Sometimes in the midst of correcting your kids, you can easily lose sight of the main reason you discipline them in the first place. It’s not just to get their clothes picked up or to eat the meal you’ve prepared or to stop hitting a sibling.((READMORE))

I love the way a garden looks when it’s clean and neat, when all the soil is evened out and the weeds are pulled up. But I know too well that the hard work of a Saturday morning will be repeated again and again, all season long.((READMORE))

In November 1970, at the height of tensions in Vietnam, a pair of college students launched a campaign to bring awareness to the plight of American POWs and MIAs. Their plan was to create inexpensive metal bracelets, each bearing a soldier’s name and the date of his capture, and distribute them across the country as reminders for the average citizen.((READMORE))

A Christian leader told me about boarding a small commuter plane for a short flight out of Nashville. Moments after he settled in, a flight attendant’s voice came on the loudspeaker and said, “When the pilot steps onto the plane, I want you to clap for him.((READMORE))

One day during Rebecca’s first year of junior high, she came home from school with an unusually unhappy look on her face. Some boy had been making ugly remarks about her figure (or more precisely, her lack of one).((READMORE))

Where is your place to ponder?

Maybe it’s a certain chair in a quiet corner of your home. Maybe it’s the back deck at sunrise or under the porch light after dark, with only the rhythmic hum of the crickets to disrupt your quiet.((READMORE))

What usually happens when you and your spouse get into a disagreement? If you’re like most couples—according to the research of Dr. John Gottman, professor emeritus at the University of Washington—the wife does six times the amount of fussing and scolding, and the husband is 85 percent more likely to be the one who goes into stone-wall mode.((READMORE))

When I was a little boy growing up, I remember people in our church referring to the Holy Spirit as the “Holy Ghost.” For a long time I had this image in my mind of the Holy Ghost being something like Casper the Friendly Ghost, floating through walls like a puff of smoke.((READMORE))

This may seem like a shocking thing to say, but I firmly believe that most Christian marriages are actually patterned after the world, with a few threads of Christianity woven in. Couples know certain Bible verses, but few really practice the Word of God and use it as the defining standard for their lives.((READMORE))

Barbara and I have long enjoyed the benefits of carving out time together as a couple. It was something we committed to early in our marriage. Even with six kids and all the natural activity that ensued, we pretty much stuck to our guns, and everybody reaped the benefits.((READMORE))

Ellie Kay, the wife of an Air Force pilot and the author of Heroes at Home: Help and Hope for America’s Military Families, reveals what can sometimes happen when her husband, Bob, returns from a tour of military duty.((READMORE))

What do you have that could be of benefit to others?

That’s the question you may ask yourself every time you go exploring through your attic or garage. You realize how much you tend to keep and accumulate, even when your need for these items has long subsided.((READMORE))

Let me tell you the true story of a really generous giver.

Christian financial expert Ron Blue and his oldest son ate breakfast together on a regular basis at a local fast-food restaurant. The same place, every week.((READMORE))

Do you find it interesting that the warnings about sexual temptation in Proverbs are directed at men? Proverbs 7, for example, describes the wily harlot seducing the foolish young man who wanders too close to her door.((READMORE))

See if you can spot the problem in this couple’s relationship:

The first few years of our marriage were good, but the sweet talk and little whispers in the ear diminished, and we became just another married couple.((READMORE))

Yesterday I talked about the way the media monster can damage your marriage. Here are some thoughts about how to master the media instead of being manipulated by the messages:

Know what you believe.((READMORE))

What if I told that every day a legion of competitors was lining up to enter your home, your workplace, your car and even your phone to seduce you and your spouse?

They are. Each day assorted voices and images lure your spouse and you away from each other: television, cable, Internet, email, blogs, chat rooms, radio, magazines, newspapers, music, movies, books and video games.((READMORE))

Romance is certainly not the foundation of marriage, but it sure makes the relationship warm and secure. At times it’s the best way to say, “I really love you.” In order for romance to flow most freely, however, a husband and wife must be committed to putting God first.((READMORE))

H. Clark Bentall once headed the Bentall Corporation, a construction company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. Five downtown office towers in that city bear his family’s name. He was a major player in the commercial construction and real estate business.((READMORE))

God has given Barbara and me a real heart for the military wife. Her courage and tenacity at keeping the home fires burning while her soldier is in training or on duty or perhaps gone for many months overseas makes her an unsung hero.((READMORE))

I used to think peer pressure only showed up in parenting books and situations facing teenagers. I thought it was something you outgrew. But I remember sitting in a business meeting with a roomful of Christian leaders and being asked to vote on a particular issue.((READMORE))

Early one evening, I drove Rebecca—then 14—to meet some girlfriends for a bunking party. But her friends were running late, and as we sat there waiting in a parking lot, God orchestrated a great teaching moment.((READMORE))

I am always encouraged when I hear people say, “You’re helping us raise our family through your ministry.” But not long ago, I had one of those experiences that ... well ... I’d never heard anybody say it just this way before.((READMORE))

Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes once interviewed Yehiel Dinur, a Holocaust survivor and witness at the Nuremberg trials. During the show, Wallace played a 1961 clip of Dinur walking into the Israeli courtroom where Adolf Eichmann was on trial.((READMORE))

Barely a year after my mother and father married, her parents decided to divorce. My mother traveled to Chicago and spent an entire week pleading with her parents to restore their relationship. Unsuccessful, she returned emotionally exhausted, needing more than ever a warm, accepting relationship with her mother-in-law, who lived nearby.((READMORE))

