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You’re tired.
Not just physically; though yeah, that too.
You’re tired in your bones. In your soul.
Trying to be a steady husband, an intentional dad, a man of God… but deep down, you feel like you’re falling short. Like you’re carrying more than you know how to hold.
Dad Tired is a podcast for men who are ready to stop pretending and start healing.
Not with self-help tips or religious platitudes, but by anchoring their lives in something (and Someone) stronger.
Hosted by Jerrad Lopes, a husband, dad of four, and fellow struggler, this show is a weekly invitation to find rest for your soul, clarity for your calling, and the courage to lead your family well.
Through honest stories, biblical truth, and deep conversations you’ll be reminded:
You’re not alone. You’re not too far gone. And the man you want to be is only found in Jesus.
This isn’t about trying harder.
It’s about coming home.
Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Dad's Tired podcast. Glad that you are here. Hey, if you haven't jumped into our family leadership program, we would love to have you. I talked to a bunch of students past students this last week and I asked them why they joined and what stuck out to them the most.
And the number one thing that came up was I. Guy saying, I feel like my wife was the spiritual leader of our home for years and years, and I wanted to step into that role. I wanted to give, take that off of her shoulders and start to become the man that I feel like God is calling me to be. So if you feel that, if you're like, man, my wife is actually.
Carried that baton and spiritual leadership and I haven't really led us in that area. And you want to at least team up with your wife in that way to lead your kids, to lead your family to Jesus. This program is going to give you really, really practical tools to do that. It's also gonna connect you with other like-minded men, which is really, really hard to find.
If you wanna jump in, you can go to dad tire.com, click the Family Leadership program, and you can dive into the next cohort. That being said, I'm excited for today's interview, so I'm gonna. Step away, and we will jump right into that.
Greg, I'm so excited to be hanging out with you today, man. Thank you for being here. For the audience who may not be familiar with you, maybe just tell us who you are and what you're up to these days. I have been, uh, married to my delightful wife, Laura, that I have referred to as Princess since I first met her.
Still do, uh, for 38 years. We have nine kids. We're on the tail end. We've got the last two, uh, that are still in the household, one in college, one in high school. And by vocation, I have been a dentist overseeing now two clinics and been into the ministry field, uh, doing men's ministry for about 20 years, part of a pastoral elder team.
And a couple years ago we made the move felt God was saying okay. This is your next step we're gonna move out to, instead of, uh, helping to lead the church, we're gonna try and have an impact on the community. And so, my desire, I've loved doing men's ministry for so long, and I see just such a great need and an impact that a, that a real godly I.
Man can have as an impact wherever he goes. But one of the things that I really noticed in doing, uh, men's ministry for so long is that there had been so many resources that are good, that are available for guys for like, how can I be a good dad even when I'm a tired dad? If a dad's not tired, he's probably not doing something right.
How to be a loving husband that will sacrifice love and lead his wife. But there was this, like this vacant dark hole with what is a man's calling obligation, responsibility and the impact that he can have in the marketplace when he goes to work. And so felt the Lord just saying, let's start moving into this space.
And so as part of doing men's ministry, I took on this and decided to reach out to help men, where they say, look, what's the most important thing in my life, which is my faith? Well, where do I spend? Seven, eight hours a day, four or five days a week for maybe 40 to 50 years. If we can integrate personal, dynamic faith into my responsibilities that take up so much of my waking hours, I.
That is not only gonna change this man in a very deep and profound way, but it's going to impact the marketplace where he works as an owner, supervisor, worker, whatever it is, there's gonna be an impact that had, I just felt that it was like there's, I wanna do my part to try and fill in that hole and, uh, help out.
I. Yeah, ma'am. I really wanna talk about that. 'cause I think a lot of guys compartmentalize those two spaces. I kind of have my family and faith life. Mm-hmm. And I have my work life and those two things don't feel like there's any synergy or blend there. So I do wanna talk about that. But before we get into that, I mean, I have to hit, you have nine children?
