TD 3: Rick Green – Duty, Honor, Country: Preparing for Battle

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It’s just symbolic of where we are. This moral relativism,

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where you can redefine what you’re fighting for and redefine

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what a man or a woman is. Redefine what truth

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is on a whim, and that is moral relativism. It is this

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postmodern world that we’re living in, and it is the

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ultimate reason. It is literally the petri dish where

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all this negative stuff in our culture has grown from. It began with

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saying there is no truth. With a master’s degree in

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multitasking and a half finished honeydew list. And coming

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to you from a state of marital bliss in northeastern

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Oklahoma, I’m your host, Garritt Hampton, and you are

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listening to the thinking. Dad, I am so glad you’ve

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joined me today. I have such a great show lined up for you.

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Rick Green is here with me today. Rick is my good friend

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who I love so much. Him and his family have been such a blessing to

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me. I first met Rick about 12, 13 years ago

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when he was speaking at the very first homeschooling conference

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that my wife and I attended. And I was blown away. And I

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wasn’t just blown away by Rick, but Rick’s son, who at the time

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was about ten years old, spoke as well. And I thought,

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man, what a blessing that this young kid is

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so well prepared for life that he can go in front of hundreds of people

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and speak so clearly on such an important topic. He was talking

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about the Constitution, and it just blew me away. Now he’s

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grown, and he and his siblings serve alongside

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Rick at Patriot Academy, doing really important

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work. I’m excited to get into this conversation, but before we get

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CTCMath.com. Tell them thank you for supporting

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the Thinking Dad podcast. All right, let’s get into it with

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Rick. Well, we’re here with Rick Green, my good friend,

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a man who I once called my favorite Texan,

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completely forgetting that I have a brother in Texas. This was a

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bad thing. But I do love Rick. I love his family.

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I love the guys at wall builders, and I love what you’re doing at Patriot

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Academy. Rick, would you just introduce yourself and your family for

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us? Yeah, first of all, I gotta, I gotta point out, I just heard a

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double guarantee. So it’s not only a money back guarantee, it’s a, the thinking dad

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guarantees you won’t need the money back guarantee. So that’s like a double whammy, man.

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I like it. Great to be with you, brother, anytime. Always love lock and shields

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with you and your family. And, you know, we’ve been doing this for a few

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decades now. Used to be a legislator in Texas, started

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off as a state rep and that’s how I ended up going to work for

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David Barton and Wallbuilders and been hosting his radio program for

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nearly 20 years now and speaking for him for about 22 years.

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And man, I just, I love educating, equipping and

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inspiring people to be good biblical citizens, apply the Bible to their life in

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every single area and specifically be a, be a blessing to the,

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to the nation where you are and, you know, do the things that it

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takes to preserve freedom for the next generation. So that, that’s what we do at

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Patriot Academy in a lot of fun ways. We make constitution study

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actually entertaining as opposed to boring. I slept through it in high school and

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college, and so I wanted to make it fun and entertaining for other people.

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And we just, man, we know the nation is in

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trouble, it’s crumbling around us, but we’re not the type to curl up in the

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fetal position and cry and whine. We’re going to pick up the pieces and rebuild.

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And that’s essentially what we’re doing right now. And I love the fact that people

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are more interested than ever in what they can do to be good

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citizens. Man, I love it. You talk about a couple of

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decades, and I met you 1st 13 years ago, I think

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13 or 14. And you were at it hard then.

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You’ve been at it hard since you were a young man. You were the

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youngest elected legislator in Texas history, is that

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right? No, I have to say I was the second

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youngest in the legislature when I was there. I was youngest in my

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class of about 26 reps, but second

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youngest, they’re too young, to be honest. I

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mean, I look back and I go, oh, my goodness. I was 26 years old.

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I mean, I’d had a business and 13 employees and a family and paid

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taxes, but still, man, at 26, I don’t think I

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was seasoned enough. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if it

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had been just maybe ten years later. Yeah, but still, I

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mean, that’s a life of service. You’re not 26 anymore.

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And I’m reminded of Luke 962.

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It says this. Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to

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the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of

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God. And I wanted to talk to you about that a little bit, because you’ve

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been in this fight for decades now.

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Kay, your beautiful assistant, who we love for

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years, recently posted on your facebook for you. She

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said, Rick just turned 50.

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And in the last year, he’s

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hosted 250 episodes of WallBuilders Live!,

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120 episodes of his show on American Family Radio,

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and spoken 89 times at in person events.

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It seems like it never stops with you, Rick, and yet you’re still in

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the fight. Can you talk a little bit about that? You know, I’ll

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tell you, there’s. There’s been a couple of influences in my life that made me

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want to work hard. One was my dad. Uh, he always,

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um, had a good balance. You know, he always. I can remember

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my dad showing up to every baseball game, you know, and being there

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as a great father, but he didn’t let grass grow under his

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feet, man. He was always working hard, looking to provide for the family, looking to

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do things. And then David Barton, you know, David, when I

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first started working with him, I was amazed at how much

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he could do in a day. And when I would travel with him and go

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anywhere with him, I’m looking at this guy that’s. I think he’s twelve, maybe 12,

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15 years older than me. I couldn’t keep up with him. Garritt, I’m telling you,

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I would have to chase him. When we go to DC to do an event,

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and we’d be going from one place to the other and using the metro

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there. I was literally scared because, first of all, I hadn’t

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done that stuff. And he’s like running from train to

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train, and I’m afraid I’m going to lose him and I’m not going to know

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where in the world I am. I mean, the guy is just a machine. God

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has used him. And he was influenced by George Whitefield, who, of course, you know,

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17, 18,000 sermons up and down the colonies. I mean, we wouldn’t

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have a nation without Whitefield. He was pouring those truths and

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those biblical principles of liberty into the colonies that ultimately would

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lead to the. To the revolution. And just tireless. Now,

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granted, I will say, and my wife has been reminding me, Whitefield died

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at like 54, 56. So she’s been saying, you know, let’s

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not do that part right, let’s. And of course, David’s in his sixties now and

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still going strong. So I’m trying to continue to model David. But what I learned

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from David was that it’s a duty thing. It’s not

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a. He would always use that parable where Jesus talks about the

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master comes in. He doesn’t say to the servant, hey, you’ve been working hard all

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day. You know, go ahead and sit down. I’ll serve you. No, the servant served

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the master, and that’s how we’re supposed to do for the master. We’re supposed to

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work hard, use every bit of the talent that he’s given us.

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And that doesn’t mean, I don’t think that means work ourselves to death. We got

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to be smart about how we do this, but it means not being lazy. And,

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and so I have to. I do have to make myself take

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breaks. I really struggle with the Sabbath. I mean, you know, I know it’s a

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command. I know he gave it to us. It’s for us, not for him. And

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he wants us to be healthy, and so he gives us that, that day to

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rest. And I have to make myself do that. And I know how much more

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productive I am when I do it his. His way. But I got to tell

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you, man, Barton has been such a good influence on that and, and just

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showing me how to balance those things and how to just constantly do your

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duty. And I didn’t realize until we did our constitutional live class, I guess, ten

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years ago how many quotes of the founders used that word duty.

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And they even talked about, I think it was Benjamin Rush said, to spend and

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be spent. And others talked about, you know, just, just

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always giving of yourself for your fellow man, for the cause of

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Christ. And so I’ve just tried to continue to do that.

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And also while saying, I got to say, I don’t want anybody to

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hear that and think that means that we think that it all depends on us.

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We can’t, it can’t be this. I have to do this to save the country.

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It has to be. God’s given me an open door. He’s given me a blessing.

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Whatever it is, your business, your ministry, whatever you, God’s laid before you. And

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Colossians 3:23 says to do everything we can as

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the best that we can, as unto God, not unto man. And so that means

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we’re going to constantly do it the best that we can. But it’s for him.

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It’s not for what’s going to happen here on earth or for our fellow man.

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It’s all ultimately for him. So, anyway, that’s kind of the philosophy that I’ve tried

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to attack it with. But believe me, my wife and the rest of

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my family thinks the balance needs to get a little better

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and I need to rest a little bit more. And maybe it’s just because I’m

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getting older. I don’t know. But we’re always trying to figure out that nobody’s got

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it down with a perfect formula. Even David Barton would tell you that. Yeah.

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It’s one of the areas where I think that it’s so clearly

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demonstrated that we live in a broken world, in a sin, cursed

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world, because even when we’re trying to serve faithfully

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and do our duty, we can see that it’s so easy to fall

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into patterns where that’s hurting our family. Right. And so this

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is actually kind of why I wanted to talk to you about this is because

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I know that one of the legacies you’ve established with

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Patriot Academy and even, you know, as that was growing up

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is that you’ve worked with your family and you’ve served with your family,

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and now all of your kids are involved. Your wife plays a

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huge part. She’s, you know, a huge hand in seeing the campus

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grown up. So tell me about that. How did you, first of all,

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establish that pattern early on? And how has that worked out

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over time? Well, that’s good, man. Um, you know,

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we, first of all, for, for my wife and me, we’ve always been,

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you know, truly partners. I mean, truly business partners, everything.

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Spiritual partners. Like, we never could figure out why

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most couples liked going two different directions. Like, I’m not trying to put a guilt

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trip on anybody. I’m just telling you from our perspective, we didn’t want to be

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apart for eight or 9 hours a day. Or 10 hours a day or be

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taking trips without each other. We wanted to be together and work

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together. And we actually started working together even before we got married. And

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so for us, that was an easy fit. So when we traveled the country, speaking

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for wall builders and a bus with the family, it was great.

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We loved it when we started patriot academy, and we built it

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together. From the beginning, everything for us has been

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a true partnership. God’s blessed us with different

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strengths and weaknesses. You know, like, my wife does not want to be on stage,

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but she’s back behind the scenes with the details, making everything run on

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time, and literally the brains of the operation. I’m just the dancing chicken that gets

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up there and does that, does the show. But so it started with us. I

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mean, that had to work well for us, and the kids had to see us

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working together well. And then with the kids, the one thing that

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we always try to do was give them opportunities to be a part of what

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we were doing, cast the vision so that they could see it, but never

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make them feel like there was pressure for them to do it. And if they

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didn’t do it, they weren’t glorifying God or that they weren’t honoring the family or

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anything. I was always very worried about that. Right. Just very conscientious

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about. I don’t want them to think they have to do this to be a

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Green right. That they have to do this for my approval or any of that

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kind of stuff. So we try, and I’m not saying we did it right, believe

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me, we’ve messed up as much as we’ve done, right. But we tried really

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hard to make it where, hey, you’ve got the opportunity. God’s given our

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family the opportunity to do all these different things that we get to do. So

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the door’s wide open for you, but if God calls you to go do something

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totally different. Absolutely. God bless you. We’re going to support you in that.

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And God’s just been so gracious, and they’ve all

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found a place that they enjoy with the ministry. We

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had three of the four that went off to work

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for another ministry for a while. They did a one year, gap year program with

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that ministry, and then two of those three stayed after for a year and

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worked for that church. And it was great for them. They got to

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enhance their skills. They got to learn how to work in a different environment that

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wasn’t mom and dad as the bosses. And so that

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was very healthy for them. They got to see, they got to begin to recognize

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things we don’t do well and things that we do do well, which brought

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back more for the team to get better, and they were able to. So,

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anyway, it’s worked out wonderfully for us. But if anybody out there is

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thinking about, how do I, you know, I want my kids to work with me

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or be a part of the ministry, just be really careful and

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conscientious about holding it out there with an open hand for them,

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but just constantly reminding them, hey, if this is not what God’s called you to,

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we want you to be where God wants you. And whether that’s with us or

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that’s with somebody else or some other industry for a while, maybe you come back

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and do this, maybe you never do this. That’s just real

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important. And I think that helped them to have that, to say, I can

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go, you know, chase some other dream for, you know, maybe for my whole life,

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but maybe for a season and come back. And I think if we hadn’t done

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that, man, you see it in ministry all the time, right? You see it with

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churches, with pastors that are wanting their kids to come back, you know, follow

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them in the ministry or in business. People want them to follow them in the

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business, but they. They almost strangle it. Right. By trying so

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hard to make it happen that it actually. It kills it. Yeah. So much

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that “PK’s” preachers kids are just a running joke.

