Chris Grainger: 1:25

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys, it is your meat episode. I'm excited to be here with you, so let's get right into it.

Chris Grainger: 1:38

The scripture of the week this week is in the book of Proverbs, chapter 22,. Just one verse, though verse 6, says train up a child in the way he should go when he is old. He will not depart from it. So, guys, go back, spiritual kickoff episode, unpack that at length and talk about training up and raising up childs in the way they should go. Man, I brought in the guy, the guy I'm talking about this guy. His name is Matt Wells. He's got four kids. He's awesome, lives in Jacksonville, florida. He calls his kids the Giant Slayers and the Mighty Men. Absolutely love that. His oldest one is a daughter. Joshua 1-9 is actually the family mantra, which I would have done that one this week for the podcast. We've already done Joshua 1-9, so I wanted to pull Proverbs 22-6 because we haven't done that.

Chris Grainger: 2:23

Matt guys, he is on a mission, an absolute mission to encourage and inspire men to be more intentional and present with their kids and their families. Okay, and and he's very cautious to making sure that we're not seeking or expecting perfection out of our kids. We just need to let our kids be kids sometimes, because every day, every day, is fraught. We have these little insignificant things that we do as dads that ultimately come together to form a big, significant fatherhood, and so he he did this thing called basic dad stuff. That's just how I got connected with him. It's on LinkedIn and just love the way. His insight is absolutely brilliant, guys, the way that he pulls some of he pulls so much of this stuff together. He pulls in areas of faith, areas of his fitness, areas with freedom, talks about firearms, I'll tell you this guy, he gets it on.

Chris Grainger: 3:14

So he had a wonderful father and mother who raised him and his three siblings, loving home, and you know what he learned the biblical values there and what true authentic faith looks like. And now he's just he's just doubling down. He's taking this to the next level for his own children, for his wife, uh, through creating content for us out there, on, on, on that specific platform, and you know what? He's just spreading the good word. So, guys, I think you're going to enjoy this one. We hit some heavy stuff. We talk about education, we talk about LGBTQ+. How do you raise these young, mighty men, these giant slayers that he's talking about? So he doesn't hold anything back here. I'm telling you it's going to be directed very, very, very up front, but I think this is one that you guys are going to enjoy. So sit back, enjoy this conversation with my buddy, matt Wells. Well, matt, welcome to the Line with Dennis. How are you doing today, brother?

Matthew Wells: 4:13

Man, I am doing great. I appreciate you having me on today, man, I've been looking forward to it.

Chris Grainger: 4:14

For a long time. I know, man. We've been connected for a couple of years. I'm trying to remember how even we got connected on LinkedIn. Was it Pete? I can't remember who it was.

Matthew Wells: 4:21

Could have been Pete man. Pete's a good guy too, so I've met and talked to a lot of people through Pete, so that very well could have been him.

Chris Grainger: 4:27

Yeah, he is the connector brother. He was way back on the line with us, like the very first season, for sure, as we got started.

Matthew Wells: 4:35

So, man, just excited to have you here and maybe share something fun about you that not many people know, then we'll let you tell your story a little bit, brother it's funny because I was wondering if the things that not many people know question might come up, because I struggle with that one, because I feel like you know I mean, obviously, unless you're on LinkedIn, people don't usually know who I am, but for those that do know me, there's not a lot that people don't know because I'm so much of an open book and so much transparency.

Matthew Wells: 5:00

I'm trying to okay what would people not know about me? And I guess kind of a fun one would be to say that I'm a bit of a I'm a conspiracy nut man. I love diving into conspiracies. I'm very inquisitive and skeptical about a lot of things in this world, and especially when it comes to conspiracies that pertain to biblical truth and what the scriptures actually say versus what is pounded into our heads even in our basic everyday school system. So I love biting into a good conspiracy, digging into it with my own two feet and hands and seeing what I can come up with on my own.

Chris Grainger: 5:34

I hear you, brother. Well, my wife's the same way, so you and her. She probably would enjoy sitting there and chatting with you, man. So if I remember right, you're in Jacksonville, right? Jacksonville Florida.

Matthew Wells: 5:46

Jacksonville, Florida.

Chris Grainger: 5:47

So this is another reason why I'm super jealous of you guys. Apparently, you get to see Joby on a regular basis at 1122? Yeah, I'm at 1122.

Matthew Wells: 5:55

That's the church we've been going to for a few years now. We've been at 1122 since after the pandemic kind of paused and we got back into church and got away from the whole. Oh, we're doing it, we're watching church from home, and ever since we've been back at church we started going to 1122. It started off as a convenience because 1122 was right up the road, like it's literally a mile from where I live. We go to the St John's campus, which meets at Creekside High School, right down the road, so that's why it started. But I mean, it took 10 minutes for me to fall in love with the church and then when Joby started preaching it was like, oh my gosh, this is where I am meant to be.

Matthew Wells: 6:30

The kind of preaching Joby does, just the straight out of scripture expository preaching. It's just the Bible. It's not the TED Talks thing, it's not grabbing one scripture and then creating a message out of it. No, it's going line by line by line out of scripture. And then Joby's got just such an amazing and eloquent gift for being able to present it in a way that's so relatable for all of us and me being a bit of a man's man, obviously for any guy that's like that Joby just speaks right into your wheelhouse. So we've been there for a few years now and I could not be happier. I mean we've been there for a few years now and I could not be happier. I mean we were been in several churches and I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in Pensacola, florida, and have that background, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world as far as church is concerned.

Chris Grainger: 7:15

Amen, bro. Yeah, joby, he's got a new book that's getting ready to come out. I think we're going to have him back on again, man. That's, we're gonna have him back on again, man, that's just something. Anytime get to hang out with joey or brit and that's a good day, bro. That's my most excited days, man. So, uh, just so you know, just happy that you're down there. You got plugged in with 11, 22 and what? His message? I think he's probably the best communicator from from a biblical standpoint, I've never heard.

Matthew Wells: 7:38

I mean, I would agree it's unreal I would agree that he unpacks things in a way that that makes it so simple to understand. Not that he's a simple person, he just makes it simple for us to comprehend. You know? And yeah, it's a great place to be.

Chris Grainger: 7:53

Amen, brother. Well, I mean, you're doing some great stuff yourself. I'm reasonable. You know we want to connect and come on here. She goes doing some incredible stuff on LinkedIn. You have a great message and I just I fall in love. Anytime you post something it's like all right, this is going to be good. So, man, share with us a little bit what got you going down that road for, for trying to help people.

Matthew Wells: 8:17

For sure, man. Well, so the LinkedIn mission is funny because people say that they know me from something. It's rare that you know. I am somewhat fairly well known on the least likely of platforms that are out there, the one that not a lot of people are on. So it's mostly people still look at LinkedIn as like, oh, that's the business, dump your resume on there, kind of thing, which it used to be. But it has long since become more of the business social media. I don't want to say the Facebook, but it's like the Facebook for business people, if you want to put it that way, but much more professional than a Facebook, obviously. But it started off back five years ago.

