In this enlightening discussion, we delve into the multifaceted journey of Denny LaVe, a Catholic entrepreneur, devoted father of six, and former monk, who exemplifies the profound intersection of faith and practical leadership. Central to our dialogue is the notion that God often speaks in the silences, urging us to cultivate quiet spaces in our tumultuous lives to discern His guidance. Denny shares his riveting experiences—from scaling radio towers to navigating the complexities of family life—underscoring how challenges and near-death encounters have fostered a deep reliance on divine providence. The episode further explores how his personal narrative, encapsulated in his book "Blue Collar Blessed," serves as a testament to the transformative power of faith in ordinary settings. As we traverse the intricacies of ambition and identity, we invite you to reflect on how you might embrace your calling amidst the cacophony of contemporary society, all the while nurturing a spirit of courage and compassion in your own community.

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes the profound importance of creating silent spaces in our daily lives, as it is in these moments of stillness that we can truly hear God's voice and guidance, a necessity in a world filled with chaos.
• Denny LaVe's journey from a monastery to the marketplace illustrates the transformative power of faith and obedience, demonstrating how one can successfully navigate life's challenges by saying 'yes' to God's calling, even in the face of adversity.
• In a society where cultural noise often drowns out virtue, the hosts advocate for a deliberate curation of media consumed by families, underscoring the need to protect children from harmful influences while fostering a love for the outdoors and family interaction.
• The discussion on leadership reveals that true leadership is rooted in self-love and the love of neighbor, suggesting that one must first cultivate a healthy relationship with oneself to effectively lead others with compassion and understanding.
• Denny's reflections on his faith journey and the lessons drawn from his blue-collar background reveal a nuanced understanding of identity, illustrating that one's worth transcends professional success and is anchored in one's spiritual relationship with God.
• The conversation culminates in a call to action for believers, urging them to embody bridge-building in their communities by fostering dialogue, understanding, and cooperation across divides, thereby enhancing collective well-being.

Links referenced in this episode:

• newlionofidaho.com
• denny4senate.com

Mentioned in this episode:

My friend Dr. Noah St. John calls this 'the invisible brake.' He's giving our listeners a free Revenue Ceiling Audit to help you see what’s REALLY holding you back. You’ll also get a FREE 30-day membership to Noah Bot, giving you access to Dr. Noah’s 30 years of experience to help you reach your next level. But hurry, because there are only 50 available this month. So if you're tired of being stuck at the same revenue level and want to finally break through, get your FREE Revenue Ceiling Audit at https://www.noahvault.com?aff=d28bf6c78150c7f09896297dfe1701c1cd191ac6fc9976779212cec5d38e94d6

Welcome to Becoming Bridge Builders, a faith centered podcast for believers who sense God's calling to lead with wisdom, courage and compassion in a deeply divided world.

I AM your host, Reverend Dr. Keith Haney, and as always, I want to begin by welcoming my guest today.

My guest is Danny lavey, a Catholic husband, father of six, entrepreneur, adventurer and former monk.

Before stepping away to mentor business leaders and discern broader service.

Denny's life story includes scaling radio towers, motorcycle tracks and near death experience, all shaped by faith grit, healing and a deep reliance on God.

He is the author of Blue Collar Blessed, A Humble Life in Idaho, a testimony to how God forms character and calling in ordinary places.

He's devoted to his wife Gina and their six sons.

He practices his Catholic faith, coaches across, reads widely wild widely enjoys golf, sailing and a good grass fed steak, which he invited me over for later, didn't he?

Welcome to the podcast.

Well, thank you, Robert.

I appreciate being here.

It's good to have you on.

I'm looking forward to this conversation and I'm thinking about steak the entire time, so.

It's all your fault.

It's all in the grill marks, right?

It's all in the grill marks.

So I'm going to ask you my favorite question to kind of get us warmed up.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

You know, I think it's that God.

God speaks in the silences.

And so we have to.

It was to make sure to create those silent spaces on a daily basis, to allow him to pour himself in.

Yeah, that's.

That's so critical.

And I love that because if you.

Think about it, one of my favorite verses is be still and know that I am God.

It's in that stillness and that quietness sometimes that God speaks.

It reminds me of Elijah.

You know, he's.

He's on the mountain and you know, he's not.

