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. Alright, fellas, this your meat episode or week. I’m excited to have you here cuz it Why? Because it’s Christmas time. It’s Christmas time is here.

I’m excited. This is a fun, gonna be just a fun episode. It’s just gonna be me here this time, this week, guys. Uh, I, I know a lot of you guys are busy. Uh, I, I wanna save our interviews for 2023. I just had some things I wanna share with you to on this. Around Christmas. Christmas traditions, things that happen with me and my family, things that I’m considering differently as moving forward, particularly that I try to be the leader.

Guys call me to be around this time of year. Now you know how we’re gonna start every episode though. Scripture. That’s right. Scripture. So this week scripture was an out out of Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. For to us, a child is born to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor.

Mighty. Everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Now, if you missed a spiritual kickoff, first of all, shame on you. What’s wrong with you? Come on. No, seriously. But if you missed it, go check it out. That’s, that’s the episode before this. And what I did is I unpacked those four uh, names that Isaiah was referring to, the Messiah, ultimately talking about Jesus, that counselor.

We all need those counselors. We do, but we can’t do this life alone. We need that council to help us when we’re going down the wrong. Nudge us back in the right direction. Mighty God, we don’t serve some weak God. We serve the God of the universe. He is mighty. He is strong. He is powerful. He can put the ocean in a, in a jar if he wanted to.

That’s the type of power we serve, so don’t ever forget that. But he’s not weak, everlasting father. There’s no beginning or end. He’s always with us. And no matter what you’ve done, how bad you think you. You can’t do anything to separate the love he has for you. That’s awesome. I’m sorry. That is just incredible.

Right there. And then the Prince of Peace, as I mentioned on the spiritual kickoff, we are all searching for peace. The rarest commodity on Earth is peace, is peace of mind, and the only peace, the only peace you’re gonna find is through that Lord Savior Jesus Christ. That. No matter you, you can, you can search for peace and a bank account and a bottle of pills, and a bottle, bottle of alcohol and drugs, whatever.

You’ll, you’ll, you’ll search it, you’ll try to find it. And women, right? Maybe, uh, sexual immorality, you’ll, you’ll try to find peace in all those places. Not gonna find it right. You’re not gonna find peace there. Some of the most miserable people out there have so much. From the worldly standpoint and they’re just missing that one thing or relationship with, with our Lord Savior.

So there you go guys. If you missed that spiritual kickoff, go check that out. Hopefully that was a good one. But for this episode, I was just wanna have a little fun on this one. We’re just gonna talk about Christmas traditions. Have a little bit of fun. Everybody has traditions. I’m gonna share some of mine with you guys.

They’ve changed a lot over the years, particularly the closer and closer I get to Jesus. The more special some of these become. And, and look, I know everybody does things differently, okay? So I’m not saying my way is the right way or the wrong way, I’m just telling you this is just our way. So period, I want to hear, I’d love to hear some of your traditions and things like that.

Okay? So let’s just talk about maybe some, some things that, that we do as a family that have, that really help us grow closer to him. And then we’re just gonna talk about some of the fun stuff I do just to enjoy this time of year. So let’s, let’s talk, uh, first of all about some of the ministry items. Okay.

Now obviously we’re plugged in our local church. We serve there. Lo love serving there and, and working with the children’s department. Uh, I teach sunny school there. It’s always a fun ti time to of the year at our church. And we, and we have several different, uh, ministry items that the church does.

Obviously they’re really big into Lottie Moon Christmas offerings, so that’s a big one to serve for international mission. So we definitely wanted to support that and definitely highly encourage anyone out there if you can. If you’re looking for something to support this week. Lottie Moon is a really great organization to consider.

Uh, and then we have a backpack ministry at our church. So our church, we support a, a another church in West Virginia, cuz we’re in North Carolina. Uh, so we support a church in West Virginia every year that they put out a bunch of backpacks with Bibles in ’em, and then the congregations picks the backpacks.

Fill ’em up with all the, you know, the, the toys and the supplies and things like that, and we bring ’em back. And then I think this year we had two trailers. I’ll go up to West Virginia and actually at the time of this recording is, is when we’re, is, when we’re, our team is up there delivering those, those backpacks, but the backpack for our families, it’s just fun.

