just a normal dude, I didn't go to seminary. I don't have the, the, the, the doctorates in theology. I just like reading God's word and seeing what it says to me. And that's all I share in those [00:15:00] spiritual kickoffs. And they really resonate with people.

And then Fridays, we call them fun Fridays. We give a few tips, a health, wealth, and self tip. I throw in a couple of dad jokes for fun. We do a book of the week and you know, that's it. So it's just kind of. Really been, uh, when it was laid on my heart, it's all about just serving people, trying to put some good, wholesome content out there, particularly for men who want to actually step in and be a leader that they they've been called to be.

They may just not know how or so we really try to keep things super simple. I'm a simple guy and just give them. Okay, here's a practical ways that you can apply this one thing, whatever this one thing is. To your life today and make an impact. So that's, that's what the line within this podcast is all about.

Awesome. Awesome. I, I definitely know some guys that got to share your podcast with, because, uh, they would absolutely dig what you got going on. Uh, I've got a men's Bible study. I go to every Monday morning. That's how I start my week. I love it. Those guys would absolutely dig in. So I'm going to share your show with them.[00:16:00]

Thanks, bro. Now. Okay. Question. So we're three years past the dreaded runner thing. One of the things that came along right alongside that, and it was the tail end of 2019 and 20 beginning of 2020, you started seeing toxic masculinity become this huge controversy and this huge to do, right? Um, how do you feel now?

Are we moving past that? In 2023, I feel like the, I don't hear the terminology as often anymore, which I'm, I'm glad for, but do you feel like, you know, some people came up with that as something to blame stuff on, but we're kind of moving away from that. If you were like, ah, maybe that's not the thing or what do you think we are with that?

I think people have forgot about it, bro. I think now it's all about what is masculinity at all? Like, we can't even answer what is a man or what is a woman. So I think the whole toxic piece is, I mean, blown over their heads. So it's just crazy when you think [00:17:00] about, yeah, that was something. Actually, me and my buddy Ron Nickler talked about this a little bit.

And it's like, you know, it was, it was a hot topic, right? But now it's like, nobody talks about that stuff anymore, man. They're, they can't even figure out which way they're going. So it's just. You know, I had to fill out a little thing this morning because I've got a doctor's appointment next week Just a physical just to check up and have all these new drop down boxes And this is the first time I'd really seen it So it's like, you know your normal stuff like, you know, male female But now there's like three or four other selections and then it talks about what do you identify as this is a drop down box I'm saying you're like, are you kidding me?

Right? So it's just you know I think we're so far from the toxic masculinity conversation that That thing is completely transformed. I'm, I'm good with that. I'm glad to put that one to bed. Uh, Yes. That was just absurdity to me, but Oh yeah. I, I know what you're talking about because I just, I was filling out some paperwork for something the other day and it was one of those where it's like, you know, voluntary self identification Mm hmm.

and it had gender [00:18:00] and race and it's like Oh, pronouns. That was on the list too. What was my pronouns? That was on the list for the doctor. I went through that whole thing. It's like looking at all the options. I'm like, I desire, and I do not want to answer this. Okay. That's my option. I'm sorry. This is stupid.

This is not a valid connotation for. The paperwork I was filling out, but it's like, why I know, man, I think that's where some, some of our problems come from is like, where people want to get too focused, like, can we just people I'm a people, your people, we're all the people, America's supposed to be a melting pot, right?

Uh, it's funny, just the trends. It's crazy. You actually segued well into the next question, because I was going to ask you what you thought of modern masculinity in 2023, because it has become a really big conversation. Yeah. And we need some guys to reach down and grab them and let's go. [00:19:00] And I'm tired.

I'm tired of it, man. I'm tired of these guys. You know, whipping out or standing, standing in the shadows. We need some men to step up and move forward. I mean, this is what happened when the church, this is why the church got so feminized over the last 50 years, because a lot of guys went to work and they stopped going and I don't blame you.

I don't blame women because the women had to step up and run the church because the guys weren't coming. So now we need some, we need some men to step up and do it, particularly in the leadership positions. And I don't care who you are as a man, if you are listening. And you, and you have a wife, or if you have one or more children, God has handpicked you to lead your kids and to be a leader of your family.

So are you going to step up and be a leader there? Cause it starts there, man. It doesn't start with all those. The politics and all that stuff, all that stuff, whatever, man, it's going to land where it lands. We can start changing, you know, the culture around masculinity, one home at a time, one man at a time.

And I just don't think guys realize the impact we have, the potential we have for impact, too. If we just lean into that and just [00:20:00] actually own what he has given us, and that is masculinity. I think it's funny that we've created new, uh, new names, right? People are red pilled or. Black gold or there, there's the manosphere.

That's one of my favorite ones. Have you seen that term manosphere? I'm like, what is, what's a manosphere? Someone told me I was part of the manosphere of my show. I was like, I don't even know what that is.

Man, people, people have just lost it at this point these days, man. I think it's, there's so much hate out there. And I think people are so blind to the attacks of the evil one. And. The primary tool that he that he wants to keep us, you know, divided is he wants to break up unity. So anything he can do to break up unity, he's going to do that.

And man, we fall for it over and over from churches to, you know, to, to leaves like, like recreation leagues [00:21:00] for, for softball and baseball to, to businesses, man, it's just any place that you can see, man, usually the conflict is because there's just, There's no unity whatsoever.

Now you said that there's a lot of confusion about what masculinity is, right? We're, and it is ironic, uh, being in an age where people are somehow are having a difficulty after thousands of years of existence, where we're now having a difficulty defining something that's.