God's not the wind, he's not an earthquake, but he's in the whisper.

And so sometimes we're looking for the big moment, but it's like in those quiet moments, like you just mentioned, that we more clearly hear God.

Yeah.

No, it's so true.

I mean, that's one of the things that I learned so clearly when I was living in the monastery.

Right.

I mean, you spend a very significant part of your day in prayer.

Whether it's mental prayer, creating that quiet space to really listen, whether it's praying, the Psalms throughout the day.

But you're constantly coming back in and creating that space.

Space to hear, to listen.

And.

Today's modern world is kind of.

The antithesis of that.

Right.

Like, we can't tolerate the quiet and we can't tolerate boredom and, and it's,.

It's detrimental to us, I'm sure.

Yeah, there's.

There's so many things that distract us from hearing.

There's.

I remember watching some show where it's like, there's beeps, there's noises, there's blinks, there's lights, there's everything.

It's like, there's just no place where it's just quiet.

I bet in Idaho there's a lot of places where it's just quiet, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah, it's.

Idaho's a very.

It's a beautiful state.

About 80% of the entire land mass of the state is federally or state owned.

Which, to put that in perspective, if, if we were.

Idaho is very mountainous, but if we were to steamroll Idaho, it would actually be larger than Texas.

Wow.

Imagine 80% of Texas being federally or state owned and controlled.

Right?

Like, that's how much of Idaho's land mass is public lands.

And so there's ample opportunities to get out and to be quiet and to.

Just.

Kind of decompress, which is very, very healthy.

Right.

To get into the nature and just be at peace.

Wow, that's so cool.

Let's talk about your.

Your experience.

You went from monastery to the marketplace.

What lessons did monastic life, Silence, obedience, humility did you take with you as you carried on your life as a business person, a family member and a leader?

It's the ability and the willingness to not just hear God, but to actually say yes, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's, you know, frightening and scary.

But to say yes, My, my, my time in the monastery was after a period of saying, no, God, I don't want to go do that.

I don't want to go do that.

I don't want to go do that.

And then I finally said, you know what?

Okay, God, I, I will go do that.

After a lot of challenges and near death experiences.

And then when I did it, I got there and the temptation to quit was very strong, was very, very strong.

And I actually took a private valve.

I'm not going to quit.

And you know, God, if you want me here, I'm here.

If you don't want me here, you'll have to tell me.

And we got to the point where it was time to decide If I was taking vows and continuing or not.

And we prayed about it and I thought, man, I'm ready to take my vows.

I'm ready to make this my life.

And the superior in the monastery said,.

No, we think you should go home and have a family.

And it's like, okay.

And so then I went home and I found a beautiful woman and my wife Gina, and we have a beautiful family.

And other opportunities have come along.

You know, when it.

The opportunity to start our business, it.

Came along, it was like, oh, okay, I have to.

It seems like this is God putting this in the road.

And so I need to say yes, you know, and then there's been a whole lot of other yeses along the way up into, you know, where I'm at now, where I'm actually in a campaign for the United States Senate.

And you know, that was also something that came up and required me to say yes.

So.

Wow, that's really interesting.

Mine was just the opposite.

I was at seminary and I'm like, God, if you want me to stay, you gotta tell me something.

And he did.

He actually.

I was about to pack up and go home and all of a sudden God gave me 10,000 $, fully full ride tuition payment.

And I'm like, okay, I guess that was a sign I need to stay.

So, yeah, it's so interesting.

You know, it's, it's.

If we look back over time in.

History of the, the Christian faith, like it's a religion that's deeply, deeply marked by its commitment to service of others.

And.

You know, just historically speaking, like the numbers of people willing to give themselves to God and to serve others without, without any compensation, without any hope of prosperity or good prospects.

It was a very substantial number of people.

And to see that the numbers are down today, you know, is.

It should be a flag for all of us that, okay, we all have room to step up and be more generous and set that example that God's faithful.

If we give ourselves to him, good things will happen.

And that can draw other people to give themselves to serve.

And it creates that positive reinforcement loop.

So I'm curious.

We talked about service and when you say that, I was thinking about the fact you just mentioned me about your Senate run.

Tell me about how that, how God led you to do that.

Because if that was me, he'd have to have more than just a conversation to drag me into wanting to do that.

Yeah, I agree.