Yes. Which people? I had a friend over this week who has one child and he looked at me like, I don't know how you can have four. And I look at you and say, how do you have nine? How did you do? Nine kids? Which. I will, by the way, I'll just say this, I know one of your adult daughters who loves Jesus and is making a profound impact on the kingdom, and so not only did you have nine kids, but you obviously had did it well.
So tell us about that man. What was the decision to nine kids and raise them up? I had an older brother, so I did not come from a Christian home. I got saved right before I came to college. Uh, my wife was not really raised in a Christian home. She was one of three, and after our firstborn, we had this. I think in inspiration, I think God's speaking to us and saying, you know, if we, if we say that God is sovereign over everything, then let's let him be sovereign over the womb.
And we had no intention of having nine kids. God and his sovereignty generally brings him along one at a time. So you get acclimated to the pool, so to speak, one at a time. And I cannot think. Of a different way that I would want my life to live. I loved being a dad. I loved being a husband. And I tell you, I miss, I miss those days of the 15 passenger van.
I drove that around like to work. I would take it to work and it's like you're in this big van all by yourself and it's like, I know it's a status symbol, dude. You know, you don't, you don't have one of these, but yeah, God in the sovereignty gave us nine kids. There was a time when we didn't think we'd have any more.
After our second was born, we went through, uh, three miscarriages, so we thought maybe we're done here. But it's God's sovereign. Yes. So anyway, it's a long stretch of raising kids and pouring into them, and it is extremely satisfying. I love seeing them launched. Love watching what they're doing. Like I said, I still have a sophomore in high school.
I'm still in this fight, so we can't give up yet. Not time to coast. But the thing is, is that when you're a dad and you're engaging in these things, and I think this season of life, many of your listeners, they're in this season. What I've taught with men for years is I look at life and that unfolds in like four seasons.
We have our season of preparation when God is shaping us and we're going through school and training. And then we get into this season, uh, I call it the season of productivity. We're starting our marriage, we're starting our family, we're starting our business interests, and everything starts to grow. And it is the most difficult season of a man's life.
I really believe that. Dad tired. It's a tremendous. Concept in a title for it because you look at a guy's day planner and it's like, what are you doing? Well, I wake up, I've got maybe kids engaged with my wife. I go to work, I come home, I do not, do not grab the adult male pacifier, which is the TV remote and sit in America's number one selling piece of furniture, which is a lazy boy.
Emphasis on lazy and boy, don't do that. It's time to engage. This is where you're bi-vocational, so to speak. Come home. The first three minutes of a guy coming home are the most important minutes of his day 'cause he is setting the tone for the rest of the evening and it's time to engage and you engage with the kids.
Homework, BS, reading, playing, catch, whatever. Leading your family, going to bed probably. Tired, but it's during this season where I feel that the person that is the most impacted during the season is the man. He is learning what it means to shepherd. He is learning scripture and applying it in ways in depths that he's never had before.
He's learning how to sacrifice for the sake of others. He is learning what a selfish pig he is. Over and over and over again as a dentist. There is a universal law that says if you wanna know what's in a tube, you gotta squeeze it. And it's true in life too. If you wanna see what's in a guy. Watch him when he is squeezed and sacrificing and leading your family.
There is squeezing that takes place and it's a wonderful refining time and it's because what's at the end is that this man has been changed and transformed and refined so that he is now ready for even a greater leadership impact. Church, community, business, he still has kids. They're grown, they leave.
Like I said, you know my daughter Amy, we still talk a lot. I have my older kids, they call sometimes daily talk with my wife. We talk over issues, things like that. I. But this season where a man gets really tired is because he is going through a process of something really beneficial for his family, but he is being refined and prepared for something that's even great, having a greater impact when he gets out of that season.
I. Man, there's part of me that just feels like I'm on the edge of my seat because I, I want to just glean all the wisdom you've gone before you've done it. And so I'm like, man, what you're describing is where I want to be. And so I just wanna listen to everything I have to say. I've got a lot of, I've got, my ears are perked up.
I do want to know how did God save you? You said you didn't come from, uh, I was, uh, yeah. When I was in high school, I was a good student and I found my identity in athletics, my desire. Even then, I wanted to go to major university. I went to the university. I got a scholarship that played offensive line at the University of of Iowa.
