Episode 252 (Bart Scharrer)Podcast Intro: [00:00:01] Being a great father takes a massive amount of courage. Instead of being an amazing leader and a decent dad, I want to be an amazing dad and a decent leader. The oldest dad in the world gave you this assignment, which means you must be ready for it. As a dad, I get on my knees and I fight for my kids. Let us be those dads who stop the generational pass down of trauma. I want encounters with God where He teaches me what to do with my kids. I know I'm going to be an awesome dad because I'm gonna give it my all.Jeff Zaugg: [00:00:39] Hey guys, welcome back to dadAWESOME. Today is episode number 252. I've got my six year old and nine year old helping me out today, so episode number 252 with Bart Sharrer, the last time he was on this podcast was on episode 17. So it's been almost what, four and a half years since he was on last and we're so thankful to have him on today. I actually recorded the entire conversation while, what was I doing, while we recorded Riding Bikes. So we were riding bikes side by side in the Orange County, L.A. area, and it was a little windier than expected. But the conversation is so good and I have so many incredible conversations while riding a bicycle because the missional side of what we do, Fathers for the Fatherless is riding bikes 100 miles. I've just seen the power of conversation while biking shoulder by shoulder, and I wanted to do this conversation with Bart from the bicycles. So there's a little wind now and then, but guys, he has so many practical, wisdom bombs that he drops. And I had actually looked at Bart for years now. My wife and I, when we were newly married, looked at him and his wife, Amy, marriage mentors. And then when we became parents, we really looked to them on like, hey, girl, dad, girl, parents advice so, so much here, really grateful you guys are listening. Here's my conversation, episode 252, with Bart Sharrer. Nine years ago, you and Amy invited Michelle and I over to your house, and there was a group of leaders from our church. And our daughter was two and a half weeks old, our first, I was a rookie dad, and you guys had us over and prayed for us. And in a moment of us being, we have no idea what we're doing, we started having daughters.Bart Sharrer: [00:02:33] A lot of them and you kept you kept on having them.Jeff Zaugg: [00:02:35] We just kept going. We were like, we want to be like Bart and Amy Scharrer and God to answered that prayer times two.Bart Sharrer: [00:02:42] Just double everything.Jeff Zaugg: [00:02:43] It was a double up. So we have four girls now, in that moment, you had your two daughters, this is nine years ago, so they were in junior high, high school, is that about right?Bart Sharrer: [00:02:52] Right.Jeff Zaugg: [00:02:53] How old are your girls now?Bart Sharrer: [00:02:54] Allison is 21 and Brooklyn is 19.Jeff Zaugg: [00:02:58] So you are in the launched from high school, but just still in the college years, is that right?Bart Sharrer: [00:03:04] That's right. So we're technically we're empty nesters. It's just that with both of our girls and, you know, some health concerns, they're both able to stay at home, you know, and it really works for us, for them to stay at home with us. We actually we love it. We're not we're not anxious to see them leave.Jeff Zaugg: [00:03:20] It's funny because when you're like a rookie changing diapers like crazy and prayerfully just trying to make it through every day, every week, every month, it's like empty nesting is like someday our kids will launch to college and not be in our home. And at that point, it sounds like that's a great idea, launch them. I already love your scenario of like staying closer and not being in any hustle. It sounds really good.Bart Sharrer: [00:03:45] No, it is. It's kind of a it's an interesting mindset because obviously we know so many people who are our stage of life and they are empty nesting or they were longing for empty nesting. It's the oh, I can't wait until they're gone. And you know, it's funny because we always learn like we learned so many years ago and then we just sort of always kept it as a mindset of we never want to be anxious for that stage. We always want to be appreciative of the Today stage, you know, even as infants, even when our kids were really, really young, you know, you're like, Oh, I just can't wait to either sleeping through the night or I can't wait to be out of diapers, or I can't wait until they're whatever you think the next phase is that you think is going to be make your life so much better. The danger of that, what we found and learned, is you're going to you could miss so many moments today. So now when our kids are adults and they're still at home, we're like, we're going to embrace. We're just embracing every day with Lord, thank you for this opportunity. This may not have been what we would have planned or what they would