So, you know, I, I talked to other men in the minnows fear, like, if you want to put that term, I hate that, uh, right. We both make shows for men specifically, right. Trying to help men in different areas of their lives, not because they're broken, but because Hey, we need a community. We need strong men walking with other men, encouraging them because [00:22:00] men carry a lot on their shoulders.

Men, men have a lot weighing on them and you need brothers, but let's, let's try and kind of break down what is authentic masculinity. And I think for, for me, authentic man, I was thinking about this cause I'm working on a leadership program and I came up with this, this, this acronym around, uh, act for a man.

I think men's men need to start acting right. And then the a is authentic, right? And the C is compassion and the T is transparent. And I think, uh, from a masculinity standpoint, we just need to understand that God made us, you know, differently. He made man. He made woman. And we need to lean into the character traits that He is giving us.

You know, He's given us strength, speed, wisdom. We have all these different character traits that we have. Don't shy away from it. You know, and for some men he's giving you more than others, right? You know, you, it looks like you can probably bench press a lot more than me, Brent. So he's giving you that, that, that, that strength, man, that I don't have, but look, we have to be [00:23:00] as men, we should lean into, to, to the gifts that we have and don't be, don't hide behind them.

Don't be embarrassed by them. And then we also need to be lifting up our other brothers. Cause this is what I never see guys doing. From masculinity standpoint, that's actually encouraging each other and just reaching out and Hey, bro, you, you, you're doing, you're really good at this. And once the last time we actually had had guys tell us that right now, if we're playing sports or something, they may say good shot or something like that.

But I mean, well, we actually went out of our way to tell another father, bro. I saw what you do with your kid. I just want you to know you're crushing it. Man, if we had more of that type of stuff happening, you know, from a, from a masculinity standpoint, I just think there's so much good that can happen that can change and then start, you know, turning the tides a little bit back to where it needs to be.

I think that that creates such an awkward conversation for guys when someone actually does that. I love, I love that, that, and actually answering when someone, someone asks, how are [00:24:00] you doing? Right. Actually like start to tell them. That's right. I love the look of just like panic on someone's face in that moment.

That's right. . I, I was talking to a buddy of mine the other night and I, I pointed, I was like, man, I think you are just an amazing father, and we're we're friends. And he was like, like there was that twitch in his face. It's like, I don't know how to respond to this. Right, right. It's crazy. Right? It's tragic almost, right?

Well, I won't even say almost. It is, it's tragic that. For men that idea even becomes uncomfortable. I know, you know, our, our discipleship group that I, that I have a part of, and we have a group text message that goes and guys are finally starting to share, you know, after, you know, six, eight months or a year of, of, Hey, I need you guys to pray for me with this, or I got this going on today and I'm really stressed out.

And I've gotten to the point now where when [00:25:00] people say stuff like that, like, I need you to pray for me or we do this. I'm like, cool. How about right now? And they like. Oh, like, really? I'm like, yeah. Like you said, I'm not going to remember. It's going to be straight up. So let's just do it. Yeah. That really freaks people out.

I have a pastor friend of mine who that that's his go to because he's the first one who goes like, no, we're going to pray now. Cause I won't remember in an hour. I've got three little boys. I'm not going to remember an hour from now. That's right. That's right. Yeah, we, we don't know how to, I don't know at what point solid friendship and camaraderie became difficult for men.

I have a theory. Okay. I don't know if it's right. I think it's when these stupid things came out and I'm holding up my smartphone. It's about, cause it's been about what, 11 years now since they actually hit the market. And man, it's just for me, you know, I see that the, it's transformed so much in a bad way.

To where we just [00:26:00] think, you know, Facebook, Instagram, those types of relationships are actually mean something. And in reality, they're crap. And how many of the 2 a. m. or 3 a. m. brothers do you have that if it's going down, you're going to call them, and they're not going to ask any questions. You're going to hear them picking up their keys in a shovel.

Whatever. They're just going to be headed your way because you know that that's your boys. So many guys don't have those guys anymore, Brent. And it drives me crazy because... You know, we think because we have a couple thousand followers on Facebook or whatever, on Instagram, and we put the best of the best out there, that that's who we really are.

And that's why I started that ad with Authentic, because that's crap, man. It's crap, you know, and I'm tired of that. So I was just like, you know, until we learn how to disconnect from these devices that are controlling our lives and plug back into the creator, that's another reason I bought the farm. The cell phone signal sucks.

So when I can bring guys out there, I'm actually going to hit me a big old sack. You can put your smart devices when you, when you show up because you ain't gonna need them when you're here, you know? So it's just, man, I see there's so much, I mean, get it, bro. We, our [00:27:00] businesses. People listen to us on these things.

So I'm not saying they're completely bad. Like we, we, we, we run our businesses off of the ability to connect with people all over the world. But man, there has to be a better lines of delineation to be able to separate true friendship and connection versus this virtual stuff that that's just kind of mystical and that, and it's out there floating around now for the record, all of you listening out there, guests, fallible nation.

Someone said it beside me. It wasn't just me this time. Okay, good, good, good. It's not just me saying, you know what? It all started right here. I tend to hang it on Facebook when they started being, stopped being followers and started being friends. Now, now we've, we've posed the definition now. I think 1999.

I, I was, I was 19 years old and I bought the first modern self flip phone, not, not the [00:28:00] bag phones. It was the first like small, modern, like a StarTAC or something like that. Yeah. It's Motorola StarTAC. It was the first one. And yeah, I think that was 1999. Yeah, it was around there. I had a bag phone. Oh yeah.