Banged my head a lot against a lot of guys that have anger management issues. And so that's why I sometimes stutter in these later years. But it was during that time when I had a major significant injury, which all of a sudden crashed me. I had a crisis of identity and I had a friend of mine who said, Hey, you wanna come to church with me?
And what I found at that small, small church in Loves Park, Illinois was the gospel and that. I was broken physically, I was broken mentally and emotionally, and I didn't realize until the first time that, um, broken spiritually. That's when I gave my life to Christ and then had that journey of then being discipled.
I. By, you know, was not raised in the Christian Oak. Came here to University of Iowa, went to a small church here that had, as its teaching pastor, a guy who played football at UCLA, went to Dallas Theological Seminary, and it's like, I'm gonna be like him. That's a real man. And so that's where my discipling journey started of being.
That faith has a grit, that it has a passion that it's worth sacrificing for, and that laying down your life for the sake of your wife and your children is noble and delightful because men are looking for something, Hey, can you gimme something that's worth a fight that's worth not brawling over, but it's like, I want my testosterone redeemed.
And I want it to go in, in a very noble way. I want something that noble that it's men are looking for something that they wanna give their lives to. They know it. It shouldn't be all about me. They know it, but it's like, give me something that I can really give my life to. And you know, for young men that are into their, their family, it's like, here it is, guys.
Here it is. The thing is that the playing field changes so dramatic. You know? It's like you have two kids and it's like, I think I got this. And all of a sudden the third one comes and it's like she is nothing like what I've had. And the other thing is now I got a 7-year-old and it's like, I think I got it Now.
We get into teenage years and it's like, there is nothing more unstable than a middle school, uh, female. And there's probably nothing that smells worse than a middle school male, but it's like. You're challenged all the time and it's like, engage, lead, impact. You're not on autopilot. That's the delight of it.
It's like they're changing and I have got to be able to maybe adapt and lead because we're going somewhere, family, we're going somewhere, and I really think that what kids pick up by watching mom and dad go through life. And if mom and dad are truly and genuinely walking with the Lord, we've got our areas that we need to be refined and think.
Absolutely. But when they see that and they see like, man, I. Who doesn't want a piece of that? Who doesn't want a life like that? Because I go to school, I see the Facebook, Instagram lifestyle, which is so fake. It's like there's gotta be more to that. I see it in what my parents and how they're living and their relationships and things like that.
And there's something, there's a sweet aroma about it, and they wanna be part of it. When you were thinking about God snatching you outta darkness and into his marvelous light and you got choked up there, what was going through your. Mine that pricked that. Oh, the things about what if the trajectory of life, if that hadn't happened and I had, it's like, what if I would've been able to pursue all my worldly desires?
I. Captain of a big 10 football team, marry the cheerleader, get a dental practice. You know, people respect you go out and make the money. And the result would've been this, the blonde cheerleader would've realized what an insecure man this guy is. Hmm. He is insecure. He has this outer facade that he's trying.
He's so afraid of failure. I would've wound up divorced, broke prior suicidal statistic instead, man, I got to fall in love with a with a shorthaired brunette. All my kids will tell you. It's like, when did you meet your wife? Oh, that's the yellow running shorts story that dad likes to tell when he first laid eyes on his bride and having nine kids.
The richness of that, the what if, the trajectory that I was on and God said, no. We're coming back this way. We're gonna set you on a path and your desires that you had. I did. I really wanted to be a dentist. I loved healthcare. And it's like, you know, I had to bring that back and say, Lord, is this what you want me to do?
And it's like, this is what I made you for. Huh? Your desires just need to be redeemed your mind now. And this is what I made you for. So let's go. I used to say it comes from the gut. Sometimes it goes all the way, it comes down from the toes on up. So I, I really, uh, what God has done has been transformational.
You're gonna have to cut this. I know, man. This is stuff that's, this is the good stuff, man. Part of my work journey. Bought a small dental practice. At first, my thought when I was getting outta residency is. I wanted to go to Dallas, Texas. I was offered an opportunity to apply for a teaching position at, uh, Baylor Dental School.