have planned, but we're embracing it and thankful for just what it is and we'll deal with, yeah, there'll be a someday, but like I'm not going to, I'm not going to long for that someday at the expense of this today.Jeff Zaugg: [00:05:14] The joy of driving up to your house this morning and giving your daughters hugs when I'm thinking back to them making cotton candy for me back, you know, seven, eight, nine years ago. Now, these are two women, young adult women are giving me hugs and excited to see me. I'm like, I cannot believe how fast.Bart Sharrer: [00:05:36] And we still have the cotton candy machine. You really, we could fire that thing up.Jeff Zaugg: [00:05:40] Well, I actually want to talk about that specific thing, because I know it's a tool that has caused moments of connection in neighborhood and church and beyond. Why did you guys get that machine and how is it being used as a dad?Bart Sharrer: [00:05:54] Yeah, so funny because it what, like it wouldn't have even been my first choice, but we were doing a garage sale back when we were living in Minneapolis. And there's a kind of like neighborhood sale and it's like, great, we get rid of stuff, right? And then my wife and the girls, they walk down the street to check out everybody else's, you know, junk piles. And then they come running back with, Oh, we got to go get this cotton candy machine. I'm like, What? The thing is huge. It takes up so much space and I'm like, de-cluttering. And they said, No, no, no. My wife is all about neighboring. She said, No, this is going to be for the neighbors. Like, I don't understand, tell me. But but this is her heart and this is actually it's been really transformative for our family. It's is and it really is for the neighbors of, hey, if we if we can do this, fire this thing up a few times for the neighbor kids, it'll be a gathering point and families will come out. And low and behold, so many families would come out. It's like the ice cream truck.Jeff Zaugg: [00:07:00] I was going to say it's the kid equivalent of an espresso machine for adults. It's addicting, just like espresso. And, and you can't stop talking about it and share it with others.Bart Sharrer: [00:07:10] No, but that goofy little garage sale purchase had been the source of I can't even count how many relationships and friendships and conversations that started because it was an easy entry point.Jeff Zaugg: [00:07:23] Well, we copied your lead on the slack line and that was one of your things. And now we have a slack line that we're traveling with and that also draws people in, except for instead of cavities being the danger, it's, you know, broken limbs, I guess, off a slack line.Bart Sharrer: [00:07:36] Yeah. So same concept just in the day, either an E-R or...Jeff Zaugg: [00:07:43] Or two years later at the dentist.Bart Sharrer: [00:07:44] On the on the couch with a sick stomach. Jeff Zaugg: [00:07:47] Yeah, that yeah. So let's go, what you've learned in the past nine years? So the advice you would have given me back when I had my little two week old first daughter in your house versus today. Anything that you're like, oh, this changed or this was a new aha in the last chapter of, you know, half of your fatherhood journey?Bart Sharrer: [00:08:07] Take advantage of every day, you know, and just be grateful for all of that. Don't long for what's not here yet. We, you know nine years later, well we would double down on this one thing, and we see this play out today and it actually has become a filter that my girls will look at, look through when it comes to you guys they might be interested in, which is, do they ask good questions? And so we had to teach our kids when they were really young, how to how to ask a question. So like when they're really young and when most kids and again, it's very natural, it's not like it's bad but would hide behind your leg when they meet an adult. And so we always said, hey, listen, you know, shy is not an excuse for rude. So you can look someone in the eye, if they say, how are you, Alison, you say, I'm good, thank you for asking. And then you, we would teach them a follow up question and how are you. Or or we'd be going over to someone's house and we'd sit in the car for an extra minute or two before we, you know, go up to the front door and say, hey, now, remember, here's a couple of things, when you go in, look, people in the eye, ask a question, you don't have to ask 100 questions, ask a question, care, lean in, think about the other person. And that just started the process of, you know, being inquisitive. And now, you know, now they've mastered the art form of ask, like they ask more questions, they can learn so much in a matter of a few minutes of just asking a few questions. But it's amazing how many people don't. I meet adults today, all the time, I was just with somebody for almost an hour the other day, and I don't think they asked me one