So far in this series, On the Rise of David, we looked at David's ability to stand in the gap for the sake of his people when he faced Goliath. He recognized the moment, he recognized what needed to be done, and he had the faith to pull it off. It wasn't that he just rescued his people from an invading army. It was that he restored their faith that God was with them.

Then we looked at David's turning point: the moment he decided he was going to act as if he was king, even if he never ascended to the throne. God anointed him to be king, but he never promised David would sit upon the throne of Saul. David makes a decision to begin acting like the king of Israel as a shepherd king among the people, taking care of them, fighting their battles, and leading them. He gathered embittered men and turned them into warriors.

In this part of the series, we're going to look at how those two events and the character they forged merge into one event. David knows he has to stand in the gap once more. This time, the people are not anticipating his slaying of Goliath with a stone. They are ready to hurl some stones at him.

If you want to be a leader of men you will have one of these moments. Physical stones might not be thrown at you, but there will be people who begin to question your ability to lead them, and they may outright reject you. What you do at that moment will either establish you as the leader or will have the people looking for someone else.

The Mistake

The scene is Ziklag: David and his men have been hiding amongst the Philistines. Ziklag was given to David by the Philistines as a place of refuge for the families of his men. David would lead campaigns against the enemies of old, deceiving the king of the Philistines as to what he is doing. As far as the king of the Philistines knows, David has been fighting Israel all along. These battles are David doing what the king of Israel should be doing. Saul is too busy hunting David to do his duty. David does it for him.

David may be doing the duty of a king, but he is also lying. The deception will catch up to him.

Then the Philistines line up for battle against Israel. David and his men are with them. The king of the Philistines expects David to fight Israel because in his mind, David has been doing it all along. The other leaders of the Philistines are worried David will turn on them in battle and fight for Israel. So they insist he be sent away.

For a moment, David has been rescued from fighting his own people. He should be happy, he would be saved from his deception. But instead of submitting to the voice of the Philistine king, David insists that he go to battle with Israel.

Why? What would motivate David to insist on staying for the battle?

Could it be the temptation to reestablish his name with Saul and the people?

David is leading 600 Israelite men. He has been their leader in many battles and in the wilderness. He has sway over them. Somehow, he has convinced these men to go out to battle against their own people. And it’s written, “David’s men were in the back.” It’s also written that the leaders of the Philistines are familiar with the songs written about David, the killing of 10,000’s. These are clues as to David’s motives that the scripture doesn’t say explicitly - we are meant to meditate on them and learn from them.

This is the scripture’s way of saying: the greatest warrior amongst the Philistines, the giant slayer, is up to something.

The best warrior should be in the front. Not the back. Unless… David is planning on taking out the Philistines from the rear. That would reestablish his name in Israel. It also wouldn’t be difficult to sway his men to pretend to be going to battle against their own people. David’s deception continues.

But that plan was thwarted and David was sent away, back to Ziklag.

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Killing Goliath made David famous in Israel. Songs were sang and he was made commander of armies. He had success wherever he went and in every battle he fought. Anointed by God at a young age for the very purpose of leading the people. He was doing it. He was doing what he was called to do before he ascended the throne.

Then, he was exiled.

The music stopped. Instead of winning battles, he began to be hunted. He began to live in a cave.

What do you do when it seems that the path laid out for you has been stolen? What do you do when it seems as if God has taken you out? And what if the unchosen path gets worse with every step?

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No Return Path

Modern man prefers and expects up and to the left. Resilience is easy as long as the path is clear. We can optimize, reset, continue on, success is bound to happen. Right? Unless God needs to instill something in us only suffering can bring. Success brings a certain level of authority to a man, but not the same level of authority as suffering if a man is resilient through it.

As far as he knew, it was over. Unless he could get to Samuel.

David goes see Samuel. And then he goes to see Jonathan. Him and Jonathan come up with a plan to see what Saul’s intentions might be. It’s not stated explicitly in the Scripture but we can read this as David’s final attempt to reestablish the path that seemed to be going so well. Maybe Samuel could have sway over Saul or maybe the king’s own son could convince Saul to stay his madness. Any man in exile and wandering would make an attempt to reestablish himself and right his name. He must get back on the path to the throne.

