Holly's Highlights
Holly’s Highlights Podcast is an inspiring and practical podcast designed to equip and encourage listeners in their personal and professional growth. Hosted by speaker, author, and mentor Holly Curby, each episode features insightful conversations on leadership, faith, business, relationships, and personal development. Whether you're seeking motivation, strategies for success, or faith-based encouragement, Holly’s Highlights offers valuable takeaways to help you thrive. Tune in for engaging interviews, expert advice, and real-life stories that empower you to make a positive impact in your life and community. Available on all major podcast platforms!
Holly's Highlights
Empowering Men with Daily Wisdom: Faith, Leadership, and Resilience
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.
Well, friends, it is almost Christmas and I don't know about you, but I still have a gift or two left to buy and then I can actually sit back and enjoy this holiday season. I'm actually really excited for that. However, the other day my dad decided to start pre-gifting some of his gifts and he gave one of his Christmas gifts to my son and it was a devotion book for teens by Max Lucado. Now my brother loves Max Lucado, has been to visit him, loves all of his books. But one thing that really helps is my son tends to get up every morning when I get up and my son will go downstairs while I'm getting ready and he just likes to spend time with the Lord and this devotional really helps him be purposeful in that time. And I totally get it because years ago my brother actually gifted me the Sarah Young Jesus Calling Devotion and the devotional magazine that I write for, which is Lifeways Journey Magazine.
Speaker 1:My mom and I used to each do and then we'd meet up and talk about how God was speaking to us or where we saw God at in our day. So I just really believe that devotionals can help hold us accountable and provide a sense of direction in our time with the Lord. They can also strengthen our faith, but overall they just help us walk in truth and take the wisdom we learn to then apply in our life throughout the day, Not to mention that they can also make great Christmas gifts for anyone and everyone on your Christmas list, just as my dad's gift of the teen devotional was for my son. So that brings me to our guest today. And when I read of a new devotion for men called Daily Wisdom for Men, I was intrigued, because I love devotionals and so I do believe that a good devotion can help those wanting to draw closer to the Lord.
Speaker 1:And now, the unique thing about this devotion is that it draws on stories from the Bible, like sports and life, and includes leadership and if you know me, I really look into how the biblical principles tie into leadership 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 and Jimmy Page share the In the Trenches principles and bold challenges in this devotional to really empower readers to live at their best, all while making an eternal difference in the lives of others. So, without further ado, welcome Dan and Jimmy, we are so honored to have you today.
Speaker 2:Great to be here. Great to be here.
Speaker 1:Now, dan, I understand that you're a speaker, a writer and a coach whose goal is to help people pursue their passion, and that you serve with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where you've been on staff for 34 years. Is that right?
Speaker 3:Yes, I served for 34 years and actually transitioned in August to start a new sports ministry called Sports Life and really excited about taking everything I learned for 34 years and focused on leadership development in the world of sports, so fired up to launch this new initiative.
Speaker 1:That is exciting. Now, how did you get involved with that ministry?
Speaker 3:That is exciting. Now, how did you get involved with that ministry? Well, I had always heard about FCA, which again got birthed in 1954. So 70 plus years. But man, it was kind of heard about it but never had the ability.
Speaker 3:When I was in high school, grew up in Northern Virginia, right outside of DC, but when I went to University of Delaware I dreamed about playing college lacrosse, got recruited to play there and my dad was a former All-American lacrosse player at the Naval Academy and so kind of wanted to follow his footsteps to play college lacrosse. And so I went to University of Delaware and what do you know? They had a little FCA chapter that met on Thursday nights at Carpenter Sports Building in room 215 at 730. And I remember wandering into that FCA group and they had a big Campus Crusade gathering. They had a big university gathering with hundreds of people. And I walk into this little you know athletic classroom, you know, in the sports building, with 10 athletes, eight football players, one swimmer and me a lacrosse guy.
Speaker 3:I was a lacrosse guy. Athletes, eight football players, one swimmer and me a lacrosse guy. I was a lacrosse guy and you know what I found? Holly is just circling up, just opening God's word, combining faith and sports. That's really how I fell in. When I got back to Northern Virginia I didn't have an FCA director. I came on staff and then came to Kansas City, took on a VP level and helped build FCA internationally from one country to over 100. And anyways, great history, great legacy with FCA. It's been awesome. So that's kind of the story.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is cool. That is cool. And, Jimmy, you're a health and wellness expert, a freedom warrior, a Spartan athlete, of course, podcaster, fellow podcaster there and former 17 year executive with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Is that where you and Dan met was Fellowship of Christian Athletes?