question in a hour. And I, okay, well, one, I would never hire that person. But again, so in teaching our kids, we just realized that unlocked a whole different level of confidence and interest. And so now they can I mean, obviously they're adults now, but they can carry on a conversation with just about anybody. But if there's a guy and that guy doesn't know how to ask questions, kind of done.Jeff Zaugg: [00:10:25] No, go.Bart Sharrer: [00:10:27] It's a no go.Jeff Zaugg: [00:10:28] Go into that topic a little further around current chapter of dad life and things that, man, we we did this and we're thankful because it's helping in this season that we're in today. So fostering the inquisitive, the asking questions, the modeling, coaching and preloading, I love that. And anything else, you're like, Oh, this is very something that we're seeing the benefit of?Bart Sharrer: [00:10:53] For sure. 100%. Because I go back to, our kids love the church.Jeff Zaugg: [00:10:57] Yeah.Bart Sharrer: [00:10:58] And how they, how that's displayed, is their level of they love to be serving at the church. So this is something that, you know, this is something that Amy really helped initiate with the girls when she was with them, you know, as a as a stay at home mom. But even even when we were all together on weekends or or in the evenings, it'd be like, okay, what can we do for our neighbors? What can we go rake their lawn? Can we shovel their driveway? Can we go bring them cookies? Could what what are things we could do to serve our neighbors? But then also serving in the church so, so many times we would bring them with us in different serve opportunities, you know, at the at the local church and just got them around really great, fun people. Because you think about, the people who volunteer at churches are some of the most phenomenal people on the planet. They give of their time selflessly on behalf of others. And we're just like, you know what? We want our kids as young, as young as possible to be around some of the world's best people. And so serving at the church really provided multiple benefits. One, it was kind of fostering within them a heart for others and a heart to serve. And where we can do hard things and we can do inconvenient things. But the value of who they got to be around, it was incredible. The influence of I mean, at this stage, probably hundreds, if not thousands of people over the years that have helped influence and model a like a heart of serving, to our kids.Jeff Zaugg: [00:12:39] Without any like needing to arrange mentorship or coaching. You just simply chose to serve and you get the benefit of who they're surrounded by.Bart Sharrer: [00:12:46] Exactly right. Because those who serve in the church, I mean, they're there, they're the heartbeat of the church anyway. And we're like, oh, I want my kids being around them. And so that was just really easy to just get them there. But today, now they've, you know, they've created an ownership and it's their own value of they find life in serving. And where can I help? Where can I serve? And it's really been a beautiful thing to watch them as adults really own that.Jeff Zaugg: [00:13:20] When when it comes to, we think our life's going to look like this, and then, oh, it turned out like that. The dad life has those moments. But specifically when a you know, when a child or a spouse walks through a like we don't know how this is going to go in a medical situation or a health situation. I know you guys have had a few rounds of of really, and you're currently still trusting God for like, man, what's the what's the way out of this or the way through this? Can you just talk about a little bit of your journey and what what you've learned and and the heartache and the the moments?Bart Sharrer: [00:14:02] Yeah, it's a great question. Well, I think it started, it probably started more than ten years ago, with our youngest, Brooklyn. And actually both girls got sick at this sort of the same time. And we're out of school for months. This is back in Minneapolis. And and so it kind of launches into this discovery process of going to see almost every doctor possible. We tried so many different things, try to discover what's going on. Long story short on that, come to find out that Brooklyn had or has you know, it's just a really weak immune system, so has a lot of autoimmune issues. Lyme disease being a primary one although it's really it's it's kind of layered. There's multiple things that are kind of at play with her. But in what that meant for her is a lot of life, missing out. She missed out a lot of school, tons of activities. And so we had to learn how to navigate that. And so that was a ten year, eleven year journey. And then just 18 months ago, our oldest daughter, Allison, was she she had started experiencing these, we didn't know it at the time, but they were called focal seizures with her eyes and her