Matthew Wells: 8:47

I originally started creating content that was specifically geared towards what I do for a living in sales. I was creating things about sales. I was making comical videos like the five different kinds of a road warrior. I'd like videos of what people do in their cars when they're driving down the highway, and it started off that way and I'd I'd sprinkle in a little bit of motivational content, um, just to try to get people fired up. And then it just kind of took and organically evolved into I started sharing more and more and more of myself on the platform, which for a long time I was very reserved about that and holding back because I got to just create content. That's about what I do, because the purpose of the content is to try to drive sales and drive business and create a bit of a brand around what I do for a living, my nine to five kind of thing.

Matthew Wells: 9:37

But the more I sprinkled into myself of who I am, the more the platform grew and I think that people resonated obviously a whole lot more with what I talked about in life, in real life, than they do about sales. And yeah, people appreciate the sales stuff but people that aren't in sales don't necessarily get a great kick out of it. So it just became more about me and myself and my faith and all the things that I'm really into as a father. And then after a while it shifted from being a platform for content about sales to being almost exclusively a content around fatherhood and around faith. So I really just kind of you know, people say it all the time but like all the F words, all the F words minus that one F word, you know. So fatherhood, faith, freedom, fitness, family, firearms, you know all the things that I'm passionate about and all the things that I think so many men and women are passionate about. So it just drives relationships much more, much more organically than talking about what I do for a living.

Chris Grainger: 10:41

Brother, but the authenticity is where it's at man. That's what I think people are just drawn to. What you're doing, they're so authentic. So I mean, talk to us about your faith journey, because you talked about that a lot. So did you grow up in the church? I mean, how did you get started?

Matthew Wells: 11:05

You know so I grew up. I've shared with many people that the hard part about talking about my faith journey is the fact that I feel like it's a boring story. I don't feel like there's a lot of excitement, there's no zing and zest to it and I shudder from talking about it because it's not going to inspire anybody. But then I've had people tell me but, matt, that's exactly why you should talk about it, because I grew up with a father and a mother who were incredibly supportive, incredibly loving. I grew up, like I said, in a Southern Baptist church, but it was always about faith. Faith was the centerpiece of our home growing up and I had a dad that was always present, probably present more than most fathers, just because for a period of our lives he had some difficulty with work, so he was at the house a lot more than probably even he would have preferred being. But looking back at my life now, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd much rather had the father who was there more often because of having some struggles of work, than having the dad who was incredibly successful financially, but he was always gone. I mean, it's because of that background that I'm the oldest of four siblings. So I have two sisters and a brother. I'm the oldest of them. You know, now I am the father of four kids, but it's because of that upbringing that me and my three other siblings are as close as we are. It's because of that upbringing and the way my father was around, not just for us kids but also for my mom, that we got to see him love her intensely and passionately and be with her and, you know, support her. So I grew up in a home where, yes, we were at church several times a week, you know, sunday morning, sunday night, wednesday night, sometimes on Monday night for visitation. And then, you know, if we weren't there for that, I'd be at church because we went to the Family Life Center, the FLC, to play basketball or to play board games or whatever else. So I spent a lot of my time in the church, whether it was for actual church reasons or just because we're hanging out with friends.

Matthew Wells: 12:52

But my childhood was I don't want to say a fairy tale, but I just had such a great childhood that I feel like, oh man, you know, people aren't inspired by that. People are inspired when they hear about the person that you, you know, they they were. They went off the rails, they got into drugs and they got into a gang and then, you know, they had some powerful experience where, where God spoke to them and it turned them around, and it was some revelatory experience that just absolutely blows people's minds. I didn't have that, but you know what?

Matthew Wells: 13:20

I think that really the Testament for me because I talk a lot about fatherhood is the fact that that's the blessing is that I had a father that brought us up, loved us enough, taught us enough and spoke into our hearts enough that those things didn't happen for any of us. I mean, I can look at all three of my siblings, who are all strong Christian individuals, very strong Christian individuals, and like, wow, I mean, if anybody should write a book on parenting, I feel like my dad and mom should write a book on parenting because they did a good job. And that's not, that's not to, you know, pat myself on the back or pat my family on the back, but I aspire to accomplish what my dad accomplished with us To have children who never steer too far off the broken, the off the road. And you know, the eye of the needle is small, you know. So if we can do what he did, then success.

Chris Grainger: 14:10

Well, you said he did he, he watched him love your mom so well. I mean, what did that look like for you growing up? Because a lot of guys this is where you know we start focusing just on the kids versus, wait a minute, you know, I need to love my wife and then together we're going to take care of yourself. What did that look like for him? As you know, so far as just loving your mom, what do you remember most?

Matthew Wells: 14:32

So watching my dad and mom has always been like watching high school sweethearts that never, ever lost that love. They never lost that romanticism. Oh yeah, I mean up until I would say. Now my mom is unfortunately pretty far down the road with um, with Alzheimer's and early onset Alzheimer's, but my dad is, is exclusively, primarily, her primary caregiver. He takes care of her around the clock. I mean, he's with her every single day and I can't even begin to imagine the difficulty of that journey. But even now he's there for every day, no matter the frustration, no matter how much patience it takes. He's there with my mom every single day and he does everything he can to love on her and hug on her.

Matthew Wells: 15:12

But growing up he was always hugging her, always kissing her, always holding her hand, always sitting next to her. Um, you know, and even to the point of like the, the physical intimacy and stuff. He was not inappropriate, but joked enough about, you know, me and your mom. You know, to the point that it made us quite comfortable with that, you know. And so so it's not necessarily a taboo topic because mom and dad were open about the fact that they love each other that way.

Matthew Wells: 15:36

Yeah, um, and they always were. I mean, my mom was, was the was the biblical definition of a, of a, of a submissive woman, but not submissive in a bad way, submissive, a biblically submissive woman with a husband who loves her, supports her, loves her like Christ loves the church. I mean, I saw that my whole entire life. So why would I not want to emulate that with my wife and with my family? And it's never been a perfect, pretty picture, either growing up, watching it, or especially now for me but I definitely try to emulate and exemplify what I grew up being able to see.

Chris Grainger: 16:09

Amen. I mean one thing, man, just lean into it. I mean that's a biblical model of what God designed family to be. I mean it sounds like your mom and dad. They leaned into it and now you know you guys are just you're walking out in your own marriages. That's incredible.

Matthew Wells: 16:24

Yeah, lean into it hard man. It's funny because I mean my mom it's funny. I tell stories. For a long time, when she was early in the Alzheimer's journey, I did something where I do a memory of the day with her. So every day I'd send her a memory. And there's an app called Marco Polo it's a video messaging things and it was so much fun talking about those memories and one of the things that occurred to me is you know what my entire life I've heard my mom cuss one time, and that one bad word that I heard her say stands out in my mind because it's like I've heard her cuss one single time.

Matthew Wells: 16:56

You know, tell the exact story you know of how it happened and the fact that I stopped and listened to see that. I really just hear that. But you know, that's the how my dad was. The same way, I never heard my dad use bad language, never heard my dad lose his patience in an inappropriate way. I mean I don't know. I've just I've been very, very, very fortunate and very blessed. God raised me up in a family that I could not have asked for better.

