The other day my phone alerted me that a text had come through on “The Family Chat.” You’re probably wondering, what is “The Family Chat?” My wife’s family has a group text that has been running for years that I have had the privilege — at times the horror — of being a part.
The text that was sent was by her brother, who bravely served as an Army Ranger and is now a fireman at the Asheville Fire Department. He shared a new recruiting video from the United States Department of Defense. The video is titled “Peace Through Strength.” I encourage you to watch it when you get a chance on the Department of Defense’s YouTube account. It begins by defining what the U.S. military will not be, by making a distinction of, in contrast to what it has been in recent years.
To summarize, the video highlights the lethality of the United States military and the great warriors of whom it is made. It reinforces the fact that the military does not exist to engage in wokeness or liberal ideologies; rather, it exists to strike fear in the hearts of our enemies.
After watching, especially you men, you may have the urge to go shoot guns or even conquer foreign lands. In the video, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says, “We don’t fight because we hate what is in front of us; we fight because we love what is behind us.”
Hopefully, that quote strikes a special chord in the hearts of all of the men and fathers who hear it.
Father’s Day application
As we consider Father’s Day, I want you to see fathers as warriors. There is an absolute onslaught of attacks that are being carried out by the enemy upon our families. The statistics are clear: families are not as strong as they once were. More homes than ever are fatherless or are made up of men and women who are not married. Children are growing up in less than desirable situations, because they lack the stability of a Biblical family that has a dad and mom who are covenanted together by marriage until death.
As we look at the landscape of American families, I want to offer you hope. Men and fathers, you are the hope of our nation. It is godly men who create societies that are prosperous, safe, and peaceful. Don’t let the culture, higher education, the political elite, and the toxic war on masculinity cause you to shy away from your God-given role as leader, warrior, and protector of your family and community.
It’s okay for you to like shooting guns, building awesome things, and killing animals that happen to taste really good. It’s okay for you to be critical of that young man who has the audacity to ask your daughter out on a date. It’s okay for you to defend your wife when someone speaks rudely to her. It’s okay to get angry when someone exploits the vulnerable, and it is even better when we do something about it.
The most loving thing a godly man can do is to protect and provide for those whom God has entrusted into his care. I want you to know that it is okay to be a man. As a matter of fact, your family and your community needs for you to be a man. God has called you to be a man.
So, in celebration of Father’s Day 2025, go and do something uniquely masculine and make sure everyone knows you’re grateful for the man that God made you to be. This Father’s Day, be like Benaiah of whom it is said in 1 Chronicles 11:22, “Benaiah, son of Jehoida, was the son of a brave man from Kabzeek, a man of many exploits. Benaiah killed two sons of Ariel of Moab [wicked enemies of Israel], and he went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.”
Happy Father’s Day!
Pictured above: Managing Editor Deena C. Bouknight’s father, George McMurtry, who passed in December 2023, taught his first grandson, Justin Knight, masculine pursuits – such as fishing. Thirty-year-old Justin, though not a father yet, has been a brave hero many times over as a fireman for 10 years in the busy capital of Columbia, S.C.
Pictured top: the Heise family from left, Henry, Charlotte, Hannah, Ben, Sam, and Maggie.