head, kind of had deviations. And then it turned into a full blown grand mal seizure, which we witnessed and is by far this the scariest thing I've ever seen. Like, it was horrendous. And so for the last 18 months, we've been in this journey now with her trying to discover what's the right, you know, treatment medication to help her, sort of stabilize the the seizures and yet be able to function in life as a 21 year old in school. And that has been, like it has been really a yeah, for sure it's been a challenge. But one of the things we've learned and we have to practice all the time, which is, it is day to day living and it's the okay Lord, I trust you, today. I have to start every day, with, Lord, I trust you. And it's not just a blanket statement. It's no, I have to sit in it every day realizing, Lord, I absolutely trust you. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my marriage. I trust you with my kids. I trust you with my job. I trust you with the church. I trust you. And that means I can trust you. And so you're not absent, God, you're not far away. I have questions. And and I would love for my daughters, both of them, to be healed, today. So I pray for it. I pray for healing. I pray for restoration. I pray for the right, even medical advice. Pray for that all the time in the today. But I'm thankful for today. So I look at it and say, what can we be thankful for today? And be hopeful for tomorrow? Tomorrow is where the relief is, you know. But today, it's, we may not get it. We might get it. But I'm going to be grateful for all the things I'm able to do with my with my kids. I'm going to be thankful for that. It could be so much worse. She's not in a hospital. She's able to go to school. Yep, my wife has to drive 40 minutes and stay down at school, in close proximity, within about a mile or two of her. So in case she doesn't, in case she has a seizure, in case she's not feeling good, in case something goes on with her, my wife is close. But if those are the minimal sacrifices we have to make. Okay. You know, I borrow the phrase that I learned through Venture years ago, but I love it. It's the, hey, we can do hard things. And honestly, some of it is not as hard as I would make it to be, because there's still so much to be thankful for. That's why I live in the day to day, but also the promise and hope for tomorrow, and I just live in that.And it's a daily, that to me, is part of my daily exercise, spiritually. It's no different than working out every day. It's no different than I read my Bible every day and pray every day. It's no different than I eat every day or I brush my teeth every day. It's just, that's it. And if I don't stay there, then I can get sideways, emotionally.Jeff Zaugg: [00:18:45] Yeah. From, from an outside, you know, friend, mentee looking in when you had to rip all the carpet out of your house. And I remembering that right? Like the the stress and the frustration of I'm trying to lead and professionally do what I need to do here. I'm trying to be a dad. I'm spending money I didn't expect I was going to spend. I'm seeing specialists. Like, I just feel like the setup from the outside looks like like so much unexpected, crazy. But yet, when I'm with your family, I sense such like a settled, calm, thankful, closeness. So I wonder if they're attached? Do you do you think that going through hard things and the like level of your family loves each other is it, are attached?Bart Sharrer: [00:19:32] I would say it goes back to these deep lessons and priorities that I suppose, and I'm telling you, I learned this from my wife, so I cannot take credit for it. I've been a beneficiary of my wife's heart of choose joy, always, be thankful, always. So we're going to we're just going to really live in that discipline of always there's always something to be thankful for, which isn't not it isn't just this pie in the sky, pretend like nothing bad is happening. It is the way through, though. It's the discipline that even in the midst of super hard, challenging, emotional, stressful, all that stuff is still there. But the way through what I've learned from practice, I learned from my wife in her modeling. And I think our kids just live in this now too, because we just practiced it for so many years, which is, oh, I'm going to start with gratitude. Gratitude is the way through. Because if I don't live in gratitude, it's so easy for me to live in complete jealousy, envy, all these other, you know, it's all the negative fruit of, because it's all self-centered, because as soon as I start complaining, what I'm complaining about is my life should be better. I should have more. It's not fair. I'm I should I you know, I expect better. Whatever. You know, it's all me centered, and none of that stuff is biblical. Right. Jesus never promises that stuff. But what Jesus calls us to is gratitude. And he calls us to other center. It's always about, so