But if God wants you to do it, he'll let you know when it's time.

And so I Just kind of put it away.

And he said, grow my company.

Work under, you know, raise your family.

That's what I did.

And at the end of 24, I was like, wow, I'm going to have a bunch of time in 25, you know, I'm gonna have.

I had a management team running my business.

I'm like, God, what do you want next year?

Do you want me to start another business?

Do you want me to go play a bunch of golf?

Like, what do you want?

And I prayed very intensely for about two, two and a half weeks.

And it came to me in my prayer life that it's.

I want you to run for Senate.

And I'm like, okay, hey, time out.

God, if this is really, truly what you want, you know, please, I need you to send a mentor to me that says this is what you want.

And that person has to have connections and some idea of which way to go.

Because I'm not a politician, you know, I'm not sure which way to go.

And three days later, one of my mentors met me outside of church, you know, on a Sunday service.

I usually was going earlier in the day and.

But it was.

He met me out there.

He's like, hey, are you still thinking about this?

I said, yeah.

And he said, well, now's the time to do it.

And, you know, I know.

I know these people.

I'll help you secure the north, and then we can work on the south.

And let's, you know, think about it.

And like, okay, God, that's exactly what I told you I wanted, and you delivered.

So, yes, yes, I will do exactly what you want me to do.

You know, it's.

It's funny how it's almost a pattern, right?

The more we attune ourselves to listening to God and to doing what he asks us to do, I think it becomes easier to hear what he's saying.

It doesn't always.

It's not always easy to do what he's asking us to do.

Right, sure.

But, yeah, you know, it is.

It does become something that you can hear.

Right.

I mean, I think often of the parable of the talents.

Right.

And the, you know, the.

The one who was given one and the one who was given two and the one who's given five.

Like, there probably was more work involved and more risk involved in taking the 5 and turning it into 10, then there wasn't taking the 2 and turning it into 4, and it definitely wasn't a lot of work involved in taking the one and burying it in the ground.

Exactly.

Right.

And so, you know, as I, as I look at my life and I think, man, God has just given.

He's blessed me so much.

He's given me so many things.

He's.

He has kept me alive through various things that, that should have put an end to me and taken me home.

He's made a tremendous investment and he expects a big return.

And I, and I have to be willing to do the work.

That's amazing.

That really is.

I also want to get into your book because I'm curious about that.

The Blue Collar Blessed.

Tell us about the first of all, the name.

Why, why that name?

And tell me what about the, how did you, what led you to write that book?

Well, so the name of the book.

You know, we, Sometimes when you're writing a book, you start with an idea and a title, and then you write the title, and other times you write the book.

And then once you have the book done, you're like, what encapsulates this story?

Right?

And so that's how we got to our title was we, we didn't have a title going into it.

We wrote the story, we wrote the book.

And then as we were reflecting on what we had done, that was the title that seemed to fit the best, right.

I come from a blue collar family.

My dad's been an iron worker for 50 years.

Growing up, you know, everybody was like, you're so smart.

You should be a doctor, you should be a lawyer.

You should be, you should be something.

And that was the path I was on.

And I, I even recall, you know, telling my dad, like, I, I, I never want to be an iron worker.

I never want to be an iron worker.

I'm never going to be an iron worker.

And, you know, they say if you want to, you want to make God laugh, just, you know, tell him your plans, Right?

Yeah, tell them what you're not gonna do.

Right?

And so that's where, you know, I became an iron worker before I went to college, right out of high school.

And every time something would, would go wrong, I would end up going back into construction and doing quite well.

And, you know, to the point of where, okay, I was running jobs and then had this opportunity with my father to start a company doing it.

And, you know, it's, I realized over the years that, you know, there's nothing wrong with having a blue collar job.

There's nothing wrong.

Like, I think when I was growing up, there was a, a little bit of a stigma around blue collar jobs.

Like, that's what the dumb people go Do.

That's what the people who can't go to college go do.

Right.

You know, and I think even today a lot of people have a little bit of, of a lot of white collar people and clerical and management leadership people.

They have a little bit of disdain for the blue collar folks.

But what I've come to see is that blue collar folks are some of the greatest critical thinkers and problem solvers in the world.

Right?

Every day they're applying their hands and their mind to reality and trying to solve, and actually solving complex problems in a very real physical way.