Chris Grainger: 17:20

Amen, Amen. Well, guys, we to take our first break. We'll be right back. If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader, finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting For me personally. I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone. It was because of this wide gap that we created our Lion Within Us community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, Our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing forum where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men want help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens iron. Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are. I fully believe what we feel.

Chris Grainger: 18:41

I see the impact it's making on men right now and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside the den. Matt, I mean, obviously you got a strong foundation and you're taking that foundation and you're building upon it yourself. So you got four kids, right? Are they all boys?

Matthew Wells: 19:15

Nope, I got one daughter, so the oldest daughter. The rest of them are all boys.

Chris Grainger: 19:18

Okay.

Matthew Wells: 19:19

I hear you man.

Chris Grainger: 19:21

Well, she's going to be well protected and taken care of, so that's good.

Matthew Wells: 19:26

That's the hope. You know, right, and she's kind of the matriarch of the crew because she's the oldest, but um, right yeah, right, for sure, it's uh, she, she, she does tend to lord that over them at times, but I think that as they get older they're beginning they're gonna be very protective of her for sure well, I'm curious.

Chris Grainger: 19:42

You know you have basic dad stuff, did you do a lot? So where did you come up with that with you, with uh, so far as a branding standpoint? And then, like some of the things that you're sharing, are these things you learn from your dad or you're learning from others? Like, where do you get your ideas for a lot of this stuff that you're putting it out to to serve people with?

Matthew Wells: 19:58

so the basic dad stuff video series. I don't talk a lot about it, but it's a thing that people definitely know me for. So basic dad stuff. Um was created basically as a side effect of me seeing a guy named Patrick McNamara who's on. He's a bit of an Instagram superstar and he's an ex.

Matthew Wells: 20:17

I forget what he was if it was army ranger or any special forces, but he's a guy who created a series called basic dude stuff and I came across it on like the second week of him doing it. It's like, oh, this is so awesome. And as I watched his mannerisms and the way he spoke in his videos and they're all same kind of same, same kind of uh, the style, you know one minute long clips of him doing stuff and saying basic dude stuff like that is this. This guy reminds me of myself, like the way he talks, his mannerisms, the way he catches up, grow up like he. He reminds me of myself, but you steroids an awesome military version of that. And so I reached out to the guy. I was like, hey, man, would you mind if I did a spoof of what you're doing called Basic Dad Stuff? And he gave me the LinkedIn response like a thumbs up emoji. He's like, all right, cool. So I did it once and it very, very quickly snowballed into much more, because as dads, there's so much that we do and I say all the time that, listen, basic dad stuff isn't about being a basic dad, it's just basic stuff that makes us great dads. And I think that all the clips of basic dad stuff which, for those that don't know basic dad stuff is a video series, basically, of me holding my phone up in selfie mode and taking quick little 10, 15, 20 second snippets of life as a father and then and then just splicing them together for one minute long video is called basic dad stuff and I do something silly, you know, like, like, like, throwing a kid into a pool and listen to them laugh giddily and then saying you know, basic dad stuff. So I've done 150 something episodes of that series now and the it just it took off very, very quickly early on, because I think what's beautiful about it is that men watch it, and whether these are men who are fathers, that their children are all grown, they watch it and they see the nostalgia of it, like, oh man, this reminds me of when my kid was small.

Matthew Wells: 22:04

Or the guys that are my age who have kids at the same age. They're going. This is exactly what I did yesterday. That was me yesterday. So everything that I do in those videos is just like absolutely striking a chord and resonating with people because they're going. That was either me I missed that, that's me today or that's me. You know, I'm about to have a child, so I'm getting a kick out of watching this and seeing how you know I'm the road I'm about to go down, and it was.

Matthew Wells: 22:28

It's been beautiful because, I mean, every video is accompanied by some kind of uh, you know some some actual verbiage that I that I write in there the body of the message, and sometimes it accompanies the video. Sometimes it's completely different, but it talks about, you know, being a dad and what I didn't expect, cause I started the video series just for the purpose of just being entertaining and being funny. But very quickly I started getting a lot of messages from men who were reaching out because it was hitting them on a very personal level, because you know their father is sick and they're taking care of their father and it really helps them. I had one guy that said you know his dad. He shared the video with his dad in the hospital on his deathbed and his dad just wanted to sit there and binge the videos with him on the phone on his deathbed because it just brought him joy and made him smile and he got to sit there with his father and relive their experience as a father and son by watching the video series. And he says one of the few things that I did or showed my dad that put a smile on his face at the end of his life. So when you hear something like that, you go, man, this is just meant to be entertaining, but this is actually impacting people and this is reaching people at the heart level and I got to lean into that.

Matthew Wells: 23:40

So I did for a long time and just kind of kept going and I say, listen, all the stuff I do, it's all insignificant stuff. They're all itty bitty, daily things that we do. Nothing's significant really about any one individual thing I do, but it's all the insignificant things we do as dads every single day, all the little things that add up to significant fatherhood. So you know, I mean it's just all the little bits and pieces you're creating. You're building a wall with one little brick at a time, you know, and that wall is just getting constructed over all the things you do in your children's lives, especially when they're young, and you're really building that foundation and laying those roots for them, knowing that you're there for them, that you love them, that you'll protect them, that you're going to support them, that you're, you know, that you're unconditionally going to be there to back them up. So yeah, and that's how it. That's how that came to be, and it just kept on going and going and going and for a long time it just kept building steam and building steam.

Matthew Wells: 24:33

These days those videos don't get nearly the amount of engagement that that used to. I think I don't know if it's an algorithmic thing or just you know, people got tired of seeing it because it's kind of it's not the same thing, like every video is something different. That's one thing I actually do kind of a little pride in is the fact that for 150, whatever episodes of me doing this, there has not been one single thing that I've repeated and done again. But that's also. The beauty of fatherhood is that when you got four kids, there's always something new that you're stumbling into and having to do.

Chris Grainger: 25:00

That's right man, I'm thinking too. You know there's so many people who view content now and they check it out, but also the guys they didn't have your upbringing right, they had a broken home or they didn't. They don't, they didn't have that strong father figure in their life. Maybe they're learning and they're seeing some of these things and it's inspiring them. Okay, now I can, I can write the course in my life and it's. It's cool to see a guy like you, you know, showing them some things, almost like a permission or or just a little bit of a peek inside what it looks like to actually be that leaned in father.

Matthew Wells: 25:32

Yeah, I would like to think that would be, that that's the case for a lot of people is that they are taking a little bit of, not instruction but, like you said, maybe some permission to do these things and to do that thing and not worry about it. So, you know, ultimately the purpose of all of it now is to try to guide or not guide, but inspire and encourage men to be more intentional, because, you know, intention is really everything in this world. I've heard you were talking to a guy on one of your last episodes, just saying listen, even if you're trying a little bit, even if you're just trying a little bit, then you're doing most. You're doing more than most men out there are doing as fathers. Um, and you know, I, I love the, I love the verse, psalm 127, 4, that, uh, like arrows in the hands of a warrior, are the children of a youth, and blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

Matthew Wells: 26:15

And I got four kids, man. So my quiver is definitely full and I feel like for me at this point now, my purpose in life is just to pull that string back and aim true and aim straight and hopefully they fly in the right direction.

