I want you to imagine that you are on the beaches of Normandy, France, in June 1944.

If you're not sure what that would look like, just think about the opening scene of the movie, Saving Private Ryan.  That's where you are.  You're on a boat just off the shore of Omaha Beach.

Thousands of men have already gone on ahead of you but you haven't seen the carnage yet.  Your gut tells you it's going to be bad but you have no idea what to expect when the backend of that boat lowers and you finally see it yourself.

There is death and destruction everywhere.  Bodies ripped open by sniper rounds that are, even now, ripping through your buddies standing right next to you.  If you don't hurry (and get very lucky), the next round could tear into you.

Everywhere you look, men - boys, really - are frozen in terror, paralyzed with fear, refusing to move and losing their lives.  It's a tragic scene that you're caught up in and the damage is overwhelming.

...

What's the best advice you could give to a Christian dad when it comes to parenting?

Here are 7 ideas that come to my mind:

1. Pray.

There are SO many times that my wife and I were unsure of what to do in a particular parenting situation (and still are!). It’s very challenging to know how to respond to each situation that you face as parents.  Let's be honest, actually, and say that it's impossible to know how to respond to every situation the right way. There’s no rule book or guide that you can easily look up the situation that you're facing and quickly or easily say, ‘Oh, there’s the answer I was looking for!’. So, you just do the best you can and cover each and every day in prayer.

Speaking of prayer, I would pray this consistently over all of our girls:

“God, please help my girls to love you from an early age and help them to love you faithfully all the days of their lives. Help them to never give up on you or turn away...

Do I have what it takes?

Am I powerful enough to handle this?

Am I real man?

These are the questions that men wrestle with along their journey of life.  And, as John Eldredge says in his book, Wild at Heart, "Men are haunted by the question(s) or crippled by the answer."

Haunted By The Question

I remember my own story (one of many stories!) of wrestling with these questions.  I was probably in 4th or 5th grade and there was a kid at school who kept teasing me and making me scared.  That probably wasn't hard because I was afraid of everything!  But, it was really bothering me and somehow it got mentioned when I was home one day.  

I remember talking to my dad about this and, with my dad being a godly man and a soft-hearted guy, I really thought I knew what he would say.

"Son, you just gotta walk away.  Boys can be mean but Christians walk away and be 'the bigger man'".  

But that's not what he said.  Instead, it was more like this:

...

Want to listen to more of this conversation?  Subscribe & Listen to Podcast Episode #9

Have you ever seen something that you're not familiar with and thought, "I wonder what's for?"  Or, "I wonder what that does?!"

I was driving in my truck the other day with my youngest daughter.  She hasn't been allowed to sit up in the front, passenger side seat yet because she's too short and it's against the law (and unsafe).  But as she's gotten taller and older, we've been able to let her do this more (much to her great delight since she can now have a seat with a warmer for the cold winter months here in Michigan!).

As we were driving along the other day she began to go through the glovebox.  She kept pulling things out and was asking over and over, "What is this?!"  "What does this do?"  "What's this in here for?".  There were things like our insurance and registration packet, paperwork from service that's been done on the truck from...

Today's One Big Idea:  Every man wrestles at some point with this question:  Do I have what it takes?  The good news is this:  No!  But Christ does...and Christ in you is enough.  You are complete in him.

Listen to Podcast Episode #8 to hear more.

Let me tell you a story about my friend, Andy.

Andy Average is an average, Christian man.  He's a nice guy who does nice things and lives in a nice home and has a nice family.

Andy goes to church every Sunday (or at least most Sundays).  He pays his bills on time, loves his family, and seemingly doing "good", by all accounts.

But Andy knows something that most men know of their own story:  He has settled in some ways.  He's stopped going all-in for a bigger life.  He knows he was made for more.  Knows that Christ offers more.  Knows that he's not having the impact that he could.  Knows that time is running out.

But Andy is comfortable and cozy and he's settling...

Today's One Big Idea:  

Jesus the man was a fighter.  That is our heritage and that's who we come from.

 "If a boy is to become a man, if a man is to know he is one, this is not an option.  A man has to know where he comes from and what he's made of." - Wild at Heart

Where do you come from?  Who do you come from?

Those are good questions to ask.

I come from a man who was super nice - but also had a tough-guy streak in him apparently, too.

One of my favorite thoughts of my dad was that he was a golden-glove boxer in high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  He is a southpaw, lefty and he's got fast hands.  I always imagined that he was probably a great boxer when he was younger.

Me?  Well, I was good at other things, I suppose, but getting punched in the face and taking on a fight was never one of my finer skillsets or ambitions.

In fact, anyone who knows me well knows I was VERY wimpy as a kid.  I was afraid of...

"For if you are going to know who you truly are as a man, if you are going to find a life worth living, if you are going to love a woman deeply and not pass on your confusion to your children, you simply must get your heart back."

- John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

I know what you might be thinking when you read a quote like that.

For a lot of men, any conversation about the heart is an instant "eye roll" or "here we go again with this soft stuff!" kind of feeling.  I get it!  I really do.

But bear with me for a minute because I think John's on to something incredibly important for us men that we need to hear.  If you find that this doesn't apply to - great!  No harm, no foul.  

But what if it does?  What if you're one of the millions of men who is dealing with some of the common things that are keeping you back from the life that Jesus offers and you don't even know that your heart is the real issue?

Let's look at some of the signs or symptoms and see...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16

Maybe you've heard that before.

Maybe, though, you wrestle with if it's actually true for you.

Sure, God loves the world - but me?  Little ol' me?  Insignificant me?  Continuing-to-fall-in-sin me?

For some men, this struggle is very real!  They believe that "God is love" and they recognize his loving kindness in their lives in many ways.  But to genuinely believe that he not only knows you but loves you like he loves Jesus?  

That's just too much for some of us to truly believe.

Here are 8 signs that this may be true for you and 2 ways to deal with this issue:

• You secretly don't like yourself or you struggle to know who you really are
• You're tormented by voices from your childhood 
• You're constantly looking for (and desperate for) approval from others
• You're critical of others
• You...

What does it mean to be a godly man?

What does it look like?

At Get In The Fight, we are aiming at specific tenets or strategic ideas that help us demonstrate what the marks of a godly man look like in action.  They are:  Honor, Discipline, Strength, & Joy.  These are the foundational elements that make up the life of godly men.

Today, then, we want to look at the primary verse that we use at Get In The Fight ministries and share what we think are 5 clear marks of what it takes to be a godly man.

Here's the verse that we use:  1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (NASB)

"Be on alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Do everything in love."

 Let's take a closer look at each of these 5 marks of godly men.

Be On Alert

Have you ever gone on a hike in the Southwest or maybe on a trail like the Appalachian Trail?  If you have (or maybe even if you haven't), you'd know that there are potential dangers all along the trail. ...

Honor is kind of an old-fashioned word.  Its meaning may be confusing, or maybe its just an idea that is fuzzy at best to most of us.  But on our journey to becoming the man that God meant for us to be, we must embrace and understand this ancient concept.

As one of the 4 Tenets, or key principles, of Get In The Fight, Honor is central to what we understand as the core of a biblical, Christian man.  Because of this, it is imperative that we look closer at this key idea.

To be a man of honor is to live life with a sense of purpose and integrity. It is to be truthful, honorable, and just in all your actions. Becoming an honorable man requires creating standards for yourself and living up to them. It also involves cultivating meaningful relationships and living courageously in the face of adversity.

So let's break down what it means to be an honorable man and some ideas on how to become one.

What does Honor Look Like?

Honor looks like having the fortitude (another...