Right across the street was Dallas Theological Seminary. I wanted to go get my master's in theology while I taught. I love to teach. I just love to teach. And then God closed that door and there was a small dental practice here in town, so we bought that. Was able to stay here. It was great. My method. Of growing a practice is that you start a practice and then seven years later, lightning hits it and it burns to the ground.
So you take what you want. That's good. And you say like, all right, we're doing some things that are good and some things that don't work, so let's start again. So we tried that and then all of a sudden there was a catastrophic flood that flooded the place where we're leasing. So, okay, we're gonna start over.
We'll take another insurance check and we're gonna start over. And we got to the place where I was 50 years old. We had a staff of 14. We had no debt. I was a Dave Ramsey kind of guy. Then we had another, first it was the a hundred year flood, then it was the 500 year flood. And this time our all-inclusive insurance policy did not have flood insurance.
And so we were ruined and we had nothing. And God provided and God said. Let's continue on. Dave Ramsey is, is good, Greg, but uh, the bank is gonna give you as much money as you want because you're a good client. And so we rebuilt and uh, we rebuilt and we rebuilt and we continued to grow and expand. I. And then about seven years ago, all of a sudden I became disabled.
All of a sudden my hands weren't working. Cognitive fog, things like that. Uh, went down to a clinic that did a lot of, uh, work on XNFL players and they go, yep, you got brain damage. Here's what we're gonna do. You've got early onset dementia. I all of a sudden wasn't working. That had a tremendous impact on the production of our clinic.
We were building a new one. We were right in the middle of it, and that one sat empty for two years because we couldn't find a specialist. It was draining all of our, all of my retirement fund, because I really sensed God said, this is what I want you to do, and then all of a sudden in the process you become disabled.
And it was in that time they said you have early onset dementia with this type. We think the average life expectancy after the diagnosis is seven years. And I'm sitting here on year eight. Wow. I am so grateful for the journey that God has me on. Passion and desire directed in a way that God wants me to go.
I can't think of you when people say, gosh, you have to start over at 50, and you go home and there's nine kids, I. And a loving wife and you know, and some of the older kids like, dad, what's gonna happen? It's like kids, we're going on a journey. We're going on a journey. And it deepened our family. We saw God provide in ways that, of course we've never seen him before.
'cause he, we were never in some of these situations. During that time, it's when God, I think really said, I'm gonna open your eyes, Greg, now to so many things about business and work and leadership, because now I'm preparing you to go out and speak and help and fill that void that you saw before if you would've given me a business book.
I said, just boring. You know, God's good. Let me just do what I am, you know. Marriage and family and church and theology. That was my foundation. And now I think God prepared me and said, now Greg, now it's time. We're gonna take the leash off and let good things run wild with business. It's just a huge passion of mine.
Now, I've been through a lot of stuff, but what God shows us in his scriptures and what God has revealed just through nice common wisdom, the integration of faith into business. Business leadership and faith, you integrate those three. Your faith as a business owner, as a worker, it's going to change. It's going to get deeper, and if you own a business, it is going to get better.
It is because you're looking at it through a different perspective. You're engaged, you take, stewardship is more than writing a check to the church. You're trying to make everything in your business better because that's what a steward does. Making the most of the time that you have. Making the most As, as Paul says, and Ephesians making the most of your time when a guy understands, this is how God made me.
I love numbers. I love building things. I love, whatever. This is how God made me. This is how God has prepared me. And there are these passions and desires that God gives us to pursue things because many times in life we have those fecal fan interfaces and stuff happens and you need passion and desire to get through those and not quit.
And there's the delight of, of sensing. I really sense this is what God is calling me to do. He's given me a real clear vision, a compelling vision, and man, deep and wide, profound and effective, and impactful. That's what the marketplace can be for the Christian. Let God change the man and then let God put that man in some arena and let that impact start to spread.