there's always that battle, for what are the disciplines that help me stay others centric and not put me at the center of it all? And gratitude is one of them, is probably one of the best ones, that and serving, you know, those two, I'm telling you, it'll literally change your life. And so I guess I look at my girls today and I say, I look at them and they are they are mini Amys. They have taken on all of Amy's heart, mindset, her, just the way she lives, the way she thinks, the way she interacts with people. And everybody benefits because they're more like Amy than me. I mean, that's a massive win for everybody. But as a family, these are just things we just said we're going to commit to like. So we're not going to complain about about just the stuff that we feel like is, you know, we'll pray about things that are hard for sure. We're like, Lord, we pray about stuff all the time. Never stop praying, but we're always going to be grateful and trust him. So if I trust him, that means I trust his timing.Jeff Zaugg: [00:22:35] If I was to sit down with your two daughters and just ask them, what are some things your dad does or did that you're just really thankful he did these things? So going a little more granular of like any specific, can you think of any specifics you think they would share with me if I'm just like, Hey, tell me some things he's done that you're really thankful for? So on that side of, positive.Bart Sharrer: [00:23:02] That's a great question. I would hope, I would guess that, you know, I guess it's a hope that they would see that even though I had I worked, that I was present and like present physically by investing in their lives of all the years of coaching. Just like, oh, hey, I want to be part of that. And I know that's not practical for everybody, but it was, we had the opportunity to do that, and it helped me stay close to my girls during those really, really fun years of sports. Being present, physically, relationally, you know, like, just like stepping into their world, not just forcing them into mine, which it's hard, but, but trying to keep them a priority. And I would hope they would say that, that I kept them a priority over church.Jeff Zaugg: [00:24:06] Yeah. They were before church. Yeah.Bart Sharrer: [00:24:07] And that they never had to play second to church, even though I did, you know, I've been a pastor for a long time and you know. But but I think, I think they would say that. Jeff Zaugg: [00:24:23] Yeah. And now if I sat with Amy and I asked her to share the opposite, where did Bart miss it? Where, where did he stumble as a dad and need to learn to grow forward from? What, anything she would say to me? Bart Sharrer: [00:24:35] I think the list would be really long. I think she would be kind and only give you like a couple. I think top of the list things would be, okay, wherever we decided was going to be a stake in the sand value that we were going to live by. That's always where the enemy, that's where the battle is. So when I wasn't practicing, including them. When I would go a little bit quiet in processing in my head and not and not invite them in to my struggles. I think those would be the things that I could introduce a lot of tension in to my family by my own temperament and by, you know, if I would just, you know, ruminate on things in my mind or if I wasn't actively engaged, you know, in the conversation, if I was too distracted by whatever. So I could control the temperature in the house that way and which is really sad and scary, but beautiful, if I would practice the discipline. Right. So it's, you know, and and I'm always going to be the last one to know because I can deceive myself. You know, the scripture is pretty clear about that. So I would always need Amy to help me stay present. And she would, she would always do a really good job of like, hey Bart, what's going on? Like what's happening? You look you you look a little distracted right now or how come you're not talking or what's going on in your head? And so she would do a really good job of trying to pull that stuff out of me because I think she knew it would it would absolutely affect the girls. So I can speak about all these values, the practice of them, super hard. Right. And and I but I also learned on a spiritual level, that's where the battle is. Anything you set as a value in your life, whether it's your relationship with Jesus, your wife, your marriage, your kids, your work, the enemy wants to destroy that, especially when you declare, this is how we're going to live. He's going to go after that. And so it it forces us to constantly be on guard. You don't have to be afraid of it, but we have to be ready for it. And so, yeah, Amy's list would be times when I, I was weak or I was distracted. That's where that's what those are definitely the the shortcomings.Jeff Zaugg: [00:27:09] So you you mentioned you set the temperature, the