To my son, Austin. I wrote this book for you. I know you have suffered all your life because of the environment you were raised in. The anxiety and self-doubt you feel—thinking you are too small to make a difference—was caused by the manipulation and lies of your mother. I want you to know the truth: that is not who you are. Regardless of what you were led to believe, I am always here for you. You are one of my greatest, proudest moments in life. I think of you daily and pray you will be back with me soon. You are my mighty warrior.
We live in a culture that worships confidence. We tell our kids to believe in themselves, to be alpha, to dominate the room. We scroll through social media and see influencers who seem to have never experienced a moment of doubt in their lives. But if we are honest, most of us don't feel like conquerors. We feel like imposters. We feel small. We feel like we are hiding in a hole, hoping no one notices how unqualified we really are. I wrote Gideon: The Warrior Who Hid because I believe it is time to dismantle the myth of the superhero. Gideon is the patron saint of the insecure. He is the Bible hero for every child, and every adult, who has ever looked in the mirror and seen a nobody. The beauty of his story is not that he changed himself into a warrior, but that God named him one while he was still acting like a coward.
The opening scene of this book is one of the most relatable moments in Scripture. Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress. This is pathetic. You thresh wheat on a hill where the wind can blow away the chaff. You use a winepress to crush grapes in a hole. Gideon is doing the right work in the wrong place because he is terrified of the Midianites. He is hiding. He is living in survival mode. I wanted to capture the claustrophobia of that winepress because so many of us are living there right now. We are hiding our gifts. We are shrinking back from our calling because we are afraid of being criticized or attacked. And into that hole steps the Angel of the Lord with a greeting that sounds like a joke, The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
I love the irony of God. He calls things that are not as though they were. Gideon looks around and basically says, Who, me. He gives God a resume of his own inadequacy. He says, My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. He is literally claiming to be the smallest person in the smallest family in the smallest tribe. He is arguing for his own worthlessness. I wrote this book to show children that their excuses do not impress God. You can tell God you are too young, too shy, or too broken, and God will simply reply, Go in the strength you have. Gideon teaches us that our identity is not found in our background or our personality type, it is found in the word of the Lord over our lives.
To bring this ancient story of wheat and winepresses into the 21st century, I wrote the story of Austin. Austin is a kid who deals with what we now call anxiety. He sees the problems around him, the bullying, the needs of others, but he feels paralyzed. He looks at the Midianites of his school, the loud, popular, intimidating kids, and he retreats. He is hiding his light under a basket, or in Gideon's case, in a winepress. Austin’s journey mirrors Gideon’s because he has to learn that courage isn't about becoming a different person. It is about trusting that God can use him exactly as he is. Austin learns that he doesn't need to be the loudest kid to be a leader, he just needs to be faithful.
One of the most critical parts of the Gideon narrative that I emphasize in the book is the destruction of the altars. Before Gideon can lead the army, he has to clean house. He has to tear down the altar to Baal in his own father's backyard. This is a profound lesson. You cannot defeat the enemy out there until you defeat the compromise in here. I wanted to teach kids that being a hero starts at home. It starts with getting rid of the things that steal their worship, whether that is an addiction to screens, a habit of lying, or the fear of man. Gideon was terrified to do it, he did it at night, but he did it. This shows us that imperfect obedience is still obedience. You don't have to be fearless to be faithful.
The climax of the story, of course, is the battle with the 300. God strips Gideon’s army from 32,000 down to 300. Why. So that Israel would not boast. This is the thesis of the book, Strength is not a numbers game. God loves to stack the odds against Himself so that when the victory comes, there is no doubt who did it. Gideon wins the battle not with swords, but with trumpets and clay jars. He wins by making noise and letting his light shine. I want children to understand that their weapons might look silly to the world. Kindness, prayer, and truth don't look like much against the Midianites of our culture, but they are the very things God uses to route the enemy.
The Action Plan in this book focuses on Owning Your Identity. We challenge kids to stop agreeing with the names the enemy calls them, stupid, weak, ugly, and start agreeing with the name God calls them, Mighty Warrior. We give them practical steps to come out of the winepress. This might mean raising their hand in class, sitting with a new person at lunch, or sharing their faith. We also talk about the fleece. Gideon asked God for signs, and God was patient with him. We teach kids that it is okay to ask God for confirmation. It is okay to be unsure. God isn't angry at your questions, He is eager to build your confidence.
I included the Bible Hero Badge on this book because Gideon is the ultimate anti-hero. He isn't Samson with bulging muscles. He isn't David with a slingshot. He is a guy who was afraid of the dark. But he is a superhero because he let God take over. He represents the fact that true power is just availability. If you are available, you are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.
Why does this story matter today. Because we have an epidemic of anxiety in our children. They feel overwhelmed by the world. They feel like they can't make a difference. Gideon stands as a beacon of hope for the overwhelmed. He tells them, I was scared too. I hid too. But God used me anyway. It dismantles the pressure to be perfect. You don't have to be a naturally born leader. You just have to be willing to blow the trumpet when God says blow.
Writing the scene where the 300 men shout, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon, was powerful. Gideon went from the guy hiding in a hole to the guy whose name was a battle cry. That is the transformation God wants to do in your child. I want families to read this and realize that the quietest kid at the table might just be the one God is preparing to save the nation.
Ultimately, Gideon: The Warrior Who Hid is a book about the gaze of God. God looked at a coward and saw a general. He looked at a winepress and saw a war room. I want you to read this book and feel the gaze of God on you, looking past your fears, past your failures, and past your hiding spots, and saying the same thing He said to Gideon, The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior. It is time to believe Him. It is time to smash the jar, let the light out, and watch the enemy run.We live in a culture that worships confidence. We tell our kids to believe in themselves, to be alpha, to dominate the room. We scroll through social media and see influencers who seem to have never experienced a moment of doubt in their lives. But if we are honest, most of us don't feel like conquerors. We feel like imposters. We feel small. We feel like we are hiding in a hole, hoping no one notices how unqualified we really are. I wrote Gideon: The Warrior Who Hid because I believe it is time to dismantle the myth of the superhero. Gideon is the patron saint of the insecure. He is the Bible hero for every child, and every adult, who has ever looked in the mirror and seen a nobody. The beauty of his story is not that he changed himself into a warrior, but that God named him one while he was still acting like a coward.