There was more than one person who walked on water. Peter did too. Jesus came to the disciples in the middle of the storm. Peter said: “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And Jesus said: “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat. And he walked. Then he looked at the wind. He saw the waves. He became afraid. And he began to sink. That hit me differently this morning. Because there are winds and waves in my life right now. Things I need to fix. Things I need to pay for. Things I don't know the outcome of. And maybe there are in yours too. The lesson isn't to pretend they aren't there. You still have to take action. You still have to move forward. But where are your eyes? I've found myself praying this constantly lately: I yoke myself to You. The wind is here. The waves are here. I'll do what You've given me to do. But I don't have to stare at the storm. I can look toward Him. And when I lose Him— I can turn back. REFLECT What wind or wave has been getting more of your attention than God lately? And what would it look like to acknowledge it, do what is yours to do, and turn your eyes back toward Him? // Godspeed

Your family will inherit more than what you leave behind. They inherit what you live. Your children are learning how to handle money by watching YOU handle money. How to treat their future wife by watching your marriage. How to handle pressure in life but watching what happens when your pressure builds. How to follow God through times of abundance and times of scarcity by watching you. The type of man or woman to become, the type of man or woman to seek, by watching how you live life every day. More is caught than is taught. Which means some of the most important work you can do with your children is getting right within yourself. Not endlessly. Not narcissistically. Not neglecting your wife or kids in the name of “living your best life.” But with the understanding that whatever you cultivate within yourself will travel downstream — whether you and they like it or not. Your courage. Your work ethic. Your discipline. Your ability to handle stress. Your relationship with money. Your character. How you love them. How you love your wife. How you love and serve God. And here’s the thing I’ve been thinking about this week: You inherited things too. Some worth carrying forward. Some that should end with you. FIELD WORK Ask yourself: What did I inherit from the men before me that I want my children to inherit from me? Write it down. Then: What did I inherit that needs to end with me? Write that down too. Choose one from each list. Strengthen the first today. Interrupt the second. // Do the work so they won’t have to x Rob

Brothers — Most men are remarkably good at driving around wit the check-engine light on. Even though we know better. We see it. We know something needs attention. But we push through it. We’ve got somewhere to be. People who are depending on us. There’s work that needs to be done. So we keep driving. Matt Beaudreau and I got into this during our Patriarch Preview on Monday. As men, we tend to be mission-oriented. It’s a gift to us from God. It’s a superpower. A man’s strength is his gift to the world. To his woman. To his children. But we can become so narrowly focused on A mission that we miss out on THE mission, and we ignore what’s happening to the very things that make the completion of our mission possible. And that blinking warning light can come from anywhere. Our body. Our marriage. Our finances. Our relationship w/ our kids. Our work. Our anger. Our temper. Our energy or lackthereof. Our faith — or hopelessness. You know something isn’t right. But it isn’t catastrophic. At least, not right now. So — we suck it up. We’re “good”, we’re “fine”, we’re “alright.” Those things — to a man — mean “I’m mission ready,” even if we’re bleeding out. When your woman says those things, you know they’re an outright lie 😆 and that you should pay attention. Most of us are bleeding out — even if it IS just a little bit at a time. The check-engine light is on, and we keep driving. We keep grinding. And then the lights start flashing. We start getting dizzy. And something breaks. And here’s the biggest problem when you’re a husband, a father, a leader: You’re not the only person in this vehicle. When dad breaks down, everybody eels it. That’s why something else Matt said MATTERS: Be brave enough to be curious. Not afraid. Not ashamed. Not in need of overhauling your entire life today. Just brave enough t look under the hood. Just brave enough to stop the bleeding. FIELD WORK Where is your check-engine light right now? Self? Your health? Marriage? Your money?

When we're young we talk a lot about finding the “right woman.” Someone who's beautiful. She's fun. She understands us. She supports us. She makes life better. She makes us happy. And then we get married, our relationship grows, and discover something that surprises us. This woman is going to resist us. She doesn't always think like you. Sometimes it feel like she NEVER thinks like you. She won't always want what you want. Especially in bed. She won't respond the way you think she should respond. She'll have emotions you don't understand. Needs that interrupt your plans. Standards that expose where you've gotten comfortable. And parts of her that simply refuse to be the way you want them to be. Good. Because she's your beneficial adversary. One of the great gifts of marriage is that, precisely. Resistance. Think about training. Muscle doesn't grow because nothing pushes against it. It grows because it encounters resistance and is forced to adapt. Marriage does something similar. Her resistance exposes you. Your impatience. Your selfishness. Your need to control. Your inability to communicate what you actually mean. Your tendency to withdraw when things get uncomfortable. Your need to be right. Your fear of her disappointment. And then marriage gives you somewhere to practice becoming MORE. More patient. More truthful. More courageous. More empathetic. More capable of staying present when another human being isn't giving you exactly what you want. That's why I think we get ourselves into trouble when we assume: “If our marriage were better, there would be less friction.” Maybe. But some friction isn't evidence that something is wrong. Some friction is the work. The goal isn't to eliminate the resistance. It's to persist through her feminine resistance with your heart still open. FIELD WORK Think about one recurring point of resistance between you and your wife. Not the catastrophic thing. The ordinary thing that keeps showing up. Then ask: What if SHE isn't the problem I need to solve here?

Brothers. Our Patriarch Preview with Ryan Michler is up. There’s one story from this conversation I haven't been able to shake. Ryan talked about being a kid in Boy Scouts. There were different male leaders around him. And even as a boy, he knew... There were men who were strong. Capable. Disciplined. Men who appeared to have their lives together. When those men spoke? The boys hung on their words. They wanted their attention. They wanted their approval. They wanted those men to think they were doing a good job.... And then there were other men who clearly weren't taking care of themselves. Their lack of discipline, of embodiment -- it was perceived by the boys. Their words didn't carry the same weight. That's confronting. Because our children are picking up the same things in us. Long before they can articulate why — they're watching. How you carry yourself. Whether you keep your word. Whether you can control yourself. Whether you're competent. Whether you do difficult things. Whether your standards apply to YOU, too. And they're forming an answer to a question they may not even know they're asking: Is this a man worth following? Is this a man worth modeling? Being Dad gives you authority for a while. But it does not guarantee respect. And it does not guarantee that when your son is 16, 20, 30 years old and needs the counsel of a man — that you're the man he'll seek. If he doesn't find something worth following in you, there will be no shortage of other men willing to become that example. For your son. For your daughter. And they're not the ones you want. That's what I haven't been able to shake. WATCH / LISTEN 🎙️ If Your Kids Don’t Respect You, They’ll Find Another Man to Follow | Ryan Michler FIELD WORK Don't ask: “Do my kids listen to me?” Ask something harder: “If I weren't their father, would the way I live make me a man they'd want to follow?”