climate of of the house. And I'm thinking immediately about me and I desire, something I've even shared with some close friends recently, of I want to just be more gentle with my eyes, with my tone, with my words. I always want to be more gentle, when when things that are frustrating come up. Yet, I'm not sure what that looks like to the discipline when you said I'm the one that's going to set the temperature. Any ideas to just kind of coach me on my ability to set the temperature and I living by the disciplines? When you say disciplines, what might that look like with gentleness?Bart Sharrer: [00:27:49] Yeah, by setting the temperature like I think our wives do the exact same thing. But when we so if I come home and let's just say I'm angry or frustrated or whatever, whatever happens to be the emotion, if I'm not careful, I could I could take that same emotion and I could that that emotion could impact my entire family, right? It could, it could change, and it does change the sort of that the temperature in the room. But if I'm aware of it, the more I'm aware and knowing that, hey, maybe I need to, okay, I've been frustrated. So what does it look like to to to put on to literally put on? So the Apostle Paul talks about this in his in his letters, he uses this very activating language calls put on these things. Right. It's like putting on clothing. So I have to very intentionally, if I think about, oh, I want to be more, I don't want to be angry, so I'm going to take anger off. I mean, take that jacket of anger off and I'm going to put on a sweatshirt of humility. I'm going to put on a sweatshirt of grace. I'm put on a, you know, a t shirt or a pair of sweatpants of love or kindness. You know, the word you're looking at. You know, so there's an intentionality of an aware, it's a really it's about self-awareness. Which is super key to everything. And this is why, like, our spouse can be our, can be the best thing for us because they can help, when we're not fully aware of what we're wearing, they can help us, you know, with like, hey, take that off and put on kindness. Until you learn how to recognize it in yourself. Does that I mean, that kind of like that's kind of a little bit out there. More practically, though, I think it is about how do you become more aware? So if you are sensing, you're heated up about something, you're angry, or you could even be your facial expression or the tone in which you're speaking. So what helps you become aware of that? Is that something Michelle could help you with? Is that something your kids can help you? Is that something that you just have to work out on your own? But I think the second you're aware of, you're you're not in a good emotional place, then it is a matter of putting on. Taking the the lessons from Paul in his letters and saying, no, put on put on the clothing you want to be whether you feel like it or not, that's the discipline, because discipline is just practice is keep practicing, keep practicing, keep practicing to be the person you want to be.Jeff Zaugg: [00:30:40] Yeah. The phrase practice, also, is an inviting, it's a gracious term versus I failed and I've like, you know, it's it's it's practice.Bart Sharrer: [00:30:51] No, because it's not pass, fail, it's movement towards the person, you know, a phrase I picked up, I kind of can't, I don't even know how I came up with it, and probably someone help me with it. But I've learned it a lot over the last, and I've used it a lot over the last, like say a year and a half. And it's the what's best version of me, the best version of Bart. And the more I think about what's best version of Bart, how does how do I thrive as a husband, as a dad, as a pastor, as a leader, whatever? Then that helps me, gives me a target of what I'm, what I'm working towards, what I'm practicing towards. And I just think sometimes as dads or as husbands, we have a hard time visualizing, well, what is it, what does a good dad look like? But the more I can figure, if I can think about the best version of a dad or best version of Bart, and what would that look like in fatherhood and husband and, you know, whatever role I'm in. That helps me now I can now I can give me a target. It gives me something that I'm working towards. Right. Because, you know, most people are willing to put in probably some effort, but effort alone, but effort in the wrong direction is going to be fruitless.Jeff Zaugg: [00:32:16] Yeah, I love that. And you're not comparing to somebody else who's a rock star. I don't have to compare myself to Bart Scharrer. I can just do the best version of me. I can move towards that. Yeah, well, I wanted to maybe land here and it's I'm pretty sure everyone listening knows by now that we're on a bike ride because the wind has gusted a few times.Bart Sharrer: [00:32:35] It has picked up.Jeff Zaugg: [00:32:36] But I think for ten years, ten or fifteen years, both your