But once again, after Saul tried to kill his own son, David was on the run again.

There was no clear path to the throne for David. There was not a clear path out of exile, back to home, back to leader of armies. There was nothing David could do to secure his future or right his name. It was completely out of his control to establish himself as King.

David decides that all he can do is hide in the one place Saul will never look for him: amongst the Philistines.

Turning Point

If there is one moment in David’s life that alters everything about who he would become, it is from a decision he makes while in the presence of Israel’s enemies.

And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”

And David took these words to heart.1

It is right at this moment that David makes a choice to start acting like the anointed King of Israel.

From the mouth of the enemy he hears the words, “is this not David the king of the land?”

Exiled, hunted, the weight of guilt and confusion upon him and he hears the words that remind him of who God has called him to be: David the King.

The very next story is about the Cave of Adullum.

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.2

David took these bitter, distressed, and indebted men into the cave and turned them into warriors. Some of these men would become his Mighty Men. Some of them would serve him in the wilderness and upon the throne. David gave them a place, he gave them hope, he protected them, and led them. He became their Shepherd King.

Shepherd King

It did not matter if God ever gave David the throne. It did not matter if God established him in the eyes of the people or of Saul. God had anointed David to be King. He had given David as assignment. God placed an obligation upon David for His people. David chooses to fulfill that obligation even if God never gave him the throne.

The role of a Shepherd and the role of a King are the same. A shepherd is among the sheep, leading, protecting, caring, and providing for their needs. He has an obligation to the sheep. A shepherd remains above them but he is always with them. A King is more noble but his duties to the people are the same as the shepherd to the sheep: to lead, to protect, to care, to provide. And to be with them. It does not take a throne for a man to be the King God obliges him to be.

David would continue to suffer as we shall see in this series. He also would continue to fulfill his obligations to the people of Israel. He would fight battles on their behalf, but in secret. He would protect lands and subjects who did not know who he was. He would continue to do all that a king should do without a throne. This combination of suffering and fulfilling obligation gave David an authority among the people that would not be matched until the time of Christ.

The question of everyone reading this article is could you do the same? Could you fulfill obligations of charity in suffering? Could you continue to do your duty even when the path you were on seems to have been taken away?

There is no promise that life will go the way you thought it would. It may not be up and to the right. It may be one slam against you again, and again, and again. David teaches us the proper response when life has gone astray. We accept our sufferings and fulfill our obligations, and God instills in us something we could never get by mere success.

Rare moments come for a man to step into a truly noble task that alters the course of his life. Maybe every man gets a moment but misses it, either because he cannot see what is at stake or because he is not prepared to rise. But the man who can see the moment, who can see what is at stake, it is he who gets the glory.

Maybe the only men who recognize it are the ones who were preparing for it. But they weren’t preparing for it some abstract sense. The glorious moment may not look much different to them than all their years of preparation. The warriors in Israel’s army had been preparing for battle. Many had fought in battles. But none had faced Goliath. Maybe they depended on God in word but not in heart. That option is not available when a man faces a bear or a lion with few weapons and no training. The only hope he has is dependence on God.

David could see the moment. He could see what was at stake. David knew how to rise.

The Stakes

The Philistines had marched into Judah and made camp there. Judah was David’s home, part of the birthright given to his ancestors by divine ordinance. The Philistines lined up for battle on one side of a valley, Israel on the other. Goliath’s challenge must have reminded them of Egypt - lose, and become enslaved again. Dismay turned their hearts to cowardice, and Saul’s inability to lead strangled any confidence they had that God was with them.

David, sent to deliver cheese, witnesses first hand what is happening to his nation. The men are cowering, dismayed, discouraged, afraid. Even if Goliath disappeared, Israel could not do battle to protect their invaded homeland. No amount of reward enticed a man to risk his life for the nation, for their home. There was no strength, no fortitude, no courage, no faith.