No, I didn't have a bag phone. My friend's mom's had bag phones. I grew up seeing that. I'm like, I. I don't even understand that. And then there were the, there was like the military grade giant Nokia brick phones or huge. Yep. Those are really fancy people who had those because they were fancier than the bag phones.

Even. Well, I mean, I just got back from two camps, man. I went with the, with the children department, which is like third grade through six. Then I went with the middle school and high school. There's two separate weeks and I took all my PTO to go with these camps this year. First time ever did it. And man, these kids.

They don't know how to operate without their phone. It's crazy, bro. Like some of them can't even walk. I mean, it is unbelievable to see how apart it's like, you know, it's a part of their arm, like some crazy [00:29:00] sci fi movie or something. And I don't know what it's going to do to our posture, but it can't help it.

Cause if you're looking down the whole time, man, I'm like, dude, you could probably be like six, four, if you ever looked up, you know, so it's just, it's crazy. Well, computers have already taken that impact. We're all, all rounded now between looking at screens in our hands and looking at keyboards.

Everybody's posture is horrible these days. Right. So I think moving back to authentic masculinity, we, we started to look at that, right? Cause you, you made, you made a point. Uh, you know, obviously I look like I'm a little physically larger than you, but I, I, I joked with one person one day, it's like, look, cause I recently shaved off my Mohawk.

I had a braided Mohawk. Dope. I apparently lean a little heavily, like. When I'm shaving, I I'm a little heavier on one side, so slowly it started like kind of, it was no longer the middle of my head. Uh, but yeah, no, I had it. It was [00:30:00] like French braid of Viking style down the back. It will come back this. My wife will only let me stay without hair for so long.

She doesn't like it when I keep my head shaved. Nice. You got to bring it back, bro. That's that's that was intensive. It sounds like. Yeah, and I had that and my beard used to be like down to like my chest. But, you know, I was talking to a guy one time and it was like, look, you know, I ride a motorcycle, I'm tattooed.

I got a big beard. I'm fairly big guy. None of this makes me masculine, right? This is not masculinity, right? We have this concept that something about our physicality makes us masculine. Right. But that's not masculinity. I, I've, I had the pleasure of knowing a lot of guys in like the teams and stuff like that and military.

And some of those guys are the most unassuming guys you will ever see. Right. None of them look [00:31:00] like, you know, uh, who's the dude playing Reacher, Jack Reacher right now. Have you seen that actor? Dude, dude's huge. Right. None of them look like, right. Just these very unassuming men, but man, you can just like smell and feel this.

Masculinity oozing out of them. I mean, a lot of it comes down to, you know, the Bible talks about protection and providing and, you know, really presiding to just being there. I think some of the most masculine things we can do is, is be there for our family and actually be, be where our feet are and actually, you know, lean into, uh, leading them, you know, and not letting others lead them, but no, when, when the world's telling them one thing and we actually pull out and say, huh.

No, that's, that's not how we're going to do things and here's why, because I love you and I want you to know the truth. Right. And I think some of the most masculine words that men need to start saying more, particularly around who you do that are raising girls. And I'm raising three of them. [00:32:00] We got our, our, our ladies need to hear us say, I'm sorry, we should be the chief apologizers in our house because they need to see that we're not perfect.

But we also know we can, how, how to, to, to, to take those steps when we do make mistakes. Right. And what that looks like most masculine thing I can do for my boy. He's eight months old. It's to show him how I love my wife. That's it. You know, she cannot teach him to be a man. I have to do that. The most magical thing I can do for my daughters is to show them what to expect to be treated, how to, what their expectations should be to how to be treated by a man.

And I do that by how I treat them, how I treat my wife. They need to see that because when some dude rolls up and he rolls up to our house and blows a horn. Yeah, that ain't gonna happen because they run hornet and girls come running because if you show up in my house and blow the hornet, if you guys are listening, you know, a couple of years from now.

Just beware, you know, Remington 870 is ready. Let's go. I mean, this is not going to happen. You're not going to be out there treating my daughter that way. And first of all, she wouldn't, she wouldn't respond to that. So I think if [00:33:00] we can start having more guys just step up and understand what that looks like, those little steps, man, to me.

That's some of the most masculine things you can do. I have this goal as a dad, right? Cause I have two little girls. My goal is to live my life in a way that sets the bar so stupidly high for what men are. Right. That even if they pick something low, he's still going to be such a good quality. He's going to be solid.

Because they, their expectation is like up here, just below Superman. Right. Trying for Superman. I'm probably not going to get that far, but you know, I'm, I'm just trying that. That's my goal as a dad. That's it though. That bar is so stupidly high that the worst guy they could bring home is going to treat them.

Well, that's right. Right. The way I treat them, the way I live my life, the way I act. Uh, the way I present the examples, I said, that's, that's the goal, [00:34:00] right? That's it, man. Cause someday some guy's going to come around and want to take my baby out. That's going to be a whole nother day. I'm not ready for that day either, man.

So I mean, it's for me, it's just like repeating things to them, you know, you're fearfully more if we made them, there's no mistakes in you. I mean, God just, just walking them through some scriptures for, for us, it's just. Trying to make sure they're grounded in that. And it's not just to say one time and that's it, man.

Like you, you didn't say to your wife, Sarah, when you guys got married, I love you, and that's the only time you said it, right? I mean, you did. I think she wouldn't be smiling quite as much as when I got, when I met her earlier, no man, you tell your wife, like I tell mine, I look, it's every day. You have to constantly remind them and show them and express it, man.

So I just think too many times, guys, we just fall down in those areas and we just got to look, it's okay. We all fall down. We need to recognize and start making better decisions. So let's, let's start talking about biblical masculinity, our divine masculinity, however you want to say it. You [00:35:00] know, the Bible has answers.