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Right. And it’s unfortunate. I want to talk to

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you about one other element of that you mentioned before we got on

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that your youngest is 21 now, so you’ve all. You’ve

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transitioned all of them into young adulthood and adulthood,

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and you’re a grandfather now, and I’m right at the door of

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that. My oldest is 18. She’s graduating from high school.

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By the time this airs, she’ll have graduated. Tell me about that

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transition. And then, more importantly, what were you and Kara

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doing to, um. To ensure that

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as they grew, they would be growing into faithfulness in serving

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the Lord and walking with him? Yeah, man. You know, I’ll

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just throw out a few things and. And please anybody watching, I’m

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not. You know, Karen and I are very careful about saying we do not have

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it all figured out. And the Lord was so gracious because we did

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so many things that I wish we had done different, but we were blessed

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to have great examples to learn from. The Bartons

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were a huge influence on our marriage and on the way we raised our

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children, our parents. You know, we come from good

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families and grandparents that sewed into us, so we’ve had kind

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of an unfair advantage in that, and we tried to. Tried to make the most

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of that. Zig Ziglar was a big influence on my life and one of my

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mentors, and he had this great series, actually, that his son Tom let

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us license to us so we could rewind, you know, distribute it to a new

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generation called how to raise positive kids in a negative world. And, man, I

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stole so much from that in terms of little golden nuggets of. I mean,

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literally even how to put the kids to bed and. And things to say in

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the morning when they wake up and ways to wake up your kids to have

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a good environment that day, and just little things like that. So we

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really did have an unfair advantage. But I’ll say.

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I will say this transition into this new season, and I don’t mean this as

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a platitude. This is absolutely the truth. I loved being a dad,

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but grandpa is the best job on the planet. I

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mean, you saw, before we started recording, my grandson came in and

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brought me some coffee, and it is the best job on the planet. And I

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think what the best part of it is, and not just how much you love

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your grandkids and how much you love watching them, it’s watching your kids

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be parents that is the coolest thing on the planet,

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especially if they have stayed, you know, serving the Lord and they’re

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raising their kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. There is no greater

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joy, my man. It is phenomenal. So

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now, setting all that up, I’ll say a couple things that might be golden nuggets

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that people can grab ahold of. One thing we did with our kids was no

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conversation was ever off limits. Like, our kids could ask us anything about

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anything, and we tried really hard to not be like, where’d you hear that? Or

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how’d you. It was immediately like, oh, well, let’s. You know, let’s talk that through.

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Always find, you know, just working overtime to make sure

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they knew the lines of communication were always open, always being quick to

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apologize to our kids when we screwed up, which, like I said, I did a

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lot. And so, you know, if I ever lost my temper or I did it,

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I mean, I had. I learned my. I had a pastor at the time when

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my kids were young that taught me that he was like, don’t think your kids

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are too young to understand forgiveness and forgiving

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you if you do something that is out of line. And so that was a,

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I think, really helped with the relationship building with them. And then as they got

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older and could handle even tougher topics, you know, especially with my

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boys having the time around the fire, the deep discussions, admitting

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my faults, being able to talk about, you know, mistakes I had made

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and wanting them to not, you know, and there’s a time for that. Like, I

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don’t want anybody to hear this and say, oh, I’m gonna go tell my six

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year old about every stupid thing I did in my life. That’s not what I’m

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saying. There’s a time have discernment, but that was really important for us.

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And then just trying really hard to, you know, through those

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conversations and through the. Not overreacting whenever, you

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know, if they messed up and they brought something to you or whatever to keep

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that relationship open, genuinely

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investing for a couple of decades in each of them, praying to

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God that when they decided they

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possibly met the right person, that our opinion would matter. Right.

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That they would want our input and confirmation from

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not only us, but their siblings. This is a good fit. This makes

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sense. This is the Lord’s in this. Instead of just. I feel

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the, you know, the hair standing up and I feel the, you know,

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the emotions, and I want to. I want to go marry this person that they

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actually had confirmation within the family. And so far,

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two for four, man. Got two amazing daughter in laws and

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thrilled with. With. With the decisions that our. That our oldest two have made and

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our youngest two are not in a relationship. But, you know, when that happens,

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I know from the conversations we’ve already had, they will come to us and they

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want to know genuinely what we think. I think, Garritt, that is one of the

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best measurements of, you know, despite all the mistakes

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we make in those two decades, that, on balance, the

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relationship was strong enough that they. That they would want that. That biggest

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decision they’re going to make, other than serving the Lord, they would want us to

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be involved in that. So that’s way more than you wanted. I know I wasn’t

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here to write a book on parenthood and always said I wouldn’t answer any of

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those questions until my kids were grown. So I could see how the

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timing is perfect. Yeah. Oh, that’s so good. Well, I. Thank

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you. I’ll tell you, Rick, I’m at that stage right now

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where it’s just over the line, just over the horizon. I

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can. I can almost taste it, and I can’t wait. I

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love. I love that we’re entering that season with our girls, and I just

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can’t wait. So thank you. Love it, man. I want to ask you this. This

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show is not a homeschool show, unlike schoolhouse rocked, which you’ve

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been on a few times and always knock it out of the park. But

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I know that you were homeschooled in a time where that wasn’t the

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thing, and then you chose to homeschool your kids. How much

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do you think that that time at home and that education at home

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played into where they are now? And how do you think they were established

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for their futures that way? Brother, it’s

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impossible to overstate how important it was. You know, I. Like

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you said, I was. I did homeschool, private school and public school. So I, as

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a kid, I went through all three. And so

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having that experience of all three, I think, really weighed into

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our decisions and kind of how we did things. And there is

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no doubt that being able to homeschool and

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have that extra time with them, being able to know when things weren’t going well

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for them and be able to take the time to breathe into that and to

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spend time with that extra time with each of them and focus on

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their learning style, their, you know, abilities, their

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callings, their giftings, all of those things was

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monumental. And I know everybody can’t do it. I get it. You

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know, and I’m not, again, not to put a guilt trip on anybody that just

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absolutely cannot do it, but if you can find a way to do it, do

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it. I mean, it is. It’s 20 years that you

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will be thankful for, for 40 or 60 years afterwards.

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And then if you don’t do it, I hope you’re not regretting

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not doing it. And you only get that one chance, right? It’s over when it’s

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over, and it’s just. It’s just priceless. And I remember my wife

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saying, when our oldest, Trey, was five or six or whatever, you know, when he

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was expected to go off to the local school, she said, I just

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can’t imagine handing him over to somebody else for most of his

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time and most of his week. I just can’t do it. And so

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we kind of stumbled, even though I had, you know, like you said, it was

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when. I mean, I remember hiding under the bed when somebody knocked on the door.

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You didn’t, you know, you didn’t answer the front door. Cause it wasn’t even technically

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legal in some of the times when we were homeschooling. And

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yet, for our kids, it was

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more so than me wanting to do it. My wife wanted to have that extra

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time with them and be able to sew into them, and she was amazing

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at it. I mean, just. And we were. Now, some people would look up from

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the outside at our homeschooling and say, they’re terrible homeschoolers. Cause we not good with

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schedules. Not, you know, we very non traditional. But

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our kids got to see most of the battlefields and baseball parks and presidential

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museums and got to have fun learning. And she was just

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great at setting the tone for the house

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every morning and finding a way to respond to them. However they

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woke up that day in a way that would move things in a positive direction.

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So she was just a master at it. Yeah, I want to dig

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into that a little bit, because we’re in a similar situation. We’re very

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eclectic homeschoolers. We said we would never do it.

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Yvette and I both are not really educators at heart, and

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we both hated school, and yet we’re. We’re now 13

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years down the road. And really, truly, we’re 18 years down the road.

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Cause you’re. You start from the start, right? That’s right. You’re homeschooling from

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the time you have kids, and then at a certain point, you just either keep

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them or you give them away. But, uh, we’re. We’re 18 years into

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it with Brooklyn, and we see so much fruit, and we see so much fruit

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in Lacey. And we were not educators. We

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were not enthusiastic homeschoolers. So I want to ask you this,

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because we understand practically not everybody can do it.

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But I think in a lot of cases, that many people could

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do it, but they just think there’s no way. So,

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did. Did Kara feel super ready to homeschool? Was

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she, like, I can totally do this, and could you predict the

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outcome at the time? Hundred percent no. You

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know the answer to that question, right? Right. No, not at all. I mean,

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it was. It was a leap of faith, and especially in

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her case, not knowing what all was out there, I knew a little better

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because of having been there in my younger years

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and even in the legislature, working on education issues and

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working with the Texas homeschool coalition and that sort of thing. But

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in terms of what was out there, in terms of help, curriculum,

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how to do this, she had all the same unknowns and fears

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and everything else. It was the. The goal was big enough, and the

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desire to have that extra time with him and

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direct his upbringing and not, as you said, give him away,

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was enough to say, I’ll figure this out. I’ll find a way to do it.

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Because I think you just said it exactly right. When I say, there’s some that

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can’t do it. I honestly think that those who can’t just cannot

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practically do it is very, very few. Right. I mean, I understand a single

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mom with no other support, um, that has to work during the

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day. I get it. That’s a, that’s an almost impossible situation. Now, you can find

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a co op and you can find potentially a homeschool resource center or something like

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that that might be able to help you with that or another family that you

419
00:24:55,218 –> 00:24:58,314
could do it with, but it’s much, much, much harder. So I understand there, there

420
00:24:58,354 –> 00:25:01,930
are those situations, but most of the people that say we can’t do it,

421
00:25:02,042 –> 00:25:05,626
there’s. Both parents are in the home. They could find a way, and they might

422
00:25:05,650 –> 00:25:09,242
have to really sacrifice. They may have to downsize their home or give up a

423
00:25:09,258 –> 00:25:12,586
car or what, I don’t know, financially, what, what sacrifice. I guarantee you it’s worth

424
00:25:12,610 –> 00:25:16,250
it, though. I don’t care how much the financial sacrifice is. It is worth

425
00:25:16,282 –> 00:25:19,714
it. But they have to get over what you just described, that

426
00:25:19,754 –> 00:25:23,602
hump. It’s really a paradigm shift, right? Because we’ve been raised to believe

427
00:25:23,658 –> 00:25:27,442
you hand your kids over to the experts, supposedly the schools. And so we

428
00:25:27,458 –> 00:25:31,146
don’t think we can compete with all these people with all these degrees, and they’ve

429
00:25:31,170 –> 00:25:34,906
got all the different programs and the fancy buildings, and we’re comparing our

430
00:25:34,930 –> 00:25:38,298
little school living room and whatever we’re going to do in our living room to

431
00:25:38,346 –> 00:25:42,112
that and thinking we can’t do it. Now, you and I know, in reality,

432
00:25:42,298 –> 00:25:45,676
the living room and all the things you get to do in homeschooling actually

433
00:25:45,740 –> 00:25:49,316
produces a far better human being and a better

434
00:25:49,380 –> 00:25:53,116
educated person. More opportunities, more all of those things. We know

435
00:25:53,140 –> 00:25:55,692
that because we’ve done it. But if you’re from the outside and you’re looking at

436
00:25:55,708 –> 00:25:58,284
those two, you’re going, oh, my goodness, there’s no way I’m going to leave it

437
00:25:58,284 –> 00:26:02,076
to the experts. Wrong decision. I just got to say, believe me, you will

438
00:26:02,100 –> 00:26:05,532
be so thankful you went with being able to spend that time with your kid.