Speaker 2:Great question and yes, the answer is yes. I actually came to Christ at Virginia Tech and then quickly found the Fellowship of Christian Athletes huddle on campus. I actually tried a bunch of different ministries there, all of which were amazing you can imagine at a campus like that. But I really found a home in FCA, kind of spoke the language of sport and faith, two things that I loved, and I grew in my faith there and actually I became the president of the huddle there.
Speaker 2:And then we were talking as a leadership group. We needed to bring in a speaker, we wanted to bring in a pro athlete. And then we were talking as a leadership group we needed to bring in a speaker. We wanted to bring in a pro athlete and and somebody recommended this guy named Dan Britton. He said he's a pro lacrosse player and I'm like, wait, there's pro lacrosse. And I'm like, great, Well, if he'll come down, we'll get it, We'll bring him. And, uh, he spoke with our, our huddle. He was amazing. Uh, gave a really inspiring talk to encourage our group, and then we became fast friends and then it wasn't until, oh, 15, 16, 17 years later that I came on staff with FCA. I had a 15-year career in health, wellness, medical fitness, sports performance training and then came over to work full-time with FCA for many years, before leaving just three years ago.
Speaker 1:Wow, you've been busy.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Good Now, Dan, you've written nine books and Jimmy 10. Is that accurate?
Speaker 2:Yes, give or take. I think we've written essentially the same number of books, because we've written almost everything together.
Speaker 1:That was going to be kind of of those nine and 10. How many have you co-authored together? That was going to be kind of of those nine and 10.
Speaker 3:How many have you coauthored together? I think nine, yeah, nine together. So I think I read one with another 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 books to write by the time we croak. So we've got a goal. Yeah, we've kind plus more books to write by the time we croak, so we got a goal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've, you know, we've kind of learned how to write together. I mean, we we're, we kind of come from the same perspective, that competitive mindset I would call it. You know, in in light of the book we're going to talk about today, daily Wisdom for Men. You know we're talking through a biblical and a masculine lens. So over time our voices have just kind of, you know, merged together. No one would be able to tell what Dan's writing or what I'm writing, unless they know the specific story that we're referring to. So it's been a great ride. We've got a lot more in the tank we hope to publish over the next several years.
Speaker 1:So that's a great partnership. Great partnership. Now, Jimmy, I also understand that you are the founder of Be Unstoppable Elite Leadership and the Unstoppable Freedom Alliance, which has you speaking about leadership and culture and human performance to businesses, 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 cancer foundation. Believe Big, Tell us a little bit more about that foundation and what drew you to start it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I love speaking on leadership, culture and human performance, health and fitness. You know, helping people to maximize their lives, and cancer is one of those things that touches most people now. I mean, it's actually affecting essentially one in every two people. So, and part of your story obviously is you've been touched by cancer as well in your family, and Ivelisse was diagnosed years ago, in 2008, with four-stage colon cancer, which then progressed towards her liver, and they gave her essentially almost zero chance of surviving beyond two years, and by the grace of God, she was able to find a pathway to healing that incorporated kind of some conventional treatments like surgeries and diagnostics and surgeries, but then we went really this complimentary route, this integrative approach to medicine, and she's been thriving ever since. She's been cancer-free for 15 years.
Speaker 1:Wow, praise God. That is awesome. That is awesome. So you both have lived some life and it sounds like you both are testaments to the overarching theme of your book about charging into each day as a warrior for God, armed with wisdom to overcome whatever life brings. So tell us why this book and why this topic right now and why this topic right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think, holly, that for us, again 35 years, imagine having someone that, as Proverbs, talks about iron, sharpening iron, and I think many times we dull each other versus sharpen each other. And wisdom sharpens, foolishness dulls. And so one thing that Jim and I have seen over the years, as we've done life, family like literally seen our kids grow up together. Now, even on the other side of now, kids are getting married, grandkids, but just God's got something special in store. So this daily wisdom for men was really a byproduct of 35 years of our life work, being able to put into one book and we wanted to culminate everything that we have experienced together and be able to literally 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 many different things. But really I would say it's a life work. And man we've written a lot of other books, but man, a daily devotion 365, it was a beast and it was a joy. It was a beast and honestly now it's funny. Jimmy and I are both reading it as one of our devotions and we literally will just highlight, we're texting even each other and there's times that I read it and I'm like, jimmy was that mine or yours, I'm not sure. But again, after 35 years of literally this, of integration into each other's lives, that's good, because now we're writing alike, we're thinking alike, we're journeying together and having that deep kind of relationship that the Lord desires, that warrior relationship as we talk about in our book Wisdom Walks. But I would say, holly, the big thing for us is just on the back of the cover of the book, is just simply this verse. That really was the, the impetus, the key for us to to go.
