Grace

There have been a lot of different ways to define what grace is and most of them are good. Let me offer another thought that recently came to me: grace is God-walking. When we walk with God and God walks with us it can't get any better than that! John 1:14 speaks of God coming to earth to live with us and walk amongst us. Jesus is grace--God walking with us and us walking with God.

Time to take a stand

I just recently heard of another marriage that bit the dust. I know of many young couples who don't even consider marriage an option. Many others are desperately trying to redefine marriage to suit their personal preferences. There are many of us who are alarmed and are trying to stem the tide, but unless there are more of us who are willing to speak out in favor of the traditional marriage institution, the battle will be lost. The more we accept society's anti-marriage behavior and attitude, the less likely we are to see marriages that survive for any length of time at all.
It used to be normal for marriages to last until death. Most couples stayed together and survived the many complexities of life together. Today marriage is deemed to be more of a convenience than a commitment.
In order for anything of substantial substance to change, the church must lead the way. Instead of taking the path of least resistance and supporting all who want to be married in her, she needs to take a Biblical stand and refuse to go against what the church has traditionally understood marriage to be, that of between a man and a woman for a lifetime.
If there is enough of us who refuse to bend to the pressures of society, we can reverse the trend. But, time is running out and the time to do something about it is now.

Marriage in the church

This subject is far too huge to cover in this blog. However, I am want to share my concern for how the church handles the subject of marriage. Most churches give little or no attention to providing instructions and resources to help couples maintain happy and successful marriages. Limit time and resources are usually given to preparing those wanting to get married for the realities of living together as husbands and wives. Thankfully this is changing in many churches, but for most it is common to not do much of anything to promote godly marriages.

Shame on us! It is no wonder that marriages in the church are in trouble. Divorce amongst professing Christians is commonplace and widely accepted. The stigma of divorce has been removed. No we are chipping away at the very foundation and meaning of what marriage is. Many churches no longer restrict marriage to that of a man and a woman. Is it any wonder?

Pastors have failed the church! We are the ones who determine the direction of our ministries and the contexts of our messages. We are the ones who fail to put marriage high on the list of our priorites. We are the ones who must change our priorities for the church. No church can be effective in her ministries and survive the chaotic times we live in without a foundation of solid and godly marriages.

The need is overwhelming because we have been negligent in our duty to help one another live in godly marriages and homes. There are Christian counselors and ministries everywhere willing to help broken marriages and I am glad they are. But, they could not exist if the church were to do her job of taking care of Christians who marry. It takes great effort and determination to stay married and we had better wake up to the task before it is too late.

John 10:10 "I have come to give you life, and to give it more abundantly."
I am convinced that Jesus meant for us to have fun in our life in him. I don't see it happening a whole lot. We get so caught up into life that we fail to live. We mold our lives around things that don't really matter. We let life rob us of the fun of living.
It is equally true in most marriges. Part of the privilege of married life is having fun together. Having fun with your spouse is only limited by your imagination. Regardless of your resources, there are ways to keep the spark of love burning bright. If we were to put as much effort into keeping the fun in our marriages as we do in living, there would be very little need for divorce courts or lawyers.
The challenge is to find those things that you and your spouse enjoy doing together and then doing them. It may take some time and effort to discover them, but it's well worth the effort. Life today is very self-centered. We are into ourselves way too much (myself included!), so it will probably take some work to find fun things to do. Be persistent and you will find them. Trust me, you will be glad you did.

Just spent the day getting training for our foster care license. It was very interesting and informative. Two things jump out at me. I have been so blessed to have had the upbringing I had. Although I did not appreciate it at the time, I had it so good. The other thing is that there are so many damaged people out there who need someone to take the time to care and help. We all need to love and be loved and when we are deprived of that, we become deformed emotionally and unable to deal with live positively. My prayer is that I will always have a caring heart for the hurting.

Staying married

We live in a day in which many are opting out of marriage. There is a movement that is trying hard to redefine what marriage is, to the point where anyone who disagrees with them are made out to be weird or prejudiced. What was once considered to be the very foundation upon which society was built is quickly crumbling away. It is not uncommon for someone to be married multiple times.

I am still convinced that the traditional institution of marriage is worth saving. I believe that if we were to put as much energy into saving our marriages as we do destroying them, we all would be better off. Saving marriages will not solve society's problems, but it will go a long ways towards stablizing our thinking so we can deal with our problems.

It is my prayer that my book will help to save many marriages from mediocrity and the divorce court. If it helps just one couple, it will be worth it all.