439
00:26:05,588 –> 00:26:08,828
And there’s so much help out there now. Man, when I was doing it as

440
00:26:08,836 –> 00:26:12,576
a kid, it was like ace paces, or, you

441
00:26:12,600 –> 00:26:16,424
know, Abeka and Bob Jones. I think that was it. That was the only

442
00:26:16,464 –> 00:26:19,520
curriculums out there, and we did the ace paces when I was a kid. Now

443
00:26:19,632 –> 00:26:23,344
you walk into a homeschool convention and it’s like, you know, the curriculum. God threw

444
00:26:23,384 –> 00:26:27,056
up on everything. I mean, there’s literally just, it’s every, there’s so

445
00:26:27,120 –> 00:26:30,752
many options. The harder part is choosing which one. And there’s some cool options. There’s

446
00:26:30,768 –> 00:26:34,488
so much fun stuff that you can do and the people that’ll come alongside

447
00:26:34,536 –> 00:26:38,348
you. So it’s a whole different ballgame now than it was even when Kara, you

448
00:26:38,356 –> 00:26:41,468
know, made that decision and said, yes, we’re going to do this. That was 20

449
00:26:41,516 –> 00:26:45,268
years ago. I mean, right now, I think there’s very few people

450
00:26:45,316 –> 00:26:49,064
that could not do it. Yeah, we’ve spent years now,

451
00:26:49,604 –> 00:26:53,308
literally, I think we’re, we’re in our 7th year where

452
00:26:53,396 –> 00:26:56,868
day to day we talk to homeschool people. We made a movie about

453
00:26:56,916 –> 00:27:00,204
it. We’ve done, you know, all sorts of things with homeschool

454
00:27:00,244 –> 00:27:04,030
people, and yet everybody we talk to

455
00:27:04,142 –> 00:27:07,982
feels the same terror. It’s, it’s uncanny. There’s

456
00:27:08,038 –> 00:27:11,550
very few people who just say, oh, yeah, totally, we can do

457
00:27:11,582 –> 00:27:15,246
this. And yet it’s so important. The time

458
00:27:15,390 –> 00:27:19,006
is just irreplaceable. And it’s so much time. I’ve mentioned this

459
00:27:19,030 –> 00:27:22,590
before. It’s on average, across the country, kids who are

460
00:27:22,622 –> 00:27:26,302
educated k through twelve in the schools, the average

461
00:27:26,358 –> 00:27:30,106
time they’re away from their, their family is between twelve

462
00:27:30,170 –> 00:27:33,922
and a half and 16,000 hours. You

463
00:27:33,938 –> 00:27:37,018
just can’t get that back. And unfortunately, there are real

464
00:27:37,066 –> 00:27:40,914
consequences. So we’re going to go into some of the consequences after

465
00:27:40,954 –> 00:27:44,410
the break. But as we go into the break, I want to talk about

466
00:27:44,522 –> 00:27:48,290
the last area of family with you, which is

467
00:27:48,442 –> 00:27:51,962
the defense of your family, because you’ve spent years doing a course

468
00:27:52,018 –> 00:27:55,466
that I think is amazing, the constitutional defense

469
00:27:55,530 –> 00:27:59,234
course, where you don’t just teach the constitution, which is what you’re

470
00:27:59,274 –> 00:28:03,042
known for, but you’re teaching men and women to defend their families

471
00:28:03,178 –> 00:28:06,898
through concealed carry and combat arms. Right. Tell me about that.

472
00:28:06,946 –> 00:28:10,682
Why that’s important to you? Yeah. Yeah. Just be honest with you. I was

473
00:28:10,698 –> 00:28:14,282
the fool for 40 years of my life. And the fool I’m talking about is

474
00:28:14,298 –> 00:28:17,850
the one in proverbs 20 712. It says, you know, that a

475
00:28:17,882 –> 00:28:21,250
wise person foresees danger and takes precaution. A simpleton or

476
00:28:21,282 –> 00:28:25,118
foolish walks blindly on and suffers the consequences, despite the fact that I

477
00:28:25,126 –> 00:28:28,334
was the God and guns guy in the legislature. So I was literally passing

478
00:28:28,374 –> 00:28:32,038
legislation to protect your right to keep and bear arms, but I wasn’t keeping and

479
00:28:32,046 –> 00:28:35,494
bearing arms. In other words, I wasn’t prepared to defend my family.

480
00:28:35,654 –> 00:28:38,542
And it was really because subconsciously I knew I wasn’t trained. I mean, I grew

481
00:28:38,558 –> 00:28:41,794
up on the ranch, been around guns, but no training whatsoever.

482
00:28:42,334 –> 00:28:45,910
And so, thankfully, some friends of ours talked me into taking

483
00:28:45,982 –> 00:28:49,702
Trey when he was 16, my oldest, to go to this course. And in

484
00:28:49,718 –> 00:28:52,926
my mind, I’m thinking it’s for him, right? I get there and I realize, wow,

485
00:28:52,990 –> 00:28:56,526
I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And so after four days, I

486
00:28:56,550 –> 00:28:59,434
was, you know, totally confident, competent,

487
00:28:59,814 –> 00:29:03,470
comfortable with my firearm. Totally changed my mindset. And it

488
00:29:03,502 –> 00:29:07,182
made me realize that, you know, we sometimes lean on thinking

489
00:29:07,238 –> 00:29:10,182
the police will take care of it or someone else will take care of it

490
00:29:10,198 –> 00:29:13,262
or God will take care of it. And we’re expected to be the ones. We

491
00:29:13,278 –> 00:29:16,806
are his hands and feet, and we’re expected to be prepared to defend our

492
00:29:16,830 –> 00:29:19,830
families. And, you know, there’s so many scriptures. In fact, I’ve got a book coming

493
00:29:19,862 –> 00:29:22,982
out called the biblical rite of armed self defense that I’m riding with the guy

494
00:29:22,998 –> 00:29:26,526
that runs all of this for us, Aaron Marshall, he’s just. It’s just a

495
00:29:26,550 –> 00:29:30,182
phenomenal paradigm shift for a lot of people of faith think,

496
00:29:30,278 –> 00:29:33,966
you know, turn the other cheek. Whatever happens, I’m just supposed to not respond. And

497
00:29:33,990 –> 00:29:37,446
that is not biblical at all. And it’s not protecting the innocent, nor is it

498
00:29:37,470 –> 00:29:41,214
protecting yourself. And it’s encouraging evil and encouraging violence.

499
00:29:41,254 –> 00:29:44,534
And we’ve got a violent situation in the world right now. I mean, we, especially

500
00:29:44,574 –> 00:29:48,366
with the open borders we already had before all of that happened, we had

501
00:29:48,390 –> 00:29:52,002
4 million violent crimes a year happening in America. And I don’t say any of

502
00:29:52,018 –> 00:29:54,682
this to scare people. I don’t think we should be paranoid. I just think we

503
00:29:54,698 –> 00:29:57,922
should be prepared. And so that’s why we do the training now. So after I

504
00:29:57,938 –> 00:30:00,322
went through the class, I was like, hey, everybody, you got to come with me.

505
00:30:00,338 –> 00:30:03,762
Let’s do this class. And then I added the constitution training to it, and it

506
00:30:03,778 –> 00:30:07,490
became something really unique. And we put, I think we’re up to 6000 people now

507
00:30:07,522 –> 00:30:11,002
that we’ve put through the course. So it’s really good intellectual

508
00:30:11,138 –> 00:30:14,658
knowledge. I call it intellectual ammunition, and then really good

509
00:30:14,706 –> 00:30:18,346
physical training. And I promise, I’m telling you, man, women

510
00:30:18,410 –> 00:30:21,906
especially, it is the great equalizer. 55% of our students are

511
00:30:21,930 –> 00:30:25,602
women. It’s the best way for them

512
00:30:25,658 –> 00:30:29,434
to be able to protect themselves. And for men, I think it’s a

513
00:30:29,474 –> 00:30:33,106
duty to be able to defend your family, defend your home. And so the people

514
00:30:33,130 –> 00:30:36,458
that come through our classes, most of them have never touched a gun or had

515
00:30:36,506 –> 00:30:39,906
any kind of training whatsoever. And by the end of that four days, just like

516
00:30:39,930 –> 00:30:43,626
for me, you’re competent, confident, and a lot of them have trauma, man. I’ve

517
00:30:43,650 –> 00:30:46,886
had people where their grandkids were murdered in front of them. I had a wife

518
00:30:47,010 –> 00:30:50,670
last summer who. Her husband was murdered right in front of her. Um,

519
00:30:50,742 –> 00:30:53,542
and. And it. So that’s tough. You got to get over that day of trauma

520
00:30:53,598 –> 00:30:56,926
first. And they’re literally in tears, you know? Um, and by the fourth day, they’re

521
00:30:56,950 –> 00:31:00,142
in tears with joy, going, you know, hugging everybody, going, thank you. Thank you for

522
00:31:00,158 –> 00:31:03,990
helping me to get over that. And now be prepared to make sure it doesn’t

523
00:31:04,022 –> 00:31:07,742
happen again. So, I love that training, man. It’s not our main thing that

524
00:31:07,758 –> 00:31:11,510
we do, but I love seeing the result when. When families

525
00:31:11,542 –> 00:31:14,436
go through that. And it is a family thing. Eleven years old and up can

526
00:31:14,460 –> 00:31:17,588
go through our training. And I’ve had some great times with my kids when they

527
00:31:17,596 –> 00:31:21,372
were younger doing that. And it’s good father son, father daughter time, but it’s

528
00:31:21,388 –> 00:31:25,156
just great for the whole family. Yeah. That’s so awesome. I can’t wait to do

529
00:31:25,180 –> 00:31:28,820
it. Yvette and I were signed up to go when it was

530
00:31:28,852 –> 00:31:32,700
still in Nevada, and then, unfortunately, that class shut down. But

531
00:31:32,732 –> 00:31:36,468
this led to a great. A great improvement in

532
00:31:36,476 –> 00:31:39,940
the system, at least in that. Now you guys get to do it on your

533
00:31:39,972 –> 00:31:43,676
own property, right? That’s right. Oh, man, I can’t. You’re gonna get me

534
00:31:43,700 –> 00:31:47,252
all giddy here. I am so thankful for what God’s provided for us. We have

535
00:31:47,268 –> 00:31:51,116
a wonderful 178 acre campus in FredeRicksburg, Texas, and we’re

536
00:31:51,140 –> 00:31:53,820
doing these classes every week already. We’ve only had the property about a year and

537
00:31:53,852 –> 00:31:57,476
two months, but we built the ranges, and they’re the nicest ranges in

538
00:31:57,500 –> 00:32:01,196
Texas. The classroom, everything where right now we’re building. I don’t even know if I’ve

539
00:32:01,220 –> 00:32:04,796
told you about this, Garritt. We’re building a house chamber. So we’re gonna have our

540
00:32:04,820 –> 00:32:08,396
own house chamber and committee room, so we can do our leadership congress, our

541
00:32:08,420 –> 00:32:12,046
legislative simulation, and the gun class and the constitution training,

542
00:32:12,110 –> 00:32:15,830
all of it on site in FredeRicksburg. And we’ll have tiny homes by July

543
00:32:15,902 –> 00:32:19,326
that people can stay in when they come, stay on campus. So I call it

544
00:32:19,350 –> 00:32:23,006
the Patriot experience. It’s going to. It’s going to be incredible, man. I cannot wait

545
00:32:23,030 –> 00:32:25,398
for y’all to come. And actually, I’m glad you didn’t even go when we were

546
00:32:25,406 –> 00:32:28,110
doing that a few years ago in Nevada. You’re going to like this even better.