Speaker 3:If you really want to boil it all down into one thing, is simply this is first corinthians 16 13. And basically there's four little 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 about Peter. So you know, paul's like literally saying hey, be on alert. And we think about, in 1 Chronicles, the men of Issachar, when David was recruiting all the men to go fight in Hebron, and you know, 40,000 from this tribe and 20,000 from this and then 200 from the men of Issachar, that that that two things understood the times and knew what to do. So they, they, they had discernment and decisiveness. They understood that. So be alert. We want to be men that are alert and we want to help men be alert.
Speaker 3:The second thing is have a strong foundation. Paul writes in first Corinthians 16, 13, be alert, have a strong foundation. We have to go deep, we have to get our face in the book. We wanted to create a book that people are connecting with the word of God, growing deeper in the walk with Christ, planting their roots by the streams of living water, as it talks about in Psalm 1, and have a strong foundation.
Speaker 3:And the third one, which really I would say is the real kick in the pants, as my grandfather used to always say, is act like men. Can you imagine? The Bible says that Act like men. One of the translations says be ye manly. I like that translation. Be ye manly, live like men, act like men. Another translation is just be mature, grow up and be mature. No-transcript Like hey, power up, be strong, be mighty in the Lord. And so really, that verse, holly became the catalyst that said you know, we could have done a 365 for leaders, we could have done 365 for families, 365 for a lot of athletes and coaches, but when it came down to it is, we want to do a 365 devotion, a life work to be able to encourage and sharpen men to be at their best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. I like that. I love how you keep going back to the iron sharpen iron. Because, just as that book that my dad gave my son for to be able to resonate with him, and the women's ones I press into men need there. We need to be able to sharpen each other up and we have a church group, men's church group, at our church that they do a men's meetup, so M-E-A-T, where they of course have stakes and all of that, and I just think things like that are so beautiful for them to be able to come together, encourage each other, hold each other accountable, find fellowship with one another, and that's exactly what you're bringing to this book to be able to do. Now, what are ways that you guys designed Daily Wisdom for Men to help specifically men?
Speaker 2: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 long time that they've got to be more like women, that masculinity in and of itself is toxic, and so we're getting these mixed messages. You know, men need to be more soft and more kind and whatever the other things are and kindness is a virtue, by the way but I think men are rediscovering what biblical masculinity actually is, and this book is designed to reintroduce men to a biblical look at masculinity.
Speaker 2:What does it mean to be a protector? What does it mean to be a provider? What does it mean to be someone who leads their family well? And all those things are addressed in the book. So there's a lot of confusion about what it is to be a man, and I think what we're trying to do is say no, there is a strong, courageous, biblical model of what it looks like to be a man, and I think what we're trying to do is say no, there is a strong, courageous, biblical model of what 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 their God-giving calling and design, now more than ever before. So this is not a soft kumbaya book I'm just going to warn the men right now it is not. But it will speak to the heart of a man, it will speak to the masculine soul in such a way that you're awakened to know that your life matters, that you have purpose and that you can really make a difference for others.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome. Great intentionality there, for sure.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. That's awesome, great intentionality there, for sure. What are the four key relationships you'd say that men must have to be able to overcome whatever challenges life may bring. Well, one of the things that we our very first book, that, jimmy and I did was called Wisdom Walks we I mean Jimmy, what was that?