That's what guys can look forward to on a Monday morning going to work. It's like, yeah, let's see what God has for us today. I wanna honor him, I wanna benefit others. And at the end, I wanna lay down with a great deal of satisfaction. Hmm. Well, first of all, I think I'm gonna use the fecal fan intersection as maybe the title of this podcast,
not take away from all the. Greg. I think most guys don't feel that. I think most guys, you know, my age, and maybe it's because they're in that season, you talked about before, you know, the four kind of seasons of life and, and they're in that like, I'm just exhausted. I'm not waking up on Monday excited about my job.
Like we tell a guy in his thirties. Yeah. Here's one of the problems is that when I did men's ministry, I was like, you know, one of the big section, it was an eight week section that was called a man and his work. Yeah, every time we'd get guys who would come together or if I was, you know, invited to men's conference or something like that to speak on the topic of work, and I'll just say, how many of you guys in your churches have ever sat through and said, Hey, we're gonna go through a series on what God has to say about the marketplace.
No hands go up and they'll say, have any of you guys heard one sermon on the marketplace or work? Nothing. The general default. View of work when it's from the church is that work is seen as like something negative. It can be an idol. It takes away time from the really good things which are like, well, family and church work can be an idol.
There are all sorts of things that can be IDs, but we go back to Genesis. And you know, before Sin entered the world, there was these institutions that God gave. God gave Adam a job. And if you look to Genesis one, two, there's a job description there. I. And then he gave him a, a wife, an za, a helper, a defender, so that uh, the marriage institution.
And he said, alright, the creation mandate be fruitful and multiply. And we usually go, well that's, have babies. That's part of it. 'cause it says, be fruitful and multiply, comma, which means I'm not done yet. Go out. Have dominion subdue the world. Sin had not entered the world yet. Dominion and subdue are very similar to the terms he gave Adam when he said, tend and keep the garden work is a noble institution that God made before sin entered the world, and yet many of the church see is it is like no marriage.
We celebrate marriage and babies, but work, we just kind of say, we just say no, there's something negative about it. It's like. No wonder guys go to work. Drained, defeated, and just like, well, work is just a means to help me cash flow, to support my family and my hobbies. And it's like you can get stuff out of that.
Yeah, work a job and an occupation. A vocation is something that God gives you in order to be able to take care of your family and others, but there's no encouragement. There's no biblical instruction. It is like, oh, just go out there and survive and come home and love your family and wait for Sunday to come.
It's like, no. There's a huge amount of time that guys spend at work and there's no direction. There's no marching orders. There's no vision. There's no calling, and that's why they go deflated. It's like, man, there's, you know, it's like going to practice every day. God gave us football to understand great life lessons.
It's like going to practice every day, but it's like, why are we practicing? Because there's no game. There's no focus. There's no reason. Why am I doing this? Why should I go and sacrifice or invest if it's just for a paycheck? That's not worth a guy's attention. They want more and they have to understand when a guy understands, this is how God made me.
I have certain skills, abilities, and talents. And as I look back on my life, God has sovereignly brought me through times of preparation, whether it's my education, training, mentoring, whatever it is. And I just really like doing this. This is what I feel I was made for. And as, uh, Dallas Willard, he has a great little book, but he said, you know, business is how we love others.
We go to work, and this is how I fit in God's scheme. God made me prepared me. I have these desires and now I really sense a call and a vision to go out and say, this is one way of how I love others. I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and I love others. My neighbor as I love myself.
Here's one way for eight hours a day, I'm gonna love someone else. By serving them, making something that makes their life better beneficial, talking with whatever it else. This is how God made me to love others and to serve others. This is my place on the team and I fit. I'm not just an object. I'm not wasting my time.
I'm using it. It's a total perspective change from a worldly perspective that many Christian men walk in and it's because they've not been properly discipled to know the truth about. It's not just a job, man, it's an adventure. The Marines stole that one. Okay? But there's a calling on your life. You know, just like in the garden, we saw God did some things and he needed no help.
When he created need no help, but everything that he gave Adam to do, God was always with him. And when guys understand, you know what? God made you for this. He's sending you into the marketplace and he's going with you, he's going with you. He said, yeah, but there's no Christians in my marketplace or something like that.
You know what, go out honor God. Serve others. Let them see your life. Your testimony is how you live. And then you may have then a platform to speak and to talk. I. But go out and serve. That's how you love others One way. Yeah. I'm a big fan of a guy named Jeff Vanderstelt who thinks about kind of mission through all of life.
