00:00 Chris
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast, serving Christian man who are hungry to be the leaders they’re predestined to be. I’m your host, Chris Grainger. Let’s jump in guys are this week. What are we talking about? Endure and specifically building faith for the long run. And I had with me, the guy who literally wrote the book on this Daniel Richie man.

So I’m excited for him, Daniel here, but guys, before we get. Remember the scripture to week Galatians six, nine, let’s not become discouraged and doing good for in due time. We will reap if we do not become weary. So guys, Daniel Richie here, a few things about you. Go go to our YouTube and check this one out online.

He was born without arms, but God has glorified and his difference and has given him a thriving life and Daniel, he speaks to more than 200,000 people every year sharing the good news that a guy. And I’ll tell you what he says, joy to encourage others and provide the hope of Christ and his circumstances while they’re unchanging as many of yours, but God has glorified him and everything he’s doing.

He’s found contentment. And so guys, Dan is actually lives very close to me. He’s here in the central part of North Carolina. He’s got a wife of Heather or 15 years. They have two children, Teague and Elliot Hayes, and they love rain. AP. Uh, those are nights that’s right. Traveling, being outdoors, and being at the beach.

We actually have a lot in common, so I’m excited for this. And so what’s up Daniel, man.

01:28 Daniel Ritchie
How you doing? What’s up? Me and my, my neighbor and basically my neighbor that I’ve never met. Uh Fundly uh, from the meet you.

01:37 Chris
Amen. We’re going to have to hit up a local, a local Mexican restaurant hits some, hits some mud and hit that up and get some tortillas and chips or something like that.

01:44 Daniel Ritchie
Let’s get, let’s get some guns, bro. Let’s do it right. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right,

01:50 Chris
man. So excited man, to have you on here, buddy. And when, when they, they sent me your book and you know, I just read it cover to cover. I just thought it was amazing. First and foremost, maybe just give us some insight, man.

W w what led you to and desire to write this book called in.

02:07 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. Um, man, I think the inspiration for it, uh, it was the, it was the week before lockdown. Um, I’m preaching in church in Georgia. Um, and, uh, and after, um, after the service I was in the back, just kind of greeting people and, you know, as they, as they leave and saying, hi, and, and as I was wrapping up, like three people came up to me and this is in the midst of I’m, I’m a guy, I’m an evangelist.

I have to, I travel and preach every weekend and in other churches. And, um, and at least three people just looked at me and were like, man, don’t stop. What you’re doing. Which to me is weird because it’s like, man, I love. The role that God has me in. I love this ministry that he’s given me. And so I’m like, bro, I ain’t quitting this well.

And six days later, world shuts down. I don’t, I don’t preach for seven months. I don’t have income for seven months and very much so I wanted to stop what I was doing. I wanted to transition and I mean, truthfully, I mean, it really got down to maybe we had about enough funds to make it maybe another month.

And I was like, baby, I’m off. I’m going to have to pivot if. If we don’t start getting, getting back at it and maybe by God’s grace, that, that first speaking engagement came in in September of 2020. Um, but I think those seven months of just waiting and waiting and waiting, that’s what really birthed didn’t do or, cause I think for me, Th, this is just a really practical book of how do we keep chasing Jesus, keep knowing him and keep making him known in, in the everyday parts of our lives.

Um, and, and so I think these were the rhythms that kept me sane in those seven months. And I’m like, man, I think, I think this is something that can help a lot, uh, a lot of people moving forward and not just me for, for that time in my life.

03:55 Chris
No doubt, man. No doubt. And for the listener. The book just came out right this year,

04:00 Daniel Ritchie
earlier this year.

Yeah. Came out February. So it’s, it’s barely, barely been a month.

04:05 Chris
Nice. Hot, literally hot off the presses. Right.

04:11 Daniel Ritchie
That’s

04:11 Chris
awesome. That is so awesome. And we love to bring that, that type of stuff to you guys, right. That it’s fresh. I couldn’t put it down and, and it was once, I mean, I want to unpack some of these case studies cause I thought they were just amazing.