We get to, we, we, we get a, a certain number of backpacks and then we always have, uh, that special. To, to do the shopping and our, we make sure all the kids are a part of that and they’re, they’re able to go in and, you know, pick the supplies out and they know, okay, we have this many boys, this many girls, this is the age range.

And, you know, we, we let them be part of that process. You know, obviously it has been able to grow over the years, so our oldest is 12 and 10, and then we have our, our 15 month old and our new. So the 1,210 year old, they’re all over, right? They, they love this stuff, being able to pick it out and think through and, and, and, and the cool part is when you go up to check out and you have all these different things, and, uh, you just, uh, hearing that beep, beep, beep and everything, and we’re just, they’re just looking at me like, look, this is all for, for little kids.

We’re making little kids happy this time of year. And then we always have, uh, you know, we come home and we’ll unpack those items and then we. And separate ’em and then package them into the book bags themselves. And the last thing we tr we always try to do is pray over the bookbags. Right. Actually say a prayer over ’em that the Lord’s going to use ’em to, to glorify him and it is gonna get into the hands of the ones that he desires, right?

So that’s always a fun ministry item that we do. And then the, the, um, operation Christmas child, the shoe boxes. I’m sure you, a lot of, a lot of you listeners are. Part of that, and you, and you take part of that every year, highly encourage that. I love doing that. That’s fun too. But same, same deal. Pick a number of shoe boxes that we do.

Our, actually, our, our Sunday school class will do a big number of shoe boxes as well. So we get to kind of, uh, play, play it twice where we, you know, everybody can contribute something for the Sunday school class. And then like for our family, we had, we usually get a certain number of shoe boxes as. Do the same thing.

Go out, do all our shopping with the, with our children. Let them pack it, let ’em package it. Then when we go back to their church, they’re actually the ones delivering it. You know, they’re, they’re, they’re wrapping all that stuff up. They’re, they’re helping bring it back into church, but it’s just a really good way to serve and to get them thinking about others.

There is a new ministry item that I found about this year, uh, that, that actually came from our community. So a gentleman named Brandon Tucker is, is a member of our community. Uh, he’s definitely, uh, just a go-getter. Has a a, a love for Jesus, uh, has been out there. So he, he mentioned Reese across America.

So that’s a, uh, uh, and I’ll, I’ll try to put that link in the show notes as well. A wonderful ministry to support veteran. And, and something that he’s been involved with at his, at his local church. And, uh, he brought that to my attention. I definitely want, I jumped all over it cause it just, it’s such a good opportunity and I look, I get it.

There are tons of different ways to serve and to support this time of year and you’re getting all these different Sure. You know, requests from people, he’s gotta pray. You need to pray. Okay. When it comes to, to giving and supporting, you can’t give, you can’t support ’em all, but you do need to pray about it.

And I think this time of year, uh, let’s be over generous. You know, go, go, go above beyond for, from a generosity standpoint, if that means a few less presence under the tree. Maybe that’s worth considering. Okay. Maybe that’s really worth considering. So, so anyway, uh, another thing that I always do every year is I go back to, to the Paul Barnas and Timothy episode where I talk about that and I, I always take my Timothy, I’m not gonna tell you his name, but I take him and, and we go to Christmas shopping.

Right. And not take him Christmas shopping. He, like I said, his father’s passed away. So we always go and we try to do some things for his, uh, for his grandmother. He lives with his grandmother. Just have some fun with him and, and actually at the time of this recording, full disclosure, we’re going, we’re going to do this tomorrow.

So, uh, we have this plan to, to, to take him out. And also my plans are to this year try something a little bit different Again. This and this idea came from another member within our community. Uh, Steven, uh, he brought this up. He, he. Recommends just going to a McDonald’s or a Burger King, wherever. Pick your fast food place of choice.

Chick-fil-A, it’s anointed chicken, right? So go there and just buy 1500 bucks worth of food and, you know, have that as, as your, as your, your money that you want to give, some that you want to give away. And then actually just give the food away. So I’m thinking we may try something like that. Uh, just have a little fun.