And if it doesn't work, and if their solution doesn't work in a lot of cases, I mean, in my industry it's very sad, but people get hurt or even die when we don't solve problems correctly.

And so, you know, I have this blue collar life.

I have made a very good living at it and I feel very blessed.

Right.

I mean, I've survived heat strokes, I've been on top of buildings that were about to collapse.

I have shored up buildings that were in the process of collapsing.

You know, I've nearly fallen to my death several times and not fallen like I, I've had a very blessed life.

You know, one of my, one of my, one of my write ups actually says that, you know, being, going through life with Guardian Angels as a wingman is kind of a pattern for me.

I love that.

You know, and so we wrote the book and the reason for writing the book was.

I wanted the people in my state to have a way to get to know me and not just on the surface level.

Right.

Most candidates, most candidates want to keep everything on the surface.

They wanted to reveal just enough of themselves to get elected.

And, and they usually have some sort of deep public profile.

And so people have a sense that they know this person.

And yet we're constantly seeing, you know, politicians that, that we've known them for a long time at the surface level and then we find out something deeper about them that makes us unhappy about them later on.

And I thought, look, I'm not, I know I'm not perfect.

I know I've, I'm like every other man and woman on the planet.

I'm a sinner, but I'm trying my best to follow God.

And let's detail the journey because I think in a sense this is sad, but I think that parts of my story are, are very, very common for most Americans.

Right.

Most Americans have been or are familiar with broken families and the damage caused by broken families.

And you know, as Adults, we tell ourselves that our kids are resilient and our kids can overcome the things that happen in a broken family situation.

And to a degree that's true, they can carry on.

But those situations cause a lot more harm than we, we like to admit.

And sometimes it takes a long time for that, for that wound to be healed and for that.

That pain to.

To be dealt with.

Right.

And, you know, I don't know how much you work in recovery circles, but, you know, they have a saying that I think is true whether you're into recovery or not, that, you know, hurt people, hurt people, and pain that's not transformed is passed on.

Right.

And if I look around at our country today, and I think, okay, there's a lot of hurt people.

There's a lot of hurt people that are trying to deal with their pain.

There's a lot of.

There's a lot of pain that hasn't been transmuted and it's being transmitted.

And that's, you know, culturally, we have to, we have to say, hey, that's not okay, and I'm going to be the source of change.

Like, each one of us has to take our own stand and say, I'm going to heal.

I'm going to work on transmuting that pain into something better and making my family life better so that the next generation can be better.

And so in the book, that's what we tried to convey was the path that I took to go from, okay, you've got some very deep wounds.

You've got some very, very deep things that happened.

How did you process that and how did you heal that?

And what's been the result and the fruit of that?

And people have found that to be.

Very inspiring, I imagine.

That's really good.

I want to dig into something else.

You talk, we talked about a little bit from your story, and that is, as a believer, you've also accomplished quite a bit.

And for so many people who are in the Christian sphere, ambition and faith almost seem to contradict each other.

So how do you pursue excellence and growth in business without letting that success become what defines you?

That's a great question.

I think it has to be that.

I think the best way to answer that is actually with a concept that I learned from Dr. Bob Schutz.

He talks about identity, like the who we are question.

And as Christians, like, this should be so simple and straightforward for us because Christ spelled it out for us and Paul details it extensively.

And yet because of our human condition, we lose sight of this.

Right.

And so what Dr.

Shoots describes is that most of us, we get caught up in some mission, some sort of role that we play, right?

And then we take our identity from that role and then we get all of our relationships from there.

And because, because we're on earth and things change, that mission, that mission does not last forever.

That mission often changes.

Well, if your identity is completely tied up with your mission and the mission changes, you very easily lose a sense of who you are and you lose your relationships, right?

But the way that God intended for it to be is for us to have a relationship with him.

So we have this relationship with God and he says, you are my beloved child, you are my son, you are my daughter, and I love you.

And then he gives us a mission.

And when the mission changes, it doesn't change our identity because our identity is based on that divine sonship, that divine daughterhood, right?

And so the mission can go from, I'm a student, I'm a businessman, I'm a father, I'm a mother, I'm a politician.

It can go to any of those things depending on what God wants at any point in time.

But your identity should be rock solid.

And so when I see business and success and pursuing things, that's just part of what God is asking me to do.