But maybe just start off like H what is your definition of in Durham and how, how do you define that to somebody, man? Yeah,

04:31 Daniel Ritchie
man. I mean, I think endurance is just in the aspect of just to keep at it. I think even, even like your, your verse of the week, this week, Galatians six, nine, For us to just simply not grow weary of doing good for, we will reap in due season if we don’t stop, if we don’t quit.

And so I think for some of us just to simply endure, like some of us are really going through some stuff right now. Like we’re, we’re struggling in darkness. We’re just, it seems like we’re fighting uphill. Endure means, man. It’s like, It might be cloning and scratching and scraping and trying to get by, but I’m not going to stop.

Like I’m not going to stop trust in the Lord. I’m not going to stop making, make him the Lord known in my life. And even if it’s in just like man, just small ways, I think for us to keep at it. That’s, that’s endurance in a nutshell,

05:25 Chris
right, man. Now, for you, for the book itself, you talk about those seven months.

Yeah. You went from full-time employment to, you know, what, what am I doing, man? Your calendar sounded like it just, it emptied. So, so was that when you started writing this, I’m just, I’m trying to get an idea, like when did you actually

05:44 Daniel Ritchie
pay, I mean, pen to paper, it probably didn’t happen until like it was after the fact, it was probably like fall of 2020.

Um, and so, uh, you know, I, I just kind of put the rear view mirror on and I was like, God, How did you get me through those seven months? And, and I mean, you know, to your point, you pointed at the case studies. I think it was looking at guys like Joseph, Abraham, Paul, what God led them through how God sustained them in the midst of either the injustice committed against them or the trials that they had to face or the weight that they had to experience.

Um, you know, those were guys that God used to encourage me. And I was like, man, I want these same guys too, to encourage the reader. Um, as, as they go through this and then, you know, just the really practical aspects of discipleship, evangelism, the word prayer, uh, you know, church membership, all of those things again were just, um, just the fuel to keep me, uh, chasing after the Lord.

06:45 Chris
And I’ll tell you what, as, as, as I love the title too, because it speaks to guys, I think first and foremost, coming into the line with Dennis, we’re trying to serve men, but you know, I think guys get that endurance. Like we, we get it, but it’s also, it’s tough, man. I mean, it’s particularly in the world. We live in it.

It’s hard to enter in it.

07:02 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I’ll no doubt. No doubt. No. I think even in Jesus is called the discipleship. I think we get the glimpse of what it means to follow him when he says, take up your cross, deny yourselves and follow me. And I mean, for us to remember when Jesus says that he hasn’t gone to the cross yet the cross it, and a picture of hope when Jesus says that the cross is a picture of torture and execution as, as Jesus, others, that.

It is no mistake that, that that’s Jesus is called the discipleship. That it’s, if you’re going to follow me, this is going to be really, really excruciating. And so I think, I think for us to realize first and foremost, that it’s like chasing Jesus is hard. And I think if we can put our expectations right there, right out of the gate, I think that’s, that’s what allows us to daily.

I mean, just, just like so many of us are trying to like maybe eat right and work out more. Well, you got to give yourself the good fuel, um, so that you can continue to run the race, to work out, to get into better shape. Same for us in the faith. We got to give ourselves the good fuel. So it’s like, we can keep chasing, keep running.

08:12 Chris
That’s right. I tell you what and. You know, I hadn’t even thought about that. Pick up your cross and follow me, but that cross had hadn’t even happened when he was telling that you’re that, that was very insightful there. So maybe let’s, let’s, let’s pick up a little bit. Cause you mentioned Paul, Abraham and Joseph, and I love to break them down a little bit and give our listeners just some insight to what you know, why you pick them.

So maybe we can start with Paul because you pointed to Paul and your book, you talk about grace and that’s how that’s kind of the theme around Paul that you wanted. To, to focus on. So you know why Paul w and Y grace?

08:48 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I mean, I think for me ever since, you know, I got saved as teenager, Paul was like, my dude, um, just considered, yeah, he was my guy, man.