Chris Grainger: 26:27

Amen to that, bro. Well, you're doing a great job. Now, how old is your oldest one?

Matthew Wells: 26:31

So my oldest is the only daughter I have. She was my first. She is going to be 13 in August, so she is 12, and you know, 12 going on 22. She's the child who is certainly trying to grow up way too fast. And then, of course, I'm now 42. I'm not going to say no, no, stop, you have your whole life to be a grownup. Just enjoy being where you're at, man, because you only get one childhood, you only get one youth. So enjoy it.

Matthew Wells: 26:53

But I remember being that age and also wanting to be. I want to grow up, I want to do this. So I completely understand it. But now I've got the wisdom of you know of, of years behind me, so I can say, no, stop, pause, enjoy it, love it. So she's 12. Then I have a seven-year-old son who's about to turn eight. I typically say eight-year-old because he's going to be eight in just about a month. And then I have the twin five-year-olds who just turned five a few weeks ago, and they tend to be the source of a lot of my fun content, because they are the twin tyrants, the twin titans. They just completely tend to compound one another's energy. At all times, they exacerbate one another's chaos and the things that those guys have pulled off and the stories I have from raising twin boys have just been beyond my imagination of the scope of things I thought that I would be able to experience as a father for sure.

Chris Grainger: 27:42

I hear you, brother. Yeah, because I mean most families. They're going from two to three. You transition from that man to man to the zone which you went from two to four. So I mean, I'm sure that was pretty, pretty intense there. Out the gate, huh.

Matthew Wells: 27:54

Oh for sure it was doubling down, unintentionally so. And the funniest word behind that is that we had our daughter, we had her son, we had the best of both worlds. And then, you know, after a few years, my wife started saying you know what? I'd really really like to try to have another little girl. I mean Gracie's growing up so fast. My daughter's name is Gracie, she's growing up so quick and she's already, you know, seven, eight years old. I mean, I just I'd like to try one more girl. I was like, are you sure, cause we, you know, we've got a good thing going here, but sure enough talking about it. So we pulled the goalie, we try it again. And she got two boys. So she got the complete opposite and double what she asked for. And, man, it has been an absolute epic adventure ever since.

Chris Grainger: 28:34

That is super cool man. So twins run in your family.

Matthew Wells: 28:39

My mom is a twin, so it does kind of run on my side of the family. So, yes, there's a twin there. They're not identical, they're fraternal twins, twins, and they could not be more diametrically different as far as them being, you know, fraternal. So one of the twins is our gentle giant, the other one is our little, you know, super villain. And the gentle giant is literally 22 pounds heavier than his brother and at five years old, as twins, 22 pounds is a big difference, man. So when you pick up one of them the giant, you know you pick him up and he's heavy, you put him down. If you go to pick up his twin brother, you might actually launch him into the ceiling because he's just so much lighter. So they couldn't look different, more different than they do as far as being twins wow, man, that's incredible.

Chris Grainger: 29:23

Well, I know a lot of content you're putting out too. Man is around. You know fitness as well. That's a big area of your life and freedom. Speak to some of that, because this is the areas I feel like so many Christian men feel like they can't be authentic, they can't be real here, and I just love how you just lean right into the hard stuff.

Matthew Wells: 29:42

I want to lean into the hard stuff because I feel like not enough men are doing it. Not enough men are willing to speak about our freedoms and how they are being completely and totally subtly, but not even subtly more. It's very, just, absolutely in your face and abrasively taken away from us and we stand back and we sit back and we allow it to happen. Now, that even seems and feels empty to say out loud sometimes, because what am I doing about it? That even seems and feels empty to say out loud sometimes, because what am I doing about it? I'm creating content on a platform that not a lot of people are even on. So even that doesn't feel like it's enough, but it's at least something that I'm being able to do and something that I'm being able to say. But yeah, the freedom part of it, man, like I said, I feel like our freedoms are just being further and further stolen and taken away from us. And you see that if you're, if you're plugged in and paying attention at all of what's happening in the world right now, it's it's mind boggling what's going on and what we're allowing to happen right in front of our faces. You know, it's not like it's hidden behind closed doors. It's out in the open and it's because it's out in the open that we allow it to happen. Because, oh, it's, you know it's, it's right there, which just blows my mind. But yeah, I create content about that. And then the other rest of it is like I said. You mentioned fitness. I'm a fitness enthusiast. I absolutely take fitness to the ultimate extreme, as far as something that I prioritize in my life. If I was to say, hey, here's the pillars of a man, fitness should be right there among the front of them. I would say that faith is number one, family slash father is number two, and then fitness is gonna be right there behind it. Number three, because I don't feel like you can really be a successful father, at least not for longevity sake, if you aren't taking your fitness seriously. And you know, is it about vanity? No, is there a sense of vanity to it? Sure, who doesn't like to look in the mirror and feel proud and feel good about themselves? But for me it's more about I want to inspire my kids. Man, I have three boys and dang it if I don't want my three boys to grow up thinking that they want to be strong, they want to be fit, they want to be fast, they want to be athletic athletes just for the sake of their own health and their own longevity and for being able to get out there and run around and not have to fall over panting if they have to run away from something or get out there and do a foot race. So I just feel like fitness is another one of those things that has.

Matthew Wells: 32:01

There's a segment of the population that takes fitness very seriously and a big part of the population that doesn't take it very seriously and is all about this movement of body positivity and just embracing and loving who you are, no matter what, which can get on board with accepting yourself and loving yourself. But are you really loving yourself if you completely and totally cast your health aside and you look in the mirror and you're 400 pounds overweight and that's what you feel like you should accept and say I love me? I mean, maybe you do love yourself and more power to you for being able to accept yourself that way and love yourself that way, but I don't feel like that's really loving yourself. I think you know we, this, our bodies ultimately are the temple of God. You know this is our temple and we are called to take care of our temple to the best of our abilities and this body positivity, and accepting everything for what it is it's.

Matthew Wells: 32:53

It's gotten out of control and it's uh, you know, it's something that started off with you. You tolerate a little bit of it, and then it turned into okay. Now we accept it and now it's become commonplace normal. And now it's not just commonplace normal, but it's being pushed out at us over social media and over the TV shows and movies and it's just, it's become just a propaganda machine for trying to take people and make people as unhealthy as they can, so that we can be completely and totally dependent on the powers over us that want us unhealthy, they want us unfit, they want us eating their stuff, taking their stuff, putting their pills down our throats and whatever else the case may be. So I'm not for that. I want my children to grow up knowing that they are in charge of their health, they are responsible for their health. They are the ones that really are able to make those decisions for themselves and don't follow the crowd.