It's not who I am.

And so if I'm very successful, it's because God's blessed me.

If I fail, it's because there's a very real chance that that success, you know, more success could have undermined me and could have actually taken me away from God.

I, I think the other thing that's helped tremendously in, in the success that we've had in keeping it balanced.

I remember early on in our company we had our first profitable, you know, really reasonably profitable year.

And oftentimes, especially in the construction world, you can have a profitable year but not have any cash because the cash is all tied up in the system.

And we got to the end of the year and I was talking to my wife Gina about donations for the year because early on, even when we were dirt broke newlyweds, we had made a commitment to each other that, look, we're going to give 10 of what we made.

That's just, that's what we're going to do.

We're at least 10, we're going to give.

And so now we had this year where we had made a substantial amount of money on paper and didn't have a lot of cash.

And I, I looked at, you know, sat down with her, I'M like, honey, you know, this is what it looks like we made for the year.

This is how much cash we actually received.

You know, what do you think?

You know, do we tithe based on the cash that we actually are receiving?

Do we tithe based on how much we actually made on paper?

And she's like, you know, and I was talking to her about gross versus net, and she was like, well, I don't know, honey, like, do you want to be blessed on the gross receipts or on the net receipts?

And I'm like, you're right here.

You're right.

I know which way we're going.

And that's.

It's not always easy to say that.

You know what, I haven't received the cash yet, but I'm gonna tithe on that anyways.

But the impact it's allowed us to have, you know, I mean, I can't work, I'm not fabulously rich person, but, you know, have donated since we started the company.

Well, yeah, easily since we started the company.

You know, to have donated over a million dollars to different charities and orphanages and things like that.

As a, as a modest businessman, like, to me, that's impressive and that's.

I'm more proud of that than I am of the business success.

And, and again, that's just, that's God blessed us and, and us trying to be good stewards of that and give that back out into the community rather than hoard it for ourselves.

I love that story.

So, like me, you have six kids, except you have all boys, but you're raising six boys in a culture full of confusion and noise.

What are some of the things that in your home, you use to ground your family during these very confusing times.

So in order to keep our kids grounded, one of the things that we're very careful about is what do we let into the home and what do we let into our kids life?

You know, when smartphones were starting to be a thing and tablets were starting to be a thing, we actually made a very conscious decision to not put smartphones and tablets in our kids hands.

And we also, as a family, we made a decision to say, look, we're going to very carefully curate, you know, the shows in the media, the t, you know, movies that we watch.

And we're going to spend a lot more time playing games and going outdoors and having quality family time as opposed to, you know, spending a lot of couch time together now.

And I have to give credit where credit's due because my wife has played a huge role in that you know, she.

She grew up in the mountains of Idaho and getting outdoors was a really big deal for them.

And she's made sure that our boys and us, that we've spent a lot of time outdoors and, you know, but we've been on the same page when it comes to media, right?

Because today's modern media, it's not.

It's not designed to help us raise virtuous kids.

It's not designed to help us raise, you know, adults who are pursuing God.

It's designed to sell things.

And, you know, if I were a little cynical, I would say it was designed to drag them down and to make them more worldly and perhaps even.

And corrupt and steal their virtue.

Not all.

There are some, there are some good, good things out there, you know, but I like to look at the example of true grit.

You know, when we look at the true grit from, I don't know, was it the 60s or 70s with Don Wayne?

And then the remake they made a few years back, the one they made back in the 60s, was rated G for general audiences, right?

And the one that they remade was, I think PG13, or possibly are when.

But, but the difference is this, is that, you know, the one that they rated higher, more adult, more, you know, for more mature audiences was because it had the violence and it had smoking.

And that's what they were concerned about.

Right?

Whereas if you look back at the older one for general audiences, like the opening scene is three criminals that were hung from a tree and there's kind of the same amount of violence and there's a little bit of cussing, but it was like, okay, those are fit for general audience because it's showing a portrayal of justice and a pursuit of a criminal.

And the violence isn't glorified, it's just part of the story.

Whereas, you know, the modern media is saying, oh, well, somebody was smoking.

That's terrible.

Like, that's a.

That has to be marked for a mature audience because, oh my gosh, they're smoking.

And granted, like, I don't think smoking is great and I don't think that, you know, but if that's the worst thing a person does in their life is smoke, man, what a great world that would be.