I’ll I’ll I’ll I love Paul. And, um, and I think in a lot of ways it was Paul’s suffering. Um, that drew me to him in the, in those early days. It’s like, here’s a dude that’s been through. And yet he can still say like Philippians four, like I’ve learned to be content, whatever the situation that I find myself in, or, you know, here’s a guy who’s mark.

Bye. I mean, honestly, God did a lot of good stuff through him, but he also had to walk through a lot of persecution, a lot of hurt, a lot of suffering, but I love how Paul describes himself. He says, you know what, it’s by the grace of God that I am who I am. And, um, and, and to me, you know, especially in that chapter, it’s that picture of grace that even though this guy has a circumstance, a well, a group of circumstances around him at all times, That don’t seem very good or glorious the pulsating.

Nah, it is. It it’s gracious. It’s good. And I think for us to have that sort of grace so perspective that that even though life might not be going according to our plan, there’s still graces. We can count and celebrate. And I think that that’s a, it’s a pretty important habit for the believer to pick up, to count those graces, to, to keep chasing

10:07 Chris
the Lord.

No doubt. Absolutely. And it’s also just from a gas standpoint, I think we need more grapes. Uh, and no doubt guys, man, like this also speaks to you and your wives, like for, for you aligns out that are married. Grace goes a long way for a happy marriage, man. That’s right.

10:26 Daniel Ritchie
That’s right. No doubt. No doubt, man.

That’s that’s a good word. It’s a good one.

10:30 Chris
Absolutely, bro. So I mean, you know, as you, as you look through Paul and, and, and what you’re trying to, to, to talk about there with grace and enduring. You know, you really talked about how to run without relenting relenting. So did that kind of lead you up to that point?

There was with Paul.

10:49 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. Um, I mean, I think, you know, here’s a guy who, you know, I, I think with a very clear mind is as he writes, you know, his, what we think of is Paul’s last letter is he writes to Timothy. When he says, listen, I’ve fought the fight. I’ve finished the race I’ve been poured out. I’ve been rung out.

Um, you know, here’s a guy that, that I think. In a, in a lot of ways, his, um, his philosophy is Philippians 1 21 to live is Christ to die is gain. And, um, and he’s a guy that I think in a lot of ways he did it. I mean, did he have tough moments? Yeah. Did he, did he fail at times? Yeah. Did he? They sin, I mean, look at Romans seven, he says, you know, I know what I should do and I don’t do it.

I know what I should not do. And I do that. Who’s going to save me from this body of this. Um, here’s a guy who had been through it all. And yet I think with a clear conscious, he can say at the end of. I chased Jesus with all I have. And so I think he’s a, he’s a good example for so many of us guys to look to and to go, here’s a guy that ran well, here’s a guy that I want that same thing said to me at my funeral that it’s like, he just loved Jesus.

Well, man, he loved Jesus, love others. And I think that that’s a pretty, pretty good standard for, for us men to aspire to.

12:05 Chris
Absolutely. And not to mention the fact that he wrote a lot of. No imprisoned. And where are you me up against the, literally up against it, like, well, we should just, you talk about throwing in a towel and he’s writing some of the most powerful scriptures we have out there for endurance and faith in growth manages it speaks to it.

Yup.

12:23 Daniel Ritchie
Yup. You’re right. I mean, you know, Paul writes the book of joy, you know, the book of Philippians sitting in a prison cell, not know if he’s going to live or die, and yet he can say I’m content, I’m content in whatever situation that I’ve found this.

12:36 Chris
I strive for that, man. I, I get, it’s hard to get content and we live in these houses and there’s a nice area of North Carolina.

We have all these luxuries, but we still fight, you know, work in 10 minutes. But man, it was, that was just a great message. And I’ll tell you what Daniel let’s let’s uh, I want to jump to Abraham, but let’s take a quick break and then we’ll come back and we’ll let you jump right into that.

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All right, guys, I’m back here with Daniel here and we’ve been talking, we just finished talking about Paul and the case study here, there. So you, again, you got to go get the book. We’re not going to give you everything, but it’s, it’s, it’s a lot there on Paul and then you move to Abraham and he really tied in faith there, Abraham.

So just, just walk me through the.