Centuries before Goliath made his challenge, two men stepped out of the land of Canaan to give a report to Moses about the good land they had just inspected. Their report was drowned out by 10 other men who were afraid of the giants. They had no faith that God would do as he had promised. That generation of men died in the wilderness, wandering in circles, complaining and grumbling. No strength, no fortitude, no courage, no faith.

400 years later, Israel was facing another giant and responding the same way their ancestors had.

When David stepped onto the field of battle to face Goliath, he recognized what was at stake. Had he not risen up, his people would become slaves again. They would have died without faith in God, the promises being nothing but empty words in their hearts. In this battle, not only is God being defied by the shouts of Goliath, but the hearts of his kin believe Goliath. Responding to Goliath’s taunts, David says:

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”1

Every sentence in the scripture is loaded with meaning. Everyone knows David defied Goliath in the name of the Lord of Hosts. But his retort to Goliath is not just about what David will do to him, but what Israel will do to the Philistines after David has killed Goliath. Consider this line:

And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

One man will kill the whole host of the Philistines?

No. Israel will. David knows because he has risen to what the moment required, and that God will deliver Goliath into his hand, Israel will find its heart and faith again. David’s message is not just against Goliath, but also against the fear that has kept Israel on their side of the valley.

that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.

Israel needs the reminder that God is with them just as much as they need Goliath to go away. “This assembly” is not the Philistines. It’s Israel.

David had an ancestor who wasn’t afraid of giants. His name was Caleb. He stormed into Judah with a different spirit than the rest of his kin. Carrying the fire in his chest of his ancestor, David stands in the gap between an army who forgot who they were against and an army who forgot who was with them. One man, recognizing the moment and what the moment required, defeats the enemy, reinvigorates the nation, and earned the glorious name known in all generations.

This wasn’t a battle just against Goliath. This was a battle for the soul and faith of Israel.

And the battle began before David stepped on the field with a staff and a sling.

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This is the last essay in the Theodore Roosevelt series. We have looked at what Theodore Roosevelt taught us about responsibility. We looked at what he could teach us about leadership and we learned from the man who launched him into the world what it means to be a great father.

There is much that we can learn from the life and character of the 26th President of the United States. If there was one idea that tied together the entirety of Theodore Roosevelt’s philosophy of life, the way he led, the responsibility he felt he had, the struggles he overcame, it is found in the words of “The Strenuous Life.”

Many people know his speech “The Man in the Arena.” It’s one of the most memorable and inspiring speeches that’s ever been given. But his greatest speech, at least in this author’s opinion, was given in Chicago in 1899, just before he became the Vice President. He titled it “The Strenuous Life.” Without the Strenuous Life, you and I will never enter into the Arena.

A New Great Man Series is coming!

We are about to start a new series on the Rise of King David.

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The Strenuous Life

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

40 years after the Civil War, America was sitting in a prosperous time that would peak during the 1920s. He was watching the moral decay within society that prosperity seems to bring. Being raised in a prosperous family, his father instilled in him a sense that prosperity was not for individual comfort and it did not give license for anyone to be lazy. Instead it provided opportunity to pursue noble tasks.

But as he surveyed the land, traveling from New York to the Dakotas to the South and all over the United States, what he was witnessing was a life of ignoble ease plaguing the nation. Prosperity had made men lazy, forgetful of their morals, and shirking all forms of duty and obligation. To these men he said:

But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a period not of preparation, but of mere enjoyment, he shows that he is simply a cumberer of the earth’s surface, and he surely unfits himself to hold his own with his fellows if the need to do so should again arise.

What makes this speech strike at the heart of man is that it ties the fate of the lazy individual to the fate of the nation. A nation full of lazy individuals who seek ignoble ease and comfort as the highest good is bound to create a nation of ignoble ease, of moral slack, and of pure hedonism.

Ignoble Ease is Deadly

Theodore Roosevelt took it upon himself to urge the men of the nation to not let themselves fall into the ease prosperity brings. Instead, he urged, put yourself forward for good work, even if it was non-moneyed work. Work in the arts or politics, service, the military, or in charitable service. Whatever you do, do not spend all of your time in idleness.

“We have nothing in this life save by effort.”