Right?

You know, but, but the reality is, is that even, even when our politicians are cussing like sailors in public, right?

That to me is a much bigger problem than people smoking right now.

Granted, I enjoy public spaces that are smoke free now.

Like, I really, truly enjoy that.

But I much rather have a public space that was profanity free, like.

So, anyways, your question was, around the media, how do we raise our boys and keep them away from the confusion today?

You know, I think a part of that was to really take charge of their formation and say, look, this is our responsibility as their parents to make sure that they understand that.

That who is God, right?

And what's their role?

And so we haven't had a lot of that.

We really haven't had any of those issues around, you know, gender identity.

We haven't had to deal with a lot of that stuff because a lot of it was just very clear from.

From early on, and then we weren't exposing them to the media.

That was pushing an agenda.

That's good.

So this podcast kind of exists to help believers lead with courage, compassion, and divided times.

What does bridge building look like in practical terms for men and women who work, lead, and raise families in today's culture?

If I can go back to that example of the identity and relationship, no matter where you're at and no matter what you're doing, your relationship with God has to be there.

It doesn't have to be the relationship of a monk or a priest or a reverend, where you have a commitment to a higher level of prayer and to a higher amount of commitment of time to serving God directly.

But we're all required to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, our whole body, right?

And then the next part, I would say is, you know, as Christ said, look, the second commandment is similar to the first, right?

You have to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

And I think, you know, for me, a big part of my journey was coming to know and understand, like, what.

What does it actually mean to love yourself, to truly love yourself?

Because I think we forget that, like, the world often pushes us.

Even.

Even people who are not believers will often throw in our face.

Well, you're supposed to love your neighbor.

You're supposed to love your neighbor.

Okay, well, that's only a part of what it is.

It's because you have to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

What does it mean to love yourself?

Right?

It means to love yourself as Christ would love you.

It means that you.

You need to actually treat yourself the way he would treat you if he was standing right there.

You need to talk to yourself even in between your ears.

You need to talk to yourself the way that he would talk to you.

And so often we've lost the ability to love ourselves.

Well, if you can't, if you have, if you can't love yourself.

How are you able to love your neighbor like yourself?

And then leadership is just an outpouring of that love of your neighbor.

Right.

Because real leadership could be leading people higher.

Whether it's on a.

On a purely natural plane at work, there's still room to grow in virtue and to demonstrate, you know, that.

That godly love without necessarily overtly being religious in the workplace.

Right.

You can still demonstrate that.

That love without having to bring, you know, overtly, your faith into it.

And that's where I see.

That's where I see that bridge being built is, you know, you love God and then you love your neighbor as you love yourself.

And if you do that in your.

In your daily actions, that changes the world.

Yeah, I love that.

So I'm going to ask you this question.

What scripture anchors your daily life?

Is there one scripture verse that you say, this kind of defines, kind of my goal for each day.

Oof.

You know, to me, it often varies.

Right.

As a Catholic, we're very, very much rooted in.

In the cycle.

Right.

In the liturgical cycle.

And so, you know, right now we're very much focused on the resurrection and on.

On Christ's renewal of all things and opening up.

Yeah.

I don't know that there is a single particular verse that.

That has been the anchor.

No, I get this.

It's a good answer.

My mind keeps changing.

So,.

You know what?

I guess if there's one that I come back to often, I think it's from Romans, chapter seven.

And it's where Paul is kind of pondering the mystery of the human condition.

And he's talking about how, you know, he's with God, but somehow those things he doesn't want to do.

Yeah.

The good I would do that I.

Don't do, and the things that he doesn't, you know, that he wants to do, he's not able to.

Right.

And I think for anybody who's.

Who is, it's very often for people to forget how human we are.

Right.

And to want to not look at it.

Like, I know for a long time I didn't want to look at one of my favorite authors.

He calls it, you know, the misery of the human condition.

Right.

That we don't want to look at it because it's painful and it hurts and it's ugly.

And I think most of us, when we see the wounds and we see those weaknesses, we hate that part of ourselves.

We abhor it.

We don't want to talk about it.

We don't want to look at it.

Because it's not who we imagine ourselves to be.

And this author, he talks about that as a.

That's the place where Christ meets us.

That's that wound where he wants to heal us and pour his grace into us.