Speaker 3:How many years ago? 15 years ago, yeah, 15 years ago. And really, as we said, our relationship got birthed 35 years ago and I met him at a huddle that I spoke at, and then, shortly after that he moved up into my neighborhood, into Northern Virginia, and God connected Jimmy and I back together, actually through a mutual friend. And then I had a former friend from college and then I met another guy. So these four guys came together, you know, in 1990, and we called ourselves the four horsemen, like we had to any good accountability group. You got to give them a name, you know. And so 1990, we formed a Friday morning accountability group. This is back when accountability was huge and men's groups were getting together, and so we got together every Friday for a couple of hours, a couple of pots of coffee, and really that relationship got formed, that we created warrior relationship, this mutual accountability. We're all at the same season of life, we're all dealing with the same issues and temptations and struggles, and so we started doing accountability and really from that we realized, okay, accountability is great, have Barnabas alongside and that's the warrior relationship. Those are the ones that grow you, that sharpen you, that strengthen you hold you accountable and make you better. But you know, also at the same time 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 disciples that that are investing in you. And so then we started identifying some men that were a season above us and that we could go to to get counsel from on different issues. That again, we're on the watchman who could see a little bit further out than we could see and be able to give us that advice. And then, at the same time, the other relationship is the one below you, the workman, the worker that you're investing in, the Timothy, that you're putting your arm around and you actually become their watchman and you're actually investing in them and they become your disciple. And so we started encouraging each other in this early dynamic of creating some warriors and have a watchman and then have some workmen below you that you're actually pouring into.
Speaker 3:And those are three of the four relationships. And the last one, which was really important, is your relationship yourself with Jesus. It's the walker and the walker relationship is you yourself sitting time, spending time at the foot of Jesus, growing in your own personal walk and no one can do the walker for you. Now a lot of other people can have influence around you, but the walker is the first and foremost 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, these four key relationships that every man, the dream team which is the walker, me with Jesus, warrior with one or two accountability partners, a watchman that's above you, that's investing in you, and then you yourself having a workman or worker that you're investing in. Those are the four relationships.
Speaker 1:That is priceless. My mom I was raised, my dad was our senior pastor and, of course, my mom pastor's wife, and she would always, always tell us you need to have a mentor, so someone you're learning from, and then someone that you're pouring into, not just stopping it with you, but someone you're pouring into and it just sounds like that is such a priceless group of being able to truly soak up those who have gone before us and then pour in to those who are coming behind us. And you guys it sounds like you guys have executed that very, very well. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Now I have to compliment you both and your publisher that this book is beautiful. To just hold it. Just it feels good, from the leather binding and the shiny silver and gold embossing, the pattern on the interior, the foil Bible verse on the back cover that you've mentioned, even the branded publisher logo on the spine. It truly is just a well done book and I know from my own experience going through my publisher picking up the book and then releasing facelift. Not much is in our say, but there are some things that we can stress which have significance to the book and can speak to the reader, whether it be the color palette, even little symbols used. So on the cover, as well as the pattern print on the interior of the front and back cover of your book, you have four images a warrior's helmet, a compass swords that are crossed over, which look intentional like an X, and then you have a shield. What do these signify?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, we do have a great publisher. Shout out to Broad Street Publishing. He's been partnering with us since 2010. He believed in us before anybody knew about us and he really gave us an opportunity. But what they do is they do produce unbelievable books. I mean, you want to buy it, like you said. I'm holding it now. It's like having a good leather Bible. It's the same thing. This is a great companion for that, you know. So they're amazing and they gave us a lot of latitude to have input on the design as well. But they are genius in the way they do books.
Speaker 2:Those four images kind of came along as almost some foundational elements for us, and I'll speak to a couple of those. I know that the helmet right so you've got this warrior's helmet really signifies the mind of Christ. It signifies the mind of Christ having an eternal perspective, kind of not being thrown around by your emotions and your feelings, but instead applying an eternal perspective, making decisions in advance. It's protecting what you see and what you hear and being careful where you go. But it's all about the mind of Christ. It's about that eternal perspective, and I think that is where most transformation starts. If you believe Romans, chapter 12, it talks about hey, don't conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the helmet is this idea of reminding us to protect our mind and to think on the things above more than the temporary circumstances we're facing.
Speaker 2:And then I'll tackle maybe I'll just tackle the swords. You know the swords signify in scripture, they signify the word of God, you know. So this book relies heavily on the word of God. In fact, there is no book apart from the Word of God. You can positive, think your way out of some situations, but positivity has its limitations. The Word of God has no limitations. In fact, it has the power to break strongholds in your life, to defeat the enemy's schemes against you. So when we talk about hey, you get to learn the word, know the word and use the word, put it into action. And that's the sword of the Spirit. It's operating in the Spirit of God and understanding the Word of God.
Speaker 1:Great. How about that Dan?