“Toil, strive, put yourself forward in the world and do something.”

For Theodore Roosevelt, it was less about what a man did as long as he did something noble and good. He was taught from an early age that idleness was the improper use of leisure. If a man were afforded leisure, it should be utilized for some good purpose, not for fiddling around.

In 2026, America, we are experiencing on a massive scale a life of ignoble ease amongst our abundant prosperity. Yes, everything is expensive, and wages feel low compared to the cost. But we’re so surrounded by comforts and ease of life with our technology that many of us have forgotten the hard work of the world and what it actually takes: fortitude, courage, long suffering, prudence, effort.

Individual men putting themselves forth in the world to a noble task and doing it with all their strength, alters the landscape we live in. It improves the lives of everyone around us. A man putting himself forward in the hard work of the world has no time for idle scrolling, mobile gambling, or endless ESPN. It is this straining towards a noble goal to become a good and virtuous man that will change the landscape of the country, your state, your city.

A speech given in 1899 can still ring in our ears and enliven our hearts and put a fire in our chests to go make something good out of our life.

I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the life of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.

Read the Full Speech Here

You can read the rest of the series by clicking the links below

1. Manhood is Responsibility - What Theodore Roosevelt teaches us about responsibility.

2. Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership - What does America’s 26th President Teach us About Leadership

3. Greatheart: The Other Theodore - The Father Who Launched the 26th President

It is up to the man to create the circumstances in which he will become a good man by surrounding himself with other good men, taking up the study, putting his life into order, enduring suffering, and taking proper action.

While much of his formation is up to him, he does not exist in a vacuum. There is one thing that is not up to him: the household to which he is born. A man does not choose his father or mother or anything about the status of their life. A mother and father, by bringing a child into the world, have an obligation to that child (or children). The child’s future, in many ways, is dependent on the two he calls mommy and daddy.

The formation passed through a mother and father will not make a man President or determine the full success of his life. But it is close to impossible for a man to reach the heights of greatness without those initial years of parental love and formation.

The father has the preliminary role in launching a man into the world. Skipping those formative years either by the neglect or absence, or by an undisciplined character the child become man will mostly stall out instead of launch. With great difficulty, he can get his life in order and moving towards the path of greatness. But its far better if he is launched into the world by a great and noble man.

Theodore Roosevelt Sr. understood this. Not only did he launch the 26th president into the world, but he left an impact almost as great as his son did on the state of New York. Arguably more because he was a Kingdom man to his core. We know his name because his son, who surpassed him only in magnanimity, modeled his life after his father and ascended to the Presidency.

Who Was Theodore Roosevelt Sr?

Theodore Roosevelt Sr was the fifth born son of Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt, one of the first millionaires in New York. CVS as he was called by the family, was the head of the family business, passed down from four generations. At the time of his death, his personal net worth was $1,346,000 which is approximately $36m in 2026 dollars. As a wedding gift, he purchased each of his son’s homes close to his. Theodore Roosevelt Sr. had a home for his family just six blocks from his father. He was also a Jr. Partner at the family business. Although Theodore Roosevelt Sr. had abundant wealth, he seemed not to care for it too much. He spent much of his life giving it away. His children inherited a nice sum, but it was small compared to what he had received from his father.

Theodore Roosevelt Sr. was a known family man and philanthropist - the two qualities most well known about him. Philanthropist is not the best word to describe his work in the world. He rarely wrote checks without getting deeply involved in whatever he put his mind to do. In Mornings on Horseback, David McCullough captures his intense work ethic when it came to his philanthropic endeavors:

As time went on, his crusades among the needy, his hospital and museum projects, became his true vocation. It was thus that he became one of the prominent men of New York, as truly good a good citizen As New York had ever known. Whatever he did, he did it all out.To some, he seemed strangely driven…Theodore [sr] felt he had no choice. “I feel that as much as I enjoy loafing, there is something higher for which to live.

