Chris Grainger
Host
00:03
Welcome to The Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I’m your host, chris Granger. Let’s jump in. All right, guys, it’s your meat episode. I’m excited to have you here.
00:13
But before we get into far, let’s get our scripture to week Okay And we’re going to be in the Book of Job. You book a job this week, chapter 14, looking at a couple verses, seven through nine. So Job 14, seven through nine, says for there is hope for a tree when it is cut down, that it will sprout again and it shoots, will not fail, though its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the dry soil. At the scent of water, it will flourish and will produce springs like a plant. So, guys, if you missed the spiritual kickoff, go back and check that out. I really unpacked that scripture for you to give you some insight to particularly that scent of water and the hope that it has. That’s really, really we’re going to be talking about today is hope. And why can we have hope? I mean to hope that if you look at the world around us right now, you’re probably thinking like, yeah, chris, we all need some hope. I don’t know what I’m supposed to put my hope in. Well, i can tell you what you’re supposed to put your hope in. Your hope has got to be found in Jesus, and so we brought in an author. His name is Benjamin Wendell. He is phenomenal, just a great, great guy. I loved meeting him. We’re around the same age, had a lot of common things there, but he is just an innovative. He’s an empathetic author. He really speaks directly to millennials and Gen Z’s, so that’s his speciality, that’s where he’s talking to. He’s dedicated 20 years of his life in the ministry. He’s really helping people overcome life’s challenges by growing deeper in their faith. So he talks about how you can take these challenges that come at you in life and actually use them to grow. So he and his wife, cindy they have three sons. He’s from Australia. They actually live in California As well, as Australia is there too, and his work right Guys, has been featured all over the place, from you Virgin to, right now, media, the glorify app. So he’s put out some phenomenal things.
02:05
I really enjoyed this conversation with Benjamin. We talked about a lot of things, particularly a tough story regarding his brother and how that really shaped him, but he got really practical towards the end around some ways. That I think is going to help you guys grow. If you’re in the battle right now, maybe you’re going through a season of life that you know what. There’s just not a whole lot of joy in anything. This conversation will help you. This conversation will give you that hope to get up, to keep moving forward And I just want to give you that hope too.
02:39
We ultimately land on the importance of community, the importance of people. If you feel isolated, if you feel alone, if you just feel defeated, tell you guys, don’t try to go about this without reaching out. This is why we built The Lion Within This Community, right here, for conversations like this, for guys like you that are listening, who don’t have the friends, who don’t have that core group of guys you can be real with. I’m telling you it’s out there. I know you’re struggling with it And we have built resources to help you. So consider checking that out as we move forward. But I hope you enjoy this conversation with Benjamin Wendell. Benjamin, welcome to The Lion Within This. How are you?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
03:21
doing today? I’m doing really well. Thank you for having me on your wonderful podcast.
Chris Grainger
Host
03:27
Absolutely, absolutely. It’s an honor to have you here. I really enjoyed your book. Looking forward to digging into that with you before we get there and give us a fun fact about you that maybe not many people are aware of.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
03:38
Well, you’re probably not aware of it, and neither are your listeners, because we’re just meeting, but I’m in possession of the heavenly accent, which I hope you know where that is from. And it’s not from North Carolina, chris, it’s from the great land down under Australia.
Chris Grainger
Host
03:55
I hear you. You definitely you can’t pass as a North Carolinian. That’s okay, that’s okay. Well, i am just really looking forward to meeting, to having this conversation with you, and I really loved your book And it’s all about hope, and I would love for you just to define what hope means to you before we get into any of the details here.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
04:18
Well, i’ll tell you this, Chris I think we’re in desperate need of hope in our world today, and you know the way I would describe that is it feels like there are some dark clouds that have assembled on the horizon of our world right now. I mean, for example, 57% of teenage girls in this country say that they feel persistently sad or hopeless. And so just look at the landscape, whether it’s, you know, school shootings, cultural upheaval, division, tension, the rise of AI, right Like things are changing at a rapid rate And within all of that cluster, i think it forms together to form a cultural moment that I’m speaking into. And there is a desperate need for transcendence in a world that feels dark. And so, you know, i spent years wrestling with this subject of biblical hope and how hope interacts with our imperfections and our hardship to bring about our growth and our potential.