14:02 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I mean, you know, it’s, it’s the faith of Abraham that stands out more than anything. It’s uh, it’s it’s man, God shows him this, that, you know, God comes, comes out, Abraham, man, this is, this is my dude. This is my guy. Um, Abe Abraham’s faith is tried, you know, countless times whether it’s offering up his son, whether it’s just the wait for the promised son to come to be, whether it’s the weight to see, um, you know, his, uh, his descendants outnumber the stars.

I mean, it’s like so much of what Abraham did and how Abraham lives. Was by faith. It surely was not by siding. And so I think for a lot of us in, in the midst of the unknown, um, you know, again, to think back when I wrote this book in 20 20 million, we didn’t know what the world was going to look like when, you know, when the world was going to open up or, um, you know, it was just there.

There’s a lot of doubt and I mean, same, same for us now. It’s like, we don’t, we don’t know if world war three is going to start tomorrow. We don’t know. Um, you know, what the, what the financial status of the country is going to be in another six months, like. There’s a lot of uncertainty, there’s a lot of waiting.

Um, but I think as we see Abraham’s posture, there was just, he, he just simply trusted. And the one that held his life in his righteous right hand and out of that thing for us is as man again, to realize that it’s like, we don’t have to always have all the answers or all the . We don’t always have to do the right thing.

Uh, but man, we, we do like solidly, solidly day in and day out. We need to trust the right one. And that’s, that’s the creator and sustainer of,

15:40 Chris
of, of the world. You got that right, man. I tell you what the one, what’s one word you said a couple of times there and it just makes me just kind of Twitch a little bit.

Cause I struggled with it so much as the weight, like, you know, the patients, I mean the patients is a fruit. And this is the fruit that I spoiled it, that spools on my tree the most man, I wish it wasn’t. I wish I was better at patience and I, this something I pray for. And then. When you pray for patients, what does God give you?

He just gives you an opportunity to be patient,

16:08 Daniel Ritchie
you know, so that’s right. That’s right. Yup. Yup. I mean, it’s, it’s a, it’s a muscle that has to be flexed then. I mean, same with faith. You know, faith is, is, is refined. Like Peter talks about in first Peter chapter one, it’s a refined by the fire of trial. And so, you know, for both our faith inpatients to grow, it’s, it’s usually afforded in the opportunity to actually work these things out

16:31 Chris
through.

Th the waiting he had to do just the Durance he had to show, but the faith never wavered. Like you said, it never waved her for a second. And just to be asked to even take your son to sacrifice. And I mean, the Bible just makes it sound so simple. Like, yeah, he just got up and went like brilliant. You know, he was debating that, but no, he just got up and went like, and that’s what, it’s that type of faith, you know, just I’m going to obey.

16:58 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I th I think sometimes we, um, It’s almost like we cinematize, um, you know, some of these stories in the Bible, we do, we just like distance ourselves from it. But it’s like, you know, as we read that story of, of Abraham and Isaac insert yourself into that, imagine walking your, your son up a mountain and God calling you to sacrifice him.

When, when, in your mind you’re knowing God, this is, this is the promise one, like this is, this is the kid you promise me. And that I waited for for decades. When are you doing more? Right. Um, and, and yet Abraham still was, was willing to follow what the, what the Lord was going for. And I mean, we know the, you know, Abraham did not sacrifice his son.

Um, but, but we see his faith even even played out and even exercise, even in the midst of that moment, I think to realize that was a costly moment. That was a scary moment for him to walk in faith, but yet God still showed his time and showed his grace.

17:52 Chris
And how many sort of gap? I mean, obviously we’re, we’re trying to serve men.

Thank you. And this was brought up to me by about another guest talking about this story, Daniel. He was like, if you don’t believe in God, just look at that story of Abraham, Isaac. And I was like, all right, keep talking. He’s like, seriously for the hunters out there, there was a, a Ram with his horns caught in a thicket.

He’s like, that don’t happen. You know, like it he’s like that’s God’s hand right there. You know, that was just an amazing just testimony of a mirror. Now that’s right there. It was just one of the points. He just, that he really resonated with me. I was like, I got it. That makes a lot of sense. Cause you know, you

18:29 Daniel Ritchie
never see that.