One of his charitable works was the establishment of a lodging house for young boys. New York had an issue with “street rats” as they were called; homeless children, somewhere around 20,000. He established a house where the boys could stay the night and enjoy a warm meal. He then went into the streets, befriended these lost boys, and invited them to the lodging house. The lodging house would have a Christian service, teach the boys skills, and find a way to reintegrate them with their families. The man who ran the operations of the lodging house asked if Theodore Roosevelt Sr. would spend every other Sunday night with the boys. His response is one of a humble man.

He declined, stating his troublesome conscience would not permit every other Sunday. He would be there every Sunday.

He was there, every Sunday, giving all his effort to get to know the boys and give them hope. And often, he had one of his own children with him, expanding their world from the protected comforts of their wealthy life to be with and serve the most destitute.

Theodore Roosevelt Sr. was a devout Christian, a faith not quite shared by his wife who honored and respected it. He was raised Dutch Reformed and split his worship time between the Dutch Reformed Church and Presbyterian Church near his home. Sunday, the Lord’s Day, was sacred in his home. The whole family was expected to participate, to avoid all work, dress properly, attend church with him (mornings and evenings), to say their prayers, and listen to his bible teachings.

During the Civil War, Theodore Roosevelt Sr. paid someone to take his place in the battalion (the only thing his son would detest about him). Theodore Sr.’s wife was a southerner and he could not bring himself to go to battle against his own family members. But he did not sit at home either. He went on a campaign on behalf of the wives, children, widows, and orphans whose fathers were at war or who had died at war. He lobbied for an allotment system that would deduct soldiers pay and route it back to their home automatically - similar to how modern tax or retirement systems work. It took political machinery and long months to get the task accomplished. He sat before Abraham Lincoln to pitch the idea, received approval, and then spent months convincing soldiers they should deduct money to send home. It is estimated that his allotment program sent over $1m (in 1864 dollars) back to families who had no father at home.

He had earned a family nickname, Greatheart, after the heroic guide in John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress. That is how he was remembered, as the great guide through life by family, friends, and mostly, his children.

There have been many great men, known and unknown, who have failed to launch their children into the world the way Theodore Roosevelt Sr. launched his oldest son into the world. His formation methodology is worth examining.

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In 2025, $100 billion dollars was spent worldwide on leadership development programs. The leadership development market anticipates growing at an annual rate of 13.5% until 2030 where annual spend will reach $189 billion1.There are approximately 57,000 books on Amazon containing the words “leader” or “leadership”. The Top Sellers in the United States since 2010 have been:

1. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

2. Start with Why by Simon Sinek

3. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

4. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

5. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

It is safe and accurate to say this is a topic people care about.

What is Leadership?

Surveying the internet courses and blogs for a definition of leadership led to the conclusion that leadership has come to be seen as a process. It is the influence of one person, over a team or a group; It is moving a group of people from where they are to a set destination. That set destination, be it a goal, a vision, or a mission, is the telos or ultimate aim of leadership. If a team reaches their goal or vision then it can be determined that the leader was capable.

What is a Leader?

A capable leader is the one who is able to get a group of people to get from where they are to where they want to be. It is the role of the leader to create the vision or goal for the group and then lead them to it. In a business context, a capable sales leader could get a sales team to increase their total sales. A capable CEO could increase revenue, expand into different markets or offerings. A capable military leader moves his team to fulfill their mission and bring everyone home. The capacity or ability of a leader, in a lot of ways, is determined by his ability to get people to the goal.

But what distinguishes a capable leader from a good leader?

If the aim of our programs and trainings is increasing the capacity of our leaders to influence a group of people to get from point A to point B, without any other characterizations or qualifications, we are going to get people who know how to influence others to get from point A to point B in any way, shape, or form.

Which is exactly what we have in the United States right now. The United States is full of capable leaders in business, religious and cultural settings and yet, we the people, are disappointed. While capable, America is lacking in good leaders.

The worst and most extreme example of a capable (but not good) leader within the 20th century is Adolf Hitler. He remained in power for 15 years, reshaped the German economy and the entire mindset of the people. He influenced millions of young men to take up his banner, exterminate a race, expand their territory, and put the world at war for the second time in a generation. His capability as a leader perfectly matched his leadership telos. He influenced a group to get from where they were to where he wanted them to be. Had good men not intervened, he would have accomplished his ends.