05:41
And let me say this, chris I think one of our misnomers about hope is that hope is some kind of like virtue or feeling for the future, but hope is really a dynamic that goes to work right now, in the present, in the midst of your difficulties and your stress points, and hope and hardship together do something for us. That a problem. Free life never could And that’s a big part of this book Good Catastrophe. I’m trying to reveal to listeners that God wants to reach into our deepest pain and turn it towards his greatest good.
Chris Grainger
Host
06:30
Amen to that And I know you didn’t talk about in your book your own personal good catastrophe and how that impact is you directly and you turn that to good, so would you mind sharing that with our listeners?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
06:42
Yeah, well, you know what, chris, there are a few personal stories in Good Catastrophe. Is there one that jumped out to you and spoke to you Around your brother? Yeah, i mean, gosh, it’s certainly a big one. My older brother he and I were born just 18 months apart grew up in Australia good country, to grow up in good era, to grow up in the 80s. Man, you know, you’d come home from school and eat some cereal. I’d go to BMX, bicycle and terrorize the neighborhood with your little gang and just come home when the sun goes down. That’s right. Be home by dark, right, it was be home by dark.
07:33
You know it’s a different world today, and we grew up, you know, close only one great apart at school, and, you know, being brothers, we competed with each other, against each other, just about everything. My older brother was always just that much bigger and stronger than me, though, and so when he made the phone call to me to let me know he’d been diagnosed with an incurable aggressive cancer, i mean, it just flawed me, you know. Yeah, you’re never ready for those kind of phone calls, right, you’re never ready for the way you can prepare yourself for them, and it was devastating, devastating news for me, for the entire family. You know he was young, young kids, and so we went on a journey, like a lot of people who are listening to this, whether it’s a cancer journey or disease of some kind or, you know, mental health challenges, emotional breakdowns or burnouts The range of the lived human condition is very broad. For us it was a cancer journey And we are a Christian family. My father is a pastor. I’ve pasted for over 20 years And we prayed the prayer of faith and he died. And can I say this, chris, i went to a Christian hospital. He was COVID-19.
08:58
If hope only works when we get the endings that we want, it’s not really hope. Hope is really there for us in the moments where we don’t get the ending that we were hoping for. That’s why, in this book, good Catastrophe, i did a deep dive into the life of Joe, because I think the modern treatment that we give that story I’ve started to push back on that a little bit that there was a good man who loved God, who lost everything and had hope and then got double everything back. The reason I’m pushing back on it, chris, is I’m a father of three boys and you can’t come to me and say hey, we’ve got an exchange to make with you. We’re going to take your three sons and give you six more or 600 more, like it doesn’t work that way. These are my kids, these are my sons. They’re irreplaceable, right Well, this side of eternity, job never got his 10 children back. He never got back the thing that he really lost.
10:07
So what did hope do for Job? Well, hope was the thing that enabled him to rebuild his life and maintain faith in God and dream again, do business again, have the virtue to wake up in the morning and just breathe and smile again. Hope is the dynamic that brings about a turn within imperfections. It’s not the promise that we will never have imperfections Once we start to recognize that God goes to work and he uses the challenges, he uses the hardship, he uses the adversity to bring about our growth and potential, and that there’s a symbiotic relationship in our lives between our growth and adversity. Instead of running from pain, medicating against pain, seeking immunity from pain, suppressing pain, it’s not so much that it’s like the old school message of just embrace the pain, but it’s recognizing that there is a spiritual dynamic given to us by God, called hope, that goes to work in our pain and in our challenges to make us everything that God called us to be.
Chris Grainger
Host
11:27
I’m so glad you brought that piece up around Job too, because I definitely wanted to touch base with you on that, because I’m with you and I read that story of Job. I went to Job. We lost a child in 2020.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
11:39
I’m sorry to interrupt.