547
00:32:28,142 –> 00:32:31,670
I can promise. I can’t wait. Well, we’re going to get more into the

548
00:32:31,702 –> 00:32:35,490
patriot experience after the break. But first, man,

549
00:32:35,522 –> 00:32:38,618
I want to ask a favor of you. As you know, this is a new

550
00:32:38,666 –> 00:32:42,410
show, and we are trying to reach millions

551
00:32:42,442 –> 00:32:46,154
of men with this message of hope and encouragement and the

552
00:32:46,194 –> 00:32:49,970
resources we offer. But we need your help to do it. So we

553
00:32:50,002 –> 00:32:53,354
want to ask that you would share the show. If you know another

554
00:32:53,434 –> 00:32:57,090
dad, another man who could use this encouragement, I want you

555
00:32:57,122 –> 00:33:00,666
right now to just share the show with them. If you’re watching the show on

556
00:33:00,690 –> 00:33:04,354
YouTube or another video platform, make sure you like the video.

557
00:33:04,514 –> 00:33:08,242
Subscribe to the channel, leave a comment. That’s a huge help for

558
00:33:08,258 –> 00:33:11,946
the algorithms, but get involved and help us get the word out.

559
00:33:12,050 –> 00:33:15,810
We really do want to see this. Encourage millions of men,

560
00:33:15,922 –> 00:33:19,690
and we can do it, but we need your help. Also, if you’re

561
00:33:19,722 –> 00:33:23,250
listening to the podcast, I’d like to ask you to just take a minute to

562
00:33:23,282 –> 00:33:27,018
rate and review the show. That’s also helpful for letting people know

563
00:33:27,066 –> 00:33:30,704
why you’re encouraged by the thinking, dad, why they should be listening.

564
00:33:30,824 –> 00:33:33,304
And then do me a favor. Drop by

565
00:33:33,344 –> 00:33:36,904
CtCmath.com and tell them thank you for

566
00:33:36,944 –> 00:33:40,712
supporting the show. They came in before this season ever launched

567
00:33:40,808 –> 00:33:44,416
with huge support because they believe in what we’re doing

568
00:33:44,480 –> 00:33:48,312
here. They want to see you guys thrive. And so I want to ask you

569
00:33:48,328 –> 00:33:52,160
to just say thank you to them. It’s totally worth it. All right, let’s

570
00:33:52,192 –> 00:33:55,512
get back into it with Rick. All right, Rick, we’re going to shift

571
00:33:55,568 –> 00:33:59,248
gears. We’ve talked about. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you shift gears,

572
00:33:59,296 –> 00:34:02,992
brother, I gotta say to your viewers, to the guys out there, what he

573
00:34:03,008 –> 00:34:06,680
just described is such an easy thing to do, and it

574
00:34:06,712 –> 00:34:10,400
makes you a force multiplier. So share this program, do the liking

575
00:34:10,432 –> 00:34:13,824
and commenting, all of those things. By doing that, you’re not just making

576
00:34:13,864 –> 00:34:17,616
Garritt’s program bigger, you’re equipping more men out there in our, in our

577
00:34:17,640 –> 00:34:21,168
country to step up and lead and to lead their families. Well. So please,

578
00:34:21,216 –> 00:34:24,989
those, those are such easy. In, in 60 seconds, you could do

579
00:34:25,021 –> 00:34:28,485
everything that Garritt just asked you to do, and that makes you a force multiplier.

580
00:34:28,549 –> 00:34:31,021
So join us in doing that. All right? Sorry, man. I know you didn’t need

581
00:34:31,037 –> 00:34:33,293
another spot, but I just couldn’t help it. As you were saying, and I was

582
00:34:33,373 –> 00:34:37,213
helpful, and you, you mentioned the term force multiplier. And I’ve heard you talk

583
00:34:37,253 –> 00:34:41,021
about this dozens of times, as I’ve heard you speak. I don’t know if

584
00:34:41,037 –> 00:34:44,605
I’ve heard you dozens of times speak, but I’ve heard you speak several

585
00:34:44,669 –> 00:34:48,445
times. And you use that term. So explain what a force multiplier

586
00:34:48,509 –> 00:34:52,147
is. And then I want to get into how we need to be using

587
00:34:52,235 –> 00:34:55,987
this to move the needle in our nation. You know, I think. I

588
00:34:55,995 –> 00:34:59,219
think so many of our people, and when I say our people, I’m talking people

589
00:34:59,251 –> 00:35:02,675
that actually believe in right and wrong, that believe in the Bible, that want to

590
00:35:02,699 –> 00:35:06,107
live in a free nation, that, you know, some of those basic things. I don’t

591
00:35:06,115 –> 00:35:09,515
even mean Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative. I mean people that just,

592
00:35:09,699 –> 00:35:13,467
they still believe in freedom of speech and due process and all those

593
00:35:13,515 –> 00:35:17,307
basic ideas that made America the Superman motto, you know, truth, justice, and

594
00:35:17,315 –> 00:35:20,666
the american way. If that’s you, you’re our people. But I think so many of

595
00:35:20,690 –> 00:35:24,314
our people don’t do anything because they feel like they

596
00:35:24,354 –> 00:35:27,290
don’t have the power to make a difference. They think, I’ve got to be president

597
00:35:27,362 –> 00:35:30,874
or a congressman or gotta have a show like Garritt or like Rick, and

598
00:35:30,914 –> 00:35:34,602
otherwise I can’t make a difference. And so this force multiplier is

599
00:35:34,618 –> 00:35:38,042
the ability to take your one voice or your one vote. Let’s just take an

600
00:35:38,058 –> 00:35:41,882
election. You have one vote when hopefully you’re only voting once, but you

601
00:35:41,898 –> 00:35:45,470
have one vote when you go into that booth. But if you take your

602
00:35:45,502 –> 00:35:48,510
voter guide that you’ve chosen, the ten people you’re going to vote for, let’s say,

603
00:35:48,582 –> 00:35:52,374
in this election, and you share that on your social media tools, or you

604
00:35:52,454 –> 00:35:54,958
pass it out at church, or you tell your friends and family about it and

605
00:35:54,966 –> 00:35:58,454
say, here’s the voter guide of why I chose these people and what they stand

606
00:35:58,494 –> 00:36:02,270
for, here’s who I recommend. Well, if five people take

607
00:36:02,302 –> 00:36:05,622
your advice and walk into the booth with that thing, you have four. You’ve multiplied

608
00:36:05,678 –> 00:36:08,310
yourself and the force that you are in the culture,

609
00:36:08,422 –> 00:36:12,146
500%. That’s a fivefold increase. It

610
00:36:12,210 –> 00:36:16,042
makes a difference when you share, as I was saying earlier, when

611
00:36:16,058 –> 00:36:18,962
you share on social media, the show, or you do the like and the comment

612
00:36:19,018 –> 00:36:22,626
and all those things, you’re increasing that algorithm and you’re causing more

613
00:36:22,650 –> 00:36:25,974
people to see this. You’re a force multiplier. You’re becoming,

614
00:36:26,274 –> 00:36:29,746
literally, your force is greater than

615
00:36:29,770 –> 00:36:33,546
yourself. And I just think we sometimes think

616
00:36:33,570 –> 00:36:36,762
that we’re in a vacuum, that it’s just we’re not having an impact. We don’t

617
00:36:36,778 –> 00:36:39,990
always get to see the results of what we’ve done. That’s right. But when you

618
00:36:40,022 –> 00:36:43,590
take those steps, that’s. It’s. That’s why, Garritt, it was

619
00:36:43,622 –> 00:36:47,406
3% that fought in the revolution and still were able to give us

620
00:36:47,430 –> 00:36:50,766
a free nation. You know, you had 25% of the country for it,

621
00:36:50,790 –> 00:36:53,966
25% against it, 50%. I’m not even sure they knew it happened right. Not even

622
00:36:53,990 –> 00:36:57,670
paying attention. Kind of like most people today. It’s a small percentage

623
00:36:57,782 –> 00:37:01,046
that makes a difference and pushes the whole country that way. But the reason is

624
00:37:01,070 –> 00:37:04,914
because they’re doing the things that multiply their ability

625
00:37:05,424 –> 00:37:09,040
in having an influence on the culture. So it’s. And it’s too easy to not

626
00:37:09,072 –> 00:37:12,744
do. I mean, honestly, if you don’t realize the

627
00:37:12,784 –> 00:37:16,040
trouble that we’re in as a nation, and you don’t realize that we need you,

628
00:37:16,072 –> 00:37:19,072
that our nation needs you, that your kids and your grandkids need you, you’ve been

629
00:37:19,088 –> 00:37:22,904
living under a rock. I bet everybody watching this show, you know, in your gut,

630
00:37:23,064 –> 00:37:26,792
things are not right, and we need to make a difference. And you probably also,

631
00:37:26,848 –> 00:37:29,776
in your gut, feel like, I wish I had a larger voice. I wish I

632
00:37:29,800 –> 00:37:33,340
had more people listening to me. I’m telling you, God’s given you a voice. He’s

633
00:37:33,372 –> 00:37:36,220
giving you a platform. No matter who you are and where you are, he’s giving

634
00:37:36,252 –> 00:37:39,708
you a realm of influence. Even if it’s just five people in your home or

635
00:37:39,756 –> 00:37:42,824
your neighborhood, it might be 50 people at your church.

636
00:37:43,204 –> 00:37:46,860
Use the tools you have. Thomas Jefferson and. And Paul

637
00:37:46,892 –> 00:37:50,708
Revere and all those guys, they didn’t have Twitter, they didn’t have Facebook. They had

638
00:37:50,716 –> 00:37:53,676
to ride on a horse, you know, from one colony to the other to get

639
00:37:53,700 –> 00:37:57,008
word out whenever you’re doing. The committees of correspondence, they had a lot of. We

640
00:37:57,016 –> 00:38:00,840
got it easy, man. We just a couple of, you know, put. Put a few

641
00:38:00,872 –> 00:38:04,288
words in, hit send, and you’re a force multiplier. Literally,

642
00:38:04,416 –> 00:38:08,152
or even just share. I mean, just share a tweet, just,

643
00:38:08,288 –> 00:38:11,968
if you agree. You. You wouldn’t believe how important

644
00:38:12,056 –> 00:38:15,856
those small steps are. And the. The Bible talks about not burying

645
00:38:15,920 –> 00:38:19,424
your talents. There are so many things in the Bible that talk

646
00:38:19,464 –> 00:38:22,960
about stewardship. God knows that most of us are

647
00:38:22,992 –> 00:38:26,240
not Donald Trump or, you know, some gigantic cult of

648
00:38:26,272 –> 00:38:30,072
personality that we. He knows what he’s entrusted to

649
00:38:30,128 –> 00:38:33,800
us, and we’re called to use it. I gotta say, when we

650
00:38:33,872 –> 00:38:37,672
got into this ministry, we knew no one. We didn’t even know

651
00:38:37,728 –> 00:38:41,488
what God was calling us to do. We just knew that he was calling

652
00:38:41,536 –> 00:38:45,064
us. And so we were taking one step at a time and

653
00:38:45,104 –> 00:38:48,936
trusting him to show us the next step. And yet now, as we

654
00:38:48,960 –> 00:38:52,276
look back a few years, we can see so much fruit. And I’m sure the

655
00:38:52,300 –> 00:38:55,824
same is true with. With you, Rick, that once you start

656
00:38:56,284 –> 00:39:00,116
moving in your calling and doing what God’s called you to do, you will

657
00:39:00,140 –> 00:39:03,956
see him also multiply the fruit from that. So, man, I

658
00:39:03,980 –> 00:39:07,684
thank you for bringing that up. Um, just, like, force

659
00:39:07,724 –> 00:39:11,108
multiplier. I want to hit on another few key words.