That’s good. That’s good. Yup. Yup. That’s good, man. God, God provide, even in the midst of it, we provide

18:36 Chris
it. Now leading up to that Abraham area of the book, you talked about reading the word, honoring God and in prayer and you probably just got a few guys squirming when they listened to that right now because they probably not reading the Bible as often as we should.

And we’re prepping for Brian that praying and also praying with our families the way we should have. So maybe any encouragement there that you have, that, that you’ve offered men to, to really get into guys were more and, and from our, for their prayer life, if anything, you would offer up that that works for you or maybe, you know, best practices.

19:08 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I mean, let’s, let’s use a, again to go back to that, like working out analogy, you know, it’s like, If, if, if we’re going to be guys that take the time to go to the gym, well, you, you gotta kinda sorta eat clean. Um, if you’re trying to, if you’re trying to bulk, if you’re trying to build muscle, you need protein to do that.

You, you need to, you need to fill yourself with the right stuff. I mean, same, same for us in Christ. If we’re trying to grow in Christ, we need the right stuff. You know, we need the right intake to, to come into our life. And that is prayer in the word and, and listen, like you don’t. You know, same with diets.

If you, if you go all in on the diet, straight out of the gates, cut out all the bad stuff, and you’re only eaten Lac, rabbit, food and grass. You’re going to quit. You’re going to quit in 10 days, but if you start slow, like, all right, I’m going to cut out my ice cream or I’m, uh, I’m to cut out. Some, some of my, my potato chip addiction or whatever.

And then you slowly started working up to, well, now I’m only eating, like, you know, greens, the veggies, meat, stuff like that. When you, when you gradually do that, you’re, you’re much more liable to, to keep after it. And so for, for the guys listening that are, that are squirming, they’re having them. I mean start small, like even like go download the Bible app.

Like it’s literally, I think you go into the app store and it’s literally just says like the holy Bible or something like that. And if you download it, even in there, there’s like very simple reading plans that take you four minutes a day, five minutes a day. Start there, work your way up. Same with your family.

Like if you’ve never prayed out loud in your life, start with the dinner table and you can pray for the food. Anybody can do. And then move on to praying over the kids at night, as they get ready to go to bed and move to praying over your wife, move to praying over your kids. Like just walk while you’re taking them to school or taking them new ball game.

Like it just, it slowly builds. And so I just encourage guys start small,

21:11 Chris
great advice. I don’t know why you had to start with ice cream, man. You got some against ice cream, but that’s just, you know, that’s for another conversation.

21:19 Daniel Ritchie
Um, I’m preaching to myself, man. I have, I have a very unhealthy ice cream addiction.

What

21:26 Chris
about it, man? Me too. I just, I literally had some for dessert for, uh, for lunch there, but I shouldn’t have said that now my wife would be getting on me, but.

21:34 Daniel Ritchie
Man. That’s a good, that’s a good lunch right there. I

21:35 Chris
like to try to do those calories early, earlier in the day. You know what I’m saying?

There’s just something about, I feel like I got more time to burn them, but who knows?

21:43 Daniel Ritchie
Hey, Hey, I like that. I like that perspective philosophy a month. I’m going to do ice cream for breakfast tomorrow then because then it gives me a whole lot more time to burn all day.

21:52 Chris
That’s right. Yup. Yup. But great, great, great tips.

So on taking your time to stepping into it, you know, cause I’ve seen guys just like you said, you know, jump in all in, on a, on a workout pro. They burn themselves out at the gym. They can’t walk for two weeks and then they, th they’re done right. I mean, you just, you really just need to slow step it and then, but she also, to your point, Daniel, I think your challenge guys too, you can’t just stay stuck.

No, don’t stay just, you know, you’re, we’re not praying just at the dinner table. Like you start expanding it and do family devotion, like you said, maybe you’re driving the kids, you start praying out loud. But I think the. Your, your family, your wife’s just need to see be being more intentional about this and, and growing together.