Yet we are rightly repulsed at the idea of calling Hitler a good leader. That’s because, while capable of being a leader, Hitler was not good.

In a relativistic society like the one we live in today, we can increase the capacity of leaders through programs, trainings, and books without reference to a moral framework. We so desire the autonomy relativism provides, we will elect people to public office who will continue to grant what we desire most and attempt to dismiss morality all together. We love economic progress so much, we will give influence to men and women capable of producing large profits without reference to their character.

This will continue to leave us disappointed. As much as we desire the autonomy that relativism provides, we live in a moral world, bound by the natural law. It is inescapable.

Increasing the capacity for leadership in individuals will allow us to attain goals, but that alone will not produce good leaders. Good leaders, the ones we admire, the ones we want to emulate, to celebrate, the leaders we build monuments and statues to, the ones we celebrate and write biographies about are not celebrated for their capacity but for their character.

What is a Good Leader?

Surveying lists of the greatest American leaders since its founding in the realm of statesmen, business, religious, and cultural leaders produced five names that showed up near the top on every single list2:

• George Washington

• Abraham Lincoln

• Theodore Roosevelt

• Martin Luther King Jr.

• Billy Graham

The singular quality that each of these men possessed that pushed them near the top of every single list was moral courage.

This tells us something. Leadership has an aim, a telos, an end goal. Likewise the leader must also have an aim, a telos, and an end goal. If the telos of leadership is the exact same as the telos of the leader, we will continue to get high capacity leaders, but not good ones.

The leader must have a telos that is distinct from the telos of leadership. In order to become both capable and good, the leader must have good, moral qualities along with his capacity to fulfill the telos of leadership.

That is what Theodore Roosevelt teaches us about leadership.

Theodore Roosevelt On Leadership

Studying and imitating the great men in history is a far better way to become a good man than simply reading books on principles. There are a multitude of biographies on Theodore Roosevelt that will allow anyone to study and imitate his leadership qualities. There is no substitute for reading the biographies but James Strock has done the best job extracting TR’s leadership principles in his book “Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership.”

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Theodore Roosevelt wrote his autobiography in 1913 after his defeat for a third term as President of the United States. It was a race he could not win and he knew it. The direction of the Republican Party, the nation, and his handpicked replacement President William Taft irked him. He believed the country was headed in the wrong direction and he must do something about it. In a case of both personal responsibility and hubris, he decided to “throw his hat into the ring”, start a new political party, and run for President a third time.

Teddy was a man who had shaped the country by sheer force of will before and during his presidency. The loss of the Oval Office seemed to end his ability to shape the country. He was not one for losing but for overcoming obstacles. His entire life was one of overcoming obstacles. As a child he was plagued with debilitating asthma; in college he experienced the death of his heroric-like father. The birth of his first daughter brought with it the loss of his mother and first wife on the same day.

Here was another obstacle in the way of his sense of responsibility. After losing the presidential race, and still feeling a strong sense of responsibility for the state of the country, he turned his efforts and attention to the medium he knew best: writing. His autobiography is an explanation of his political theory that the President is a “steward of the people.” He chooses events from his life that show his development as a steward, as one responsible for himself and for others.

TR’s Philosophy

Theodore Roosevelt’s philosophy of politics and life can be summarized in the opening letter of his autobiography.

Justice among the nations of mankind and the uplifting of humanity can only be brought about by those strong and daring men who with wisdom love peace but who love righteousness more than peace. Undoubtedly collective power is essential to this end, but no exercise of collective power will ever avail if the average man does not keep his sense of personal duty, initiative, and responsibility.1

The uplifting of humanity is a core theme of Theodore Roosevelt’s life. He believed it took strong, daring, man in the arena type of men, to bring it about. He also believed deep in his soul that the common man in his everyday life could be one of those strong and daring men who could uplift humanity if they would keep their sense of personal duty, initiative, and responsibility.