That's where he wants to see us and meet us.

And you know, it's not easy to turn our gaze there.

Yeah, but how many of, how many of the stories and miracles in the Bible are him finding someone who, who has that, that misery and meeting them, meeting them where they're at, you know?

And.

Yeah, I spent a lot of time there.

Yeah, I like that.

So I'm asking my other favorite question.

What do you want your legacy to be?

I want my sons to be better men than I am.

That's what I want.

That's good.

Where can people find you?

I know your website is new lion of Idaho.com.

Is that the best place to connect with you and follow you on social media?

They can, they can connect with me there and then.

Yeah.

For the senate campaign, it's denny4senate.com.

And how's that campaign going?

I'm just curious.

This is the early part of the run here.

How's that going?

It's going reasonably well.

The primary is in about a month and the, I've gotten support from some very surprising quarters and you know, some of the, some of the folks that I thought for sure would be at my back and supportive, I have been like, you know, we actually prefer sending an 83 year old man back to the Senate for six years.

And who is your current, who is your current senator?

His name is Jim Risch.

Okay.

You know, and he's a nice man.

It's just, you know, I, I thought that perhaps that he's turning 83 and I think two weeks and I thought we'd learned our lesson there, you know, over the past 10, 12 years that we, we've seen how that goes.

When, when we send people back to office for four to six years in their 80s, they it that maybe that's not the best thing.

But you know, we'll see what the, we'll see what the voters decide.

It must be the I states because our senator is also in his 80s.

So there you go.

I take his credit.

I think your senator actually has a track record of actually getting stuff done.

Whereas you know, mine, mine has a record of keeping a seat warm.

So there you go.

So I'm gonna ask you, in this season we have a, we have a new thing.

It's a surprise question.

Pick a number between 1 and 10 for your surprise question.

7.3.

All right.

Would you rather have unlimited sushi for life or unlimited tacos for life?

Definitely tacos.

You're not a sushi guy.

Oh, I love sushi.

But I'm thinking, man, unlimited sushi could.

You know, all it takes is one or two bad, bad bits of sushi, and you'd never want to see it again if that's all you had for the rest of your life.

That's true.

That's true.

That could go sideways in a hurry.

It definitely could.

Well, Danny, thanks so much for being an incredible guest on the show, Friends.

Yeah, go ahead.

Can I ask you a question?

Well, go right ahead.

If you could wave, boom, magic wand and fix one thing in the country, what would you fix?

That's an interesting question.

Idealistically, if it was just idea, I would love for us to get back to the fact where we could work together.

To me, there's too much division, and I don't mean in a Pollyanna way, but I think both sides have good ideas, and I think sometimes the better ideas meet in the middle when there's compromise and you listen to the other side of the story, which has kind of always been my goal of my podcast.

It's like I don't have all the answers, and to think that I do have all the answers.

I'm not asking the right question because there's so much that's nuanced in many of our discussions, and to just take a side and not realize that there's a much deeper, sometimes systemic problem or a cultural problem or.

Or societal problem that is not getting addressed.

We miss out on true solutions to so many things because we don't communicate with each other.

So I would just love to get us back to the point where what's most important is the betterment of the country, not the betterment of my party, 100%.

You know, it's funny.

I did a book tour earlier this year, and I went to every county in my state talking to elected officials and their staff, and that was the number one thing that came up that they wanted to see fixed was that they wanted to see Congress working together again to solve problems.

Yeah, you know, they just.

They're.

They're tired of the toxic rhetoric and the fighting, and they want to see their officials get stuff done.

That's it.

Let's just.

Just get stuff done.

Yeah.

100%, So.

Well, awesome.

Well, thanks again, Denny.

So, Friends, Blue collar blessed is a reminder that God shapes leaders, not only in pulpits and classrooms, but on job sites and homes and throughout Quiet obedience over time.

If you're longing for faith that's grounded, resilient and deeply practical, I encourage you to pick up Danny's book and reflect on how God may be forming your calling right where you are.

You'll find links to Blue Collar Blessed and to Danny Denny's work and also his campaign site in the notes you'll see below.

If this episode encouraged you, challenged you, brought clarity, please subscribe, share with someone you care about and leave a review.

That's how we continue building bridges together.

Thank you so much.

Until next time, keep building bridges and keep being courageous.