Matthew Wells: 33:47

I tend to pretty much always go against the grain of what people are saying. I'm very, very anti-culture in the way I'm raising my kids, and to the point that sometimes my wife is like all right, matt, all right, matt, you can back off and take your foot off the gas a little bit. Let them be normal kids, which I'm all for that. But I'm not trying to raise kids. I mean, ultimately they're going to be kids, for this very, very small snapshot of life, a very microcosm of their lives, are going to be spent as children. We're raising men, I'm raising a lady, I'm raising people that I want to be powerhouses. They're my. Ultimately, they're my giant slayers, they're my mighty men. So I call my boys my mighty men, and that's after David mighty men, Um, I, I. I started calling them my giant slayers when the twins were born, because they were born at 31 weeks prematurely and so from the very beginning they had to slay that giant of being born early, spending time in the NICU and just overcoming giant after giant after giant. So the giant slayer started with them and enrolled into. I call my son hey, you're the general of the giant slayers, you're the Lord of the mighty men, you know.

Matthew Wells: 34:47

So our family verse is Joshua 1, 9,. You know, be strong and courageous. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, don't be afraid, don't be discouraged. Take heart for the Lord, your God's with you wherever you go. And or, you know, as I say, rock Kazak. You know. So our family battle cry is rock Kazak. And I get my kids to say it powerfully, not, not passively, not quietly, not under the breath, but shout it out like you mean it. You know, be strong and courageous.

Matthew Wells: 35:18

So that is our family mantra um joshua, when I'm planning on getting I have no tattoos I'm planning on getting a tattoo right here on my arm. One of them is going to be the four arrows for for, like I said earlier, psalm 127 for my quiver of arrows. And the other arm, I want to have rock kazakh and matz in there, if you know, for be strong and courageous, because I feel like that should be just kind of the foremost thing in our minds and in our hearts at all times, no matter what life throws at us. Be strong, don't be afraid, be courageous. How many times in the Bible does God say, or do his angels angels say do not be afraid, be strong, be courageous. It's all through, from the genesis, all the way to revelation. You see it. And they're so often right. And yet we live these timid, fearful lives because of, mostly because we're staring at these screens that tell us to be afraid and tell us what we should be thinking and feeling so that's, right I'm on my soapbox now.

Chris Grainger: 36:06

I'll back off for a second, but uh, that's what the podcast is for for the soapbox. But look, we're gonna take a quick break, we'll be right back. Guys, I find it. It helps me to have a guide at times when I'm reading and studying the bible. One way that helps me is by using devotionals to guide not only what I, but insights into the scriptures themselves. So we were blessed to become an author on the YouVersion Bible app, and we saw an immediate opportunity to help others with devotionals around the areas that we spend the most time talking about at the Lion Within Us. So if you enjoy the show, you may enjoy these devos as well. We have some guys that are using them as part of their small groups as well, as they're a great way to get conversations going. So to see the ones that we've created, head over to the lionwithinus slash you version, and that's Y-O-U-V-E-R-S-I-O-N to learn more. So that's the lionwithinus slash you version. To get started with your own men's devotional today.

Chris Grainger: 37:18

Matt, I want you to get back on the soapbox for something else now, because you've got a 12 year old. I've got four kids myself. My oldest daughter is 13 and she turns 14 August. So we're just one year ahead of you with what's. But I get it, man.

Chris Grainger: 37:30

So this is some interesting years ahead of both of us. We'll be praying for each other as we raise these young women. Right, I got three girls and one boy, so I flipped it on you. But I'm curious, man, how do you respond? How do you help Christian men in particular that are trying to lean in, to be a father, trying to help their kids grow, when you have so much LGBTQ plus things coming at them, coming at us? And I'm trying to help these Christian guys understand that you know what there's the truth and we need to make sure we're taking a stance and standing firm and quit cowering to what the world is trying to push down our throat, particularly when it comes to our young women, is trying to push down our throat, particularly when it comes to our young women that we're raising and our young men, right.

Chris Grainger: 38:14

So I just I'd love to get your insight. How do you address this? What are you doing to be proactive here, Because I know you are?

Matthew Wells: 38:21

Yeah, I mean. Well, the first thing is just the most basic and fundamental thing of all is that you tell your boys, hey, you're a tough little boy, you know. Thing of all is that you tell your boys hey, you're a tough little boy, good thing you're such a strong kid, good thing you're such a strong boy. You don't shy away from saying what is absolutely true. I mean, these are things that you've never in the history of humanity have we questioned something. That's just basic common sense. You don't question and say whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back off, back off. Maybe he's not going to be a boy, maybe he's not. No, shut up, he is a boy, he was born a boy, he'll always be a boy. I mean, it's so crazy to watch these videos of Matt Walsh, you know, on YouTube from the Daily Wire or whatever it is. It's. You know what is a woman and the fact that he can go onto a college campus where people are shelling out just money to be educated more like they're shelling out money to be the opposite of educated, just brainwashed but you can't tell me what a woman is at an institute of education. So these are things that we just absolutely have to make sure they hear from the very beginning. You don't question that. You don't shy away from saying that. You tell them hey, you're a tough kid man, you're going to be a big man one day. My boy, caleb, the gentle giant I call him. I'm always talking about what a mighty man he's going to be and how strong he's going to be, how powerful he's going to be. And for my son, christian, I'm always telling him how smart, what a smart and incredible man he's going to be and how tough and how you just think through things. But you're such a tough boy, you know. You say those words because they're, they're true. You shouldn't have to look at me calling the tough kid or tough man or tough boy and go oh, wow, how groundbreaking and revolutionary this guy is. You know what a trailblazer. No, I'm just talking what we've always said throughout the entire course of humanity.

Matthew Wells: 40:03

Um, and my daughter you know, she's the one that she's 12, going on 13 or, like I said earlier, going on 22 or whatever um, and for her it's funny because, as you probably no doubt are familiar and know that at this age it's so much harder and so much more difficult to get time with them because they're pulled in different directions. You know she's a softball player, she's an athlete, but she's also very social and has her friends, so getting time alone with her is precious. Now I don't get a whole lot of that, so anytime we have time together, I find myself just having these moments of in my head okay, what do I? What? What nugget of truth do I want to drop on her right now? You know we got 15 minutes in the truck. What do I want to talk about right now? Which? Which is both a good thing and a bad thing, because the good of it is that, you know, I have these moments where I have something that I want to talk to her about that's very specific and it's very, actually very pointed about a specific topic, something's cultural happening right now. The bad thing of it is I'm spending so much time trying to focus on one particular topic, to plant these seeds, and not really just stopping and enjoying. Just hey, you know how's your day going, you know what. So what's going on in your world right now? Which those things are every single bit as important, but when you only have so many moments with your child, you want to make those moments count as much as you can. But yeah, I mean, the funny thing is that, as far as completely crazy as the pendulum has swung to one side of this aisle of how is absolutely insane the world is today. I feel like it's her generation.

Matthew Wells: 41:28

I'm seeing it from her and her friends, and maybe other places too, that they're recognizing the stupidity of a lot of this. I think there's a little bit of common sense that's leaking back in the world and they're going well, wait a minute why they ever stopped to question, why, like, why is that the way that people say it should be? Or why is that the way that they think that we should act? Or why would somebody think that they are not a girl or not a boy or whatever else you know? And I see, I see snippets of of them questioning that and saying that's just stupid.