Yep. Like we're we're sent as missionaries. And one thing he says is, you are paid by your employer as a missionary. That's right. God's work. So God's just using them to fund the bill. To Howard Hendricks, the great teacher theologian from Dallas Theological Summer. He said, A career is what you're paid for.
A calling is what you're made for. I like to add to that, and when the two become one, you are in a sweet spot. You are in a sweet spot when you get paid for your calling bonus. Yeah. When you look at the cohort behind you, mm-hmm. What are some things you're seeing that either encourage you or discourage you or concern you about men in this season?
Yeah. As you just kinda look around at guys in from 20 to 40 years old mm-hmm. Who, you've touched on it kind of indirectly. Mm-hmm. Some parts of our conversation today, but what are some things you're seeing from your perspective? One of the things is I do see that so much of their life, if they're not understanding the great value that God puts on work and the calling that God would have on their life and the value that they can have in the marketplace.
When that is compartmentalized and it's like I don't see the spiritual value in it besides. Praying for people or something like that, then your faith starts to get compartmentalized. Men do that naturally. We can do com compartments real easy. The more that we compartmentalize things, the more that we are not living an integrated whole, and our faith is supposed to be an integrated whole throughout it.
And so as a result, they can get sidetracked. They can start to pursue almost like, well, well, I'm gonna start. Uh, coaching an eye surgeon who's in this same age, and, uh, his clinics, uh, came to me. We started conversation. Uh, his clinic's a mess. He's a great guy, great surgeon, sharp, biblically driven. Um, and I said, how did you get here?
And it's like, well, it's kinda like we set up our office and our design based upon what everyone else is doing in our profession. And it's like, because we get no instruction in residency about business or things like that, so we have no instruction. So we're doing it like everyone else is what we're seeing in the world, and as a result, okay, so I mu I must do it that way they're not getting real good instruction.
They're like, you know what? There are concepts, precepts, principles that God has for us at the marketplace and it may change the way that you view or do your business. So there's not that encouragement. The other thing is that. Are there older men who are now coming out of that season where the younger men are looking at it and say, I'm going through this tough season.
I'm raising kids and being in fa, I'm in this lane for a long time. What's the value of staying the course and staying on target? I. To be involved with older men, not necessarily grandpas and guys that are retired, but let's say guys that are in their fifties, who their kids are out of the house, who have walked with God, and it's like, and seeing like, my goodness, do you see how their, their leadership influence is now expanded?
They're in this season where it's like they have maybe more discretionary time, more discretionary income, much more, more wisdom than they've ever had in their life, and they are. They are now providing it for others. They are discipling others, whether it's in the marketplace, in the church, in the community, whatever it is.
And it's like, you know what? When I get through this season of raising my kids, I wanna be like that guy and I wanna talk to this guy, or at least have a relationship with this guy. So I can just say, did you ever deal with teenagers that do this? Oh yeah. Yeah. Do you have one of your kids who are like, they're really pushing back against the faith and saying.
You know what? I've got four kids. One of them does not walk with the Lord. Yeah, I've got one that this is the reality of life they have chosen. You know, what do you do? Stay in contact, love them, pray for 'em, encourage 'em, all those kind of things, like I wanna be like that guy, because that difficult season that many of your listeners are in, that you're in right now.
Where so much of your day is tending and growing my marriage, discipling and growing my kids, and I've got a business, a vocation and a calling that also call for my time, and it's like, that seems to be my day. That's my trifecta. And there's not much outside of that. Why is it worth doing that? Because there is this delightful fruit, not only along the way, but there's something better that God is preparing men for and we're not seeing it so much in the church because I think guys.
They retire and they pursue leisure and comfort instead of, gosh, you are at a time in your life when you've got more resources, wisdom and time, and you are sitting on the bench. You are sitting on the bench and it's like, stop it. You don't take your veterans and say, here, hand out a church bulletin, or, Hey, it's time to the relentless pursuit of comfort.
