With good intentions, we often warn single Christians about the relational damage associated with premarital sex. In a noble desire to urge single believers to follow God’s design of abstinence before marriage, we can unwittingly sabotage God’s design after marriage if we’re not just as pastoral claiming the victory of God over confessed sin as […]
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Neuroscience tells us that the shelf-life of an infatuation is about twelve to eighteen months. It’s a nice run while it lasts, but when the slide starts, you can’t stop it. You’ve got to find something new to build. That “something new” can be a cherishing marriage. Infatuation is built on happenstance. When it hits, […]
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In March of 2014, when Lisa and I landed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba it felt unbearably hot, even for a couple traveling from Houston, Texas. And the Navy chaplain escorting us around said, “Congratulations—you came here during the coolest time of the year.” Lisa and I have gotten to work with the military quite a […]
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Arianna was heartsick over the moral choices her adult son was making. Even more heartrending was his answer when Arianna asked him where he saw Jesus in all of this. “I’m having to rethink that,” her son said. “I’ve had questions about Jesus for some time.” Those were the most painful words Arianna had ever […]
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If you are in a relationship in which you are constantly taking and never giving anything in return… I’m an expert at killing—plants, that is. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to keep my plants alive. They call it having a black thumb and I have officially self-diagnosed myself as having one. I’m […]
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I spent my honeymoon night in tears—because sex hurt. A lot. I had no idea what was wrong with me. It wasn’t supposed to be this painful! But I was married now, and I believed my husband needed sex and I had been taught that he wouldn’t feel love without it. So over the next […]
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When we started the “Walk Away” series, we highlighted the 41 citations in the Gospels where Jesus walked away from someone or let someone walk away from him. Last week, we looked at numerous examples from the life of Paul. This week we’re picking up another deleted (for space) chapter excerpt from When to Walk […]
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The apostle Paul was about as zealous as any person has ever been in spreading the message of Jesus, but when he faced stubborn resistance, he did what Jesus did: he walked away. He didn’t run away at the first sign of resistance. He reasoned and pled with many inquirers. He even seems to put […]
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I like giving and receiving gifts. My wife Lisa doesn’t. In my young stupid pride, I used to double down on gift giving opportunities, find something really creative to give to Lisa, perhaps a bit too expensive for our current budget and Lisa would be touched and moved but feel guilty that I was (in […]
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A recent news article caught my eye: a would-be bride caught her soon-to-be husband sexually assaulting an inebriated bridesmaid the day before the wedding. What astonished me even more was the last sentence of the article: friends of the couple “confirmed” that the ceremony went on as planned… My heart rejoices at the healing and […]
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