Moments with You

When I gaze at the family snapshots on my desk, a lump forms in my throat. Where are the grinning little boys proudly holding stringers of fish? When did they grow up to become fathers with their own little boys? Where are the little girls in pigtails? When were they transformed into stunning brides?

Time does not stand still, nor does the life of a family.((READMORE))

I keep asking questions like:
• Why is the divorce rate inside the Church nearly identical to the divorce rate outside the Church?
• Why do so many Christian men perform aggressively at work yet remain disengaged and passive at home?((READMORE))

Have you been through a period of life when everything looked bleak? When it seemed everything around you was coming unraveled? When you hoped the phone wouldn’t ring for fear it would be more bad news?((READMORE))

Did you know there are four ways for a man to load a dishwasher?
1. The way he’s been trained by his mother.
2. The way his wife likes it done.
3. The way he does it at his mother-in-law’s house.((READMORE))

In his book Fields of the Fatherless, C. Thomas Davis writes, “If you searched the Bible from front to back, you’d find many issues close to God’s heart. But you’d also notice three groups of people coming up again and again.((READMORE))

I believe anger is one of the most dangerous and least talked about emotions. Anger can destroy marriages. It can devastate families. It can crush young people who grow up in homes where they are treated with disrespect and contempt.((READMORE))

Most romantic relationships begin with a season we call “new love.” This season is characterized by an intense focus on each other, a strong mutual attraction, eager anticipation and enthusiasm for building a life together, and a great freedom to express physical intimacy (hopefully after marriage).((READMORE))

So often, a man thinks romancing his wife means buying a certain gift or doing a certain thing or creating a certain situation. And, yes, all of these things can communicate romance to a woman. But romance for us is all about relationship and time, about feeling safe and accepted, about simply being together.((READMORE))

We often forget that romance is far more than an after-hours activity we share in the bedroom. Simple, everyday expressions of affection are just as much a part of marital romance as sexual intimacy is—and they give our children a very real sense that all is right in their world.((READMORE))

Dennis and I received a cute email about the romantic differences between men and women. It began by asking, “How do you romance a woman?”

Answer: “Wine her, dine her, call her, cuddle with her, surprise her, compliment her hair, shop with her, listen to her talk, buy flowers, hold her hand, write love letters, and be willing to go to the end of the earth and back again for her."((READMORE))

Without question, the biggest deterrent to romance for moms is children. These sweet, precious, innocent little ones given to us by God are also self-centered, untrained, unending “need machines” who can suck the life out of our marriage.((READMORE))

Some people thought Karen was the best basketball player to ever come from her state. After leading her high-school team to back-to-back appearances in the championship game—once as a winner—she earned a full-ride scholarship to a major college program and capped off her career with a great run in the NCAA women’s tournament.((READMORE))

Barbara and I planted a maple tree outside our bedroom window about 10 years ago. I don’t know what kind of water supply it tapped into, but this tree has just grown like crazy. It’s absolutely magnificent! Around the end of October every year, its leaves turn a brilliant yellow and orange that look almost electric—like it’s plugged into a light socket.((READMORE))

At the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, they give you a map to find your room—and believe me, you need it! The place is so big that the glass ceiling in the atrium is the size of six football fields.

The hotel’s exotic plant collection, which takes 20 full-time gardeners to maintain, includes an Asian banana tree .((READMORE))

After speaking at a Promise Keepers event in Houston, I was met by a television crew offstage. The interviewer baited me by mentioning a group of women picketing the event and what they perceived as men being encouraged to take advantage of women.((READMORE))

We don’t talk a lot about cross carrying. That’s more the fine print of being a follower of Christ—the part we don’t generally go around advertising to those we’re hoping to draw into Christian faith.((READMORE))

Few of us are comfortable with death. That’s understandable. Humankind, originally, wasn’t designed by God to die. Death is the unnatural ripping of the soul from the body.

And yet as our journey unfolds, nearly all of us will one day be confronted with the impending death of someone dear to us.((READMORE))

When a buffet restaurant offered a free Valentine’s Day lunch to any couple who’s been married for 50 years or more, over 300 people showed up. At a gathering like that, you get a lot more than a good time and good food; you also learn some good advice on what it takes to make a marriage last:  ((READMORE))

On Valentine’s Day 2005, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet, restated and renewed their wedding vows along with 4,000 other couples gathered in Little Rock’s Alltel Arena. I had the privilege of performing the ceremony, which included husbands and wives of all ages and backgrounds, celebrating the lifelong commitment of covenant marriage.((READMORE))

It arrives so fresh off the heels of Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s easy to overlook. You’ve just barely gotten used to writing the new year on your bank checks. For all practical purposes, it’s simply the typical weekday between February 13 and February 15.((READMORE))

“I really thought romance was something you did on special occasions like Valentine’s Day and your anniversary. But you know, I think my wife might want romance a little more often.”
You think?
Valentine’s Day came and went yesterday.((READMORE))

Someone has said, “Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.”
How true. You start marriage from a distance. Your honeymoon view is soft and fuzzy, filtered through a fine mist of warm feelings.((READMORE))

I remember when Barbara and I were concerned with the way our teenage son was handling money. Every time we brought up the subject, he became angry.  One evening, I invited our son to go jogging.((READMORE))

Song of Solomon is filled with wonderful insights on love and marriage. Many of them have been well taught through sermons and conferences and Bible studies. But some of the deepest lessons lie between the lines, where you see what’s really going on in this ancient yet timeless relationship between Solomon and his bride.((READMORE))

The last three verses of Psalm 127 are some of the most precious in the Bible when it comes to thinking about our children. Barbara and I have certainly had a “quiver” full with our six (see verse 5).((READMORE))