My show is not actually like a faith based show. I am, I'm a faith based individual. Uh, so I have a mix of faith based listeners and non faith based listeners. I recognize the authority of the Bible. I am a Christian. I'm very proud of that fact. But one of the most amazing things to me is the Bible actually has a pretty decent outline of masculinity.

So what does biblical masculinity look like? For me, it all comes down to one word is meek. And then I always like to tell a couple of stories around You know, because I'm with you, man, not everybody listens to the lion is Christian either. I know we have guys out there that are listening just because maybe they like the redneck accent or something.

I don't know. But so I always pull out, you know, when I'm talking to guys about the Bible and a lot of them roll their eyes, I'm like, well, look, man, let's make sure we understand who this Jesus dude is. I mean, yes, he was meek and I'll talk about that in a second, but he, [00:36:00] he's the guy who rolled up to the temple.

One of the boys, he saw things weren't going down the way they should have been. Basically, they were selling stuff. They were, they were making a mockery out of the temple, and that's the church. And he didn't just clear house. He left, made a cord, and then came back and cleared house. And it doesn't say that the 12 boys helped him either.

I mean, he cleared house by himself. And that's righteous anger. And that's the type of masculinity. That's why when people say you can't ever get angry. No, you're wrong. You can. There's righteous anger out there. There's a reason that God gives us these emotions. We need to lean into them when they're done the right way.

This same dude walked up to a cave full of dead people, yelled at a dead guy, and he came walking out the cave. So, I mean, you start reading stories like that around Jesus, and for me, that's why we call it the lion within us, because we hear so much about the lamb, bro, and I get it. The lamb of God is so important, but he's 100 percent lamb and 100 percent lion.

And let's talk about for guys, I don't know about [00:37:00] you, I just think lions are cooler than lambs. I just do. If I want to eat, yeah, let's go have some lamb. But if I want to go hang out with a, with a mean animal, that's a lion. And I just res, I think that resonates more with guys. And that's what we talk about.

And the whole meekness part, I always pull it when guys, when I share that word, they think immediately of weak. I'm like, bro, you're missing it. It's not weak just because it rhymes doesn't mean it's the same thing. So meekness is control power. And I always relate it to a horse, like a Clydesdale. You walk into a Clydesdale, those things are massive.

But you know what? My little 12 year old can walk a Clydesdale around because of the bit in its mouth, because it has surrendered that control to her at that point when she has the lead rope, right? And that's the thing as a man. It's not that we're weak, it's that we're submitting to a greater power. And that greater power, for me, and the way I live my life, Is the Holy Spirit and God, you know, I'm following what he's telling me to do.

So tell us sometimes that tells me [00:38:00] I probably shouldn't follow that guy in the nose like I want to write and I really want to, I shouldn't do it. But then sometimes, because I can tell you what, if you come in, you start, you know, crossing boundaries for my family or protection, things like that. Yeah, at that point, I know righteous anger is gonna come out and I'm qualified to do it.

And I think we need more men leaning into that, you know, you need to be able to protect your family You need to learn how to have some of these skills So things go down, you're not just throwing your hands up in the air, but you can take action. So I always relate biblical masculinity to that word meekness and understanding what that is.

That controlled aggression that's needed and we need more of it. And we need more guys leaning into it. I I'm actually since for all our listeners, like I said, if you're not, if you're listening and you don't see the video, he's does the line within pallet casting, he has this beautiful majestic lion picture behind him.

And as you're talking about. The difference between being meek or weak, all I can think is a lion doesn't have to tell anybody it's a lion. [00:39:00] There, there, there's no question for the animals on, on the African Savannah, who the lion is, and they know they can push that boundary. And if the lion's not interested in them.

Like I, I love to watch like National Geographic stuff, right? And you'll, you'll see these prey animals who are relatively close to that lion, but you know what? He's full. He's satisfied and he doesn't care. Right. It's not important enough to get his attention. And there will be prey animals right there.

They know he's a lion and they know right now he's okay. He's in a good mood. That's right. That's right. But, but he never like stands up like Lion King style roars from the drop of a rock is like, Hey, look at me, look at me, that's right. That's right, man. It's controlled. And I think that's the big difference.

You know, we, we think the masculinity and strength and things like that. It's always has this negative combination because all that you ever hear of that is when things [00:40:00] go bad. She don't ever, they never put the focus or a spotlight on the men who, who are, who are using that aggression, who are using those skills.

to do good. You know, it may get a headline every now and then, but it is so rare, man, because all they want to point out from from the news media outlets and things like that is, you know, the bad stuff because that's what gets clicked. So You know, I'm done with that stuff. I'm like, all right, they're there.

It's okay to lean in and be aggressive and to take a stance for what's right. When it's done with righteous from a righteous standpoint, why do you think church has become unappealing for a lot of guys? A lot of it's because we sing to these songs like Jesus is our dog on boyfriend, man. And I'm so tired of that crap.

It's like, look, man, he is not my boyfriend. He is my Lord and savior. So let's stop saying about that kind of stuff. And let's start worshiping the king of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I think if we just start changing a little bit of the music. That would probably help and then the sermons I'm tell you man.

Here's what I do every day. I take this right here This is guys where I'm holding up for you guys out there watching [00:41:00] I just read it and guys love it. And if it's convicting it's it's good man. I need my toes to get stepped on I don't need to walk into a church on Sunday and hear about how great I'm doing And how, how awesome and how everything's going to be okay.

