Dear Grand-dads: We Need You To School Young Fools
Dear Grand-dad: Have you ever looked at this generation of young men and thought, “Man, I’m glad I’ll be dead soon so I don’t have to see these idiots elect AOC for President one day?”
If you watch a mere five minutes of MTV you’ll quickly realize that if that schlock is a foretaste of things to come, then our progeny is in more trouble than Leni Klum would be at a Dennis Rodman keg party. If Pete Townsend thought the late ‘60s equated to a teenage wasteland, God only knows what he’d pen about this generation of miscreant, quasi-Marxist, iPostured zombies.
When faced with interfacing with Gen-Z males and their future, as an elder warrior on this third rock from the sun, I’m confronted with two options: Number One: I can either say, “To hell with them” and spend my latter years hunting, fishing and building my apocalyptic bomb shelter or … Number Two: I can hunt, fish, build my apocalyptic bomb shelter and sow into the young men my God and Country values that’ll ground them in greatness and help them preserve this grand experiment in self-governance. That has to be one of the longest sentences ever written.
My flesh would prefer the former, but my spirit is tugging me towards the latter. How do I know if God’s calling me to sow into this next generation of young men? Well, I can usually tell it’s The Lord pulling me into something when my carnal man wants nothing to do with it and it’s birthed in me via the Verbum Dei.And the twain happened to me about four months ago.
As stated, my flesh doesn’t want to focus on ministering to young men because 90+% of them are spiritually braindead and they’re okay with that.
In addition, I don’t wanna learn their music, or their “culture”, or watch their TikTok videos and/or play their soul-sucking video games so that I can try to be the hip-n-groovy grandpa that they can chill with and learn from.
Screw that noise.
I’m too old to play games.
Nevertheless, I can’t shake the call to seriously sow into young men’s lives like never before. What’s weird about the fresh afflatus that has smacked me of late is that King David, when he was an old dude, got slapped with the same commission. Check it out …
“O God, You have taught me from my youth,
And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.
And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
You who have shown me many troubles and distresses
Will revive me again,
And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
May You increase my greatness
And turn to comfort me.”
- Psalm 71:17-21
King David, when he was “old and gray”, wasn’t focused on retirement where he could talk about the good old days when God anointed him King over Israel after he sunk rock into Goliath’s pagan noggin. Indeed, David didn’t long for trouble-free nights sitting in a rocking chair playing Pin the Tail on The Beast as he waited for The Rapture to happen. Oh, heck no. David’s mindset was, “Even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come.” – Psalm 71:18.
David wanted his end game to be one of blasting out the epic truth of God’s power and might to the next generation. Which I think is pretty cool. Think about it. King David could’ve just hung out with his rich buddies who’re getting grayer and fatter. Who’re spending their days talking about bowel movements, the godless Philistines, and wondering how they can get that Kim Kardashian screensaver off their phone before their wife sees it. Indeed, he could have just relaxed, played golf, eaten dinner at 4pm, and crashed for the night after Hannity signed off. Y’know … he could have just coasted for the rest of his life, but David said, “No” … “I ain’t gonna live that lackluster life just sitting on my laurels waiting for my ticker to tank.”
So, my older amigos, I hope this little screed motivates you to purposefully plow into this next generation of young men. If you’re a righteous and rowdy follower of Christ, and you love our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and our Declaration of Independence, then your gray-headed, hard-won wisdom needs to be shoehorned in young men’s lives, PDQ.
Ergo, my brethren, forego just hanging out with the old farts, and include some of the next generation of young warriors into your future powwows. That’s what I’m doing. In addition to that, I’ve got a new book coming out in October of 2023 that I’ve penned just for the young ones. It’s titled, LIONHEARTED: Making Young Christian Males Rowdy Biblical Men. I never thought I’d write a book for 16–25-year-olds at the ripe young age of sixty, but boom … I did it. I can’t wait for this book to be published. It’ll jerk the slack out of young males and shore them up to be providers, protectors, hunters, and heroes, under God’s governance, for all things holy, just, and good.
Doug Giles is Pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Wimberley, TX, and is the founder of ClashDaily.com (300M+ page views). Giles is also the author of the NEW book, John The Baptist: A Rude Awakening Precedes A Great Awakening. Follow Doug on Instagram and on Twitter @TheArtOfDoug.