Matthew Wells: 41:57

You know, um, there's certain words that are insensitive, words that you know for a long time have been, uh, ruled off, brand and insensitive, and you shouldn't say them that. I will hear her friends say not bad words, mind you, not cuss words, but words. You know that, uh, I won't say them here on the podcast, but things I'm like oh, so you, so for you guys, it's okay to use that word now, you're okay with that, cause we grew up saying it as kids, you know, and it wasn't a big deal. Um, but now they're saying, well, it's been off limits for a long time, is just dumb, dad, and like, yeah, I agree it is, but I'm glad you guys are recognizing the stupidity of that. So, but yeah, it's, it's not.

Matthew Wells: 42:36

It's not an easy challenge, as you know. I mean, she goes to school with kids who, if they're not, if it's not a matter of transgender, lgbtq, whatever it's, it's, it's something is even even the wall like a furry, Somebody who said they identify as a puppy or as an animal or whatever else they think they identify as Like what? And the parents aren't just stopping that Dead in his tracks when it gets started. I mean, why would somebody allow or go along with that? And just completely and totally, I don't know. I just feel like the amount of oh gosh, just the amount of insanity and the level of mental illness that I feel like we applaud today, right, and just completely enable it. It's insane.

Chris Grainger: 43:24

It really is, man. It's unreal. We just got to keep going back to the truth, guys, and I'm just so thankful for your insight, man. I'm also curious for you 12-year-old going on 13,. So she's probably what? Sixth grade going to seventh?

Matthew Wells: 43:37

She's going into eighth grade now.

Chris Grainger: 43:38

Yeah, she's going into her final year of middle school there you go, what advice or what insight would you offer up to listeners, the guys out there who have those kids who are maybe going to be entering that quote unquote college years at some point in the future? Because I know my view of college and higher education has definitely shifted. I'd love to get your insight on how you're preparing, what are you trying to lead your kids to, to make those good decisions for that next step.

Matthew Wells: 44:08

It has shifted a lot. Just like for you, I think the message that I've been trying to espouse on my daughter so much here lately which I know that my wife and I don't always see eye to eye on different things and we may not necessarily be completely and totally copacetic on this, but I tell my daughter all the time, listen, college isn't for everybody and you don't have to go to college to succeed. I mean, the most simple and basic example of that is you know these people who are successful entrepreneurs, who start businesses and they become, you know, multimillionaires. Very few of them went to college. They started something early on and they became successful because they bit into it and they just went hard on it. And by the time somebody else is getting out of college with you know how many tens of thousands of dollars of debt that other person has already been in the workforce and building their brand, building their business, for four or five, six, seven years. Now they've got all these years ahead of you and they have no debt behind them or whatever debt they started off with because they started a business they've long since paid off because that business is going. So you know, I mean, my message for her is twofold.

Matthew Wells: 45:22

One is not necessary. College isn't a necessary thing, I mean, unless you're going to be, unless you've decided that your career path in life is very specific. You want to be a doctor, you want to be a lawyer, you want to be an engineer? Then, yes, absolutely. There are certain fields where you're going to have to get the education, and college is by all means a prerequisite to getting where you want to be in life. But if that's not your goal, if that's not your vision for life, you don't have some specific thing that you really are aiming towards and there is no education required, then why bother going down that road? Why bother, you know, incurring just heaps of debt that you don't have to take on. You know there's other things you can do with your life and you have my full support on that. You know, depending on what it is you want to do, that's obviously a very you can't just go for something unnecessary. But if there's something specific in mind, that's a great goal to have in mind, then go for it. Follow your dreams, follow your goals, go for what you want to be able to accomplish in life.

Matthew Wells: 46:21

But my wife is also very pro-education, which is not a bad thing. You should definitely be pro-education, but I think that the pro-education side should lean towards pro-education for career fields that require to have education. My wife is a nurse practitioner and she's an amazing. I should take a second just to kind laud some praise on my wife because she is an amazing practitioner of what she does. She's a nurse practitioner that does palliative care, which is people who are in a crux of their lives not hospice, but you know, close to that kind of stage where it's a pain management trying to find quality of life and she deals with families and family dynamics that I can't even begin to grasp, the intensity of what she has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. So for something like what she does, yes, obviously an education is absolutely required, but that all depends on what the child's goals are in life.

Chris Grainger: 47:08

Right, 100%, we're in 100% alignment. My big thing that I'm trying to tell my girls and my boy, when he gets that age, is you got to lean into God. Also, where does God call you to do Amen? Because if he boy, when he gets that age, you gotta lean into god. Also, where's god calling you amen? Because he's calling me. Like my oldest is very interested in horses, so maybe she gets some equine training, I say, well, that's something that you can go for. But man, I've coached people who matt. They've come out with you know, I'm talking about multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt and they're making like 40 grand. Yeah, it's like, bro, you know this is a massive problem and they're numb to it and that's what bothers me and it's just like no, that's not necessarily the past. I'm big on vocation. I'm also big just on being obedient to what God's calling you to do. I don't think he necessarily calls everyone to go to that four-year university and drop $100,000, whatever it is.

Matthew Wells: 47:59

And that you know, and that you know you hit on a great nail there the fact that pounding that and not pounding it's the wrong word to say, but raising up your children and passing on that desire to them, if you can, if you can impart that kind of desire in your children that they're asking and questioning and seeking what does god want for me at an early age, then you've done something that is absolutely so far above and beyond what many people are ever able to accomplish, man. So raising children the right way I pray that, uh, that's something we can accomplish is is helping them to seek God. Seek God first in all. Things you do, you know, and all these things will be added unto you. You know Matthew six, 33.

Chris Grainger: 48:33

So Amen bro, I knew this was going to be a fire one. So, Matt, before we wrap up, I'd love to do a lightning round with you, because you're just the type of fun guy that I think you're going to have a lot of fun with this man. So you willing to play with us by?

Matthew Wells: 48:48

all means man, let's do it, let's have some fun.

Chris Grainger: 48:50

What's your favorite hobby, man?

Matthew Wells: 48:54

I mean I don't want to say the things people know. I mean, fitness is obviously a big one. I love writing, obviously, and that's where the LinkedIn content comes out. And at some point I would like to say that I'd have the discipline to sit down and write a book, because I feel like I do have books that are just kind of bottled up in my head, and I just got to have the discipline to sit down and actually start typing.

Matthew Wells: 49:14

I've had many quote unquote works in progress over the years. I started something, got 20, 30 pages in, then set it aside for a little while, then never came back to it, and I'm like man, I should go back to that. I had a good idea on that one, both fiction and nonfiction alike, so of all different genres, for that matter too. So I love to write and I love the fact I think that's probably the one place that LinkedIn is a great outlet for me is that it allows me to use my creative brain and creative muscles and try to to write something that's uh, entertaining and comical or inspiring, whatever the case may be. So I love writing, love fitness uh, yeah, I guess let's go with those two.

Chris Grainger: 49:50

Love to read also well, you need to get. Just do like joey and just get a writer to write it for you, brother, you just charles martin to help me out.

Matthew Wells: 49:58

Right, that's right.