Uh, the big thing is, you know, make sure he gets a little something for Christmas. Take care of his grand. And just that time with him, you know, we’ll, we’ll spend some time talking about God. We always talk about God. He always has questions about Jesus. Uh, we, but it’s just, I enjoy that time with him. Cuz for me, that’s just, uh, a good way to connect.

So again, it’s, it is really easy this time of year to be so zoned in and locked in on family. And I get it. Family’s important. I’m a family man. You, family is, is definitely, you have your God, you have your wife, then you have your kids, but she can’t forget about others. We are called to love others too. So make that intentional.

Be ha cuz you have to, I’m gonna tell you what, if I just try to just ho hopefully this stuff happens, it won’t happen. I have to intentionally put it on the counter, intentionally have conversations with my wife, intentionally use that, that, that money, put that money to the side and make sure we have it budgeted so that we can do these things and serve others.

Okay? So it takes some planning to, it does, but it’s totally worth it. All right. Now family items. We’re gonna talk a lot about family stuff and stuff that I do this time of year, and I think some of this stuff’s gonna be kind of fun. Hopefully this will be kind of fun for you guys as we, as we go through some of these, uh, these family things.

But first of all, let’s take a quick break and we’ll be right back guys.

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All right, so we’re gonna talk about some family items. So the biggest thing for our family this year is that, Hey, we got a new stocking. Yep. We got a new stocking this year for little Judah. I’m so excited to have that. It, it blows me away right now when I walk in, in our living room and when we have the stocking, they have this little.

It holds the stockings. And, uh, we have a mom and a dad stocking and our, our four children now. And I told my wife the other day, I’m like, man, that’s a lot of stockings, . She was just laughing. But it’s a, it’s such a blessing. It’s such a blessing. And, and I don’t take any one of ’em, uh, for granted. Uh, cause and Right, right above the stockings is, is our, our, our memor things that we, that we have up there to remember.

And, uh, so we do know there’s, there’s a stocking missing, but, uh, that’s okay. And we, we, we trust God and we, we, we won’t understand why, but we trust him. And, but we just thank him for the stockings we do have there. And I know this is a special season of life and I totally get that. And there’s not a day goes by that I don’t, I don’t thank him for, uh, thank him for the precious gift of waking up each morning, you know, next to my wife and our children.

And, and I. I, I can honestly say that I recognize that this is a season that’s not gonna last long, and they go by too fast. You know, I look at my oldest, she’s 12, and I just feel like I was just holding her when she was born. Uh, so now I am holding my newborn son and I’m like, man, it’s gonna be, it’s just gonna fly by.

So I want to try to do everything I can to be super intentional by enjoying each and every. In each and every, uh, second with, with my children, uh, one thing we like to do as a family is, is, uh, we make Christmas cookies every year. So we always do that the, the week of Christmas. And we, that’s a big deal.

Everybody gets to do the decorations and the cool part about it, Christmas cookies, when we do that, when we, we always save like our favorite ones and then they are the ones that we eat when we go out to look at Christmas lights. So yeah, we’re one of those weird families. I, I know not many of you guys do that.

We like to get in a car and just go riding, just riding in neighborhoods and just looking at Christmas lights and have the Christmas cookies. I usually will have the, uh, the hot chocolate. Uh, my girls will have that going as well. And in the years past, we’ve taken our dogs with, with the four kids. Now, I don’t know if we’ll take our dogs this year.

That’s a, that’s a car full, but we just go have a lot of fun. Just ride around, look at Christmas lights, listen to Christmas, uh, carols and. On radio and just, just, it’s always a, something that we look forward to doing, uh, as a family for sure. And then every year our church also does a Christmas children’s play, so, uh, I’m looking forward to that.

That’s actually coming up this weekend too at the time of this recording. So I’m looking forward to, to going to see that my, my 10 year old has a speaking part in that play this year. So that’s always fun just to go do, uh, things like that and just to, just to be part of it. So again, another benefit, another reason for trying to, that I highly encourage you guys find a local church body, and I love that you parted the, at the of the lion with innocent that you’re in our community, but we are not church.