22:35 Daniel Ritchie
I mean, it’s, you know, it’s like talking to our kids, you know, if our kid comes home with a D plus C minus on, uh, you know, uh, on, on, uh, uh, something at school and we’re gonna look at them and we’ll be like, well, you’ve got to pull. But that’s about it. Like I can tell you kind of sorta, maybe gave it an effort.

Well, I mean, same, same for us. It’s like, if our faith is characterized by dinner table fate, or, um, you know, we’ll maybe glance at a Bible app once and now, and again, if that’s the case for, for 10 years of our life, 10 years, that we’re trying to like lead our family and lead our kids. Right. It’s not a great place.

Like we, we, we gotta do better than that. And so I think it’s, you know, to not be contented. The just to just get by, but to, to keep chasing, keep pursuing, I mean, in the same way, honestly, like crashes pursued us. Right. You know, in the, in the midst of, uh, cause for some of us may in crisis had to really chase us down.

So, uh, I think the challenge for us is to, uh, is to go and do that. That’s right.

23:34 Chris
Yeah. An event in evangelism, it starts at the house guys. So I mean, you know, I mean those kids, your wife, you, you were called to be the leader and, you know, need you to get, start stepping up. I’ll tell you what, you know, Danielle is take a quick, quick break, then we’ll jump in and we’ll talk about Joseph.

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All right guys, we’re back. So we were here with Daniel. We were talking through his book and deer, and we really talked about Paul. We’ve talked about Abraham, some things there, grace and faith. And then he gets to Joseph and Daniel went, once you get to Joseph, you start talking about suffering. So, you know, unpack that a little bit for.

25:21 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I mean, man, you want to, you want to talk about the picture of especially suffering at the hands of others? You know, here’s, here’s Joseph, his brothers, jealous of them. His brothers hate him. Uh, his brothers end up eventually selling him into slavery. Joseph goes off as a slave for, for awhile, works in a.

Works in a pretty high up government officials house, but you know, he’s an outright dude doing all the right things. And I guess apparently so somewhat good looking dude. And, uh, and Potiphar’s wife comes around. Who’s the guy that Joseph works for. Uh, she, she basically like begs him to commit adultery.

Joseph ain about that. And, um, you know, in, in the midst of all of that, him, him back in a way and resisting temptation, well, the woman turns around lies about Joseph said he basically tried to rape her. Joseph gets thrown into prison even more suffers more. And yet even in the midst of that, God raises him up out of that.

He ends up seeing him at the, at the right hand of the king. Joseph becomes one of the most powerful men in Egypt and it’s like, that’s the, that’s the drive-by of just what happened in Joseph’s life. But that was man, that was, that was round about 10 to 15, 20 years. Um, just like hardship that this dude went through, man.

He just, he just went through it over and over. And yet Joseph continued to find favor with God. Joseph continued to proclaim the goodness and the grace and the plans of God. Here’s a dude that he suffered in justice. In heaps and yet once never, never clapped back at the Lord, never gripes, never groans.

Um, just, just trust God with, with what’s next. And I think for a lot of us as men, like, even in the midst of our suffering to realize that. I mean, God’s still on his throne. God still has a plan. Even in this God has, God is bringing about maybe, maybe he’s trying to teach me something about my, my sin.

Maybe he’s trying to teach me something about me. Maybe just trying to teach something about himself and his grace. But I think it’s for, to, for us to trust the fact that even in our suffering, God has a plan. God’s going to do something in us and through us.

27:35 Chris
Absolutely. I’m when you look at. You know, just like you’re saying he had it, he was up against the wall so many times, you know, even in the prison, I mean, he thought he was going to be out.

And then when you look at the Bible, it just, he had to wait like two more years, it’s like, come on. You know, like you were hoping that it would, it would get out immediately, but no, it was two more years of, uh, of endurance and waiting and patience. And it just speaks. I think he’s one of the people in the Bible that we just.

Uh, we don’t study enough and there’s so much that we can learn from Joseph. I just think he’s, he’s somewhat overlooked. Sometimes some of the great heroes of the Bible and Joseph is, is not often talked about, but he should be because there’s a lot to be said for suffering and endurance the way he, he prevailed.

