I remember when I was a child – my mother raising four children on her own, taught us how to read a clock early. Her reason for teaching us to tell the time was that we were to give her a half hour of rest so that she could relax from the stresses of work before we came to her with all our problems that needed solving. We had a habit of putting all the furniture outside and hosing down the house whenever we were home for the summer. One day as we were returning the furniture to their rightful place, it rained and her favorite couch got soaked.

Cheer men on. A few weekends ago, I spent some time thinking about my dad. I thought of our times growing up in a small town in Virginia; the moments of fishing and hunting with him. We spent time in the woods exploring and discovering all the old farms and mountains in that area. I also spent some time reflecting on his life as a man. A young father figuring out life much like I am now with a young family.

Husbands, a question to ask yourself: Is your family in order? Who comes first? Does your spouse come first, or do your kids take the number one spot? Or do you put yourself first? How do you even know when they are in the right order? The results are in, and we’re here to tell you: guys, your marriage needs to be the priority over your kids. Here are a few reasons why:

Proverbs 20:5 says, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.”

In other words, we don’t always know why we do the very thing we hate doing – sometimes it takes a voice outside our heart to make sense of it. That’s why so many of us end up drowning in our own struggles – we rarely cry for help.

Maybe this is why God allows us to see so many of his heroes fall – to remind us how badly we need other men around us.

How old were you when you first saw porn? I’ve asked that question to kids in high school, D1 football players, and men around the country. I have yet to hear someone say, “Man, I can’t remember.”

We remember the date, time, and circumstances.

There’s a reason why one of the oldest books in the Bible has a guy saying the line, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1).

“…until they get punched in the mouth,” said former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson, when asked if he was worried about his opponent’s plans to defeat him in the ring.

Plans are helpful, but they can’t land a punch.

The French had a plan to stop the Germans Blitzkrieg by constructing the “impenetrable” Maginot Line across the Ardennes forest. The Nazi tanks just went around it.