We are a supplement. We are here to help the church come alongside the church and help you guys. But you need to have a local church that you plugged into. If you need help finding a church, reach out to me. Let me know cuz I guarantee you through our network and the people that we, that we’re, you know, communicating with, we can find you a, a good bible teaching gospel preaching church guarantee you.

Okay? So that, that’s something we always enjoy doing. And then gotta have the tree up, right? So we have the tree time’s always special. . Um, the big thing for the tree is every year is for me, is I’ve, I’ve kind of forego putting the ornaments up. I let the kids and, and my wife do that. Honestly. Looking at the ornaments and thinking through the memories that the ornaments bring up.

So me and my wife, one thing we always do, we try to pick up an ornament. If we travel somewhere, we have a special trip or anything like that, or a special memory, uh, you know, like we have softball, volleyball. Basketball ornaments for our kids cuz they’re, all, those are, are special things that they, that they enjoy doing.

And it’s, for me, it’s just a good trip down memory lane. I have some from my ch from my childhood, she has something from her childhood. Obviously we have some things up there for faith. We have some things up there for our dogs and previous dogs and my, it’s just a good way for us to, to look back and smile and think about all the many blessings that, that we have that God has just been pouring out to us and it’s.

It’s pretty cool. So we, we have a star on top of a tree this year. Uh, we, we, I think we ate years between angels and stars. So this year it’s the stars up there and, uh, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s just to me, Christmas trees, they’re just fun. They’re fun to do. I think next year we’re gonna go to one of these Christmas tree farms and, uh, try and experience like that and try to have some fun that way.

So, uh, this year, uh, full disclosure, we had a fake tree up this year, but, uh, you. The kids still love it. So that’s the main thing. So they don’t have a lot of fun. A Christmas tree. So next thing, let’s talk about, uh, Christmas treats. So this time of year, Christmas treats are always at our house. My wife tell you what she, she makes these like, Little ginger cookies that just, it, it, I’ll run through a brick wall to get to ’em.

They’re unbelievable. But she’s an amazing cook, always trying new things. Uh, this year she’s making eggnog, okay, so she’s making eggnog from scratch. I’m anxious to see how that turns out. Uh, she, pumpkin pie, all the, all the cookies, uh, her Christmas cookies are phenomenal. But every year there’s one thing and, and there’s one thing I’m looking for that I look forward to every year at Christmas, and that’s my.

She makes these oatmeal cream cookies from scratch, y’all. And I’m tell you what, from, it’s all from scratch. It’s all homemade. Even the, the cream filling is from scratch, buddy. You talk about unbelievable. And you know, I, I have to, I have cautious myself around this. I, I’ll, I’ll have to probably run like a 10 K after I get eat, get done eating those cookies, but it’s totally worth it.

So, you know, I’m a big sweets guy, so anytime we have some, some sweets and things like that, uh, it’s always good. Uh, hopefully love to know what are some of your favorite Christmas treats, man. Pass those recipes over and let, let hook, hook me up. So now let’s move to Christmas movies. So this is Christmas movies.

You guys always, I’m sure you, you, you like ’em all. So I got, I like the, some of us, the, the funny ones like Elf, right? There’s the Always Fun with Will Ferrell always cracked me up there. Uh, Santa Claus, Christopher, the Cranks. You know, there’s some, some of the newer. Christmas Carol. I always enjoy watching a Christmas Carol, love Charlie Brown Christmas.

You know that scene, by the way, if you don’t know about it, go, go, go watch the Christmas, the Charlie Brown Christmas special. And the scene where Linus is, is basically, uh, walking through the Christmas story outta Luke. And you know, he, he, he’s always holding that blanket, right? But notice the scene this time.

Next time you, if you’ve never noticed this, go back and wash it. You’ll, you’ll, you’ll never look at it same again. That blanket is his security. . Now when he gets to that scene and he says, fear or not, or the angels say, fear not. He drops the blanket. And at that point, that’s just a beautiful moment for that, that, you know, people from a secular standpoint, they wouldn’t, they wouldn’t understand that.