660
00:39:11,156 –> 00:39:14,908
Okay. You recently tweeted, “These three, duty,

661
00:39:15,036 –> 00:39:18,676
honor, country used to be foundational to the thinking

662
00:39:18,700 –> 00:39:22,420
of Americans. Today, they’re being swept away on a wave of

663
00:39:22,452 –> 00:39:25,564
Marxism and by the belief that there is no

664
00:39:25,724 –> 00:39:29,476
fixed, objective truth.” And I want to walk through that with you

665
00:39:29,500 –> 00:39:33,316
because I think this is so important right now. First of

666
00:39:33,340 –> 00:39:37,164
all, that our eyes have just been closed to the fact that there is

667
00:39:37,204 –> 00:39:40,964
a real truth and a real calling and a real purpose to our

668
00:39:41,004 –> 00:39:44,684
duty. So I want to jump off from there and talk about that

669
00:39:44,724 –> 00:39:48,258
duty you mentioned earlier. Yeah, man. I’m gonna give you three

670
00:39:48,306 –> 00:39:51,610
examples. I’ll try. Try to make it really fast. Okay, so two of them are

671
00:39:51,642 –> 00:39:55,002
comic book examples. I already mentioned one of them. You know, the Superman theme,

672
00:39:55,058 –> 00:39:58,746
truth, justice in the american way. That used to

673
00:39:58,770 –> 00:40:01,882
mean something. I use a comic book because it’s kind of pop culture. It kind

674
00:40:01,898 –> 00:40:05,746
of represents where the culture was and became, you know, super

675
00:40:05,810 –> 00:40:09,474
popular, and was. Was a way of reinforcing what was being taught at the church

676
00:40:09,514 –> 00:40:12,946
and the school and the home, and it was all rowing in the same

677
00:40:13,090 –> 00:40:16,874
direction. Another one that’s more recent is Captain America

678
00:40:16,914 –> 00:40:20,546
in Civil War, a comic book in 1984, I think it is, or

679
00:40:20,570 –> 00:40:24,162
88, where he’s having this conversation with Spider

680
00:40:24,218 –> 00:40:27,778
man, and they’re talking about how when the whole world’s against you

681
00:40:27,826 –> 00:40:31,610
and the media is coming after you and all this stuff, and Captain America

682
00:40:31,642 –> 00:40:35,010
gives this great speech about when the whole world tells you to

683
00:40:35,042 –> 00:40:38,122
move, you plant yourself by the river of

684
00:40:38,258 –> 00:40:42,098
truth and tell them, no, you move. I

685
00:40:42,106 –> 00:40:45,770
mean, that’s the comic book world literally standing in the way that we

686
00:40:45,802 –> 00:40:49,250
talk about today. Now, of course, Marvel’s off

687
00:40:49,282 –> 00:40:53,098
the rails. DC is off the rails. Now. They’re pushing all the evil

688
00:40:53,146 –> 00:40:56,882
agenda through pop culture, including the comic books. It’s

689
00:40:56,938 –> 00:41:00,490
changed radically because we did not stand firm

690
00:41:00,562 –> 00:41:03,898
on duty, honor, country, and keep teaching that. The third example,

691
00:41:03,946 –> 00:41:07,696
unfortunately, is. Is a much more practical example, and

692
00:41:07,720 –> 00:41:11,304
that is that they took duty, honor, and country out of the West

693
00:41:11,344 –> 00:41:14,928
Point mission, and that was what they

694
00:41:15,056 –> 00:41:18,824
instilled in them. And even going back to the founding era,

695
00:41:18,864 –> 00:41:22,496
from the time of Pastor Jonas Clark teaching the

696
00:41:22,520 –> 00:41:26,272
Lexington minutemen about, literally about just war theory, when is it okay

697
00:41:26,288 –> 00:41:29,564
to fight? When is it not that we respond. We react.

698
00:41:31,624 –> 00:41:35,366
The reason Captain Parker said, don’t fire unless fired upon. So.

699
00:41:35,430 –> 00:41:39,134
So we’re not going to attack them. But if they attack, we have the natural

700
00:41:39,174 –> 00:41:42,558
right of self defense to be able to respond to that. So that that whole

701
00:41:42,606 –> 00:41:45,950
concept was taught, ingrained in our nation, but very importantly, in our

702
00:41:45,982 –> 00:41:49,390
military and in our military officers that would be

703
00:41:49,422 –> 00:41:53,134
leading in those situations. And Douglas MacArthur had this

704
00:41:53,174 –> 00:41:56,462
famous speech where he went back to West Point. It was right at the end

705
00:41:56,478 –> 00:41:59,922
of his life. He was. I think he died a couple years later. And, you

706
00:41:59,938 –> 00:42:03,162
know, his whole 15 minutes speech. I played the whole thing on air the other

707
00:42:03,178 –> 00:42:06,930
day on my radio program. Cause it’s so good. And it literally,

708
00:42:07,042 –> 00:42:10,746
it was all about duty, honor, country. It was the mindset of what it means

709
00:42:10,770 –> 00:42:14,482
to. That it means something to be an American, that what you’re fighting for is

710
00:42:14,538 –> 00:42:18,338
truth and honorable, and that you don’t back down

711
00:42:18,386 –> 00:42:21,450
that duty. I mean, he just went through the whole thing, and I just think

712
00:42:21,482 –> 00:42:25,202
that move by West Point a few weeks ago to do that, it’s just

713
00:42:25,258 –> 00:42:28,970
symbolic of where we are. This moral relativism, where

714
00:42:29,002 –> 00:42:32,554
you can redefine what you’re fighting for, redefine

715
00:42:32,714 –> 00:42:36,098
what a man or a woman is, redefine what truth

716
00:42:36,146 –> 00:42:39,754
is on a whim, and that is moral relativism. It is this

717
00:42:39,794 –> 00:42:43,162
postmodern world that we’re living in, and it is the

718
00:42:43,218 –> 00:42:46,898
ultimate reason. It is literally the petri dish where

719
00:42:46,946 –> 00:42:50,610
all this negative stuff in our culture has grown from. It began with

720
00:42:50,642 –> 00:42:53,890
saying, there is no truth. And, of course, we know the serpent

721
00:42:54,002 –> 00:42:57,394
begins that with Eve. Did God really say so? It’s already

722
00:42:57,474 –> 00:43:01,306
questioning, is there a truth? I always come back to the Declaration of

723
00:43:01,330 –> 00:43:05,144
Independence. We hold these truths to be self evident.

724
00:43:05,184 –> 00:43:08,968
If you don’t build the culture on truth, you don’t get to life,

725
00:43:09,016 –> 00:43:12,840
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So those things are critical. And, man,

726
00:43:12,872 –> 00:43:16,592
they are under attack, brother. They are. You know, for

727
00:43:16,648 –> 00:43:20,208
us, we get, you know, our hair still stands up. I mean, we still feel

728
00:43:20,256 –> 00:43:23,284
that sense of duty. We still want to be honorable.

729
00:43:23,864 –> 00:43:27,536
We have that patriotism that Benjamin Rush described as love of country

730
00:43:27,600 –> 00:43:31,250
and just as important as. As any other love, and

731
00:43:31,402 –> 00:43:35,130
that it’s really a spiritual duty as much as it is a

732
00:43:35,242 –> 00:43:38,874
physical duty. We still feel that. And I think most of the men watching

733
00:43:38,914 –> 00:43:42,370
this, even if they may not intellectually have studied that stuff and can

734
00:43:42,402 –> 00:43:46,242
articulate it, they feel it in their gut. And I would say to all

735
00:43:46,258 –> 00:43:50,090
of those men that are watching, don’t dismiss that. If you’re feeling a tug right

736
00:43:50,122 –> 00:43:53,922
now, and you’re going, man, I want to have

737
00:43:53,938 –> 00:43:57,608
that same feeling that Garritt and Rick have. I want to be more patriotic. I

738
00:43:57,616 –> 00:44:01,136
want to be able to articulate why I love my country and what I’m

739
00:44:01,160 –> 00:44:04,872
fighting for and how I want to raise my children. Lean into that, man.

740
00:44:04,928 –> 00:44:08,592
Start. You know, that’s one reason for listening to this podcast and sharing it with

741
00:44:08,608 –> 00:44:12,368
other people, because this, this literally thinking and

742
00:44:12,416 –> 00:44:15,776
actually reasoning and actually talking this stuff through,

743
00:44:15,960 –> 00:44:19,792
that’s the solution to all that ails our country. It really is. I mean,

744
00:44:19,808 –> 00:44:23,392
the petri dish that I was mentioning earlier, that’s. That that happens because of

745
00:44:23,408 –> 00:44:27,030
ignorance, that civic and biblical ignorance. And by us talking about this, this

746
00:44:27,062 –> 00:44:30,862
civil discourse and that, that desire that’s welling up in men right now as

747
00:44:30,878 –> 00:44:33,678
they’re. They’re watching this, the ones that will lean into that and say, I want

748
00:44:33,686 –> 00:44:36,078
to go further. I want to learn more. I want to dig deeper. I want

749
00:44:36,086 –> 00:44:39,550
to share this, find community, find other men in your neighborhood and your

750
00:44:39,582 –> 00:44:43,022
church that you can start getting together with once a week. You know, whether it’s

751
00:44:43,038 –> 00:44:46,142
just sitting around the fire and chatting about this stuff or it’s doing one of

752
00:44:46,158 –> 00:44:49,814
our constitution classes or it’s, you know, just listening to this podcast together,

753
00:44:49,894 –> 00:44:53,436
maybe, so that then afterwards you can talk about how you can apply that in

754
00:44:53,460 –> 00:44:57,204
your family or in your church. Please don’t ignore what you’re feeling

755
00:44:57,244 –> 00:45:00,156
right now. Don’t just listen to this and then go, you know, man, I feel

756
00:45:00,180 –> 00:45:03,500
good about being an american and then not do anything. Lean into what you’re feeling

757
00:45:03,532 –> 00:45:07,340
right now. Yeah. Amen. I want to take a hard left turn

758
00:45:07,492 –> 00:45:11,180
off of what you mentioned because you talk about West Point and

759
00:45:11,212 –> 00:45:14,716
them removing those phrases from their. Their motto.

760
00:45:14,860 –> 00:45:18,308
My brother’s a West Point grad. His wife’s a West Point

761
00:45:18,356 –> 00:45:21,882
graduate. I’m an air force veteran. My little brother is an

762
00:45:21,938 –> 00:45:25,602
Air Force veteran. My dad is a Vietnam

763
00:45:25,658 –> 00:45:28,794
vet. My father in law is a Vietnam vet. My

764
00:45:28,834 –> 00:45:32,466
grandfathers were both world War two vets. We’re

765
00:45:32,490 –> 00:45:36,266
a military family. And yet I look at what’s going on in the

766
00:45:36,290 –> 00:45:39,706
military, and it seems the most common faces we see

767
00:45:39,770 –> 00:45:43,434
representing the military are men in dresses with their hair

768
00:45:43,474 –> 00:45:47,174
pulled back. And I want to skip over honor for a second and go to

769
00:45:47,214 –> 00:45:50,926
country and ask you, when I joined the military,

770
00:45:50,990 –> 00:45:54,414
I believed in the mission. And I think at this point

771
00:45:54,454 –> 00:45:57,994
now, I believed in something that wasn’t quite true at the time.

