20 Simple Axioms for Marriage

Sometimes the simplest epiphanies have the most profound impact. I’ve found these tiny axioms to be helpful in keeping us on point in our marriage. We’ve written a few posts that reinforce some of these (linked below), but in every case they’ve helped us keep the important things first.

7 Habits to Maintain Your Integrity When Traveling

Traveling is risky business. While it’s physically safe to travel, being away from home poses unique risks to your marriage if your character and integrity are weak. In fact, you’ll face the temptations and integrity-compromising situations I’ll be discussing in everyday life, but during solo travel they’re much more apparent. Traveling is an escape of sorts. You’re whisked away on a plane to a faraway…

Video: What Does 50 Years of Marriage Look Like?

So what does 50 years of marriage and friendship look like? Bill & Glad show us a glimpse. I simply had to share their story. As Selena will attest, I’m not really a cryer. It’s not that I don’t feel, I think I’m just pretty even-keel about things. I think she can count on one hand the times she’s seen me cry…our wedding day, the death…

3 Ps That Can Poison Your Marriage (Part 2)

In my last post I discussed our ‘propensity for poison’ and covered the first P that can poison your marriage. If you haven’t, I encourage you to read it first, as it prefaces this post and sets a solid foundation. With that said, let’s dive right in to the second and third Ps that can poison your marriage. The Three Ps That Can Poison Your…

3 Ps That Can Poison Your Marriage (Part 1)

Pennies, perversion, and pride. Selena and I have experienced each ‘poison’ for sure; there’s no getting around it. In fact, each poison tries to rear its ugly head and we’re often engaged in full blown warfare to keep them at bay.  They are truly poisonous, they will kill your marriage unless addressed with God’s help. In this post, I’ll discuss our ‘propensity for poison’ and cover the first…

Planted

I enjoy trees immensely. They’re beautiful, complex, and essential for life on earth. I find them interesting biologically (just ask Selena.. she’s had to endure many of my nerdy observations) and I find them revealing when we view them as an analogy for our lives with God. This morning for my devotional, I broke my current pattern of working through John and decided to do…

You Are His Beloved

I’m reading “Life of the Beloved” by Henri Nouwen, and it’s messing with me in an incredible way. I can’t articulate fully how it’s affecting me but I wanted to share an excerpt that hit me especially hard this morning. The book is phrased as a letter to one of Henri’s friends. It has a fatherly tone where he gently encourages, challenges, and wishes for…

Conquering Mountains: For Her or For Nothing

Wives, encouraging your husband helps him more than you know. If other men are like me, we live to impress and inspire our wives. Your meaningful, intentional affirmation is like a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart! Last week I summited Mt. Rainier for the second time. At the peak, there’s a steel box with a log book inside.

Your Marriage is Your Ministry

We spend lots of time trying to figure out how to be better spouses and have better marriages, but what for? Do we refine ourselves and our marriages to simply have better lives or is there some grander purpose we need to tune into? I would certainly argue the latter: we aren’t called to follow Christ simply for our own pleasure. In fact, when we…

Interview with Craig Gross, Founder of XXXChurch.com

When I picked up “Open”  and read a few chapters, I quickly got that familiar feeling: this book is going to make me mad. I don’t say that because of the way Craig writes or the statements he makes, I say that because I knew this book was going to challenge me into uncomfortable action. There are books you read for fun and some you…