They wouldn’t see that. But we’re, we’re not told to fear, you know, that God does not give us fear. Fear, he gives us spirit of power, love, and self-control. And that moment when Linus drops that blanket, to me, that shit beautiful. I love. And, and every year for Christmas Eve, usually a wonderful, it’s a wonderful Life is on.

I like watching that too and just having that, that time just to, just to think through all the blessings. I don’t know why that movie just makes me think through the blessings in my life, but it’s just something I’ve all, I can’t remember when I started doing it. I probably, maybe 10 or 12 years ago, just started watching that on Christmas Eve and loved that.

But the all time. All sign. Favorite Christmas movie guys. Hopefully if I may lose some listeners right here, but come on. National Lampoons Christmas vacation. I mean, does it get any better? The whole, my wife, she’s rolling her eyes the whole time. Uh, she’s probably rolling her eyes right now. She’s listening to this, to this episode.

That’s okay. I’ll hang with me, baby. I’ll get you there one day. But wait, I just love that movie. So many great scenes, so many great quotes. I have a t-shirt. Uh, our associate pastor is a big fan. We always text each other this time of year with, uh, national NAPO gifts and things like that. Uh, but just a, just a fun movie.

Uh, definitely enjoy that one. Definitely not a Christian movie. Yeah, I totally get that guys. But, uh, and it, it’s just for me having some, some, some Christmas movies all just makes it this time of year. And you can’t go with movies unless you have some music too. Right. So I love some old classics. I for. Uh, but I like the, the, the Dolly Parton and Kenny, uh, Rogers.

Christmas album. Probably one of the best ever. Okay. Alabama Christmas doesn’t get any better either. Like Alabama, when they sing Dixie, uh, Christmas and Dixie loved that Garth Brooks’ old Christmas album, like his original one. I don’t know if he’s got any new ones out, but I’m talking about the, the original Garth one.

Back when, when he put that out an Elvis, he did a Christmas album. Think Crosby there. There’re some ones that I really. . Uh, and then of course you gotta love Merry Christmas from the family. Come on now. That’s just one of the funniest songs of all time. But anytime, I love this time, you’re going to church just to sing the, the, the hymns too, you know, joy to the World Heart, the Harrow, uh, how great There Art, there’s so many great Christmas songs that adds, just really enjoy.

And to me, th those songs, they, they really, uh, just, just bring so much joy to the. You know, if we’re, if you can’t just sing about, you know, jingle bells and, and, and all the, some of the stuff I just talked about, you got to be worshiping this year’s, all this time of year is all about worship. So let’s, uh, let’s take a quick break and then we’re gonna come back and, we’ll, we’re gonna talk about a few things on Christmas Day, and we’ll, we’ll go from there.

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All right guys, so here we go. So, for, for actual Christmas, uh, day Christmas Eve, things like that, we all, on Christmas Eve, we always go see our, my family, uh, we, we see my wife’s family usually before that. Uh, just trying to coordinate families. It’s, it’s just hard, but, so we go see them. And then, uh, Christmas day, uh, big thing for me is I like to cook breakfast, so I have a big Christmas b.

I, I do that. We usually, uh, let ’em have a, a present or two, and then I’ll have that breakfast cooking. And then here’s the thing. When we have that breakfast cooking, there’s one thing on in the background. If my dad’s listening to this, he knows what’s coming. Got the Andy Griffith Christmas special. Now, I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this to you guys before on, on the show, but your boy, your host here is a Annie Griff.

Fanatic. I, I, I got a PhD in Mayberry baby. So if you want, if you wanna have some Mayberry trivia with me, come on. Let’s try it. So long as it’s the black and white ones, I’ll hang with you when it goes to the colors, uh, episodes. They lost me, but black and white, Andy Griffith, I, I’ll hang with you all day long, I promise you.

But we have that all. Love that, that story, it’s just a, it’s just a pretty little story. And then of course we’ll have our Christmas, uh, You know, just, just having that. And the big thing about Christmas Day, I want you to think about this year is spend some time in the word, now, Christmas this year is on a Sunday, so most churches are open on Sunday, right?

Or they’re, they’re going to have their service on Sunday. So really consider that even though, uh, and see if you can make that work into your schedule. Now, one thing our family did this year that was really special, and we put this inside our community, and, and I had several of our guys that are doing this that did this with us.