Manhood is Responsibility

Prior to becoming responsible for the nations, or a state of a city, or even a family, Theodore Roosevelt believed a man must become responsible for himself. He is not to blame his state of life, his character, or anything else on others or on his circumstances. Blame eroded the spirit of a man. Looking for a handout kept a man stuck, unable to move forward in the great battle of life.

If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs.

Envy will make a man idle. It tricks a man into thinking if he gets angry enough at what others have, he can come to have it himself. Or at the very least, he has an explanation for what he has and who he has become. Instead of taking on strenuous action towards a noble cause, a man can get lost in the angry thoughts of his mind, thinking he is altering his situation. In a way, he is altering it, but not for the better.

It is a difficult task to take full responsibility for your life. It begins with an honest look in the mirror each morning, reminding the man looking at back at you that he is responsible for your current state of life. And only that man in the mirror can make the effort to change what his life looks like.

Andrew Tate was arrested again on 38 sex crime charges.

Thank God.

Andrew Tate is at the center of the Manosphere. If you're unfamiliar, the Manosphere is online personalities who speak to young men. It works as an umbrella term for anyone who has a message for men. The work I do here would be considered by many to be part of the manosphere generally and so would other channels like Ad Aternum, The Art of Manliness, Catholic Manhood, and many others. But most of the time when people are talking of the manosphere, they are talking about people like Andrew Tate.

According to UNWomen.org:

The manosphere is an umbrella term for online communities that have increasingly promoted narrow and aggressive definitions of what it means to be a man – and the false narrative that feminism and gender equality have come at the cost of men’s rights. These communities pr…

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Happy Wednesday to you. Tomorrow I will be heading to upstate New York for the first time in my life for some time away with my family and my parents. Four days or hiking, swimming, and fishing is on the agenda if the weather holds up. If not, it’ll be four days of Candy Land and Go Fish. Both sound awesome.

In my last post, Why is it Called Institute of Men, I promised to begin writing a series of guides called The Path to help all my subscribers begin the journey of becoming the man they want to be. These are intended to help you with formation of character. All that I am sharing in these guides are from learned experience and study. I am indebted to the many men I have learned from over the years.

I am writing these a little differently than my normal articles. At the top of each article will be an outline. The outline can be skimmed, printed, or used as an exercise to assist you along the path. Below the outline, I am adding a brief article that explains the outline. Th…

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But every once in a while, a thought hits me while I’m laying in bed. My wife doesn’t appreciate the preferred speed of dictating while she is trying to sleep or the click clack of a keyboard. So onto the iPhone keyboard my thumbs go. Please forgive me of any typos.

I’ve never explained why I titled this Substack Institute of Men. It wasn’t always named that. There was also a three year hiatus where I didn’t really post anything. I felt it was time to explain the name because a name carries a mission (see my posts on my children’s names to understand more).

Please forgive any typos.

Also, given the nat…

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Happy Monday. I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July. Every Independence Day I experience a surge of patriotism that makes me want to dive into all the books I read in school: Alexis de Tocqueville, The Federalist Papers, my US history books - I want to reacquaint myself with the ideals of the US. I think the thing I love most about the US and its founding is we, as a people, have aimed at an ideal and strived for it. Fallen short? Yeah, of course. But we still aim at the ideal. It’s the same with the work I do here on this Substack - I do my best to create an image of the ideal because the ideal forces you and me to rise.

I also spent the weekend thinking about Charlie Kirk. I didn’t watch much of his content or follow him while he was alive but I knew who he was and what he stood for. He was a once in a lifetime kind of man. I do ho…

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Hope you’re having a good week. I especially hope you were able to get some time off to celebrate the Fourth of July. I have not spent much time thinking about politics or the country in the past year but at one time in my life, it was really important to me (I studied government at Liberty University). As we approach the 250th birthday of the United States, I wanted to write an essay encouraging you to read the Federalist Papers.

On Monday evening I posted a note that encouraged people who follow my publication to read the Federalist Papers in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The Federalist Papers were the persuasive arguments put forward by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay as to why the Confederation of the United States should adopt the Constitution of the United States. We’re celebrating the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence this week. The Constitution of the United States happened 11 years after the signing of the Declaration of…

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Happy Monday. I wrote an article introducing my new son Caleb that received enough positive feedback that I decided to write additional articles on the names of our children. I hope these stir you to think about the names you have chosen for your children, the character traits you want to instill in them, and the story you desire for them to live out.