Chris Grainger: 50:02

Charles. He came on our show a month or so ago.

Matthew Wells: 50:03

Charles is awesome.

Chris Grainger: 50:04

Yeah, he is Good stuff. So there's your hobby man. So if you had a superpower, this is one I'm really excited for. So if you had a superpower, think about all the superpowers that are out there. What would it?

Matthew Wells: 50:15

be man, I had a superpower. So did you ever see the movie what women want with mel gibson? Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. So I can't help but think how amazing would it be to be able to walk around and just hear people's inner, inner dialogue and hear their monologue. And it wouldn't require anything um supernatural for me. But if I just know what someone's thinking, then I know how to gear my conversation to them, you know which?

Matthew Wells: 50:41

I guess that would ultimately be manipulating them, but uh but I love the idea of hearing somebody's inner thoughts, even you know. Uh, that helped. I mean, where would that not work? That would work in sales, because you know what the buyer is thinking, you know how to gear your conversation. That would work as parents, because you hear a child in a moment like, oh gosh, here we go again. Dad's going to say, and so I can pump the brakes, know what to say. It'll help with the wife when she, you know, whenever I'm trying to get you know whatever's going on there, yeah, dude. So being able to hear someone's thoughts not necessarily, you know, magneto style not Magneto, but not not Dr Xavier, where I can control and twist their thoughts- but just hearing their thoughts, I think it'd be good enough to get me where I want to go.

Chris Grainger: 51:24

Love it, man. It's probably the best answer ever that was everybody flying and stuff like that. But that's a good one. Right there, brother, love it. So what about the sports teams? What, what? Who are you cheering for?

Matthew Wells: 51:30

Man, I'm a I mean, I'm a Florida state Seminole, so I, I mean, I know that everybody is not a college sports guy and everybody's not an NFL guy. So if I'm going NFL, I got to go Jags to keep it local. I'm going to support my home team here, um, but I grew up being a massive college football fan and I both graduated from Florida state, so I cheer for the state hard man, I, and you know, I think one of the things that I've really failed at as a dad is I have not actually gotten my daughter to a Florida State football game yet which I'm ashamed of myself for that.

Matthew Wells: 52:01

But I got to start getting my kids to the games because I grew up going to them and obviously when I was a student there I was at all the games we could go to. So yeah, florida State football.

Chris Grainger: 52:09

Yeah, man, I mean, come on, the Indian out there on the horse and the arrow, she's got to experience that man. I think Joby and his son going there. I'm pretty sure he's going to leave.

Matthew Wells: 52:18

So yes, yeah. So great memories to be had for him too, man.

Chris Grainger: 52:23

That's right, that's right. A little, a little rub there for sure, because he's not going to Georgia, but oh well, you know, yeah. So how about? Uh, how about favorite fruit man? You're a fitness guy, but what do you enjoy eating? What, what, what, what part of work?

Matthew Wells: 52:34

man, so. So I mean I guess if you ask the question some people don't know about you. I could also say I am. So I've gone really far down the rabbit hole with nutrition and with how to eat and how to the best way to help my health and specifically brain health, because, you know, specifically because of my mom and the Alzheimer's, my grandma also died from Alzheimer's. So in the last couple of years my outlook and my take on nutrition has shifted massively. So I've done a ton of research about health and nutrition and how to live your best life and how to most impact your brain health, and started off with ketogenic diet.

Matthew Wells: 53:11

You know I eat a ketogenic diet because that being the process of ketosis and the ketones is the best for your brain and that kind of snowballed into being primarily a carnivore. So you know, I would say 90% of what I eat is animal product. I, you know, I eat a ton of red meat which people are oh, you're going to die of a heart attack. You're going to this, that and the other. And you know again I said earlier, the conspiracy kind of stuff. You know I've read a lot of books and a lot of different things about cholesterol and the cholesterol myth and you know what what modern medicine has taught us about nutrition, versus what actually may be really true about nutrition. And you, you know, I'm not the, I'm not the dogmatic carnivore guy like you see, going nuts on on social media like you know, carnivore and stuff.

Matthew Wells: 53:52

But I do feel the same way they feel. I mean I've I've shifted to when I, when I'm eating, when I most. I mean I'm a steak guy, I eat steak and it drives my wife bonkers because I could eat a ribeye every meal of every day. And I am not just okay with that, I'm ecstatic about that because I love a good ribeye man.

Matthew Wells: 54:11

I mean I love it, I look forward to it every day. Even though I had it yesterday, I'm like I can't wait for dinner. I can't wait to have my ribeye dinner. I can't wait. And so I could eat the same thing every day and be perfectly satisfied and content. So yeah, I mean I'm a steak guy. I eat steak far more than most people would imagine. I would say probably five nights a week I have a ribeye for dinner. No-transcript.

Chris Grainger: 54:48

There you go, brother. I absolutely love it, man, love it. So, when you think back over the last year, what'd you spend too much time doing?

Matthew Wells: 55:06

year. What'd you spend too much time doing? Um, probably too much time probably spent just through binging tv shows. You know whether I tend to. It always starts off with because I mean, let's be real, there are so many good shows and there's so much of it available to us across so many different platforms. If it's not netflix, then it's, then it's many different platforms. If it's not Netflix, then it's Hulu. If it's not Hulu, then it's Amazon Prime. If it's not that, then it's Peacock or Paramount or HBO Max, whatever, or Apple TV, and every network's got good shows.

Matthew Wells: 55:28

And I've always been a movie buff and being a movie buff shifted into being a bit of a show buff for good shows. It was for good television. I'm pretty specific and I got to find a show that's really a good quality show. But I always find a show I'm like, okay, I'm going to watch, I'm gonna limit myself to one episode, one episode a night. So I just, you know it's, it's either a 25 minute sitcom or an hour long show, one a night, and then I'm going to move on to something else. Well, I'm human and one episode a night will ultimately and inevitably sometimes lead to two or three, and I know it in the moment. I know that I should stop. I'm not reading anything right now. I should be reading, or I should be writing, or I should be working on something from work, you know, and one more episode, so that's definitely my guilty pleasure, and I spent far too much time binging shows that I probably should be doing other things.

Chris Grainger: 56:18

I'm with you, brother. I love the honesty man. That's real. Let's do a couple more here. So when you think about God just overall, what's your favorite thing about him?

Matthew Wells: 56:33

I would say my favorite thing about God is just the absolute sense of forgiveness and I can't wrap my brain around the forgiveness. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that I can slip and fall and stumble and fall into the same filthy pits of muck and mire and despair and depravity and then ask God to forgive me for the same thing that I've asked for forgiveness for a thousand times before and know that God forgives me for the same thing that I've asked for forgiveness for a thousand times before and and know that God forgives me. And I questioned that. I mean, if there's anything I'm apprehensive about, and I questioned the sincerity of it, I often find myself questioning God, can you really forgive me? I mean, is it really possible that you can forgive me again for the same thing that I've asked for forgiveness for so many times? Um, but I know, ultimately my heart that he does. And Um, but I know ultimately my heart that he does, and that's hands down.