Chris Grainger
Host
11:40
Yeah, it’s just, you know there’s no pain like kids pain and people pointed me to Job. Right, i was really through it and you get to the end and you know God dealt with the blessing and I still told my wife. I said you still can’t tell me to the day he got to heaven that there wasn’t an immense pain that he felt every day for the 10 that he lost. You can’t, like you said, you can’t replace them for your three, you can’t place them with six or 600. It doesn’t matter That pain still exists and that’s just something that I think. I love how your definition of hope gets you through a lot of that, because there are a lot of listeners out there who are really struggling, like you said, with different things, from medical to family, to finances, and you can just feel like there is no hope out there and it’s just that pain is really the season of growth for so many.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
12:30
Well, you know, i appreciate you sharing your story. I couldn’t even find an English word that describes this idea that good comes from bad. Right The stories of J R R Tolkien, author of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit and so forth, that he had coined a term Eukatastrophe Eukatastrophe translated good catastrophe, right. And he had this philosophy in his writings that when all seemed lost for the main character like they were in their midnight hour, going through a valley, no way out, over no redemptive exit that there would come, at that lowest point, a sudden turn towards joy. And Tolkien called that moment a good catastrophe. And so in this book we’re using this phrase good catastrophe to describe dual events. So these are these redemptive moments, situations, seasons, crises in our life that almost broke you, brought you to your knees, covered your face in tears, and at the time you thought it was the end of you. Three years later, five years later, 10 years later, you’re able to look back and see the redemptive hand of God in those same situations. It’s like when we have conversations with our grandparents. You know, i lost two of my grandparents in this last 12 months and I lost my brother in this last 12 months. My grandma was just one of those people that was the happiest person you’ll ever meet. But when you spoke to her about her life, it wasn’t like cruise ships and pool resorts. You know it was. She fled the Gestapo, the Nazis in Greece during World War II. I mean, her life was adversity and challenge.
14:36
I think there’s something that that generation recognized And that is the good catastrophe concept that the things that make us, grow us and form us That’s what hope does that. They tend to be the crucibles and the storms and the challenges. And a great example of that, chris, is the Eucalyptus tree in Australia. I had a huge fire on my land, burnt them to the ground, came back a few months later and there are hundreds of bright little green shoots. You know what I discovered? It’s not that the seeds survive the fire. They require the heat of the fire to burn away the tough outer coating of their seeds so that their seeds can germinate. That’s a picture of hope. It’s not just that you survive the crises, it’s that the fires that sweep through your life burn away what had to be removed in order for God to release something new about your human expression. Right That purification.
Chris Grainger
Host
15:39
I mean, just think through the whole idea of I’ve been reading recently in first Corinthians and around the jewels and the crowns and things like that. But he also talks about the hay and the different types of works that we do And we it’s going to be put to the test, that it’s going to go through the furnace, And that process of purification burns off the vat. But what do we have left? We have left the beautiful gold, the crowns, the jewels, And that’s the work that we do here.
16:02
And you’re right, I mean, when I think through for me, personal growth. You know we’re the setbacks when I was 330 pounds, when I went through a divorce, when I lost my child, Like the things that I don’t want to ever walk through again, but they were the areas for me, that growth and hope and my growth in Christ and impacting my testimony the most And I think that’s what resonates with so many listeners out here is just, you know what we’re going to have those seasons in life, but we have a choice on how we’re going to respond to them too. And I just I love the way you’re painting this picture of hoping and giving us some even greater things to cling to as believers.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
16:42
Absolutely Wow. You’ve been through your fair share of adversity and challenges. You’re a courageous individual.
Chris Grainger
Host
16:51
I don’t know about courageous, but I’m just trying to be obedient at this point. I’ve learned at this point that something that I want to do. I feel like it’s me. If I feel like I’m saying I got this, I’m usually wrong. I just want to go ahead and just tell, ask God, what’s your plan? And let me go that way. And usually it’s not the easy way, But I love how you talk about pain so openly and our typical responses to pain. So what do you see out? there is, when people have these things, events happen in life. How are they responding, and what would be your recommendation to them of how they should respond instead?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
17:27
I think one of the reasons why we process pain in unhelpful ways is theological. You know, being around church my entire life And let me quickly just say this to you We need to rediscover the teachings of Paul In a complex world. We need the teachings of Paul, we need the Gospels and we need the words of Jesus, but the New Testament continues for a reason. We need the teachings of Paul because there is a grittiness to the writings of Paul and a worldview through which he approached the human condition that is genius and brilliant and spiritual and all of those things, and we need it today. But being raised in a church, you know we’re very good at talking about favor and blessing and breakthrough and goodness and miracles And of course they’re all there. They’re all there in scripture. Let’s believe for them all. I don’t know a single person that that’s been the totality of their story, nor was it the totality of the story of Jesus or the disciples or any character in scripture. But there can be this narrative that can start to sound like you know, put your hope in God and your life we blessed in a way that looks like a postcard perfect life, a whole Mike version of life, but then mud gets thrown on our beautiful postcard and we don’t know what to do with it. Right? So imperfections it, anxiety, it’s, loss hits, storm hits, and we need to.