If you could do me a favor, please share this publication with someone. If you enjoy them or they’ve had meaningful impact on you, I would appreciate the referral.

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Enjoy the article.

God Bless

Keaton

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I hope you’re doing well today. My paternity leave is finishing up soon, and I’ll be going back to my day job on Monday. Four children under four have kept us full hands on deck. Our life is beautiful chaos. If you wouldn’t mind saying a few prayers for my wife as she will be at home with four children by herself for 8 to 9 hours a day, we would both greatly appreciate it.

This article comes from a subscriber question. One of my subscribers asked about the correlation between taking care of ourselves physically and our spiritual well-being. It is my attempt to help anyone understand the relationship between our spiritual well-being and our physical well-being as far as I understand it. At the end of the article, I list some of my favorite exercises that you can work into your routine.

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I hope you’re doing well.

This newsletter contains an exciting announcement for me and my wife. You’ll have to read till the very end to see what it is, or you could scroll down to the very end to see what it is and then read this newsletter. You should read the newsletter first, because then the surprise will be better.

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Happy Wednesday.

Family life is on my mind a lot lately so it’s what I am writing about. I am loving seeing men take up a mantle online to talk about the wonders of being a father. We are not a pro-life culture (and I mean that in the broadest sense, not just abortion) and we are pro-choice as far as we can take it. What I see online is men, good men, responding and offering once again a different and better option.

One of those men runs a Substack called Grounded Builder. He wrote a great essay on his 40th birthday that I recommend reading. You can find it here.

Also, I recently organized my website. All the articles are organized by topic and easy to find. The topics I organized by are:

• Saints and Greats (about great men)

• Young Men (directed primarily at those under 35)

• Bible Me (lessons I’ve learned from the Scriptures)

• Work and Career (Be a Kingdom advocate at work)

• Family Life (the center and gravity of civilization)

Don’t forget, you can hop on the chat anytime. It’s usually…

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I’m finishing up this newsletter on my phone at approximately 2:28am. (Please excuse any typos). My children are determined to not let me sleep tonight. My most recent waking (around 1:30am) was from my son who needed more stuffed animals. He just called for me again actually…

And I’m back.

I said “latest waking” above but I haven’t actually fell asleep. I was thinking about today’s topic in between interruptions. I’m reminded often God calls in the night. It could be that God is taking an opportunity to remind me my children need me - and your children need you. It may seem unimportant to you (such as extra stuffed animals) but to them it’s “dad to the rescue”. I remember as a child calling out to my dad in the middle of the night. I don’t remember for what but I’m sure he does.

In this newsletter I want to talk about getting more out of your bible reading by utilizing your imagination. This is a skill, it takes practice, and it’s far from easy. But it will allo…

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I hope you are all doing well today. It is 90 degrees up here in New England, a nice change from the brutal winter we experienced just a few months ago.

Just a reminder, I am taking submissions to some questions for a personal research project. You can find those questions and how to answer here. Your responses are helpful to me, thank you!

Today, I am sharing a story and lesson from my day job - something we talked about in our sales meeting yesterday. There are moral implications when clients ask for the “cheap route”. We are going to look at them. If you own a business or manage a business, I think the takeaway will be helpful to you.

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What do you think that phrase means? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

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Just before this verse Paul was proclaiming the Kingdom when some Jews came down to stone him just as he had allowed Stephen to be stoned. Assuming he was dead, they dragged his body out of the city and left him there. Take a moment to picture that scene in your imagination.

Some disciples went out of the city to find Paul’s body. As they surrounded him, he picked himself up off the ground, and stumbled his way back into the city. What courage! Earlier in Paul’s life, before the Damascus Road, he participated and witnessed the stoning of Stephen. Preaching to the Jews and urging them to unharden their hearts, to believe in Christ, cost him his life. At Lystra, Paul finds himself in the same situation Stephen was in just a fe…

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