daughters have married some awesome dudes and they're now dads. So these these son in laws are now rookie dads in the first handful of years of being dads and they're out for a bike ride with you. And they're like, tell us, they're like you and they're calling you Dad, dad, tell us how can I be a good dad? And this is recorded. So they might actually be listening to these words of advice. And I'll have you pray over them in a moment. But what, what is it that you'd say, hey, and I know we've hit a lot of topics already, but what would you want to share to those guys who are hungry to learn and press in and be intentional dads?Bart Sharrer: [00:33:18] Create your hill to die on, values. There's probably just a couple values that should live in that first hill. Love Jesus, love Jesus with everything you have, then love your family with everything you have. And in that, you're going to find there's rhythms to keep you strong. There's, so with your family, it's going to be serve them, serve at 100%, and don't expect anything in return. That's sort of this the heartbeat behind marriage. But, you know, so there's disciplines and practical things in that. But from a value standpoint, you do those two things and I couldn't imagine you not having just a wonderful life. Not easy. Because that's no,t goal is not ease. But those things, because you can control those things, you can control how much you love Jesus. You can control how much you love your family and it's the foundation of it. Because if you do those things, you're going to get the rest of life figured out pretty easily.Jeff Zaugg: [00:34:26] Yeah. So we're, we're pedaling up like nine or ten percent grade to finish our ride. And while we pedal, would you pray, for pray for me, pray for each of the dads, but specifically pray for your two son-in-laws and for their fatherhood journey?Bart Sharrer: [00:34:44] Jesus, I thank you so much for the gift of this day and how fun it is to even spend time with my friend, Jeff, who I haven't seen in a year and comes out and we're on a on a bike ride. Thank you for that. What a gift. But Lord, I pray for Jeff. I pray for his heart for you, his heart for his family, his heart for men and his desire to see men thrive and just fall in love with you. So I pray for him, in his ministry, his family, his marriage. God, would you bring such divine clarity to him as a husband, father, leader? Lord, would you give him favor with people? Favor with his, with people he's yet to meet. Lord, I pray for this ministry. Just the impact of hundreds of guys who even jumped on bikes this last year or will still do it this year. But how incredible is that? God, I pray, continue to fan in the flame, not just what's in his heart, but just the fruit of this ministry. Lord may its best days be in front of him. May he see what you have for him, for his family, for this ministry. Lord, I pray for Dad, especially. Lord, I do pray for these two things, that they would fall in love with you, just recklessly, in love with you, and out of that, just be so madly in love with their family. And it would show up in the in the way they serve, in the way they give sacrificially to their families. And then out of that, just it'd be an expression for you in the rest of their lives. And what I pray very specifically for the two men who I believe you have for my girls, would you guard their heart, protect their minds? Would you foster right now just an absolute love and desire for you into their heart, or may they continue in their love for you. Lord, keep them safe, keep them safe from harm. But God plant purpose deep in their hearts, purpose to serve you, to serve your kingdom, to serve in the church, to serve others. Lord, may that be just a reflection of their love for you so that they will be fully prepared to love my girls and bike with me someday. So I pray for that. Lord, I trust you for that. I am so thankful for this day, in this opportunity, this conversation, and this friendship and the future we get to talk about. We love you, Jesus. Amen.Jeff Zaugg: [00:38:03] Thank you so much for joining us for Episode 252 with Bart Scharrer. The conversation notes, the transcripts and some action steps are going to be at dadAWESOME.org/252. Guys, I want to remind you, these conversations, not everything shared you're going to put into action, but is there one thing, is there one thing from today's conversation? For example, Bart's comments about, man, can we take off the jacket of frustration or impatience and put on the sweatshirts, the hoodie of loving kindness or gentleness? Like that, visual to me is like, I want to do that, I want to do that, I want to press in. So just want to encourage you guys to prayerfully, as we listen and look for is that one thing, micro steps matter in becoming dadAWESOME. So thank you for listening. I'm cheering for you. I'm praying for you. Have a great week with your kids.