“I wrote this for guys that are tempted to feel useless because they aren’t useless.”
“My phone isn’t ringing. My inbox is empty. And I feel useless. So what I say to pastors is there are men in your church who are incredibly capable of doing all kinds of wonderful things.”
“You have men in your church who maybe in their day were very accomplished. Right now they feel useless. And what I would do is I would lovingly encourage them to put their hand in the air and to volunteer to do stuff.”
“A lot of kids don’t have a grandfather that loves Jesus and that loves his Word. So adopt yourself as a grandfather to a kid like that at church. Church is the place where all this happens.”
“This is not motivational drivel. There is no salvation in motivation. It’s got to be anchored in something. But the older I got, the more I found myself lying awake at night trying to go back to sleep, quoting Scripture, praying, saying, ‘Lord, here I am totally undistracted.’”
“You make big decisions at this age. Like should I buy or should I get a life insurance policy to cover my expenses when I can no longer take care of myself? How about a cemetery plot? Should I get a cemetery plot? In fact, this is crazy, but within the last week, I’ve asked six men to be my pallbearers.”
“This book is not about dying. It’s about living. But there are things that you need to do during these final laps of your life that you’d rather have them done yourself than have somebody else do it for you.”
“Find new ways of loving your sweet wife. Just think of the sacrifices that she’s made for you. The least you can do is love her well during this season.”
“It’s scary. But you know, it’s good. I mean, if you didn’t need grace, it wouldn’t mean anything to you. So the older I get, the more I desperately need God’s grace.”
“If I’d been the only person alive, Jesus still would have gone to the cross for me. That’s a very sobering thought. That’s not meant to build my ego. That’s meant to be a sobering reminder of how desperately God loves me and how I need to infuse my own life with his grace and humility.”
“[Pastors], intentionally give people in your life permission to speak truth to you. Intentionally give people permission to speak truth to you. Because when you start losing it, whatever it is, you’ll be the last to know.”