Speaker 2:you want to tackle the other two.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, I was taking notes, jimmy, that was awesome, like slow down. Um, yeah, yeah, it again it like we could have had 20 symbols, just it. We feel like there's so many key elements foundationally for men, but again we got to strip it down and make it simple. And great job on the helmet and the swords. So the compass is simply the idea you know, kind of in the verse stand firm in the faith. It's just. You know, we want to be Philippians 3, 13 and 14.
Speaker 3:The one thing I do is forgetting what's behind us. Turning forward with his head, I press toward the goal it says to win the prize, and that's having a clear purpose and having a compass and wisdom for right living. And so Compass was more about the true north. And you know, ali, today it's like it doesn't take much to get sideways right. It just doesn't take much to get off the deep end. And that's what we're finding. And we're finding friends of ours who marriages are falling apart, kids are wandering astray, and it's just man.
Speaker 3:The true north is no longer true north and the compass wants to have a singular focus, talking about direction and purpose, and really that's the compass, you know, is. You know, not just the journey along the way, but also that we're going to get to the right place, right Like we're going to get to the right destination, and determination not desire determination gets us to the right destination. And then the last one is simply the shield, you know, and obviously as one of the pieces of armor, and you know we think of actually the Proverbs 4, 23 and 24, above all else, protect the heart for the wellspring and almost like you got to shield and protect the heart and be able to have that provision and that strength and fortitude of resolve and being vigilant against the things of the enemy. And so we just feel like the flaming arrows are coming in 24-7 and having that sword. So those are the last two elements that we wanted to highlight.
Speaker 1: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:Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start on that. And part of that we actually say humbly because, as Dan said, we're going through the book right now day to day. A lot of our friends are texting us pictures that they're going through it and what impacted them, so we're super excited about the impact that it's having, I would say from my perspective. I mean, there's so many to choose from right, but one of them is titled Into the Storm and there's this idea of the verse in 2 Corinthians 6,. 4 says, rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way, in great endurance, in troubles, hardships and distresses. And the verse continues troubles, hardships and distresses. One thing if you have any life on you at all, you know that life is hard. There's plenty of trials, there's plenty of challenges, plenty of storms that are going to come, and life is full of storms and a lot of times we'll anticipate them. Sometimes we create our own storms, but rest assured, storms are going to be here. And one of the things of living in Colorado.
Speaker 2:I moved from the East Coast to Colorado with my wife and family about seven years ago now. What I discovered was there's a big 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 storms come up over the Rocky Mountains, those two groups of animals operate very differently. In the storm, if you're a cow, the cows tend to scatter, they get afraid, they run, they run in all directions, they're on their own and they scatter literally over the plain. In fact, most of the time they run away from the storm, which, unfortunately for a cow, keeps it in the storm longer, because the storm moves from west to east and it essentially follows them. So they remain in that storm much longer.
Speaker 2:But bison, on the other hand, they come together, they encourage each other. Actually, there's a lot of chatter, 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 their time in the storm because they're actually running through it rather than running with it. And I think that's a great picture of the way we're to handle the storms in our lives. Don't run away in fear. Face them head on, but have some people around you that can face those storms with you in such a way that number one you're encouraged through it, you get warmth and companionship throughout and in the end you get through that storm faster and better than you would on your own.
Speaker 1:So hey, into the storm, be a bison no-transcript and we kind of go down that rabbit hole a little bit and explaining some different things and what can come up as temptations or challenges that all of us are going to face, let alone the men that we were watching in this video what they were going through. But what would you say are the biggest challenges men face in maintaining their faith in a secular world?
Speaker 3:Wow, that's a $64,000 question. You know, I think that it really depends on the seasons we're in, right? So you know, obviously, jimmy and I right now we're empty nesters and you know, we have a third grandchild on the way and you know, I just had lunch today with guys I've been mentoring, discipling for 10 years and you know, one guy just got married, you know, last month, and you know, 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 and again, so I'm kind of the watchman for them, right, and investing in them, just to hear some of the struggles that they're going through and some of the issues in the family are completely different to what I'm experiencing.
Speaker 3:But but I think that the struggles that men are going through today is, you know, being sold a lie. You know, it's kind of goes back a little bit to what Jimmy said about, you know, biblical masculinity. 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, but I just, I just think that that there's this, this grittiness, this, this resolve, that that the Lord wants for His, his children. That are men, you know, and you know that's really at our heart and I think, more and more, we just get so isolated and pulled away with all the demands and complexities, get so isolated and pulled away with all the demands and complexities and we lose focus as men of really keeping it simple. You know, one of my life principles is we drift to complexity but we drive to simplicity.
