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, fellas, fun Friday time. Let's get into it. You made it to the end of the week. Hallelujah. All right. So the scripture of the week this week is in the book of 1 Kings, the 19th chapter, and ver verses 11 and 12. Again, they're kind of long, but it's important to understand them together, okay? He said, So he said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and powerful wind was tearing through the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And then after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in an earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing. Guys, love, love, love that scripture. Hopefully you enjoy it too. Again, if you want to have a more in-depth reflection on those two verses, our spiritual kickoff episode, which will be two back in your podcast feed, is where you can find that. Okay. So go check that out. Hopefully you enjoy that, fellas. It's all about simplifying and applying God's word to our life. And again, if you really enjoy the spiritual kickoff episodes every week, we do a daily spiritual kickoff within our Lion Within Us community. And the cool part is we just give that away. This part free, it's just something we just do to encourage you. So if you're looking for a little more encouragement in your walk, you like what you hear on the podcast, you may like what we do on a daily spiritual kickoff. Okay, so head over to thelionwithin.us. Don't forget the the the T-H-E, LionWithin.us to get started. Okay. So last episode was with Dr. Kelly Flanagan. Absolutely thoroughly enjoyed that time with him. Uh just getting a chance to unpack his book, Lovable. This again, this book's been out for quite a while. But Dr. Kelly, just a phenomenal guy, loved just hearing his story, his testimony, uh really just being honest from the very outset of the conditional love that he had for his wife, how he put parameters around that, how that impacted their marriage. And uh just just we talked a lot about shame um so far as um our wortliness, guilt, uh, vulnerability. There weren't many areas we didn't cover that guys aren't dealing with and struggling with each and every day. So I'm telling you, if you get a chance, go back and listen to Dr. Kelly. Uh, he's trained in this area and he brings such a godly uh insight and wisdom into how he's trying to serve and encourage others. So I just thoroughly enjoyed it and hopefully you did too. All right. All right, fellas. So let's get into it. So for a fun Friday, we always do a health, wealth, and a self. That's kind of like the pillars of lying within us: health being, mind and body, wealth being, career and finances, self-being, husband and father. Like how do we improve in those areas? How do we grow in those areas? We're always working to get better, right? So the health tip this week really is more of a mind thing. Uh, and it I want to just bring us back to that daily time with the Lord. And that daily time with the Lord needs to include some time of being still and being silent. And this is hard. Okay, this is extremely hard. So, what we have to do is, guys, we've got to challenge ourselves. We maybe even set some timers. Okay, start with a minute, literally one minute, and just see hey, can you just be still, be quiet, and listen to God for one minute. And for you super Christians out there, maybe work your way up to five. But this is gonna be a time where the evil one is not gonna like it. Okay, he's gonna do all he can to distract you, to throw notifications at you, to make your phone go off, whatever it may be. But you have to lock in right here, okay? And the key is intentionality and being still with God so that you can hear that whisper, right? So it may mean, practically speaking, guys, that you gotta put the phone in another room. You know, Dr. Kelly talked about this a little bit, like literally get that phone, that device off of you so that you can have uh that one less opportunity for distraction. You know, a lot of times when I do my quiet time, I do it right here in my studio. Problem with that, as I as I reflect on it right now, is there's way too many distractions here. Like from books to monitors, I got a big TV screen back up here. There's way too many ways to be distracted. So if I'm gonna do that in this environment here, I gotta have all that stuff off. So for me, typically what that looks like, get outside. Just get outside without your device and be still with him. All right. Now, for your wealth tip this week, consider adjusting your emergency savings uh with life events and for different stages of life. If you're a single guy listening right now, bro, you you don't have that much you need to be uh accumulating for emergency in the future. You know, you could literally have one to three months of emergency savings and you're probably good. But as you grow in stages of life, and maybe you grow your family, you get married, or you start having kids, all these things, your savings and your emergency fund are gonna be more and more important as those things and events happen, right? So, as a minimum, this is just a typical rule. You should have enough cash if you maybe you got two kids and a wife and mortgage and all that stuff. You should have uh an easy access to an account, a liquid account, with maybe three to six months of necessary expenses. Okay? That'll give you some peace of mind if the unexpected happens. Maybe you lose your job, you get hurt, you get sick, or whatever it may be, can't work, you'll at least be able to pay those bills for that limited period of time and not put yourself in a in a compromise situation, right? So again, this is just good stewardship, and this is what we're all about the line, just giving you practical ways to be good stewardship. So think about that emergency fund. And then look, once the kids get out of uh out of the house, maybe you go you're in a season where you're empty nesters, you probably don't need that six-month emergency fund. You may be able to back that thing down to three. The thing is, have the conversation with your spouse, can really talk about that. This, be intentional about it, and then adjust as you go. Okay. All right. Cell tip. And I completely just took this from Dr. Kelly, but write letters to your kids. Just write letters to your kids. I mean, he really got