And if I fall down, don't worry, Jesus is going to pick me up and wipe me on my butt and give me a kiss on my forehead and let me go. Because that's not the gospel, man. The gospel is offensive. If it doesn't offend you, you're not reading it right. You know, and so the whole point, I think guys, they like that conviction.

But I see so many pastors that are doing these. These little feel good sermon series and they go through the verses that make them, that are easy to preach, that are easy to talk about. And guys, they don't want to hear that and the guys want to hear some truth. I think that's the pastors that I follow that are crushing it.

That's what they do. They don't, they don't, you know, skip over verses because they're uncomfortable. They'll actually just lean into them. And they'll just tell him, Hey, I'm getting ready to talk about money. You guys are probably not going to like this, but that's okay. [00:42:00] I'm very comfortable talking about money.

So let's just dig into it. And when they say, when I have pastors that do stuff like that, man, I think that's when the spirit moves and then that's what resonates with men. So between the music and the preaching, we could really just take a real good focus and just point it all back to him. I'm not saying redo everything.

Just let's just get back to what it's supposed to be. I think you'd see a big difference in the church. I think something you said earlier plays into it as well. You mentioned there's a little too much lamb and not enough lion. I know in my younger years, like I, I spent a lot of my, I even served as a youth minister, right?

I paid staff youth minister for several years. And even at that time, I didn't feel like I was going to heaven. I grew up a preacher's kid. I knew the Bible inside and out. I knew scripture, but even, even as a youth minister, right. I was convinced I was like, okay, well I'm helping them get to heaven. Right.

But I didn't feel like there was a place for me because [00:43:00] I was way too, you know, I, I qualify for special forces when I was in the military and then I got injured and that pulled me out of there. But I mean, that was my end goal. These are the people I hung out with. This is the way I was. I was always very aggressive.

Violence came very naturally for me. And, you know, we, we, there are some great scriptures in the Bible, right? Where it talks like David's a mighty man. And David was, David was that like BA warrior, it was incredible, but we tend to shy away from that and, and focus on, and, and there it's absolute necessity for God's love, but like, there's a lot of focus on.

The softer and less masculine, uh, conversations and some of the story. Cause I mean, the Bible's got some stories in it that have some great lessons. You're just like, Ooh, that's, that's right. You know, the bear came out of wood and ate all the kids who were mocking the prophets. Like, Oh, what just happened, [00:44:00] God.

Right. Right. I'll just tell you, man, and we don't. We don't talk about stuff, man. It's all, it's, it's, it's a lot of New Testament, which that's fine. But I think there's something to be said about dropping a plow a little bit, going into the Old Testament, looking at some of those stories and, and leaning into the word, man.

And I just, I think again, the pastors, particularly one in particular that I follow, man, he's just, that's what he does. He picks books of the Bible. He goes after it. And he has a really good way of just, of not adding anything to it, but just bring it, just, just preaching the word and letting that come to life.

And I think that's the reason why you see some of these churches that are doing some really amazing things. Guys, we've been talking with Chris a little bit about modern masculinity versus biblical masculinity. And, and what is this whole masculinity thing? Cause apparently that is a question these days that, uh, seems a little odd to some of us, but apparently that's a conversation we have to have now.

In the next part of the show, we're going to discuss practical applied faith in men, what this [00:45:00] actually looks like to take your faith and put it into your life, as opposed to just all the happy stories. We'll be right back with more from Chris. How well do you sleep at night? Do you toss and turn and wake up more tired than when you went to bed?

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Now let's go on to the show. Guys, welcome back. In the last part of the show, we were discussing modern masculinity versus biblical masculinity and what masculinity is in this part of the show, we're going to discuss [00:46:00] practical applied faith as men, because some of us are really familiar with Bible stories, but what does it actually look like to push faith out?

In your everyday life now, as we're digging that, Chris, I wanted to ask you as, as a fellow podcaster, okay. Advising and working with men. Do you ever like deal with imposter syndrome? Cause I know it was a struggle for me, right? Every time I'm like, who am I to advise anybody on anything? So that's something you struggle with.

Well, I mean, just don't base it in with why, man, I learned that I'm good, you know, but I mean, I think it is, it's intimidating too, for me. Cause I didn't go to a seminary or anything like that. I just have a love for God's word and I just love digging into it and learning and teaching what he's, he's shown me.

But man, I read the Bible every day for our community at the line within us. And every day it's, it's, I get more nervous. Like I went to Louisiana and got to go on like the number one Christian podcast out there. I got to [00:47:00] meet the dudes from Duck Dynasty. It was awesome at the hang with them. I'm more nervous in the mornings in my studio by myself, reading scripture.

When I go live in our community, then I, then I was on that show just because for me, it's like, there's a, there's a high level of responsibility. When you crack open God's word and then you start trying to teach this stuff, man, it can get, it gets kind of, you know, a little bit intimidating. So I think, you know, for guys, I think I can resonate pretty well with a lot of them because so many guys don't feel qualified and I definitely don't at times, man.

And I think that imposter syndrome is just real. I think it's one of those things that anytime you feel like you have to share with somebody else, right? You know, people would think like, how long have you been doing your show brother? Uh, this show has been for just a year and a half. This is a relatively new show.

Okay. Um, I started doing this in 2020. [00:48:00] So we're going on three years. Uh, this September will be three years, I believe for the podcast and you know, every, like I, I kept thinking it would go away eventually. Right. I'm very comfortable on the mic. I have a background. I've been doing public speaking since I was 11.

