Wrestling with the Inner Man

Betrayal, disaster, career loss, family crisis, the slow grind of grief, they all create the same gut-level question: why, and what do I do with this pain now? I sit down with Tony Stoltzfus, a veteran Christian coach and author who has spent decades helping leaders navigate painful transitions, to talk about why “try harder” and pure self-discipline often fail when the real struggle is happening...

“Separation of church and state” gets thrown around like a trump card, but most of us have never been shown where that idea actually comes from, what the First Amendment really says, and why the founders cared so much about protecting religious liberty. We’re heading into a major national anniversary, so we slow down and do something rare: we trace the history instead of repeating the slogan.  We...

He chased success hard enough to build a global career and still ended up empty. Mitch Guinn joins us to tell the truth about what it looked like to spend years hunting for acceptance in all the wrong places: performance, sex, alcohol, and the constant need to be seen as “a man.” The cost was real: three marriages, five daughters growing up with an often absent father, and a level of guilt that ne...

A kid doesn’t need a perfect dad, but they do need a present one, and the window to shape a heart doesn’t stay soft forever. Father’s Day sets the tone with a simple poem, “The Sculptor,” and it lands like a warning and a gift: the impressions we leave on our sons and daughters tend to last. If you’ve ever looked at middle school years and thought, I don’t have the tools for this, you’re not alone...

A lot of men carry a quiet ache they can’t quite name, then spend decades trying to outrun it with work, wins, and willpower. On this Father’s Day, we sit with that ache head-on: the father wound, the craving for approval, and the lifelong impact of a dad who is physically present but emotionally absent. We don’t treat it like a psychology trend or a sentimental story. We treat it like spiritual w...

A single email during COVID turned into a paternity test, a flight to an empty LAX, and a face-to-face meeting with a 46-year-old son Rick Wertz never knew existed. That’s the kind of story that sounds impossible until you hear the details, and it opens a bigger question many men carry quietly: what do you do with the father-wound, the love deficit, and the years you can’t get back? We sit down wi...

A lot of men can describe the exact second they heard the words “I’m pregnant” and what happened next, their mind racing through fear, responsibility, and what kind of man they’re going to be. But almost nobody asks the next question out loud: what happens to the father when an abortion happens, and he’s told to stay quiet? That silence can turn into years of shame, drifting, and numbness, even fo...

Debt is not just math, it’s pressure, identity, fear, and the quiet belief that you’re failing the people you love. We start with a hard look at how easy credit, emotional spending, and constant comparison normalize borrowing, then we bring it back to a biblical lens where debt can become bondage and limit the freedom God intends for us. If Proverbs 22:7 has ever felt uncomfortably real, you’re no...

This show is about spiritual warfare in its many forms.  We all are in its midst whether we are aware of it or not.  It is the human condition since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Ephesians 6:12 says: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm...

Romans 12:2 says " Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.." A related verse in 2 Corinthians 10:5 says " We demolish arguments and every pretension that sees itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" This is the most challenging wrestling match we face daily in...

Today we are talking about a second pandemic which has swept through our country and the world at large, it’s called immaturity and it manifests today in no larger way than refusing to accept personal responsibility, especially in the roles God gave men to fulfill. 1 Corinthians 13:11   says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became...

My show is aimed primarily but not exclusively at men.  It is a nonprofit categorized as Christian Education with a focus on the numerous aspects of spiritual warfare that men face daily.  My tagline in the show's intro is: "Because the first fight we face each and every day is the fight between our selfish sinful nature and our Holy Spirit inspired divine nature." The show's g...

Our institutions of higher education have been co-opted by a liberal ideology for decades now that have wedged out belief in God as somehow being naïve and unacceptable to highly scientific minds.  I have had several guests on this show with Ivy league educations that told me if anyone in those advanced degree programs did believe in God it was very well hidden. My guest today is Douglas Ell, auth...

I'm posting this episode on Good Friday ahead of Easter Sunday for 2026. This is the high Holy season of the Christian faith and for most of us, it is our fear and uncertainty of what happens to us when we die that we wrestle most with in deciding to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It all comes down to belief in the fact that Jesus died on the cross for all of us to atone for our...

There are many stories in the bible of reluctant people who resist their assignment like Moses and Jonah for example. And many of us today still struggle with our own assignment, but God always seems to have His way with us in the end doesn’t He? My guest today is Dr. James Torkildson, a Clinical Psychologist and seasoned Behavioral Health Professional with a cultural voice that is rooted in Scrip...

Servant leadership is a popular term today to talk about, and Christ himself demonstrated it by washing the disciples’ feet.  As Christians we should be using our spiritual gifts in volunteer service to advance His kingdom here on earth. But have you ever heard of Newton's first law of motion, or the law of inertia? It states that an object at rest remains at rest. And the longer an organizat...

My guest in this episode is Bruce Wawrzyniak. Bruce has had a lengthy career in sports including ten years working for a National Hockey League team, three years as VP/Public Relations at the League office for the National Lacrosse League and then worked for ten-and-a-half years in the Olympic Movement.  Today, Bruce is a Publicist / PR Professional, Podcaster, Author, Speaker, Blogger and special...

It’s early February and we are right smack in the middle of Championship Football Season! College is decided and its Seattle vs New England in the upcoming Super Bowl Congrats to Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers on their undefeated season of 16-0 and the school’s first football national championship.  The game had some print dedicated afterwards to the officiating and no calls on some seemin...

Wrestlers, I don't often do solo episodes but sometimes I have more that I want to express as my personal view and this episode is one of those times. The stock market darling for all of 2025 was Nvidia and all things related to AI holdings.  For the first two weeks of this year I have consumed content related to AI that stirred my inner man and made me more aware of the wrestling match I am...

How would you like to have a job where everyone you serve is having the worst day of their life??  That is the everyday truth of a career as a first responder; the police, fire, and EMS folks who we call on our worst days. If it hasn’t really sunk in yet, let me give you a few more specific examples: How about a traumatic death, a murder or suicide, where organ donor decisions must be made? How ab...

As men, the closest we get to participate in creation as image bearers of God is fathering a child.  It is a gigantic moment in any man’s life, regardless of age, when he learns that he has gotten a woman pregnant. It is a moment of overwhelming joy for married couples who might have been struggling to have children. It can be a moment of mixed feelings for a married couple who thought they were t...

We all so long for the Norman Rockwell holiday gathering at Christmas, both parents and even grandparents seated with obedient children, heads bowed around an abundant table or cheerfully opening gifts around a Christmas tree.  But the truth is that most families today experience everything from anxiety to sorrow or grief over family member estrangements making the holidays a painful reminder of h...

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you genuinely wrestled with being thankful?  Maybe even at this time of year? Perhaps after being laid off at work like many people are experiencing today due to AI?  Or maybe it’s just the tyranny of inflation and falling behind on rising expenses? Or possibly you're a federal employee impacted by the recent government shutdown?  Or it could...

Proverbs 1:5 says “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.” In God’s economy, wisdom is never static; it is always expanding. Even the wise must “increase in learning.” Which means that maturity is not marked by arrival but by continual openness to correction and instruction.  The mark of a true disciple is not how much he knows but how much he is w...

After four years as a state representative, eight years as a state senator, and ten years as the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the State of Texas, my friend and guest Glenn Hegar, began his new position as Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System on July 1st 2025.  On July 4th, Kerville Texas experienced one of the most devastating floods and loss of life in Texas history!  And with...