I just call it the Luke Challenge. There’s 24 chapters in the Gospel of Luke. So on December 1st we started it, so we were at Luke one, December 2nd, Luke two, and so forth and so forth, all the way up to the 24th. The way we did it with our family, we actually had our girls do the reading. So girls, our older girls would, would read, uh, uh, from Luke.

We would do this every day. We usually did this at dinner or right after we finished eating. Just to, just to have it there and, and to go through. But what a beautiful way to celebrate this. The season starting with right, this, the birth of Jesus all the way through the resurrection, and it’s just gonna, uh, uh, something we’re gonna do every year.

Now. I’m so glad that, that, that, that came to us again, this came up in our community. And if you’re not in the community, I don’t know what you’re waiting on. You can hear there’s so many different opportu. That guys are taking to learn and grow together. So that loop challenge has been phenomenal, really highly encouraged that for you guys.

Uh, and I just want you to remember one thing, as you go through this, this, this week into, into Christmas, this time of year, it can be hard for a lot of folks, you know, if you’ve lost loved ones, right? Or maybe people are in a hospital, maybe people just can’t make it home for Christmas. Uh, they’re traveling or just you never know for different reasons or.

Family dynamics change, right? Take the time and reach out and love on others. Seriously, I text a phone call or a visit can go a long ways, particularly if somebody’s having a hard time, you know, just let reaching out and just letting them know that you’re thinking of. It doesn’t have to be a long phone call or a long text.

It could literally be, Hey, you’re on my mind. Just want you to know I love you, and little texts like that little. Intentional acts like that. You never know the type of brightness that you could bring to someone’s day just by doing that. Because I get it, you know, traditions, you know, it, it, I just went through a bunch of traditions.

You know, they’re, they’re, they’re cool, but very few of ’em actually point to Jesus, you know, and, and, and, and the what has to put you pointing our family to Jesus this time of year guys is us. We. So find ways in everything. Well, there’s cooking Christmas cookies. Well, there’s singing Christmas carols.

Where’s watching Christmas movies? Whatever it is, listen to Christmas music. Like find ways to point everything to Jesus, right? The, the men leading our families. We’ve got to find ways to bring Jesus into our traditions for me this year that, that one big step we took was that Luke challenge. We’re bringing him into our traditions, right?

And I, look, I wanna hear about some of yours and I wanna hear about some of yours, and particularly the ways that you do bring Jesus into your traditions, right? Uh, you know, again, we, we do all these different things, but how much of it actually honors him? We need to do that. You know, how do we honor him in that?

So, The last thing I want to encourage you is on Christmas Day. If you can’t make it to church, and for some reason, you know, there, I get it. There’s a lot of things happening on Christmas Day, but sometime during that day, pick up your Bible and spend some time in the Word whatever. Whatever you’re doing, you know, you need to take that time to thank him for that wonderful gift of coming for our salvation.

That is, that is what it’s all about. That’s what we’re celebrating. He, he came, he saved us. So take some time. I would encourage you to go to a gospel. You know, maybe if you want to go, look, you can’t go wrong anywhere in the Bible, okay? I’m not trying to point you one way or or the other, but just go somewhere, spend some time in a word.

The Holy Spirit will show you where you need to go. I guarantee you, you just make that commitment. The Holy Spirit will give you that discernment that, that, that peace about and, and, and just honor him is what it’s all about. You know, for me, I’ll definitely wanna take some time, uh, on Christmas Day to get back into Word and to, to be able to do some, just to have that time to, to honor him and just to sit and reflect and think.

I mean, so many things have blessed. It’s been a tough year. There a lot of stress with the lion within us and trying to get the thing, everything going and uh, but at the end of the day, doing what guys call me to do, you know what, I know Satan doesn’t like it. I know Satan is, is trying to do everything he can to, uh, hold us back, but we’re just gonna keep moving forward.

We’re gonna keep trying to serve you guys weekend week. With, with information that’s, that helps you be the leader to God has intends you to be guys. He, he has called us to do this. If you are here, you have an opportunity, and the reason I know that God is not done with you is for there’s two, the alarm clock and the empty tomb.