772
00:45:58,374 –> 00:46:01,454
But now it’s so clear that the mission of the

773
00:46:01,494 –> 00:46:04,566
military is not necessarily to defend the

774
00:46:04,590 –> 00:46:08,342
constitution, which is what I swore to do, but

775
00:46:08,438 –> 00:46:12,238
even that it may not be to defend this country. And I want to ask

776
00:46:12,286 –> 00:46:15,678
you, is it worth defending this

777
00:46:15,726 –> 00:46:19,438
country? And can our country be defended? Can

778
00:46:19,486 –> 00:46:23,174
our country be reclaimed? Short answer,

779
00:46:23,214 –> 00:46:27,022
yes. Yes. And. But not easy. This is going. I

780
00:46:27,038 –> 00:46:30,014
think it’s going to get worse. I think it’s going to get ugly. You are

781
00:46:30,054 –> 00:46:33,846
so right, man. The military has been just turned upside down and turned into a

782
00:46:33,870 –> 00:46:37,554
social engineering program. You know, the kids that

783
00:46:38,454 –> 00:46:42,014
have the same feeling today that you had when you joined are now

784
00:46:42,054 –> 00:46:44,550
questioning whether or not to join, and most of them are not joining, right. They

785
00:46:44,582 –> 00:46:47,102
don’t want to be a part of this social experiment. I mean, who wants to

786
00:46:47,118 –> 00:46:50,358
join a military where, like you said, the examples, the commercials,

787
00:46:50,406 –> 00:46:54,254
even, but certainly the ones you see on the news are guys dressed as women?

788
00:46:54,294 –> 00:46:56,926
I mean, it’s an embarrassing, I mean, we’re going to lose a war. There’s no

789
00:46:56,950 –> 00:47:00,566
question about it. The way that our military has been

790
00:47:00,710 –> 00:47:04,494
decimated in this way. And so most of the good people are getting

791
00:47:04,534 –> 00:47:08,352
out and most of the good people are not going in, which means, unfortunately, it’s

792
00:47:08,368 –> 00:47:12,204
a self fulfilling prophecy, because then you have more and more of the evil

793
00:47:12,864 –> 00:47:16,552
and those that are using it for the very, very wrong reasons, getting more and

794
00:47:16,568 –> 00:47:19,128
more control of it, which means, and I don’t mean this as a, I don’t

795
00:47:19,136 –> 00:47:22,720
want to scare people, but I’m a historian. Just the cycle of

796
00:47:22,752 –> 00:47:26,560
nations, the way of the world throughout history, this is used to bring

797
00:47:26,592 –> 00:47:30,088
about totalitarianism. You need a military that is

798
00:47:30,136 –> 00:47:33,594
willing to ignore the constitution and willing to enforce upon people

799
00:47:33,744 –> 00:47:37,166
something that most people would have said if they were reading Superman and truth, justice

800
00:47:37,190 –> 00:47:39,726
in the american way was wrong. And they would say, I’m not going to obey

801
00:47:39,750 –> 00:47:43,234
that order. In other words, it’s all by design. And it’s part of what,

802
00:47:43,654 –> 00:47:47,486
unfortunately, it’s the natural progression of a nation when it gets to be about

803
00:47:47,510 –> 00:47:51,262
250 years old. So the question is, can we stop it? And I

804
00:47:51,278 –> 00:47:54,886
believe, yes, I think we’re in that very beginning part of the

805
00:47:54,910 –> 00:47:58,550
cycle for tough times. So we all have seen the memes going around. Tough

806
00:47:58,582 –> 00:48:02,240
times create tough men. Tough men make for good times. Good times make for soft

807
00:48:02,272 –> 00:48:05,592
men. Soft men make for tough times. So we’ve had soft men, right? Because we’re,

808
00:48:05,648 –> 00:48:08,472
we’ve been fat and happy. We’ve been enjoying the, you know, we’re lazy because we

809
00:48:08,488 –> 00:48:11,392
enjoy so much freedom. We got all these blessings, and why would you go do

810
00:48:11,408 –> 00:48:14,528
the hard work? And so for a long time now, decades. We haven’t had to

811
00:48:14,536 –> 00:48:17,952
do the hard work. We’ve been living on the fumes of previous generations, paying the

812
00:48:17,968 –> 00:48:21,360
price and the ultimate sacrifice. So now we’ve gotten

813
00:48:21,392 –> 00:48:24,832
soft. And so that’s causing us not to stand, not to do the things like

814
00:48:24,848 –> 00:48:28,516
what you’re doing with this podcast. And so we’ve entered tough times. So

815
00:48:28,580 –> 00:48:32,276
can we stop the tough times or at least shrink the

816
00:48:32,300 –> 00:48:35,116
amount of time we’re in the tough times, and I think we’re just entering them.

817
00:48:35,140 –> 00:48:38,292
I don’t think. I mean, all the things we’re facing right now, they’re bad, but

818
00:48:38,308 –> 00:48:41,980
it can get a whole lot worse if enough people wake

819
00:48:42,012 –> 00:48:45,668
up, if enough people realize this is not good for my children

820
00:48:45,796 –> 00:48:49,316
and my grandchildren, I do believe we can turn this. And I’ll just give

821
00:48:49,340 –> 00:48:52,532
you numbers that I think are the magic numbers. I think we have to get

822
00:48:52,548 –> 00:48:56,172
to the point where 3% of the. Of the, just like 3% fought in the

823
00:48:56,188 –> 00:48:59,868
revolution, 3% of the presidential voting population, about 5 million

824
00:48:59,916 –> 00:49:03,756
people, wake up and get engaged and become what we call biblical

825
00:49:03,820 –> 00:49:07,532
citizens. They are actually living out their faith, they’re living out

826
00:49:07,548 –> 00:49:10,852
their constitutional duties. They’re doing all the things we’ve been talking about. About

827
00:49:10,908 –> 00:49:14,532
10,000 candidates, that sounds like a lot, but it’s really not about

828
00:49:14,588 –> 00:49:18,396
10,000 candidates running at all. The local, I’m talking Water district,

829
00:49:18,540 –> 00:49:22,018
you know, Hoa, you know, all the state

830
00:49:22,066 –> 00:49:25,786
legislature, all of it. And about 100,000 what we

831
00:49:25,810 –> 00:49:29,610
call constitution coaches that are hosting this kind of thing, sort of leading their

832
00:49:29,642 –> 00:49:33,418
community, their church, and building that up. That’s the tipping point. I think that’s

833
00:49:33,466 –> 00:49:37,066
where we really see the opportunity to interrupt those tough times.

834
00:49:37,130 –> 00:49:40,882
That could take a generation. My dream is that we do it before the

835
00:49:40,898 –> 00:49:44,578
250th birthday, which is two years. It’s 95 days.

836
00:49:44,626 –> 00:49:48,374
Two years, 95 days from today. When this airs, it’ll be less than that.

837
00:49:48,794 –> 00:49:52,578
So it’s not a lot of time. But there is a huge awakening

838
00:49:52,626 –> 00:49:56,290
happening. And if we become force multipliers and we really lean into

839
00:49:56,322 –> 00:49:59,386
this thing, I think the hockey stick curve can happen. I think we can

840
00:49:59,530 –> 00:50:02,914
rapidly get a lot of people up to speed on how to be good

841
00:50:02,954 –> 00:50:06,134
citizens. It’s absolutely worth defending now, practically.

842
00:50:06,594 –> 00:50:10,306
Garritt, I think you and I both know, and most of your audience knows, it’s

843
00:50:10,330 –> 00:50:13,946
going to take not just winning at the local level, which is where we

844
00:50:13,970 –> 00:50:17,150
start and where most of us should be focused. It is going to take a

845
00:50:17,182 –> 00:50:20,966
president that is willing to just clean house. I mean, you got to wipe

846
00:50:20,990 –> 00:50:24,814
out all of these woke generals. You’re going to have to fire half the Pentagon

847
00:50:24,974 –> 00:50:28,614
and quite literally remake that institution, restore it

848
00:50:28,654 –> 00:50:31,822
back to the MacArthur type speeches and

849
00:50:31,878 –> 00:50:35,238
mindsets. And that’s going to, man, that’s going to be

850
00:50:35,246 –> 00:50:38,382
tough. It’s going to be tough. And I’m not even sure it can be done

851
00:50:38,398 –> 00:50:41,694
in one four year term of a president. That’s probably a decade

852
00:50:41,734 –> 00:50:45,432
of, of changes. Think about it. That’s how long it took them, right? I mean,

853
00:50:45,448 –> 00:50:49,096
you had a lot of changes starting with Obama, but it took, you know, even

854
00:50:49,120 –> 00:50:52,792
in his eight years, someone who hated the military

855
00:50:52,848 –> 00:50:56,304
and was, you know, never for the things that we’re talking

856
00:50:56,344 –> 00:50:59,968
about. And then, of course, Biden’s done irreparable damage. It’ll

857
00:51:00,016 –> 00:51:03,164
take generations to overcome a lot of that. But if the institution

858
00:51:03,544 –> 00:51:06,904
can, can be remade once again back to those old

859
00:51:06,944 –> 00:51:10,746
principles. It’ll take time. But, you know, I mean, you watch. What’s it

860
00:51:10,770 –> 00:51:13,986
take to make a good officer or a good soldier, a good marine? I mean,

861
00:51:14,050 –> 00:51:17,698
it takes time, and you have, and the institution right now is not

862
00:51:17,866 –> 00:51:21,602
turning out a lot of good. I mean, I hear it, man. I don’t even

863
00:51:21,618 –> 00:51:25,214
want to share the stories of the people getting fired, kicked out

864
00:51:25,994 –> 00:51:29,842
that come anywhere close to our mindset and our values. There’s a purging.

865
00:51:29,978 –> 00:51:32,682
The jab was one thing. They did a lot of it with that because it

866
00:51:32,698 –> 00:51:36,492
was someone that was unwilling to just go along, but it’s

867
00:51:36,548 –> 00:51:40,236
way beyond just the jab. So, man, I didn’t mean to depress your viewers, but

868
00:51:40,260 –> 00:51:43,036
that’s a big one, and it has to be fought. I mean, that’s a battle

869
00:51:43,060 –> 00:51:45,852
that we can’t. If you don’t have a nation that’s willing to defend itself, if

870
00:51:45,868 –> 00:51:49,524
you don’t have enough young men and women willing to go in and sacrifice and

871
00:51:49,564 –> 00:51:53,108
serve and have that patriotism, we’re definitely

872
00:51:53,156 –> 00:51:56,876
done in 1015 years. We will not last as a nation. Yeah. And

873
00:51:56,900 –> 00:52:00,620
I think it’s important. It’s not depressing to understand where we

874
00:52:00,652 –> 00:52:03,992
are if we know where we want to be. Men of Issachar, brother. Men of

875
00:52:04,008 –> 00:52:07,512
Issachar, understand the times and know what to do. It would be depressing if we

876
00:52:07,528 –> 00:52:10,352
said there’s giants in the land and we can’t win. That’s what ten of the

877
00:52:10,368 –> 00:52:14,032
twelve spies said, right? It’s not depressing if we say there’s giants in the land

878
00:52:14,088 –> 00:52:17,664
and we have the formula. We know right here, brother. All the

879
00:52:17,704 –> 00:52:21,224
answers are in here. We just have to live it out. And that’s

880
00:52:21,264 –> 00:52:24,808
literally, it’s how do you treat your neighbor? Politics is nothing more than how do

881
00:52:24,816 –> 00:52:27,416
you treat your neighbor. And we know we want to treat our neighbor the way

882
00:52:27,440 –> 00:52:31,168
we want to be treated. That will restore blind justice, equal justice,

883
00:52:31,216 –> 00:52:35,032
actual biblical justice over this social justice that is causing us

884
00:52:35,048 –> 00:52:38,888
to persecute people and use the broken DOJ and broken FBI

885
00:52:38,936 –> 00:52:42,624
to literally, I mean, I testified a couple of weeks ago in the praying

886
00:52:42,664 –> 00:52:46,504
grandma’s trial in DC. She literally

887
00:52:46,544 –> 00:52:50,088
was praying at the cow, fasted and prayed and went in and prayed over the

888
00:52:50,096 –> 00:52:52,728
cop and they want to put her in jail for a year. So our justice

889
00:52:52,776 –> 00:52:56,404
system is broken. I don’t say that to depress people, but to say eyes wide

890
00:52:56,444 –> 00:53:00,220
open, understand the times and know what to do. We have all the answers. We

891
00:53:00,252 –> 00:53:03,900
know the formula that produces a good society. We just have to be active enough

892
00:53:03,932 –> 00:53:06,676
to say no to evil. I’m not going to let it happen on my watch.