I'm very cool speaking, getting used to a camera that took a little while screen, but like every time I'm putting together a show, I'm like,

really is real, man. That's real. Sarah put in the comments called not qualified. And that's what I actually have done on my screen saver, Sarah. That's crazy. Call that out, man. So I have a guy doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called and that's it. You know, if you just remember that and whatever that you feel like you've been called to, you just got to lean into it.

Now he didn't call me to the NBA thankfully because I had to get smoked there. But other than that, man, what he's calling me to here, we're just going to roll with it every day. [00:49:00] So how do we start reconnecting men and faith? Right before we can apply it to our everyday lives, we have to reconnect with our own faith, wherever we are in that journey.

As men, some men haven't started that journey. Some men that's not of interest to them. Some men are in that place where they're just like. Uh, you know, God's, I know God's there and I'm here, you know, don't hang out very often. How do we reconnect with our faith as men? So before we can start to apply it to our lives, I think it starts with a community brother.

And that's one of the reasons we started what we started just because so many guys, you're right. They don't know where to start or they don't feel comfortable. But I found these guys will hop on a zoom call or they'll jump on a live stream and, and just let me start very simply start walking through and just showing them, Hey, we're just going to read, we're going to, this is what we're going to read today and we're going to see what it says and we're going to try to simplify and apply it [00:50:00] because I read it and I do three things I say, all right, so what happened, you know, you know, and, and, you know, what happened is the first question, then so what, you know, so why did that stuff happen?

And then now what? And I just, you use that, that, that framework. All right. When I read God's word, that's what we try to teach people. It's all about simplifying and applying it How what can what does this what can we boil this down to? So I can apply today Because it's one thing, man, I was, I was talking to a lot of guys lately, I heard a great analogy around like if my wife, if I left my kid, my, my, our daughter, our oldest daughter, a note to take the trash out and she came back, you know, the next day and she gave me a speech on the history of the trash industry, you know, the, the gas mileage of trash trucks and then, well, how does recycling works and you know, all the different, what's the wages for the people who work in an industry yet?

She didn't take the dog on trash out. Like you missed it. And I think that's where a lot of guys when they start reading the Bible They feel like they have to [00:51:00] know everything. No, man, you don't have to know it all. You gotta put some of it in action though So just learn little pieces You know I know it can be intimidating but just learn little pieces and apply it and I think if Community is a great way that I see guys really leaning in because I have a lot of guys who just sit back and listen I know that's cool.

Just listen. And then when you, when you feel comfortable, drop a question or a comment or things like that. And I think a lot of guys just need that community, those, those opportunities to ask the basic questions that they don't feel comfortable asking, maybe in a church setting. Forgive me if I'm playing with my camera, I'm not good with screenshotting while I do this.

You're all good, bro. So once we start to reconnect. And I think community is really, I used to underestimate the community aspect of it. I really did. Uh, I was really good at talking to groups and working with groups, but for a long time, I [00:52:00] really underestimated the value of surrounding yourself with. Men that you look up to and men that encourage you and men that, you know, bring out the better versions of you.

And for a long time, I know I missed that in my life. Like that, that was just not something I actively did. I'm a homebody. So I don't like to go, I'm not like a go hang out kind of guy. Right. And I think that is a, a lot of men feel alone. Most of the time. It's one of the most common issues plugging men right now is most men, even when surrounded by family, feel alone.

Yep. I think it's because we're not connecting with, we, we were meant to be tribal, uh, and I hate in the manosphere. We throw that word around a lot or I was like, find your tribe, we, we are meant to be surrounded by other men, right? And I think a lot of us miss that. So I think that's a great way to start reconnecting with our faith.

This finding [00:53:00] men who lived with faith and apply it. And see, man, I missed that for years, bro. I mean, I didn't start discipleship groups until about two years ago and our church doesn't offer them. Our churches are like a lot of churches. They have, you know, traditional services and then they'll have like Sunday school and Sunday school is fine.

But that's not really where guys can connect, because usually if you go to Sunday school, unless something's going on, you got your spouse with you. Right? So I mean, that's just the way it works. So I started discipleship groups. I learned this from Pastor Joby. And man, my discipleship group started with three guys.

And now we're up to about a dozen. And we had this, this, this group text message that goes out. We meet every other Saturday. And these guys, I'm tell you what, they show up and they show out. And I mean, they're, I don't think we've had a meeting yet where somebody hadn't broken down. we have a lot of, you know, there's just life that happens, right?

I've lost a child. We have two other guys who've lost a child. I mean, it's just when you get guys like that in a room [00:54:00] like that, And you just start talking about real life questions and, you know, start digging into it together. There's something beautiful about that, man. To the tribe part. And I mean, these guys now, we're moving, like I mentioned.

I sent one text message after that group. And I got, I got a tribe full of guys that's going to be here ready to go on moving day. You know, and we're going to do that. We're not going to meet that morning. We're just going to actually, we're going to do that, that work together. But I think so many times.

You know, the church isn't intentional about that. So my advice to a lot of guys, and maybe you guys are listening and you think this sounds cool. Start it like just start it yourself, man. Be the spark. I mean for us what we do. I usually pick a book That's how we do it. Not a book of the bible either. I just pick a book, you know A christian book and then we start working through that and they usually got aligns with the bible So we're going through the bible, but it gives us talking points I think a lot of guys need stuff like that just a little spark that we don't need a lot to get going But it's something common we can work towards and I [00:55:00] mean if any of you guys need help with that stuff I've i've run a lot of these I can give you a bunch of different, you know, books and resources to study guys all that most of the study guys and all that stuff is free.

You guys just figure out how you want to roll with it, man. But I think that's a major opportunity that guys have to get together and start a discipleship group and really think about that iron sharpening iron. You don't, you can't have that unless you come together. I mean, that's how iron sharpens iron.