Speaker 3:And I think, for men, that we have drifted to one more rock in the backpack, you know one more responsibility, one more expectation. A sudden we wake up and it's like, oh my gosh, I feel paralyzed, there's nothing I can do because of all this expectation that everyone put on me as a man of God. I'm supposed to do this, I'm supposed 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, I try, I fail, I give up, and that's the doom loop. And so, as men is, we're not experiencing victory. You know, I think, I think you know one thing I've learned is flesh knows one thing, and that's failure. The spirit only knows one thing that's victory. Well, men of God are not experiencing victory. You know, most men of God are experiencing defeat, and it simply goes back to I would say this, holly, that you know I'm big, you know about spending time in God's word.
Speaker 3:My dad passed away in 2008. He was the guy that just said hey, the three D's of devotion is drudgery, discipline and delight. Starts his drudgery like eating bark, do it long enough, turns into discipline, then get a big smile on his face. He goes. Then the word of God turns into the delight that he wants. And, holly, the thing that Jimmy and I are experiencing and it's not about legalism and it's not about fundamentalism, you know, it's not about checking the box is are men of God getting their face in the book? And the answer is no, no, I mean as simple as that. You know, hey, you're struggling with that. And then I go hey, well, how's your 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. You just answered it Like how's your time in God's word? Well, no, I want this fixed over here, but I don't want to do this over here.
Speaker 3:Therefore, why we wrote Daily Wisdom for Men. We hope that. Yes, daily Wisdom for Men is a starting point. It's a shot in the arm, it is a part of your disciplines. It's not the discipline you know, it is an amazing biblical truth, a stake in the ground each and every day. But at the same time, we hope it's a starting point for people to fall in love, for men of God to fall in love with the Word of God, starting point for people to fall in love, for men of God to fall in love with the Word of God. And I think the biggest thing, the biggest challenge, the question you ask that's created for men, no matter what age and what they're experiencing, is men are not spending time with the Lord and not spending time with the Savior, and that is evident right now of what's happening in the world today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if I could, holly, just jump in on that, I think part of the problem is that we lack vision. So if you go one step back upstream, we lack vision for our lives. So we've been told what the American dream is. You kind of go to school, you do the right things, you get a degree, you get a job, you get married, you have kids, you have a family, and that's the American dream. Well, the biblical dream is a little bit different than that, right. And so I think, once you get this idea that you can have a clear vision for your life, for every aspect of your life, that you in Christ are a powerful force for good, a powerful force for God, all of a sudden now I've got a vision for my health, and that informs everything that I do relative to my health. I get a vision for my marriage and my most important relationships. I get a very clear vision about what God is expecting me to do with my work, the things that you know, the work of my hands, the contribution that I make. I have a very clear vision for what type of man I'm going to be spiritually. What's my soul going to look like? Am I going to have that character in the mind of Christ.
Speaker 2: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 to Netflix series. There's a thousand ways to medicate and disappear, and you can put a whole bunch of things in there. Men are over-medicating with alcohol, with Netflix and with a whole bunch of other garbage, because they lack vision. They don't know what their life could amount to. So we're encouraging them. As Dan said, get back in the word. We're going to take you there. We're going to help you develop a vision for your life so that now you are compelled to live a different way, because you see that you can make a difference, that God has chosen you for this moment, and we really do need men to step up and make a difference.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen. I can picture exactly what you guys are saying in my own walk with the Lord of when my children were younger. They'd be looking through a catalog or something and they'd see the devotion that I was going through or maybe the Beth Moore was being put in God's word and fast forward today. My daughter is going to be 18 here soon and graduating and there are some times that her light will be on really late or maybe she's up really early and I'll just go to check in on her and she's just in there studying the word of God and I just that's come full circle to where she's getting to delight in it.
Speaker 1:And that is so important is you were saying, dan, that just that delight in God's Word. And until you pass through those hurdles and where your soul is almost battling, being in His Word, right and the habit forming and then really getting into it, you don't get to experience what's on the other side of that delight and what God has for you. So I cherish what both of you just shared, because so true and how important it is to have that solid foundation, first and foremost not about religion, but a relationship, having that relationship with the Lord and then being in His Word and what that can do to our everyday life. It's beautiful and it's pr priceless and it's invaluable in just going through any challenge of life. Now, both of you come from leadership backgrounds and are still into investing in other leaders. What does it mean to be a leader in today's world, and how can men specifically embody that role of a leader?