28:21 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah, man, you, you guys want to do a good character study, man. Jump, jump into the old Testament. We read through Joseph there in Genesis, man. There’s some, there’s some good lessons I think for us as men to glean for sure. Absolutely.

28:34 Chris
And you and Joseph, you call it waiting well towards the end of your book, you know, he’d hit, he had to, he had to really, you know, just, just have that patience to endure all that weighty, but maybe explain what waiting well, what that means to you.

28:51 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I mean, I think waiting well, um, in, you know, so many times I think is it’s going to be to, to keep frustration at bay. Um, you know, cause it’s like a lot of times we, again, you know, we’re not patient, we don’t like to wait, like, like we’ve been talking about. But then I think too, it’s like, you know, sometimes we just, we just want things now.

Like we just want things immediately. That’s the way our culture is set up. We can, we can get food in the blink of an eye. Like we can get door dash in 20 minutes, right. To our front door. We can. You know, ask, ask Alexa for the answer to just about anything and get it in five seconds. I mean, we’re very much so groomed to want things right now.

That is not always the way that God works. Sometimes God is at work very slowly, man, to prepare us for what’s next or to answer the prayers that we have for what’s next. Sometimes our, uh, our waiting and our trusting and our hope. Is God at work in the weight. And so I think sometimes we have to go to war against our doubt, our fears, our insecurities, that are going to re-air up in the midst of that weight.

30:00 Chris
No doubt. Absolutely. I’m curious for you, Daniel, the book’s called in deer and you know, during your bio, I mentioned, you know, you, you, you have some circumstances and you were born without arms. You’ve had some really face endurance in your life. Maybe could you just speak. To your personal journey a little bit and help our out our listeners understand some of what you’ve had to endure and how you’ve grown through it.

30:25 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. I mean, you know, in, in the physical sense, man, trying to, trying to make my feet become my hands, I guess, so to speak. You know, th those were times that it did take a lot of work, you know, learn how to write with my feet or learning how to type on a computer with my feet. That just, it took a lot of practice.

It took a lot of trial and error, which meant that it took of dealing with a lot of failure. Um, but, but I think to me, and just, just in the midst of my circumstances, I think, I think it, me being where I am today, you know, it’s like to be. To being not defined by my circumstances. Cause like, you know, I came to Christ at 15, first, 15 years of my life.

I very much so defined myself by my arm listeners, which at times, you know, it can be really cool. Um, you know, uh, most other times it was not a great thing. You know, a lot of times I remember being. Just super jealous of you guys with, with arms. Like, man, it must be really nice to, to open a door, uh, with your hand.

Um, must be really nice to be able to eat a piece of pizza with your fingers and not your toes. Um, you know, there’s a, there was a lot of jealousy, a lot of frustration. Um, and, uh, and that was just because I was seeing my life through the lens of my circumstances. But, um, but when I came to Christ and. To see my life is the picture of being one who is fearfully and wonderfully made one who God has rescued and redeemed for a purpose.

And that, that God very much so was going to use me and my life to show, show the world more of who God was. That that’s really what helped keep me going. It wasn’t like a try-hard mentality. It wasn’t like a, you can do this. I mean, it really was just seeing my life through the lens of how God had formed me and how God had rescued and redeemed to me.

That’s, that’s what, that’s what gave me the fuel to keep going, keep enduring.

32:26 Chris
Right. And it’s absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Now on this, in the book. What do you hope people take away? What do you hope people take away from it?

32:38 Daniel Ritchie
Man? I hope people don’t, you know, it’s like this book super practical.

Like each chapter’s going to have like six, seven takeaway. Man, I am not telling you that by the time you finished, you’ve got to do all 75 of the things that are listed out in the book, uh, you know, for you to make it. Um, but what I am trying to do is just give you a few things that you can bolt onto your life, that you can, these rhythms, that you can start living out in your life, that Lord willing are going to help you to know Jesus better and to make Jesus known in your life.

And so don’t think of it. As prescriptive, like you’ve got to do all these things, so you don’t love Jesus. Um, uh, you know, it’s just my, my hope that it’s like, I’m describing man, just so many of the good gifts that God has given us that, that we have an opportunity to walk in day in, day out.

