Prep
My goal with these letters isn't just for there to be another thing for you to subscribe to, for there to be another email in your inbox, for there to be another post on your phone to read when you somehow magically have time.
I don't believe that mindset for this content is what you need or you deserve.
What I hope to achieve with Dad's Fight Club newsletters is to build something that you can read in less than five minutes to have an actual step to walk in your faith in your daily life as a dad or soon-to-be dad.
The topics and series will follow along as I read and study the Bible. While I am studying for a whole life application, my goal is to extract out what I am lead to believe are Dad, or parent specific, applications - because I know there are some mom’s that subscribe as well.
Therefore, you can expect going forward that every Saturday you will get a quick hit “Fight Plan” in your inbox.
From time to time, depending on where the Spirit leads me, I might put out another longer form piece during the week. Like I did this past week with the "It is well with my soul" piece on the history of my ancestor who wrote the famous hymn.
💥 THE BRIEFING
I’ve got a group chat with some guys from work. It usually only comes alive when their golf on the calendar. As you’re reading this I’m probably hacking it up on the course cursing my game.
One of them is about to have his first kid, and we've been giving him the usual dad advice. "Get ready to never sleep again." "Kiss your free time goodbye." "You have no idea what's coming."
Mostly just jokes, but there is some truth to it.
But the underlying theme: "Nobody can prepare you for this. You just learn on the spot."
And he's right. You can read every parenting book, attend every class, stock up on diapers and car seats, but the moment that kid arrives, you realize you have no clue what you're doing. Everything you thought you knew goes out the window. Every way you expected it to go is just fantasy.
I’m in the book of John right now, and wrapped up studying chapter 2, about at the wedding in Cana.
Jesus’ mother comes to him when the wine runs out, and his response always made me stop and think, “what?” He respond to his mom "My hour has not yet come."
Think about that. Jesus is thirty years old. He's been waiting his whole life for this moment. He knows who he is, what he's capable of, what his mission will be. But he says, "It's not time yet."
Then his mother does what mothers do. She ignores his timing concerns and tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
And just like that, everything changes. The water becomes wine. The first miracle happens. His mission officially begins.
I got a call from an old boss the other day, he was calling to catch up and also speak into my life some encouragement for this newsletter. He asked me the question, one I had thought about a bit but never fully considered, “Mary had to have seen some tiny miracles before this right?”
I mean she had too, why else would she have approached him about the host running out of wine? I just picture young Jesus getting a bath and saying, “Mom watch this!” Then proceed to stand on the water…
But I find his response interesting. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. He knew what his mission was but said his “time had not yet come,” we know he was ready because he was God, but was there an inkling of humanity peaking through here that shows us that its okay to be hesitant for whats to come?
If thats not a sign for fatherhood then I don’t know what is.
You spend years thinking you'll know when you're ready to be a dad. You'll have more money, more wisdom, more patience, a better handle on your own life. Your "hour" will come when you're prepared.
But then it happens. The pregnancy test shows two lines. Or the adoption agency calls. Or you marry someone with kids. And suddenly you're standing there like Jesus at that wedding, realizing your hour isn't coming someday, it's here right now.
Something I never considered when reading this text before but the stone jars are hugely important to the story. Six of them, meant for Jewish purification. Ordinary vessels with a specific purpose. But the moment Jesus touches them and fills them with wine, they can never go back to what they were before. They're forever changed, set apart for something greater than their original design.
That's what happened to me the day my first son was born. God laid his hands on me and I became obsolete for my old purpose. I couldn't go back to the pre-father version of myself because that wasn't what I was designed for anymore.
My buddy in the group chat knows he’s about to have a kid, his hour is coming. What he is about to find out though is that all the jokes we’ve thrown at him, about not being prepared… aren’t jokes. He’s about to be transformed. The old vessel will become something new.
And maybe that's exactly how it's supposed to work.
🎙️ THE CORNER TALK
On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’s mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.” 4 “What has this concern of yours to do with me,, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 “Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants. 6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons. 7 “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.”
- Jn 2:1–8.
The word "hour" here is hora in Greek, not just time on a clock, but Jesus' destined moment for revelatory work. This is his first semeion (sign), not just a miracle to impress people, but a disclosure of who he really is.
But here's what stopped me, Jesus cared about a wedding party running out of wine.
This wasn't about saving souls or healing the sick. This was about saving a family from social humiliation. Jesus stepped into an "embarrassingly inconsequential" problem and made it his business.
Dads, Jesus isn't just interested in your big spiritual moments. He's interested in your Tuesday night meltdowns, your morning coffee struggles, your fights about screen time. The commonplace chaos of fatherhood isn't beneath his attention, it's exactly where he wants to work.
And notice what he used: six stone jars meant for Jewish purification. Once Jesus touched them and filled them with wine, they could never go back to their original purpose. They were forever changed, set apart for something greater.
That's what happened when you became a dad. God laid his hands on you and made you obsolete for your old purpose. You can't go back to the pre-father version of yourself because that's not what you're designed for anymore.
🥊 THE FIGHT PLAN
This week: Practice the discipline of honest inventory.
Every morning before you check your phone, ask yourself:
"What's running low in my life right now?"
Patience? Energy? Joy? Connection with your wife? Time with your kids? Faith in God's plan?
Don't try to fix it yet. Don't make a plan. Just name it.
Then say out loud: "Jesus, I'm running low on ______. I need You to step in."
This drill counters the masculine lie that admitting need is weakness. Sometimes the strongest thing a man can do is stop pretending he's got it all together.
Mary didn't solve the wine problem. She brought it to the One who could.
🤝 THE HUDDLE
You weren't built to keep the party going forever on your own steam. Not in your marriage. Not with your kids. Not in your walk with God.
The wine always runs out. That's not failure, that's life in a broken world.
But here's what Jesus shows us at that wedding, empty isn't the end of the story. It's often where the miracle begins.
Your family doesn't need you to be the superhero who never runs dry. They need you to be the man who knows where to go when the wine runs out.
Stop faking full. Start bringing your emptiness to Jesus.
The party's not over yet.
Reply with "running low" if you need brothers praying for you this week.
Forward this to a dad who's trying to keep it all together on his own.
In your corner,
Chance