It's friction. It comes together. It's actually hammering on each other, but you can't do that. If you're never together, man. Are you familiar with a school of men? Uh, Cole, something he's, uh, down in little rock. Okay. Uh, he runs a gym, but he has his elite program. That's an invitation only. It's called school of men and he has it online.

And locally, but like you have to apply to get in and they tie physical [00:56:00] workouts in. But they're also like, you have books you have to read and you're having conversations with the other men in the group and all these, it's like, this is the guy who's getting, this is, this is how we connect as men. We, we, we actually, uh, so I run a men's conference called the Phoenix conference.

And. One of the things we added this last time was a novice strongman competition in the middle of the event. Nice because I like strongman workout stuff. So yeah, I have a bunch of strongman equipment that we bought for it. And we had this like just novice strongman competition because like I was like, the first one, we're missing a physical, we, we, we have some great speakers, but I feel like we're missing a physical aspect as well.

So we added that in. We're going to keep that being a part of it for the next one too. But I think adding that physical component, like you guys moving together, that's like seriously strong time together. Oh yeah. Yeah. And [00:57:00] you may discuss the Bible. It may come up in passing back and forth. You may not.

That's going to be strong bonding time together. Amen. Men working side by side is always powerful. It's so powerful, dude. I mean, like most Fridays we go rucking, we'll go for, you know, 3. 5, 4 miles at a time. We'll do stuff like that. But it's, you have to get out there. I think men can, like you said, they connect shoulder to shoulder.

Usually we're sweating or doing something hard. And so we do that. Uh, I mean, uh, the recent, uh, youth camp I went on every morning. Me and a couple of the men leaders, we got up and we'd go hiking up the mountain. We were in the mountains. Let's go. I mean, and that was some great fellowship, you know, was it hard?

Yes. Did it suck at times? Yeah, we've made two kids throw up. It was awesome. It was a great way for us to connect, man. So I just think do something hard together, you know, and we did a Murph. Our group did a Murph on Memorial day, bro. And we, we had like seven of us and my daughter did it with our oldest daughter did it with us too.

It was [00:58:00] killer at the end. I mean, we were all, we're almost all died, but I mean, it was good. I mean, but it was stuff like that that this thing brings you together. Oh, That's I I don't run. I uh I jammed up my leg in the military. And so I can't run very far before it becomes a problem. Right. But I use that as an excuse because I can't do that many pull ups.

It was pull ups. They sucked, man. And I had that 20 pound vest on too. So yeah, that was, we broke it up in the rent. We had 50 rounds, so we didn't have to do a lot of pull ups at once, but it was, that was not fun, man. Right. So it was Yeah. It's cold. I believe it's cold. Roger. You just check it out. He was actually working on setting the Murph world record.

The last time I talked to him, that was his goal. He was going to do like the most Murph's completed in a single day or something. Oh my gracious. He must just like torture or something. Right. I think he's a little, little, little nuts there. Yeah. the air squats. Cause that last mile, we [00:59:00] took off for that last mile.

I was like, Whoa, where are you at legs? Let's go. So, yeah. Chris, what does it look like to take your faith and then apply it through daily activity?

For me, it's hard to answer that because that's just what I do now. I think for the big change for me was When I didn't hide from it, when I tried to be something different on Sunday versus what I was Monday through Saturday, I think when you actually start walking out, what, what, one of the most embarrassing things for me was I was a, uh, I meant was in engineering and sales.

And we've been meeting with this vendor for a couple of years. I knew this vendor. And I had changed my background, um, on my computer to what Sarah had mentioned earlier. You know, God doesn't call to qualify. He qualifies to call. And it popped up on the screen because I was presenting something. And he asked me, he said, well, Chris, are, are you a Christian?

And I, and I felt like this big. I'm like, dude. How did you know me forever? How [01:00:00] did it? But he never saw the fruit. I was like, yeah, I am and I'm starting to recognize it more now and I'm walking it out. So I just think, man, you just got to walk it out. And if people aren't seeing the fruit in you, you know, and if you don't know what to say about fruit, just hit me up.

I'll be glad to share that with you guys later. There should be evidence that you are separated and you are walking differently. And I always use the chocolate chip cookie reference when I bring this up with guys. I'm like, look, because I mean, I try to lead Christian men. I want them to think through what does that look like from walking their faith out.

And to make a chocolate chip cookie, plus I just like cookies. Well, if you make one, you have the cookie dough, right? And that's, you know, your eggs and your flour and all the ingredients to make the dough. And you blend all that stuff together, and it makes a wonderful dough. And then you mix in the chocolate chips.

And you put that in the oven, and when that thing comes out, man, you have a beautiful chocolate chip cookie. But you can't tell what sugar, or eggs, or milk, or flour, or any of those ingredients. It just, it's all mixed together. But you can look at that chocolate chip [01:01:00] cookie, and see the chocolate chips.

They're distinguishable. They stand out. Because they mixed in. They didn't blend in. So I think if you're gonna be a Christian man, you're gonna walk this thing out, call life. And bring your faith into into your work into your career. You gotta be that chocolate chip You gotta mix in you have to and don't be ashamed of it man, because remember The chocolate chip is the best part of the cookie.

I mean, if you didn't have that, it'd just be a sugar cookie and who cares? So let's break, you know, mix it in and start walking it out and don't be ashamed of it. I think if we do that more, man, it's just going to become more and more natural. Chris, for anyone listening today. Who is, you know, they're weighing on what you're saying.

