Real Marriage Conference – Session #1: Friend (Not Plural!) With Benefits

Yesterday and today, my lovely wife and I went to the Real Marriage Conference, with Pastor Mark & Grace Driscoll, at Crossroads Church in Corona, CA.

This post and the following posts are my notes from the event. After all the posts, I will also post general reflections.

• Across all major research, the #1 thing that couples say they want is friendship.
• Friendship is an eternal attribute of God. The God of the Bible exists in eternal friendship. Jesus had close friends and lived in community while on Earth. Another way to think about it… God is a friend who has friends.
• The real problem in all relationships and in the world is sin, and the answer is Jesus.
• Friendship with Jesus is the key to and the only way to have real friendship in your marriage. 

Simple Devotional: Bible Verses on Love

This post simply contains a selection of Bible verses on love. Read them. Pray through them. Experience them only in and through Christ. Share the verses with your spouse. Live the verses with your family and church.

Pray that the Holy Spirit reveal truth to you from these scriptures and they will manifest daily in your life as you submit to and pursue Christ. Christ is the only way to the Father. ‘

Read through this a few times over the weekend…

Be thankful.

Pursue and serve your spouse. [...]

Visioneering by Andy Stanley – Defining & Executing a Vision for Your Marriage (Part 2 of 2)

In this post, Part 2 of 2, I share the conversation my amazing wife I had (and continue to have) as we discussed (and continue to discuss) our vision for our marriage and family. We sat down and brainstormed about the various routes we could pursue in the coming years. As we did that, we identified our vision for our marriage and family.

In order to execute this vision, there will be a plethora of tradeoffs. Nonetheless, we must resolve to stay focused on the dream, and choose to intentionally pursue, pray over, and serve it.

A Quick Guide to Being the Perfect Husband – “What Would / Did Jesus Do?”

Men… how would you feel if every time you poured your heart out to Christ, He responded with…”Will you please hurry up and get to the point. Not this again! Really, guy? I’ve listened to this SO many times. Why can’t you do this right? You are like a broken record. I’m tired of listening to this, you’ve had your share of grace. Blah blah blah blah. Jesus… out”.

In my head, this is where Jesus forms His holy (yes, that has dual meaning) hand in that goofy, hackneyed pinky-thumb phone structure and hangs up from the prayer.

While I definitely do not talk to my wife like that, surely I do in my actions more often than I should (which, of course, is never). This quick example really made me think about what it means to be the “Head” of and Christlike figure in my marriage in how I love and serve my sexy wife. [...]

Devotional: For Better or Worse, In Health & If Handicapped – A Love Story Excerpt

I read the selection below in James Merritt’s How to Be a Winner and Influence Anybody: The Fruit of the Spirit as the Essence of Leadership.  Merritt actually excerpted the passage from David Ireland’s book Letters to an Unborn Child. Ireland had a debilitating neurological disease that confined him to a wheelchair. He knew he might never have the opportunity to enjoy a relationship with or see his unborn child grow up, so he wrote a book with letters to the unborn child.

God desires to change our hearts and reveal his beauty, love, and sacrifice to us more than he seeks to use his God-magic-wand to change the circumstances. [...]