Comfort's. Okay. But the relentless pursuit of comfort is the great enemy of greatness. And when young men can see that, it's like, do you think God has that? Something like that waiting for me and something, something. It's worth the fight and it's worth getting tired over. It's worth the energy and the exertion because something really good is coming out of it.
That's so encouraging, man, for a lot of this young dads who are still changing diapers and running around and not getting sleep. I was woken up three times last night with two different kids. Yep. You know, and just, you're just exhausted. But just to be reminded that it's a season and that God is still preparing, this is just one of many seasons that it is guide me in and he's preparing me for something.
You know, you talked about having those guys and I, I just feel like I got 30 minutes to sit across from a guy like that where I can just extrapolate that kind of wisdom from you. So thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom with us. Even just, I just wanna say this too, like when I asked you about how you got saved and you took multiple pauses because you got choked up and emotional about that, it's so refreshing, man, because there's a lot of guys who have wisdom and they're saying a lot of wise things and, and clever things.
But man, I just wanna see a guy who really loves Jesus and who is still basking in the joy of his salvation. And to see that in you, you have wisdom, you have experience, you've done it, you're doing it well. And yet the thing that sticks out to me most is you just really love Jesus. And I want to be like that.
I want to be like that. So thank you again for sharing. I'll give you the final. Words here as we part ways, but any last things you'd wanna say to a young guy who's trying his best to lead his family? Well, he's exhausted, but he wants to, he wants to finish this race. You can't do it alone. You just can't do it alone.
You've gotta have some peers that you're going through this with. It's like working out or practicing. It's like there's gonna be difficult times and there's gonna be times of celebration. There's gonna be times of celebration and you need some peers. That close-knit group that you're going with to helping you.
Positive, righteous, peer pressure, where a guy needs to go to another guy at times for encouragement to remind them that the challenge is worth it, and then to share in those victories along the way. That's it. Younger men also need to be somehow to have a relationship, or at least to be able to say like in a church or something like that, where it's like there's a guy, there's a couple of those older men, and I'm not saying like the gray hairs that are in rocking chairs, but it's like older guys who are still like in the marketplace.
Their kids are gone. They're in that next season. It's a discipling. It's like I'm giving, okay, have coffee with them, talk with them. If you got a small group, invite them in just to speak and ask questions, but to just say like, tell me what it's like when we get to that side so that I can go back and I can fight well and I can serve well and I can love passionately because there's something really good that God is doing right now.
Even though the results. Are not yet seen. It's worth it to care for your kids when they're toddlers and infants and teenagers, and it's like. I'm not seeing. It's like, where's some of the good fruit? I've had some victories, but where's real good fruit? It's like you're preparing them, you're preparing them.
It's not all a burden Share in the victories and the encouragement so you can stay in this because it's worth getting tired over, but you need some peers to do that with and you need to look down the road and say. When I grow up, I wanna be like that guy. I need a target. I need to see what it looks like.
I need a visual. I don't need a bullet point. I don't need a meme. I don't need a PowerPoint slide, and I don't need a pat pat on the back. I wanna know what it looks like. I wanna see what it looks like in the flesh. And it's like that guy and that guy, and I wanna grow up and I wanna be like that. That's something that I can see and visualize Jesus in the flesh in that season.
Greg, I've known you for 40 minutes man, and I feel like I could point to you and say, I wanna be like that guy. So you, you've pointed me closer to Jesus. You filled my tank. I have a feeling you're gonna do that for a lot of other guys today. Thank you so much. It has been an honor highlight of my day so far.
Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity. God bless you.
Hey guys, as always, I hope that episode was helpful for you on your journey of becoming more like Jesus and helping your family do the same. Again, if you haven't jumped into our family leadership program, you feel like you've been slacking as the spiritual leader of your home and you just don't really know where to begin, what does it look like practically to do that?
We give you step-by-step tools every day for the next 30 days. What does it look like for you very practically to lead yourself? Lead your marriage, lead your kids, and to think through you as a man heading into the workplace with the gospel. So if that sounds interesting to you and you're at least piqued your interest, you can go to dad tire.com, click the Family Leadership Program and learn more.
I love you guys. We'll see you next week.