Fr. Zach Weber is a priest in the Diocese of Green Bay and a friend of Fr. Mark from their days in the seminary. He also has a Fit Shepherds group with a group of men in the Antigo area of Wisconsin.
In the short audio segment above, he refers to a book called You Have What It Takes by John Eldredge. From the Amazon.com’s summary of the book, it said: “Eldredge gives fathers a look inside both themselves and their sons and daughters, encouraging them to give their children permission to be who God designed them to be.”
In the audio interview, Fr. Zach offers his definition of what it means to “have what it takes” and he also responds in a brilliant way in talking about how Jesus nurtured Peter, who later became St. Peter, into believing and understanding that he had what it took to become, in Jesus’ words: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17-19).
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John Eldredge: What we're trying to describe is the question boys are asking, "Daddy. Do I have it? Do I have what it takes?" And the role of the father to answer that question for his son, not just once, but a thousand times over his youth. And if all you'll do now is just look for it when he's playing in the yard, when he's building a model airplane. The question will come up, "I can't do this. I don't have what it takes." And it's the father's role to step in and say, "Son you do, you do." In fact, this is absolutely amazing, right before Jesus starts His official ministry, He's obviously been in the carpenter's shop for years but He's now going public and it's those last three years. He is baptized by John in the Jordan. He comes up out of the water and what happens?
Question: The dove descends and said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased." And then He is led into the wilderness.
John Eldredge: If the father speaks and he validates him. I mean he basically says, "Jesus you are the apple of my eye. You have what it takes." Now, this is amazing. If Jesus needed to hear that, the Son of God needed those words from His father before He launched into His greatest test of His life, how much more do we need to hear those as men?
From a Q and A with John Eldredge on his books, which are focused on ministering to men
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Do you have what it takes? This is one of the central questions of manhood. Perhaps your personal version of it is a bit more nuanced: “Do I have what it takes to do my job/school, ask this girl out or eventually to marry me, to be a father?” But we all ask ourselves that question in some way, and often multiple times.
One of the biggest dangers is in trying to answer that question by comparing yourself to those around you. Reality check, there will always be someone better than you at any given thing. If you find your value in sports, there will be someone faster, stronger, and more talented. If you place your worth in your intellect. there will be someone smarter than you. If you place your value on holiness that seems like a good thing but, guess what, there are lots of people holier than you.
So where do we look? How do we find our worth and how do we know if we have what it takes? The answer is to first look to God, our Father, and how much He loves us. Interesting tidbit, He didn’t just create you and set you out on your own, like a wind-up toy that he left to fend for itself. He sustains you, your being, in every moment. We have often heard that we can’t take a breath without God giving it to us, but more than that, everything we see, or think, or do is made possible because God sustains us. We are like sailboats that only move because God blows and fills our sails with wind. Without Him it is not that we can’t do anything, it’s that we wouldn’t even exist. If he were to stop sustaining us we wouldn’t just vaporize, it would be like we never existed.
—From a blog post on https://fraternus.net/ by Thomas Connelly
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Fr. Zach Weber Talks about What It Means To "Have What It Takes"