Speaker 3:Wow, that is a again a great question, sally. I feel like again, I would say it's interesting that in the Word of God the word leadership isn't even used. I mean, there's a lot of references, there's a lot of characteristics, but the word leadership's not used. But you know what word is used a ton in the Bible, a dozen. Sometimes it's servant, and for some reason Jesus had a lot of opportunity to coin and create this incredible leadership philosophy, leadership dynamic and five steps to leadership, greatness, and you know, steady, constantly, just put servant plain old, serving in front of everyone. You know, in in one of the greatest acts of, of washing the disciples feet, in in john 13, you know he, he gave a, a, an example. He literally said this is an example. I've given to you the only time he's, this is an example. Now go and do as I've done to you, like, like, that's the play, that's the play that he said to run when it comes to leadership.
Speaker 3:So you know I, one of my devotions is I talk about, you know you have, you know, a. You know you have a leader leader, you have a servant leader, or you just have a servant plain old, servant, servant, servant, and you know I honestly, the word servant leadership, I get it, I've used it a million times, but servant leadership is a man-made term. It's a man-made term that we've created because we're insecure of letting go of the leadership and just embracing servant that Jesus said for us to embrace. So we got to put a hyphen between it and go, okay, servant leadership, I'm still a leader but I'm a servant. I'm going to kind of get both.
Speaker 3:You know, get both best of both worlds and honestly, it just you know Jesus constantly was a servant of servants. That's a servant servant. You know, I've come in literally giving you an example that the Messiah is actually doing. The role of a servant works in the disciples' feet and over and over again Jesus gave us examples and examples of what it means to serve. And so you know, for me, I think, at the heart of it is this authentic leadership, the leadership of the heart, is this birthing out of this understanding 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're going to take a different road, the road less traveled, when it says leader, power up, bow up, strong up. We're going to take a posture of humility and we're going to be a servant. That's what a man of God is is servant, servant.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and it's like to piggyback on that, dan, it's you mentioned it that Jesus gave us an example. Right, the whole purpose of leadership is to show, lead by example. Like you, have to be living it out, and what we're calling men to do is actually be a man of God not perfect, but making progress. You know, we're not going to be perfect, we're going to fail, we're going to fall all that nonsense but the point is we need to be pursuing Christ in such a way that we're making progress, but ultimately, we have to be leading by example. And what I've seen is so many men make so many excuses that it actually is become routine. Well, what's the excuse for you not being in the word today? What's your excuse for not loving your wife today? It's just, it's enough. And what we're discovering is no, we actually need men to live by example, lead by example.
Speaker 2:Paul said follow me as I follow Christ, imitate me, do what you see me doing as I do what God is doing. So our life should be leading by example and in the end, it's going to take a lot of discipline. Dan mentioned the term grit earlier. It's going to take a lot of discipline, because discipline means it leads to freedom. Discipline leads to freedom. The more discipline you apply in the things you know you need to do, the more freedom you have in your everyday life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. How can men get the most out of this book?
Speaker 3:Buy a copy. How about that?
Speaker 1:I like it. I like it. Where can they?
Speaker 3:buy a copy. Where can they?
Speaker 1: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:copy all the major outlets. I would say this, even holly I. The joy has been for us is jim and I already we've given, given away, like we don't get the book free, like I know we're authors but we still got to buy our own books. But but we have like, bought and literally given away hundreds of books. I'm going to the post office this afternoon and mailing it to three or four men that I know.
Speaker 3:But in in, it's an incredible ability to gift a man of God, write a note in the front of it and be able to give it to them as a gift and and then to hear back later like, hey, I today I read you know, actually I read it was Jimmy as a gift.