Matthew Wells: 57:22

My favorite thing is the fact that, uh, that God can model that forgiveness and that modeling of it is something that we should try to mirror for our own children. You know, and cause how I mean, let's be real, if my wife does something a few times and she's asked forgiveness for it a few times. Well, I'm already holding a grudge against her, because why are you doing it again? You've already hurt me that way. Now you're going to do it again. You want me to forgive you again Really? I mean, how many times you can ask for forgiveness for this or the children same thing You're going to? You did that yesterday. You got in trouble yesterday. You're doing it again now. I mean you want to forgive you again really, but meanwhile God forgives over and over and over you know, so that's my favorite thing for sure.

Matthew Wells: 58:03

Love it, brother. Let's flip it 180. What's your least favorite thing about the evil one? Oh, that's a good question. Least favorite thing about the evil one? Gosh, maybe the mind trickery and being able to twist our brains into thinking that we can't be forgiven, or twist our brains into doing the thing that we want to be forgiven for. You know? Um, yeah, I remember I think it was mere christianity, that from cs lewis years ago, I read where he talks about just the fact that that demons around us can latch on and and trick us into thinking the little things don't matter.

Matthew Wells: 58:34

The little things are are what deceive us and trick us. And you know, I find myself sometimes wondering if I'm under attack and these little itty bitty spiritual attacks that we don't really consider attacks but they are because it puts our guard down, lets our guard down, and we allow the attack to come in. So, you know, when I say my prayer and I typically most days I'll pray the armor of the Lord over me, you know, I pray for the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, all those different things, but I always say the shield of faith, you know, protect me from the demons, attacks from the arrows and the darts and the venom they spit at me, because he's ruthless and relentless and and he never stops. The attacks never stopped coming. And the irony of it is, the more dangerous you become as a as a as a Christian, the stronger your walk becomes, the harder he attacks you know he doesn't back off and go.

Matthew Wells: 59:20

You know what this guy is impenetrable fortress, Don't even bother. He's like no double down, go harder. Need more legions to come against this guy? So yeah, I mean there's. The answer, I guess, is the tenacity and the relentlessness with which he does attack us 100%, brother, 100%.

Chris Grainger: 59:37

What do you hope the listeners Matt remember the most from our conversation today?

Matthew Wells: 59:40

buddy, man, I would just say that, as fathers, I think that so often we doubt ourselves and we get stuck in the cycle of not believing that we're doing a great job and imposter syndrome, that kind of thing.

Matthew Wells: 59:59

And I know that as long as we are actively pursuing our children the same way that God actively pursues us, and we're really trying to spend time with them, that we're doing a good job. And I think that most men don't realize what a good job that they are doing as a father, especially if you are just taking active, intentional steps to spend time with them. I question often enough, you know, whether or not my, what I'm saying to my children, is heard or perceived. But I think that they, you know, they catch a lot more than we think that they catch. And if they know that we're trying to spend time with them, even if they're, you know, being a preteen 12 year old kid who wants to do their own thing, I think that the very least, even if she doesn't want to spend time with me, she knows that I do want to spend time with her and I think that matters 100%, brother 100%.

Chris Grainger: 1:00:41

Where do you want guys to go to connect with you, learn more, just to see what you're doing on a daily basis?

Matthew Wells: 1:00:47

Well, I mean, the main place would be LinkedIn. That's the platform I definitely have the most traction on. So just Matthew Wells on LinkedIn, and I'm the guy that has all four. Actually, I don't know what my profile picture is right now, but, matthew Wells, you'll find me on there. I also have an Instagram account and a TikTok account, a Facebook account and stuff too, but they're just there to have them. I never really do anything big on those ones. So find me on LinkedIn as Matthew Wells or on YouTube as all as Wells A-L-L-I-S Wells.

Chris Grainger: 1:01:18

There you go, there you go, guys. We'll sync that stuff up in the show notes for you guys out there listening. So, matt, anything that you'd like to share today.

Matthew Wells: 1:01:25

brother, man, I'm just thankful that you had me on today. I'm thankful for the conversation and, yeah, I look forward to continuing to listen to hear. I mean, when I do things like this, I'm always I come into it going, man, I've heard so many amazing guests on your podcast and so many guys who I have so much admiration and respect for. I'm just humbled that I get a chance to talk here on the same platform. They did, man Bro, this has been awesome.

Chris Grainger: 1:01:47

This will be a great one, and just thank you so much for your time today. Buddy, of course, brother, are you a manager, solopreneur or business leader? Are you a husband or father? Do you have people counting on you to guide and direct them personally and or professionally? Get the guidance and confidence you need at the Summit Leadership Development, an intensive, biblically-based mastermind group that transcends the boundaries of conventional leadership. Where there is no vision, the people perish. That's why we focus on the perfect, inerrant Word of God to become strong men and leaders in our business, home and community. Join other men who are ready to speak and embrace truth. Learn how to refine your approach and become a beacon of light in a dark world in all aspects of life. Our intentional monthly sessions will give you an accountability partner to dig deeper throughout the month. The summit is empowering leaders like you to amplify their influence in the workforce, home and community. Don't miss this opportunity to become a strong leader in a weak world. Secure your spot today at the lion within dot? U S slash leadership. That's the lion within dot? U S slash leadership. All right, guys, I told you that was going to be a good one. So Matt is awesome. I absolutely just love everything he's doing, the things that he says. He's very transparent as well on the things that he's not trying to be fake at all. So I highly encourage you to go to LinkedIn. Connect with him on LinkedIn. While you're there, check out the Lion Within Us page as well. Connect with us there. You can find me on LinkedIn also. Matt's just doing some great stuff, and I want you to think about this who's responsible for your child's spiritual growth? Who do you think that responsibility lies? Because if there's any answer, that's not you. I'll tell you what as a father, you're missing it. You're missing it. This can't be outsourced. You need to take the primary lead here and I'm hoping the conversations like this with guys like Matt are going to encourage you. It's going to recognize you're not going to be perfect when you do this. None of us are, but we're striving every day to point them to the cross and for them to discover and deepen their relationship with Christ. So, guys, hopefully you enjoyed this one for sure. Head over to thelinewithinus. Connect with us there, give us a rating and review.

Chris Grainger: 1:04:20

We have our discipleship mastermind groups, guys that are wide open. They're cranking, looking forward to so many of those ways that we can serve people there and again, all that stuff is within our community. So join us for a 30-day free trial. Get started in our community. Start seeing the different ways that we try to serve. We try to grow. We're trying to help these men be the leader God intends them to be.

Chris Grainger: 1:04:42

And I'm telling you, if that's you, if you feel like you're on the fence, you're trying to figure this out, I encourage you to lean in. Just lean in. Let's have a conversation. Let's see how we can help you. Plug in, do what God's called you to do. Recognize you cannot outsource this, nor should you try. All right, so the lionwithinus find all our resources there. The Bible app you'll find all our devotions there. Guys, we try to put stuff in front of you in areas and ways that serve you well. So I appreciate you listening to the show. Come back on Friday. We'll have some fun Friday tips as well as a couple of dad jokes for you. Looking forward to hanging out with you guys. All right, so get after, have a great day and remember, just keep on leashing.