19:18
Here’s what I’m trying to say to you. we need to fundamentally reframe the way that we see adversity and hardship, and the best way I can describe it to you is through a concept that I call the bicycle. Just picture a bicycle. Every time you get on a bicycle and ride, both wheels are in motion, right, right. And I have found that we have two wheels in our lives. We have the wheel of the divine wheel peace, goodness, joy, blessing And then we have this other wheel. It’s called the human condition. Right, challenges, pain, problems, anxiety, the unexpected. Now, i used to think, if only I could remove all of those things from my life and simply have the good, then I would be happy and fulfilled, right, but I’ve discovered that the journey of life involves both wheels, constantly in motion.
20:31
We need to stop waiting for a mythical day when our problems go away and instead recognize this It’s not only that we have both good things and challenges at the same time, it’s that there is a symbiotic relationship between the two, where it is the adversity and the storm that feeds back into the other wheel and causes our growth and our blessing and our joy and our fulfillment. So my encouragement is this Ride the bicycle. Stop waiting for all of the imperfections to be gone. I mean, everybody knows this, but I’ll say it anyway. You’ll be waiting your entire life. You get on the bicycle. Every day is going to have some pain. Every day is going to have some bad. Every day will have some suffering, but guess what? Every day is going to have some joy and some blessing and some favor as well. But we don’t get immaculate categories with our days and with our months and with our seasons. We have both all the time every day. So ride right now, in the middle of whatever mess you’re in.
Chris Grainger
Host
21:43
I absolutely love that. Hey guys, i’m going to take a quick break. We’ll be right back. Are you enjoying the weekly spiritual kickoff? If so, we are now offering a way to participate in our live daily spiritual kickoffs that happen Monday through Friday in our community. This is your chance to chat with me directly and other members of our community, to dive into Scripture and to leave with practical ways to simplify and apply God’s word to your daily walk. And here’s the best part You get all of this for just $5 a month. So, for what most people pay for breakfast meal, you can join us on this journey of spiritual growth and leadership, which will always lead you full. Our community is dedicated to supporting each other and pushing forward in our faith. Come join me in the lion’s den and become the leader God intends you to be. Sign up now at TheLionWithInus and let’s start this journey together. Remember, it’s only $5 a month for this amazing opportunity. So visit TheLionWithInus so you don’t miss out.
22:49
So, benjamin, you talked about the bicycle there. I was constantly thinking the way you were working through that. So many people that I talked to and we run into in a day to day. They’re chasing happy, and happy is in your circumstances And I’m sitting here telling like, look, man, that’s great that you want happy, but if that’s what you’re chasing, you’re going to always be disappointed, because happiness flees, you know. It comes and goes, you know, rather than chasing. You’ve mentioned several times joy, so maybe just bring down the difference between the two, because I’d really try to hammer on this and I’d love to get your perspective too, on why do we need to stop chasing as happiness and start pursuing joy and finding it in any and every situation?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
23:34
Yeah, i think, as it relates to happiness, such an important concept right, because we all want more of it, and yet it feels like life is getting more complex. And how do we find joy amidst all of that complexity? Well, i’m going to give you an answer, chris, but it may surprise you that the tangent that seems like I take on this. I’ve asked this question is there a link between friendship and hope? Okay, we are living in the midst of a loneliness epidemic And I’ve often seen hope as more of an internal, private experience, something that just happens in me. But I’m starting to see hope as a communal experience, enjoy as a communal experience, and I put it this way in the book hope needs human skin.
24:39
So in my generation, millennials, basically one in four of us say they have no friends. Like, think about that Gen Z, that number rises to 79%. Right, and referencing the story of Joe Began, you know, i think we give his friends, his three friends, a bit of a hard rap because they gave some poor advice, terrible advice. Yeah Well, we’ve all given bad advice, but let me tell you what they did really well, they all left their homes, their families, their cities, their businesses and they traveled and they sat with Job in the dust of the ground when he had lost everything for seven days without saying a word. Yep, and I just think that moment of his friends. Like Job is alone in the dust of the earth and he sees this distant outline of three men and hope walks into his life in the form of friendship. These guys are not going on a vacation, they’re not going to the beach, they’re going to be friends.
