Family by God&#039;s Design

The Book of Love

Don’t you wish we had a book of love, a book that would explain all the nuances of love? A book that describes all the idiosyncratic steps of a loving relationship? Then again, maybe not. The author of the book would try to explain the “facts” and figures of love…and that would likely prove long...

Celebration

intimacy love marriage value

October 9, 2017

With An Eye to the Future

One of my daughter’s dearest friends (and a close family friend as well) got married in September. They arranged a beautiful wedding and reception. There were two unique aspects of their wedding that revealed their hearts and the direction of their life together. First, they invited all of us to not only witness their marriage...

Celebration

giving love marriage priorities sacrifice

August 21, 2017

The Most Important Questions Your Children Never Asked

Remember the age when your children started asking questions? I don’t mean when they asked one or two questions. I’m talking about the age in which they did nothing but ask questions every waking hour of every day. They asked about everything. They even asked questions about the questions! It was a constant barrage of...

Family Shepherds Honor

healthy development love parenting priorities

February 18, 2017

Are You Naked and Unafraid?

Healthy marriages provide an opportunity for us to return to the Garden of Eden and stand like Adam and Eve: naked and unafraid. I don’t mean just physically naked. I mean completely open and exposed to our partner—emotional, spiritually, and mentally naked before our partner and still unafraid. That is a vulnerable position; but, in...

Grace

acceptance admiration intimacy love trust

January 23, 2017

The 4 Guys You Take on Every Date

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of high school boys about dating. I love speaking to young people about relationship. I was asked to speak to this group about dating and chose to tell them about the four guys they date when they go out with girl. As you can imagine,...

Family Shepherds Honor

love respect support

October 22, 2016

Marriage Compelled By the Love of Christ

I recently had the opportunity to speak on marriage with a local congregation during their worship service. The passage for the morning was Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “For the love of Christ compels us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who...

Grace Honor

acceptance giving love marriage sacrifice

October 8, 2016

Improve Your Sex Life…BEFORE You Hit the Sheets

Kevin Leman published a book entitled Sex Begins in the Kitchen. (Read the review here.) It’s not really a book about sex. But, it does make an important point about sex—if you want to enjoy sexual intimacy with your spouse, start preparing outside the bedroom. I mean way outside the bedroom. In fact, the most...

Celebration Honor

admiration connection emotions intimacy love responsiveness sexual intimacy

June 18, 2016

Arguing With Your Spouse: A Pain in the Back…or Worse!

The University of CA (Berkeley) and Northwestern University recently published the results of a study following 156 heterosexual couples for 20 years. The authors examined how the couple’s way of managing “conflict conversations” impacted their health over time. They found a link between “stonewalling” (which includes barely speaking, little to no eye contact, emotionally shutting...

Grace Honor

arguments disagreement intimacy listen love marriage

May 28, 2016

“I Love You” Getting Stale? Try These

If you feel like “I love you” is getting stale, try a couple of other phrases to express your love. Here are a dozen ideas from which you can choose. You are important to me. I’ll make sacrifices for you. I’ll give that up for you. I forgive you. I need you. I think about...