me thinking hard about how making memories that last for our children is should be such a big idea. And uh that the whole idea of writing them a letter really has me intrigued, man. I think that's a super cool idea. It's a very simple act, but it could be some of the most memorable type of items that we give our kids, fellas. Uh just think about the level of impact you can that you can make with the words that you give them. And here's the thing you get the time to think about them, right? Because so much time, so many times with parenting, it's it's in the moment. It's happening now, now, now. What's next? What's next? And a lot of times that is just simply reaction. This thing is has has has occurred. Now I have to respond to it. And let's just face it, sometimes, guys, we don't respond the correct way. We I know I don't. Usually, if I'm responding, it's usually if it's quick, it's usually harsh, right? So I have to be careful here. But when I take time to write, I can be a lot more thoughtful. I can be a lot more intentional. I can just dig deeper, be more, be vulnerable. So those are areas to consider, fellas, particularly as you start thinking about making the impact and speaking the words of life over your children. Okay. So there are your three tips, fellas. Your health, wealth, and yourself. Daily time should include silence and being still, wealth time, adjusting that emergency fund, you know, due to the stage of life that you find yourself in. And the self-tip is writing those letters to your kids. All right. So the book of the week, again, we talked about it all week right here, but here's a copy of it, fellas. It's called Lovable, Embracing What is Truest About You So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life. Love this from Kelly Flanagan, or Dr. Kelly Flanagan. So go check that out, fellas. You can find it on Amazon, any of those other places, but highly, highly encourage you guys to get a copy of this one. It's uh you're not gonna be disappointed, okay? Our dad jokes right here. So we got two dad jokes, and we got two dad jokes this week from members of the line within us, specifically members of our line within us leadership masterminds. They sent me these, so we're going to use them this week, okay? So the first one is how can you tell when a bucket gets six? You so you heard me right, a bucket, okay? Well, first of all, it becomes a little pale, all right. So thank you. That's a good one right there. So thank you, Mark, for sending that one in. You are the man, brother. The second one is what kind of man was Boaz before he got married? Hmm. What kind of man was Boaz before he got married? Well, he was ruthless, that's right. And fellas totally loved that one. And this was sent in from our very own uh Pastor Brent. He is part of our line within us community as well as in our leadership mastermind. He sent that one in. So, Pastor Brent, thank you so much for that one. Mark, appreciate you for the first one. So, you guys voted up. Which one do you like best? How can you tell when a bucket gets sick, it becomes a little pale? That's number one. Number two, what kind of man was Boaz before he got married? Ruthless. All right, fellas. I love them both. So I'm anxious to see what you guys come back with. All right. And again, if you have a dad joke that we haven't used on the Lion Within Us and you want us to use it, hey, support at thelionwithin.us. Submit your dad joke, and if we use it, we'll give you a shout out on the show and even hook you up with some free some free resources just for helping us out, okay? All right, fellas. Question of the week what noise in your life drowns out God, drowns out God's whisper. I don't know what it is for you. I know so much of the time what it is for me, it's the it's the distractions, it's the technology, it's all that stuff. Maybe that's the same thing, maybe that's resonating with you as well. Once we identify it, then we can address it. But first thing we have to do is identify it. So, whatever that thing is, fellas, identify it and then take it to God. Like, all right, Lord, I am really struggling right here to hear you because of this. Help me. And I'm telling you, if you just seek and ask him and help him, help is available. All right. So, guys, thank you so much for listening, for hanging out this week. Thelionwithin.us is where you find all our resources and the ways we try to help, serve, and connect with guys. Please go to the website, check it out, join the daily spiritual kickoff, join the community, uh, as well as put in an application for the leadership mastermind, see if that would align for you and your goals and things that you're trying to achieve in your life, fellas. This is what it's all about at the Lion Within Us. Okay, so all these different resources are available to you there. Okay, so thelionwithin.us. You're also, if you're on the Bible app, open up the Bible app so you'll find us there. Search for the Lion Within Us. You'll see all our resources right there on the Bible app. Fun, fun ways to connect and try to serve right there with you, fellas. Okay. Anyway, thanks for listening. Thanks for hanging out. Appreciate you guys for just spending time with us this week. Give us a rating and review if you don't mind. That would be incredible. And then hopefully we'll see you next week, fellas. All right. Well, have a great weekend. Get after it and just keep unleashing the lion within. If you're like me, you don't need another book just sitting around collecting dust. What I enjoy is something to help guide me when my feet hit the ground in the mornings. And that is why we put together Unleashing the Lion Within. It has honest stories, scripture you can apply, and simple steps to help you lead at home, at work, and everywhere in between. So if you've been feeling stuck or scattered lately, you may find this resource encouraging. Read a few pages. Take one step and watch what God does with your obedience. Hey, and if reading's tough for you right now, no problem. The book is also available in Audible version. So you can listen on the go. So if this sounds interesting, check out the LionWithin.us slash book or search for unleashing the lion within directly on Amazon. So there's no pressure here, just a resource that many guys are finding helpful. So grab the format that fits and take your next step.