33:28 Chris
Absolutely.

Absolutely. Now how about there’s? There may be a guy that’s out there right now. Who’s, who’s, he’s listening to this whole conversation, but he still feels over against the wall. Maybe he’s ready to get. So, what do you tell the guys ready to give up around endurance? Any parting advice that you’d like to offer out there?

33:47 Daniel Ritchie
Man, if you’re in that spot, don’t suffer in silence, man. It is, uh, if, if there is anything in scripture and I mean, especially we talked a lot about Paul, you look in the book of Philippians, Philippians four 13. I can do all things through Christ. That gives me the strength. If there’s anything that scripture is pointing us to, it’s the reality that in this life we don’t got that.

Like I, in my own power, in my own strength, I can’t do this by myself. Right. I, Hey, I need God’s help. And God’s. But B I, I need guys around me, like, you know, Galatians says, what is it? Galatians six bear, one another’s burdens. And so fulfill the law of Christ, some of us, like, we need to lay these burdens at the feet of the Lord.

We need to lay these burdens at the feet of other men, because you know what, you’re not the only ones struggling. Right. You’re not the only one suffering and feels overwhelmed right now. There’s a, the vast majority of people are in that boat. So don’t think your brother. Man, ask for help, get encouragement, get accountability, get somebody that can kick you in the tail.

And that’s going, gonna be what keeps you on this path to, um, to, to chase it after the right things.

34:58 Chris
And I mean, that’s really why we built the lines, then guy, guys, we want you guys to be able to connect with like-minded, you know, men that can challenge each other, be the iron, the shoppers iron, and you know, great advice because you know, you don’t have to do this alone.

You do not have to do this alone. That’s right. Um, Daniel, this has been great. So for people that want to connect with you, learn more, you know, find the book, where do you want people to start looking? And we’ll make sure all this is in the show notes, but if you want to give a shout out, that’d be.

35:27 Daniel Ritchie
Yeah. Um, I mean, a great place to start is just Mo my website, Daniel richie.com.

It’s got all my social media links in there. So that way, you know, if we want to interact and talk, um, you know, more, more than welcome to do that. I mean, if you want to bring me into, to come speak to your group, Preach at your church. Um, you know, there, there’s a little tab in there for that. And then, and then there’s links to the book as well, and you can find the book on Amazon, um, you know, and, and get it, get it delivered to your door in 24 hours, man.

So there’s, there’s definitely some options out there for sure.

35:57 Chris
Absolutely. And we’ll make sure all those links are in the show notes guys, for, for connecting with Daniel. And don’t forget the question of the week now know we have for you guys. We brought it up on our SKO and we’ll be back. We’ll be talking about it again on Friday.

You know, when life gets hard, where you choose to endure. You know, the guys you think about that yet you have a choice to make. So Daniel, any, any final thoughts you’d like to have, or you’d like to share,

36:21 Daniel Ritchie
man? Uh, you know, I, I think for, for us as men, it’s like. Endurance seems so big, but you know, like we’ve talked about me and take it one step at a time, take it a little, a little bite-sized chunks at a time.

It’s like, you know, the, our faith matters enough to, to give it a lifetime investment. Our family matters enough for us to give them a lifetime investment in that, and that starts in baby steps, but then too, those baby steps grow. So, so don’t be stagnant. Don’t be lazy. Man invest and give your 110% to the most meaningful thing that you can

36:54 Chris
do as a man.

Absolutely. Got it. You got to step in here guys. So Dan, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much, Daniel. You know guys, if you like, if you like this conversation, you know, share with other people, there’s probably guys out there who needs this encouragement. So take that phone out of your pocket right now, instead of just consuming, actually share it with somebody, you know, send a text messages.

This may be the type of conversation that. You know, go to the line with data, check out our Bible study. Cause that Bible study talks a lot about a lot of this stuff that we wrote just for you guys. It’s free. Go download it, check it out. And we’re here to serve you. Give us a rating and review. And guys, I pray again that you remember Galatians six, nine, and just do not become worry.

We’re here for you. So go, go check us out and joined the lion’s den and unleash the lion within.