Now, pastor Jovi says that all times, I, I’ll give him all the credit, but he’s right. The alarm clock went off today and the tomb is empty. God is not done. You can lead your family, you can lead your family well, particularly around Christmas. And we need more strong Christian men standing up this time of year, this time of year in particular, on behalf of Jesus and sharing that with others.

And I get all these people say, happy holidays. Do what you wanna do. I’m gonna tell you, Merry Christmas cuz this time of year it’s all about Merry Christmas. So guys, I want you to think about, What are you truly celebrating this Christmas? What is it you’re truly celebrating? Because it’s not about, this should not be a very str, the most stressful time of year.

I mean, and also we need to be careful about our, our money and things like that, cuz it shouldn’t be where we’re working to make, to try to get out that debt for decisions we make in November and December. But that’d be another episode. But I need you to think about what are you truly celebr. . That’s what’s most important.

And I pray, I really pray. It’s the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, that prince of peace. That’s what I pray the God. Hopefully this, this was just a little bit of encouraging message. Again, uh, just wanted to share something. My traditions let’s you start, you think thinking about your traditions, and I want to hear from you.

So go ahead and, and the, the best way for me to hear from you is join our. Hop in our community, it’s free Chop for, it’s a 30 day free trial. Check it out. Come in, be a part of us. See if you like it. Uh, give me some of your traditions. Uh, you can go right to the show notes. We’ll have a link to the community or you can go to our website, the Lion within.us.

There’s all sorts of ways to can join the community right there on the main page. Uh, I wanna encourage you to share this episode with others. You know it, the stats show, uh, podcasts grow the most when individuals like you texted to. That’s it. It’s that simple. It’s not, it’s not saying, Hey, check this out.

It’s actually when you go hit the share button, you send a text message, stats show. That’s, that’s what matters the most. You know, connect with us on Instagram, connect with us on Facebook. We do try to do some social media things. It’s, it’s, it’s something we try to put out there to put some positivity in your feed.

Uh, you know, so you can connect with us there. If you do like to show, I would encourage you, give us a rating and review five stars, write a review, all that. Makes a huge, big, huge, huge difference. And again, the community’s where it’s at, fellas, you got one week left. That’s it. Then at that thing, at that point, we’re going to be going to, our standard rates is the community.

Community will still be there, but right now you have such a big opportunity to lock in, uh, just a major discount that will never offer again. This is for our founders and we wanna treat those guys, uh, the right way. So we have a lot of guys in there right now and they’re jumping all over it. I pray you’ll consider.

Again, jump over to the lion within us. Join our community. See what it’s all about. Take for a test drive, see if you like it. See if it brings you any value because we have live. Ask me anything events. We have lion lunches, we have our Bible study, we have our Mastermind, and we’re con con. We have our courses and we’re constantly coming up with new creative ways to serve you, to help you be the leader God intends you to be.

So guys, I pray you, you have a, Great Christmas. Come back on Friday. Uh, we’re going to have our, we are gonna have a fun Friday episode, so that’ll be right before the, uh, uh, Christmas Eve. So, uh, come back on Friday. Got some tips for you to consider, uh, on that Fun Friday. You ain’t gonna be doing nothing.

No way. You might as well come to listen to our fun Friday, hang out with us, uh, give you a couple good tips going to the weekend, as well as a book that I think will help you really. Consider some things. So anyway, guys, get after it. Enjoy yourself. I do pray you haven’t Merry Christmas. Look forward to seeing you guys in the, in the community, and don’t forget to unleash the lion within.

Most men know what it’s like to do life in a back end and feel isolated on the journey. We believe every man needs a community to help them become the men they were created to. More than just a website or podcast. We are a community of Christian men who are committed to supporting and encouraging one another on our journey, become the best versions of ourselves.

We are men who have fought the good fight and come out victorious. The lion within us is here to help you stop feeling lost, defeated, and. Instead, find community and connection with other men that will help you achieve your goals. Live a life of purpose and be the leader God intends you to be. Visit the lion within us to join the new Growing Lion Den community Today.