Speaker 3:And and then to hear back later like, hey, today I read, you know, actually I read jimmy's today was protect and defend and it was awesome about neil meyer, that sword and a shovel. And hey, you're doing both as you're protecting, defending, and. And just start to hear the comments and the text back of of getting the most out of it and and I would say, getting the most out of it's just not doing it by yourself, but doing it with a warrior or two and being able to pass that on and invest in someone else's life and to be able to join together with them. I've even seen it with family members, like I've had people going. Man, I'm doing it with my son. We had a chance to read it every morning before he goes to school. Just a real blessing to see that happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that you do that. I do the same thing with facelift. It's especially this time of year. I like to wrap it up and take it to that gas attendant. Take it to the grocery store clerk, who I've started building relationships with throughout the year and just want to encourage them. And what a gift of encouragement Daily Wisdom for Men is, and you're being able to spread that to others. That's a beautiful thing. So thank you for doing that. Now, guys, here on Holly's Highlights podcast, we have a signature question that if you could go back and encourage, inspire or equip yourself as a child, what would you tell your young self? So, whichever one of you wants to take that first, if you had to go back and encourage, inspire or equip yourself as a child, what would you tell your young self?
Speaker 2:Man Dan, are you prepared for this Geez?
Speaker 3:Sure, I'll leave out, go ahead, yeah, I'll give Jimmy a second, obviously to say it's kind of like what's your favorite Bible verse? What's the one thing you tell your younger self? Like, okay, I could tell my younger self 100 things you know. And but the one thing I would say that I wish I knew earlier is one of my really good friends, sean, who I knew when he was 16 and had a chance in the best in interim, remember about 20 years ago.
Speaker 3:He knew that things could bother me a lot, you know, and just and just weigh me down. And he just said this phrase. He goes Dan, don't let anyone or anybody, anyone or anything rob you the joy that God has in store for you. And you know, just this comment like hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized, wow, you know, obviously happiness is the external, but joy is only what God gives, which is internal. Joy is the internal. Obviously happiness is the external, 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 knew that I was allowing people to reach into my soul and literally rob me of the joy that God had put inside of me and it took.
Speaker 3:It took. It took breath out of me. It took life out of me. It took energy, took resolve out of me. It took life out of me. It took energy, it took resolve out of me and he said don't let anything.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of things out there, a lot of circumstances and issues and stuff that are out of our control, that it's not a person. So don't let anything or anybody that becomes personal. A lot of times family do that, but don't let anything or anyone rob you of the joy that God has in store for you. Only do that, but don't let anything or anyone rob you of the joy that God has in store for you. And I've always been a positive person, but have I been joyful? That's a whole different thing. And I don't want the world, I don't want the flesh, I don't want people, I don't want Satan, I don't want anyone or anything rob me of the joy that God has in store. And if I knew that as a kid, oh my gosh, give me another God-stopper to chew on. As a kid I'm ready to go?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great, applicable to all of us, for sure. How about you, jimmy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, mine's kind of like Dan's, Just don't take life so seriously. Life is a gift and it's meant to 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 is to focus in on loving the people that are most important to you really well, enjoying it, not getting bogged down in the worries of life, but instead keep your eyes on Jesus and really enjoy the ride at a different level.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are great. Thank you so much for joining us today, guys.
Speaker 3:How can our listeners connect further with you? Well, probably the best way is we have a couple of websites, but we have a website of getwisdomnowcom Pretty easy Getwisdomnowcom Where's the main source for all of our other different assets and all of our other different resources. We've created a lot of action plans. We've created a lot of downloads, bible studies. One of the things Jimmy and I've done is created nine different reading plans on YouVersion. So a lot of people do the YouVersion reading plan, devotion plans, and over a million people have downloaded our nine different reading plans. It's been phenomenal just to see catalytically how that's been used. So you know, getwism now is a kind of a landing hub for us, but obviously you can go to Amazon and grab our books and different things and we have a great one word website get one wordcom. That's a book we read about. I wrote about a vision statement for the year being one word and that also is a very robust website.
Speaker 1:Great, great, great resources to provide. Also, and truly, what a perfect Christmas gift, especially as we're getting ready to restart the year. Great time to open that up and start day one. So I definitely recommend to our listeners to head out there. I'll definitely put all of that information in the show notes to make it a little bit more accessible for them too. I think all of this brings a good opportunity for each of us listening and here today to pray for the men in our lives. For me, from my dad, my brother and my brother-in-law to my son and my nephews, May they walk in wisdom and charge into each day as a warrior for God, armed with the wisdom to overcome whatever life brings and just keep in and into pressing into God's word for sure. Thank you, Dan and Jimmy, for sharing with us today and your hard work and obedience and bringing us daily wisdom for men.
Speaker 2:You bet, god bless you, thank you.
Speaker 3:God bless, thank you.