It's like, you know, I, I, I connect with this. I think that I actually am not letting those chocolate chips show, you know, what, what are the first three steps that our listeners can implement right now as they start this journey to maybe live their faith [01:02:00] more apparent in their life, more fully in their life.

First, I would say for you guys out there, you got to get one verse down, man. And this one versus, so it's a little bit different, but it's Romans eight, one. And I say this to guys because there are a lot of guys out there who constantly look in the mirror and all you see is bad. All you see is the the drugs she did in high school or the girl she slept with.

Or the buddy that you blew on, you know, tobacco, alcohol, whatever. And, and you see all the bad and ask these, you guys know one thing, Romans eight, one is very clear, therefore, that now there is no combination for those in Christ Jesus. You can just figure that one verse out and understand. When you look in the mirror, you're not looking at a, a condemned man.

You're looking at a forgiven man and just truly believe that. So, I mean, I, I call it it, uh, the, it is writtens. We need to have some, it is writtens in our life. And that's got to be one of them. That's got to be one of them. And I think probably the [01:03:00] second thing you need to do, you got to get plugged into a community, preferably a local church.

You know, and I know you guys think, well, churches, there's no good churches around me. They're full of hypocrites. And I will just tell you this, you're right. And there's room for one more. So go get plugged into a local church because the scripture talks about the church and the Christian man and being a body where Jesus is the head and we're the body.

And I bring this up sometimes. I've heard this story in the past too. You walk outside of a church building and saw a foot amputated in the parking lot. You would think something is wrong. Like this isn't this is not good like somewhere someone's hopping around and they're missing a foot and that foot is gonna do what it's just gonna die and that's the same way as what's gonna happen to Christian men in particular Who feel like they can do this thing called life without a community?

Because the Bible tells us each each member of the of the body has a function. Maybe you're an ear Maybe you're not maybe you're an elbow. I don't know Maybe you're the foot [01:04:00] but I tell you one thing unless you're connected to the body That's the local body of Christ and to the belief with other believers.

You're not gonna make this thing called life on your own You're not gonna figure it out because the evil one He's gonna pound you over and over and over and you're gonna need that body to help build you up So, I mean you got those two areas there and then the third thing man I think as Christian man, if they want to start walking this thing out called faith more I think you need to be super intentional about your prayer life and reading God's word.

And you don't have to, like, go through this Bible reading plan and get super deep in theology. You can if you want to, but you can just simply start off with what I teach our guys. Whatever day of the week it is, whatever day of the month it is, rather. So today is the 20th day. Read Proverbs 20. There's 31 Proverbs.

Okay, that's how many books there are. Just pick whatever day it is. So tomorrow, read Proverbs 21. The next day, 22. And we get to the end of the month and guess what start over if this if that's all you need to do For about a year [01:05:00] is just read one proverb a day, bro That's gonna help you grow so much just the fact that you're being obedient and in the word And then you take that little bit of time and you pray at the end and it doesn't have to be elaborate But if you're just intentional about talking to him I guarantee you he will talk to you.

So I don't know if those, those tips help. They're usually ways that I point guys to get started to start walking this thing out. Calls fake. So I'm not sure that there's a bad answer on that. Uh, it's cause those are all very constructive. Chris, what's next for you? Uh, bro, I'm trying to figure out how to do this thing called the line with Dennis full time.

I mean, this, this is where I know God's calling me and, and, and I get more joy. serving and helping these guys than I ever have with any other part of my career. And I've had some really good wins in my career. But when I get one guy sign up for five bucks a month or one guy sign up for community for 50 bucks a month, I get more joy and excitement out of that because I know I can help that dude than [01:06:00] any anything I've ever wanted from in the secular world.

So it's just I'm trying to figure out how to do this moving to the farm as a part of it. And I'm just really focused on serving others and helping others and just being obedient to what he calls me to next. So I don't, I don't know what he's going to call me to man, but hopefully it's something cool like, like this and we'll just keep, uh, just, just keep being obedient.

Where's the best place for people to connect with you? Yeah, I mean, you can email me directly at chris at the line within dot us, man. I don't, I don't mind sharing that email or the line within dot us. We have all our resources on that website. So we have lots of different ways to connect with our community.

We have a free 30 days to unleash the line within that gives you tons of free resources. So any of those areas, man, I'm starting a leadership program. That's going to be kicking off in September. So yeah, we have tons of ways that we're trying to serve guys, live events, all lots of fun things happening, but man, the line with them.

us is our primary site where you can connect with all that stuff. All right, [01:07:00] guys, as always, we'll have, you know, all the good links and all the different ways you can connect with Chris and we want to make sure you can find him. Now, I know you're all dying to know which 90s boy band member bought MySpace 2011.

And Chris, you said C. I was C. Huh? Yeah. I just went with C. Yeah. That was my strategy in college. Just go with C? Oh, well, unfortunately that one fell through for you here. It was B. Cheston Timberlake bought MySpace in 2011. Okay. I didn't know MySpace still existed in 2011, so. I didn't either, man. Well, good for Justin.

That was a great investment. Yeah. The one that's not around anymore. Chris, I want you to wrap us out today with this. What is the most important takeaway you want people to hear today? Oh, that's very simple, man. Just be obedient to whatever he calls you to do. You know, he's not going to call you to do the same thing he's called me to, or he's called Brent to, but he's called you to do something.

You have a choice. [01:08:00] You want to listen to it or you're going to ignore it. I'm going to encourage you to be obedient and just do whatever he tells you to do. Guys on that note, be better tomorrow because what you do today, and we'll see you on the next one. This has been the fallible man podcast, your home for everything, man, husband, and father.

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