893
00:53:06,740 –> 00:53:10,132
Not in my neighborhood, not my family, not in my community. And I know how

894
00:53:10,148 –> 00:53:13,516
to implement the good stuff. You know me, I’m a country boy, brother. It’s just

895
00:53:13,620 –> 00:53:17,428
garbage in, garbage out. Good stuff in, good stuff out. It really

896
00:53:17,476 –> 00:53:21,012
is that simple. Yeah. It strikes me that you, you mentioned

897
00:53:21,028 –> 00:53:24,442
that a lot of the change in the military happened under Obama

898
00:53:24,618 –> 00:53:27,094
and I actually served under Bill Clinton.

899
00:53:28,554 –> 00:53:32,014
Goes back to there. It goes way back. But

900
00:53:32,314 –> 00:53:35,986
it’s one of the things that. I think the right does not understand and

901
00:53:36,010 –> 00:53:39,802
that’s that we have to think generationally. That’s right. I read a book,

902
00:53:39,858 –> 00:53:43,666
I finished it about a year ago that I started under

903
00:53:43,770 –> 00:53:47,434
your advice, the naked communist. Yeah. And one of the

904
00:53:47,474 –> 00:53:51,038
things you see in that book is that the communists have been

905
00:53:51,086 –> 00:53:54,542
working in a single direction for 150 years.

906
00:53:54,678 –> 00:53:58,502
They had a goal they thought generationally, they weren’t short

907
00:53:58,558 –> 00:54:02,302
sighted and they just continue to plot along. And I think one of

908
00:54:02,318 –> 00:54:05,894
the major failures of the right is a lot of times

909
00:54:05,934 –> 00:54:09,742
we’ll take little wins and go, yay, we got it. And then that’s it.

910
00:54:09,758 –> 00:54:13,590
And they don’t keep plodding along. And so I want to talk about

911
00:54:13,622 –> 00:54:17,304
the solution with you. Okay? Yeah. A few more key words here.

912
00:54:17,414 –> 00:54:21,156
The closing words of the Declaration of Independence. This is something I’ve heard

913
00:54:21,180 –> 00:54:24,980
you talk about many times. And for the support of

914
00:54:25,012 –> 00:54:28,860
this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of

915
00:54:28,892 –> 00:54:32,508
divine providence, we mutually pledge

916
00:54:32,636 –> 00:54:36,220
our lives, our fortunes and our sacred

917
00:54:36,292 –> 00:54:40,036
honor. And I think going forward, that’s got to be the key, is

918
00:54:40,060 –> 00:54:43,816
that we’re willing to do what the forefathers did, which

919
00:54:43,880 –> 00:54:47,104
is pledge everything, our lives, our

920
00:54:47,144 –> 00:54:50,544
fortunes, our sacred honor, to the restoration of our

921
00:54:50,584 –> 00:54:54,376
nation, to the establishment of a culture that is good for

922
00:54:54,400 –> 00:54:58,216
our kids, to establish a legacy that’s good for our

923
00:54:58,240 –> 00:55:01,984
grandkids. So I want you to talk really quickly about lives,

924
00:55:02,064 –> 00:55:05,440
fortunes, and sacred honor, and then we’re going to move on.

925
00:55:05,592 –> 00:55:08,464
Okay, man, I’ll tell you. I was at a dinner a couple of years ago.

926
00:55:08,504 –> 00:55:11,680
Rick Santorum was speaking, and everybody in the room were guys like you and me

927
00:55:11,712 –> 00:55:15,336
either hosting a program or producing a program or running a

928
00:55:15,360 –> 00:55:19,056
ministry or whatever it was. And even though they were all very involved in the

929
00:55:19,080 –> 00:55:22,720
culture and trying to win things back, Rick looked out at the audience and said,

930
00:55:22,872 –> 00:55:26,600
whatever you’re doing, it’s not enough. And I kind of got hacked

931
00:55:26,632 –> 00:55:30,288
off, man. You read off earlier, you know, 700 media

932
00:55:30,336 –> 00:55:34,120
hits last year, you know, almost 100 live events, you know,

933
00:55:34,152 –> 00:55:36,832
doing all this stuff, and I’m like, what do you mean? I was kind of

934
00:55:36,848 –> 00:55:39,752
offended. And then he had the nerve to look at us and say, nobody in

935
00:55:39,768 –> 00:55:43,498
here sacrificing. I was like, what are you talking about?

936
00:55:43,626 –> 00:55:46,138
And then, of course, he put it in perspective, and he said, compared to what

937
00:55:46,146 –> 00:55:49,946
the founding father sacrificed to launch this thing, we got it easy, man. And

938
00:55:49,970 –> 00:55:53,314
we got to raise the bar and say, I’m willing to give more of my

939
00:55:53,354 –> 00:55:57,154
life. That’s my time, more of my money, of course, that’s our fortune. And

940
00:55:57,194 –> 00:56:00,330
more of my sacred honor, which is my reputation. I’m willing to put it all

941
00:56:00,442 –> 00:56:03,890
on the line. Every single one of us has to be willing to do that

942
00:56:03,922 –> 00:56:06,442
and has to be willing to give more. And it may be, you know, if

943
00:56:06,458 –> 00:56:10,176
I said to somebody, if you knew your grandchild was going to grow

944
00:56:10,200 –> 00:56:13,040
up in total tyranny, not have the freedom to choose who they want to marry,

945
00:56:13,072 –> 00:56:15,296
not have the freedom to choose what they want to do with their life, not

946
00:56:15,320 –> 00:56:18,872
get to own any property, literally be told what they’re going to eat, all of

947
00:56:18,888 –> 00:56:22,504
those things. If you knew your grandchild was going to grow up like that and

948
00:56:22,544 –> 00:56:26,208
you could sacrifice five years of your life at just like

949
00:56:26,256 –> 00:56:30,072
3 hours a week out of those five years of your life, would you invest

950
00:56:30,128 –> 00:56:33,920
3 hours a week for five years to prevent your grandchild from living

951
00:56:33,952 –> 00:56:37,654
in tyranny? And of course, anybody’s going to say yes. Well, folks, that is

952
00:56:37,694 –> 00:56:41,542
what’s on the line here. That is literally the precipice that America is. At

953
00:56:41,638 –> 00:56:44,990
last thing I’ll say about it, it’s we mutually

954
00:56:45,062 –> 00:56:48,822
pledge to each other our lives, fortunes, and

955
00:56:48,838 –> 00:56:52,550
sacred honor. When Jefferson said that, and I didn’t notice that, man, I taught this.

956
00:56:52,622 –> 00:56:55,670
I used to talk about the signing of the declaration. I’d tell the story and

957
00:56:55,742 –> 00:56:59,294
the whole Benjamin Rush and the story that he wrote with John Adams

958
00:56:59,334 –> 00:57:02,518
afterwards, reminding him of Elbridge Jerry and the joke about him being little and going

959
00:57:02,526 –> 00:57:06,158
to die fast, big guys going to. I mean, going to die slow. I used

960
00:57:06,166 –> 00:57:09,702
to tell all that stuff, and I never noticed that to each other. So they’re

961
00:57:09,718 –> 00:57:13,438
not pledging to the country. They’re not pledging even to the principles that are in

962
00:57:13,446 –> 00:57:17,262
the document. They’re saying, we mutually pledge to each other. You got to

963
00:57:17,278 –> 00:57:20,966
have community. You got to have people that you can lock shields with.

964
00:57:21,150 –> 00:57:24,558
Garritt, I have days. I’m down. I know most people think I’m this optimistic. Always

965
00:57:24,606 –> 00:57:28,134
glass eye full there. When I came back from Rebecca’s trial in Washington,

966
00:57:28,174 –> 00:57:32,002
DC, I was very, very down. I did not realize how far it

967
00:57:32,018 –> 00:57:35,826
had gone in terms of the manipulation of the justice system.

968
00:57:35,930 –> 00:57:39,698
I did not realize. I’ve been working, you know, all this time to

969
00:57:39,866 –> 00:57:43,378
revive a sense of duty and citizenship. I didn’t realize we were going to have

970
00:57:43,386 –> 00:57:47,146
to revive even an understanding of what blind justice is. I

971
00:57:47,170 –> 00:57:50,498
thought everybody agreed that you want everybody to be treated the same under the

972
00:57:50,506 –> 00:57:53,986
law. We don’t agree on that in this country anymore. There’s a lot of people

973
00:57:54,010 –> 00:57:57,604
in this country that think it’s perfectly fine to treat you different under the law

974
00:57:57,684 –> 00:58:00,828
than someone else that has a different color of skin or goes to a different

975
00:58:00,876 –> 00:58:04,572
church or different party or whatever. That’s a really bad poison

976
00:58:04,708 –> 00:58:08,340
that is permeating our culture. So, in other words, I came home

977
00:58:08,372 –> 00:58:12,140
going, the task is even more daunting than I thought, and I

978
00:58:12,172 –> 00:58:16,020
needed people around me, my own kids, other people in Patriot Academy,

979
00:58:16,052 –> 00:58:19,828
other ministries that we work with that I could bounce off of and

980
00:58:19,876 –> 00:58:23,472
share what I was feeling, and they encouraged me and they showed me how we

981
00:58:23,488 –> 00:58:26,736
can do that. And so we all have our days like that. And so I

982
00:58:26,760 –> 00:58:30,392
say to you, Garritt, I give. I pledge to you my life, fortune, and

983
00:58:30,408 –> 00:58:33,760
sacred honor. And you call me when you get down, when you see something happen

984
00:58:33,792 –> 00:58:37,568
in Oklahoma, and you’re like, in Oklahoma, this is happening. Call me, man. I’ll

985
00:58:37,616 –> 00:58:40,488
encourage you. When I see something in Texas that’s happening, that’s. I’m like, why is

986
00:58:40,496 –> 00:58:43,920
that happening? I’m gonna call you. And we have to have that.