25:42
And I’m not sure the words hope and alone are compatible. So how do we bring about greater joy and happiness in the midst of our challenges? Well, i’ll put it this way hope and community go hand in hand. We need others. Hope needs human skin. I don’t think we can get there alone, chris. I mean, i think we would love, especially as men, we would love to be able to say that we can get there alone. Let’s be honest, i don’t think we’re designed to get there alone.
Chris Grainger
Host
26:13
We’re not. I mean we’re designed to be with others. I mean just go way back. I mean that’s why we communities grew and flourished the way that they did. That’s one reason we started to align within this community, because if we have a group of guys, we get together. We have regular events where guys can come and share and be open and be real. Because, you’re right, that friend statistic that you laid out, that’s real and that’s scary. And I’m just, i’m trying to see, did it shift all of a sudden just from millennials to Gen Z, i mean, or do you think it’s just been a constant slide down?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
26:47
It’s not so much a generational change. You can really trace it back. You know a trigger 2008, 2009. It’s the rise of the smartphone and social media. You can see a correlation around those times. But the digital revolution has simultaneously connected us and at the same time it’s connected, caused us to be isolated and lonely, and we’re not great at bringing our pain and sharing it with others. So every generation right now it’s not just Gen Z, it’s that. You know Gen Z spend an average of 7.1 hours down their smartphones. So we’re hiding behind our phones and we’re getting a shadow of friendship without ever being in the full light. And I can’t impress upon people enough. Hope is not a solo virtue. It’s not just you and God in a prayer closet Like we need that. I’m not diminishing that in any way. But that’s not the end of how we live our lives and how hope works through us and how God chooses to use hope. God chooses to bring hope into our life through community and through friendship. We got to open up. We got to let people in.
Chris Grainger
Host
28:07
Yeah Well, let me ask you this then You know the church traditionally, you would think this would be where guys and women alike would go to do just that, but I’ve seen that’s not the case. You know, we can’t be real, we can’t be vulnerable, We can’t be open. When you go through a church story, you have to be blessed and highly favored. You got to put on the fake you. That’s what I see all the time, right? So what do we need?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
28:32
to do. I’m not sure that we have to put on the fake version. No, i’m just saying, that’s what I’m seeing, i think we’re choosing that, and you know, because I’ve been a pastor for over 20 years and it’s sobering for me to say this now. We are alone in our churches. If we think that attending a Sunday is solving the loneliness that exists within people, it’s not, And churches can be some of the loneliest places on the planet.
Chris Grainger
Host
29:02
Yes.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
29:02
And I’m coming to terms with that myself because, again, my whole life I’m a champion of the local church but I’m also flagging in today’s world. we have to figure out how to create spaces and environments and a culture and an ethos where the human connection is better, and there’s a lot I could say on that, chris. it takes us on a tangent away from the center of our conversation, but sufficient to say really, the last 20 or 30 years have been the worship revolution within the church and we’ve needed it and the modernization of the worship experience. But what we now need is we need to address the loneliness epidemic, and it’s in our pews, it’s in our foyers, it’s in our churches And, again, for me, hope needs human skin. It’s a communal experience.
Chris Grainger
Host
29:58
Yeah, yeah. So your message to millennials, gen Z, that are dealing with this hope and anxiety, stress or isolation. what would you like to share to those listeners out there?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
30:14
Well, i would like to share with them. Chris, go and purchase my book Good Catastrophe, yeah, because it has a lot to say on this subject. And that’s really what each chapter walks people, what each chapter walks people through. The heart of the book is to let people know that, with hope, our storyline always curves toward a redemptive purpose. We have to reframe the way we see troubles, but God takes our pain. This is the very nature of God and he turns it into our human flourishing.
30:58
I would say to the millennial, to the Gen Z, that some of your greatest good will come because of pain, setbacks and disappointments, not in spite of them. Some of your most game-changing lessons will come out of storms. And let’s remember, hope has a name And in Matthew 12, it tells us this ultimate hope and his name will be the hope of all the world. It’s not a temporal hope, it’s not an earthly hope, it’s not a hope that says you get a better car and three boats and everything perfect here and now. It is an ultimate, eternal hope in the person and the name of Jesus.
Chris Grainger
Host
31:41
Amen, amen to that. Well, benjamin, before we let you go, i know you have a little bit of a time crunch here today. Would you be willing to jump into our lightning round? We call it feeding time. I have a little fun here at the end as we wrap up. Let’s do it, man. I don’t know how good I’ll do, but let’s do it. Amen, we just have it. It’s all about having fun, just letting our listeners get to know a little bit about you outside.