987
00:58:44,072 –> 00:58:47,368
So we mutually pledge to each other. That’s how we end up winning this long

988
00:58:47,416 –> 00:58:50,936
term. Yeah. Amen. You opened up by saying, it’s a

989
00:58:50,960 –> 00:58:54,584
pleasure to lock shields with you. We have to think like that as

990
00:58:54,624 –> 00:58:58,424
men. That’s right. And I hope that rather than getting burdened by this men,

991
00:58:58,544 –> 00:59:02,352
that you are energized and ready to stand. I

992
00:59:02,368 –> 00:59:06,088
want to remind you of something. I want you men, when you get a chance

993
00:59:06,136 –> 00:59:09,840
today, open up your bibles to ephesians six. Look at

994
00:59:09,872 –> 00:59:13,616
ephesians 610 through 20, and it talks about the armor

995
00:59:13,640 –> 00:59:17,318
of the Lord. And I want you to look for one word in there. I

996
00:59:17,326 –> 00:59:20,022
want you to read the whole thing and take it all in. But I want

997
00:59:20,038 –> 00:59:23,694
you to look at how many times the word stand is

998
00:59:23,734 –> 00:59:27,558
used, because God is telling us that as

999
00:59:27,606 –> 00:59:31,190
we prepare, we’re not just preparing to sit around and

1000
00:59:31,222 –> 00:59:34,926
wait. We’re preparing to stand in battle. And

1001
00:59:34,950 –> 00:59:38,694
it is critical that we pledge to each other to

1002
00:59:38,734 –> 00:59:42,190
battle arm in arm and be ready to take those flaming

1003
00:59:42,222 –> 00:59:45,742
arrows and be ready to defend against the sword and

1004
00:59:45,798 –> 00:59:49,270
also go on the offense with the sword of the

1005
00:59:49,302 –> 00:59:52,870
spirit. So. Well, Rick, thank you so much, man.

1006
00:59:52,982 –> 00:59:55,846
I know you’ve got to end. But can I just say one thing to that?

1007
00:59:55,870 –> 00:59:59,718
Because you do it thinking about this, because standing is ultimately, at the end of

1008
00:59:59,726 –> 01:00:03,342
the day, as he says, having done all to stand, and

1009
01:00:03,478 –> 01:00:07,326
I’ll just leave you with this. We think that what

1010
01:00:07,350 –> 01:00:11,088
we’re watching right now is the worst it’s ever been. It’s not. It was way

1011
01:00:11,136 –> 01:00:14,752
worse in 1776. Way harder for those guys. They were up

1012
01:00:14,768 –> 01:00:18,608
against way greater odds than we are. And a week before Christmas,

1013
01:00:18,656 –> 01:00:22,400
1776, Thomas Paine pens those words. These

1014
01:00:22,432 –> 01:00:26,264
are the times that try men’s souls. A summer soldier and a sunshine patriot

1015
01:00:26,304 –> 01:00:30,064
will, in this present crisis, shrink from service to his country. But he

1016
01:00:30,104 –> 01:00:33,920
that stands it now deserves the love and

1017
01:00:33,952 –> 01:00:37,638
thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, but

1018
01:00:37,726 –> 01:00:41,342
we have this consolation, that the harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.

1019
01:00:41,438 –> 01:00:45,206
Man, I’m telling you, stand. It is absolutely essential. And God does not give

1020
01:00:45,230 –> 01:00:48,942
us the choice. He says, I’ve commanded you. Be strong

1021
01:00:49,038 –> 01:00:52,662
and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou

1022
01:00:52,718 –> 01:00:55,918
dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with you whethersoever thou goest. Every one of

1023
01:00:55,926 –> 01:00:59,502
you men that are watching this, you are being called to stand, and you have

1024
01:00:59,518 –> 01:01:02,190
it within you to do that. You may have never fought a battle like this

1025
01:01:02,222 –> 01:01:05,536
before. You may think, I’m not trained for it. I’m not ready for it. That’s

1026
01:01:05,560 –> 01:01:08,160
why you have guys like Garritt and me to come alongside you. We want to

1027
01:01:08,192 –> 01:01:11,616
train and equip you and help you to get in this fight and win this

1028
01:01:11,640 –> 01:01:15,456
fight. We can and will. And I don’t think God’s done with America. He’s

1029
01:01:15,480 –> 01:01:18,992
not done with us. Even if he was, I’m going down fighting, but I don’t

1030
01:01:19,008 –> 01:01:22,800
think he is. I can’t predict the future for sure, man. I believe God’s

1031
01:01:22,832 –> 01:01:26,328
not done with us. I think, you know, if Sodom and Gomorrah had had, what,

1032
01:01:26,376 –> 01:01:29,208
ten, what was it? Abraham got him down 210. I think even Abraham was the

1033
01:01:29,216 –> 01:01:31,922
one that gave up. He could have gone down to five or one probably. We

1034
01:01:31,938 –> 01:01:35,714
got millions in America, man, tens of millions that still

1035
01:01:35,754 –> 01:01:39,330
love the Lord, that still love the constitution, that are willing to stand. We just

1036
01:01:39,362 –> 01:01:43,130
have to come alongside each other and do the hard work that’s necessary

1037
01:01:43,162 –> 01:01:46,906
to preserve this thing. Amen. We couldn’t end on a better place.

1038
01:01:46,970 –> 01:01:50,290
Rick, that was so good. I want to ask you right

1039
01:01:50,322 –> 01:01:53,754
now, what can people be doing to support Patriot

1040
01:01:53,794 –> 01:01:57,146
Academy? Where are you guys at? What are you doing? What’s the

1041
01:01:57,170 –> 01:02:00,414
process? Because I think this is so key in that battle and

1042
01:02:00,454 –> 01:02:04,270
standing, man, the. First thing I’d say is just take one of our free classes.

1043
01:02:04,302 –> 01:02:06,918
Go, go sign up as a coach for free, even if you just want to

1044
01:02:06,926 –> 01:02:09,918
do it to get the materials for free. And just invite some guys over to

1045
01:02:09,926 –> 01:02:13,150
your house and families over to your house and host a class. And when you

1046
01:02:13,182 –> 01:02:16,686
walk through biblical citizenship in modern America or you go through

1047
01:02:16,710 –> 01:02:20,150
constitutional life, I promise you it’s going to give hope to you and the people

1048
01:02:20,182 –> 01:02:23,206
in your family and the folks you have over. It’s going to give you action

1049
01:02:23,270 –> 01:02:26,412
steps and things that you can do. So get signed up. It’s easy.

1050
01:02:26,468 –> 01:02:29,964
Patriotacademy.com comma, maybe come do one of our courses that Garritt was talking

1051
01:02:30,004 –> 01:02:33,188
about. That patriot experience is going to be available in the fall. So you can

1052
01:02:33,196 –> 01:02:36,972
come do constitution class, legislative simulation, handgun defense, whatever you want to

1053
01:02:36,988 –> 01:02:40,396
do on the campus. And if you want to help us, make a donation@patriotacademy.com.

1054
01:02:40,420 –> 01:02:44,036
Dot we’re building out this really cool house chamber and everything. You can

1055
01:02:44,060 –> 01:02:47,836
sponsor a chair, a whole committee room if you want. There’s easy, you know,

1056
01:02:47,860 –> 01:02:51,484
inexpensive things to sponsor and then expensive things to sponsor. So whatever the lord lays

1057
01:02:51,524 –> 01:02:55,032
on your heart, just check it out there at patriotic academy.com dot. Amen. Check it

1058
01:02:55,048 –> 01:02:58,568
out. Guys, I want to ask you to head over to ThinkingDad.net.

1059
01:02:58,696 –> 01:03:02,304
Not only will there be links to Rick’s stuff, what he’s doing

1060
01:03:02,344 –> 01:03:06,136
there, but also you can pick up a t-shirt. Today I’ve got

1061
01:03:06,160 –> 01:03:09,368
on my “Proudly Raising Unsocialist Homeschoolers”

1062
01:03:09,416 –> 01:03:13,064
t-shirt. You can get one. You’ll look great. Go over to Patriot

1063
01:03:13,104 –> 01:03:16,744
Academy, support what they’re doing. It is so important. Listen to Rick

1064
01:03:16,784 –> 01:03:20,544
on Wallbuilders Live! with David Barton and Tim

1065
01:03:20,584 –> 01:03:24,354
Barton. These guys are such an encouragement in the fight, so

1066
01:03:24,394 –> 01:03:27,778
check them out there. And also, Rick, you got a show on AFR now,

1067
01:03:27,826 –> 01:03:31,658
right? Yeah, I love doing that afternoon show with Walker Wildman. I

1068
01:03:31,666 –> 01:03:35,426
do Tuesdays and Thursdays at, at 01:00 Central. And it’s a call in show. So

1069
01:03:35,450 –> 01:03:39,258
folks want to call in and ask questions or hurl, hurl insults, whatever they want

1070
01:03:39,266 –> 01:03:42,874
to do, call in. We’ll have some fun. I love it. Okay, check out those

1071
01:03:42,914 –> 01:03:46,370
links at thinking dad.net. Also, this is a

1072
01:03:46,402 –> 01:03:49,916
seasonal podcast and the best way to know what’s coming up next

1073
01:03:50,050 –> 01:03:53,880
is to subscribe to our newsletter. You can do that there. And if you’d like

1074
01:03:53,912 –> 01:03:57,736
to support this ministry, you can make a one time or monthly donation

1075
01:03:57,800 –> 01:04:01,512
there as well. ThinkingDad.net. Check it out. I hope you’ve

1076
01:04:01,528 –> 01:04:05,016
been encouraged today by Rick. Stick around to the end to hear a clip of

1077
01:04:05,040 –> 01:04:08,800
what’s coming up next time on the thinking dad, and we’ll see you back

1078
01:04:08,832 –> 01:04:09,844
here real soon.

1079
01:04:13,184 –> 01:04:17,010
I often think about Daniel’s parents who you don’t

1080
01:04:17,042 –> 01:04:20,746
hear anything about, but they must have laid down a

1081
01:04:20,770 –> 01:04:24,170
foundation for Daniel to be able to go into

1082
01:04:24,322 –> 01:04:27,922
Babylon and not fall, because there were other

1083
01:04:27,978 –> 01:04:31,490
jewish boys. There were other boys that went, you know, and

1084
01:04:31,562 –> 01:04:35,306
did the things that the king said to do, ate the food,

1085
01:04:35,490 –> 01:04:39,274
bowed down and all. But they’re mentioned because they

1086
01:04:39,314 –> 01:04:42,614
didn’t do it. And I just wonder what did

1087
01:04:42,694 –> 01:04:46,110
Daniel’s parents and those boys, their parents

1088
01:04:46,222 –> 01:04:50,046
teach them, you know? And I can imagine you have the

1089
01:04:50,070 –> 01:04:53,902
prophet Jeremiah preaching, you know, he’s like saying, hey, you’re going to

1090
01:04:53,918 –> 01:04:57,686
be in captivity. It’s going to happen. Nebuchadnezzar’s coming. And

1091
01:04:57,710 –> 01:05:00,742
you have all these people like, oh, no, don’t listen to him. Don’t listen to

1092
01:05:00,758 –> 01:05:04,582
him. I got to imagine that Daniel’s parents and his friends, they

1093
01:05:04,598 –> 01:05:08,350
were like, no, no, no. We got to listen to Jeremiah and all

1094
01:05:08,382 –> 01:05:12,062
those other prophets who were saying that. Now, they had many false prophets

1095
01:05:12,118 –> 01:05:15,906
saying otherwise. But there was a few. There was Jeremiah and a few. So

1096
01:05:16,010 –> 01:05:19,666
I think about their parents and I’m like, man,

1097
01:05:19,850 –> 01:05:23,658
they did a great job to where, because you got to understand, and

1098
01:05:23,666 –> 01:05:27,098
I think we all know this, that these young men were like

1099
01:05:27,146 –> 01:05:30,738
15, 14, 13 years old going into Babylon.

1100
01:05:30,906 –> 01:05:34,410
They were not like grown men, but they were

1101
01:05:34,562 –> 01:05:38,210
so strong in what they knew and what they believed in. God,

1102
01:05:38,362 –> 01:05:39,654
man, it did not fold.