32:05
And, by the way, your book Phenomenal. Guys, check out the show notes. We’ll have a link there for you guys to go get that directly. Highly recommend it. It’s going to be our book of the week. So, guys, again, love reading this one. So we’ll make sure we get that in there for you guys. But jump into our lightning round. So give us something, man. What’s a hobby that you have? Something that you enjoy doing for fun? I play basketball with my three sons, so you’re a Hooper. Okay, yeah, all right. So I guess chapter four. Then that’s because of your love of the sport. So, steph, so I’m assuming you’re a Warriors fan.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
32:42
I was going for the Lakers this year. I’m not going to lie, i just want to. I just want to, i want to LeBron to win again.
Chris Grainger
Host
32:50
I got you Well, your book, though talking about Steph, So I was like oh no, our whole family.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
32:55
I’m a massive fan of Steph and our whole family, yeah, massive Steph Curry fans.
Chris Grainger
Host
33:00
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. He can shoot it from anywhere. I think he can shoot it from the parking lot if you wanted to. That’s right. It’s just unreal. So what’s from being from Australia? What’s your favorite food?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
33:14
You know, australian food is very diverse. We eat a lot of Thai food, and I mean all different kinds, but my heritage is Greek, so my favorite food would be Greek food.
Chris Grainger
Host
33:25
Okay, yeah, well, give me the breakdown. I’ve heard about this stuff. I’ve never seen it before. What’s, what’s up with this veggie mite? What’s what’s the deal with that?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
33:36
Veggie might is a gosh. It’s weird when something is so common to, you don’t even know to describe it. It’s like a black paste that you put on bread and toast. Yeah, it’s like a jam, a spread, a topping, a flavored topping, and it’s just. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s very salty, you know, very salty.
Chris Grainger
Host
34:00
Okay, so is it from like a fruit or something like that or something?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
34:05
I don’t even know. It’s just a culture, it’s just a part of life in Australia. Veggie might on toast.
Chris Grainger
Host
34:12
I got you. Well, i might have to see if I get some, just so I can say I checked that box. Check it out, man The veggie might. Yeah, nice, i’ll just keep going with our lighting right here. What’s when you think about God and you sit and you’re sitting down here alone time. What’s your favorite thing about it?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
34:30
I think my favorite thing about God is that, when I look at my family and what he’s given me, that he’s been so gracious to give me, the family that he’s given me, and I’m incredibly grateful for that. Amen.
Chris Grainger
Host
34:48
Amen. Now let’s flip to 180. You’re thinking Satan’s popping in your head. What’s your least favorite thing about Satan?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
34:58
Well, i guess I don’t know, you know whether this is theologically accurate or not, but it’s somewhere in the mix, isn’t it? When you see that the human suffering around the world and you’re like you know what? there is evil, there is evil And there is a devil and there is a dark side to what we see in the world And people blame God, i’m like we need to start blaming Satan for this stuff.
Chris Grainger
Host
35:26
That’s right. That’s right. Well, what’s? I can think through the last 12 months. What’s something that you spent too much time doing over the last year?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
35:38
Too much time stressing and worrying, too much time looking backwards. You know, i think you go through that when you go through grief. Yeah, you know you rethink a lot of things about relationships and I’m not sure how helpful all of that has been. But that’s about as truthful an answer as what I can just give you, you know. So.
Chris Grainger
Host
35:56
I get it, man. I totally get it. You’ve been through a lot. How about? how about last two questions? What’s a new habit? Maybe it’s something that you want to create, moving forward, or something that you recently created, that you, that you found a lot of joy out of, that you want to share.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
36:09
I just got an e-bike, you know, an electric bike Nice, my wife and I. Well, they’re fantastic. It’s a lazy man’s hobby, isn’t it? Because the thing rides for you. Absolutely lazy, but man, they’re a lot of fun.
Chris Grainger
Host
36:25
Yeah, yeah, man, that’s great. Hope we enjoy that for sure. So last question for you in the lightning round, benjamin. So what’s one thing that you hope the guys out there listen that they remember from our conversation?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
36:38
I hope that guys who are going through challenges pick up their phone Yes, take a step towards God but that we would see hope as at work best when we open up our lives proactively to other people. Amen.
Chris Grainger
Host
36:56
Amen, my friend. Well, where do you want to point guys at to connect with you, to connect with your book, your resources? Let’s make, we’ll make sure we have an expert.
Benjamin Windle
Guest
37:05
Yeah, the book is on Amazon Good catastrophe. Or you can come and find me Benjaminwindowcom and on most social media platforms, Benjaminwindow. Okay, W-I-N-D-L-E.
Chris Grainger
Host
37:21
Do you have one that you’re more active on than others? by chance?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
37:25
So far.
Chris Grainger
Host
37:25
Instagram. So probably, yeah, insta, okay. So you’re pretty active on Instagram, okay, guys. So definitely checking out my Instagram See what he’s got going on there. So, benjamin, anything else you’d like to share with our listeners today on The Lion Within Us?
Benjamin Windle
Guest
37:37
It’s been great, great meeting. You all Spend the time with you. You need to get down there sometime, to the great land of The Lion Within North Carolina, that’s it.
Chris Grainger
Host
37:46
That’s it, let’s do it. Let’s do it. I mean you have. It was a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much. Hope you have a great day. Thank you, are you ready to unlock your true potential?
37:59
Introducing 30 Days to Unleash The Lion Within, a revolutionary series that will transform you into the leader God intends you to be. In just 30 days, you’ll embark on a journey of self-discovery and growth. This free resource offers a series of messages, each packed with proven methods to simplify and apply God’s word to your life. Inside this series, you’ll find practical strategies to unleash your leadership potential. You need to learn how to harness the power of God’s wisdom and apply it to your everyday decisions, discover how to lead with integrity, inspire others and make a lasting impact. But this just isn’t another series. It’s a transformative experience that will help you find your purpose, ignite your passion and unleash The Lion Within. So visit TheLionWithInus forward, slash, unleash to claim your free copy of this series. Don’t wait any longer. Visit TheLionWithInus forward, slash, unleash and become the leader God intends you to be.
39:08
Alright, i know that was a great one. I really hope you guys enjoyed that conversation. I hope you learned a lot from it. For me for sure, benjamin Phenomenon. God really just enjoyed hearing his story, hearing how he’s so passionate about the topic of hope and his take on it, and I’m with him 100% When I read the book of Job and you read about the 10 children being lost, and you see that God does redeem him. Ultimately he’s blessed even more at the end, but that hurt still is there. You know, it is right, but that’s not what defines him. He found his hope in God and that got him to get up, to move forward, do the work he was called to do And ultimately that’s where you find your blessing. Guys, if you’re trying to find your happiness in this world, you’re going to keep coming up in because happiness is in your circumstances And circumstances change. Instead, hang your hope on something that is eternal and that is a connection and a relationship with Jesus.
40:11
So I want to just note one thing Can good come from your catastrophe, as you may have recently had a catastrophe, or you may get rid. You know, you never know what’s going to come around the corner, right, that phone call like Benjamin talked about he got from his brother. You never know when that phone call is going to come in. So when that happens, maybe it’s for you or your family. Can good come from that? And, guys, the answer is yes. The answer is yes, and it may be so hard to see the good right now, but I promise you, if you hang your hat on Jesus and you follow him, even through those dark trials, you can have hope, you can find joy.
40:54
So, guys, i encourage you to share this with somebody who may be struggling. That’s my big ass today. So if you know somebody who’s just going through a tough time, share this conversation with them, send them a text message, share that episode directly that way and just play. Hey, hopefully this picks you up. I thought about you hanging there And that may lead you to an opportunity to take them for a coffee or go for a run, or go for a hike, or just get. Just get together, break bread, have that fellowship. Okay, so do that, guys. Give us a rating review. That stuff helps for sure.
41:25
Go to the lion with themus. We have all sorts of resources out there now, guys, that we’re trying to help you with. We have our brand new leadership coalition that’s out there for you business leaders that want to really amp up your leadership abilities. I’m telling you, this program is going to be incredible. It’s going to help us.
41:41
So many people take biblical examples of leadership and apply them into your work, for into your work life. And it doesn’t matter if you are in the ministry or if you work in a secular environment. You have your mission field wherever God has put you, and that’s what we want to help arm you up and get you ready. So go check that out. Obviously, our community is wide open. The daily SKO is an option for you too. All that stuff can be found at the lionwithinus. So again, the lionwithinus look forward to seeing you guys here on Fun Friday. Got some good tips, got a couple of dad jokes for you, so hope to have you back here on Friday. So keep strong, keep your head up, know what, hang your hope on Jesus and keep unleashing the lionwithin.