In July 1995, we were in Fort Collins, Colorado, for the U.S. Staff Conference of Campus Crusade for Christ. More than 3,000 staff members and volunteers had made similar treks to be there, expecting to enjoy a rousing time of worship, rejuvenation and fellowship.((READMORE))

In the summer of 1997, I was sitting at my computer writing an article, praying and asking myself, How can we rebuild the family in America? I wasn’t just pondering this because it was my job to do so or because I had spent my entire adult life focused on this calling and endeavor.((READMORE))

Far too frequently, we hear about the indiscretion of a public figure or religious leader being exposed in some kind of tabloid-style news flash. For a few days, the person’s name and all the titillating details are near the top of every news broadcast.((READMORE))

My son Benjamin and I played a round of golf recently at a beautiful course in Beaver Creek, Colorado. He even bagged a hole in one.

As we stood there in that tee box—after we’d sufficiently celebrated his remarkable feat—I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of this location.((READMORE))

R. V. Brown was the sixteenth of 17 children. As he and his siblings arrived at the dinner table, he never understood why his mother stood in the corner with a bowed head. When he was older, he learned that she was praying that the butter beans and cornbread would make it to one end of the table and back without running out!
Of all the rich memories forged in his childhood home, this was the best: dinnertime.((READMORE))

When I was home-schooling our children during their early grades, I had them keep a daily journal as a way of teaching them writing skills. We found that this idea extended naturally into our vacations.((READMORE))

Every family needs the anticipation, experiences and memories of a well-planned vacation. But in today’s “time is money” way of thinking, the family vacation is fast becoming a thing of the past.
When asked recently by Gallup pollsters whether or not they had any summer vacation plans, 43 percent of adult respondents said no.((READMORE))

Memories are what make each family unique. They give your marriage and family a mental imprint of shared laughter and reflections. As someone has said, “God gave us memories so that we could enjoy roses in January."((READMORE))

I heard a wife talking about how prayer had enhanced her relationship with her husband. “When we pray together,” she said, “we are communicating with God, but we are also communicating with each other and sharing our common love for our Savior.((READMORE))

It’s hard starting out in marriage. Money is usually tight. You’re getting used to new responsibilities. Even though your love is young and energetic, you find yourself dealing with disagreements and expectations you didn’t really see coming.((READMORE))

Gary Thomas, author of such inspiring books as Sacred Marriage and Authentic Faith: The Power of a Fire-Tested Life, tells the story of two American soldiers who became fast friends during their preparations for combat in World War I.((READMORE))

Many couples experience a season of disappointed love in their marriage relationship. For our son Samuel and his wife, Stephanie, that season began the day after the wedding.

Watching these two get married was one of the greatest delights of my life.((READMORE))

Our children are better students of us than we are of them. They know—really know—more of what’s going on in your marriage than you think they do.

This was certainly the case for a couple who were invited by the wife’s brother and sister-in-law to attend one of our Weekend to Remember marriage conferences.((READMORE))

How can you tell if the spiritual-sounding words coming out of your children’s mouths are evidence of a true faith?

The fact is, you may not really know until they’re somewhat older, because most children are clever enough to say what they know Mom and Dad want to hear.((READMORE))

We were having dinner recently with four couples. As the evening progressed, one of them shared her struggle with a sister, who at the age of 45 is chronically ill and likely a hypochondriac. This prompted another friend to share how his brother was in an unhealthy, codependent relationship with his 90-year-old mother.((READMORE))

I think one of the greatest needs in the Christian community is for individual laymen and laywomen to dream some dreams about how they can use their talents to impact people’s lives for Christ.

Let me tell you about a family that is making a difference.((READMORE))

I still remember hearing about the 1995 murder of three children in their Little Rock home. Riley Noel and three accomplices wheeled into the driveway of Mary Hussian’s house that night, high on drugs.((READMORE))

We’ve never had so many options for connecting with people—mail, email, phone, text-messaging, even Internet video. Yet recent findings reported in the American Sociological Review show that the number of people who claim to have no one to confide in on important matters is up from 10 percent to 25 percent since 1985.((READMORE))

It takes courage to raise children today according to biblical standards, especially when the culture doesn’t exactly support us in our striving to courageously protect our sons and daughters.
So what’s a parent to do?

First, resolve that you will not be a parent who does the easiest thing: nothing.((READMORE))

One of my favorite conversation starters when I’m eating with other men or with a group of couples is “What is the single most courageous thing that you have ever done in your lifetime?”
When most people think of courage, they think of heroic deeds—like those done on battlefields distant in time and geography.((READMORE))

For a firefighter, one of the most terrible phrases in the English language is “blow-up.” In a firefighter’s world, blowing up occurs when a manageable forest fire suddenly explodes into an inferno that rages through the grass and trees at a deadly speed.((READMORE))

Being “naked” but “not ashamed.”

This is why we get married—not just to have sex, but also to become emotionally intimate with another person. We want someone we can be openly transparent with, someone who accepts us, even when we’re being our real selves.((READMORE))

Simon and Chana Taub of Brooklyn broke up housekeeping after 20 years of marriage—divorcing and going their separate ways. Sort of.

He went to the living room on the first floor, and she took the bedroom level on the third floor.((READMORE))

I’m always grieved when I hear about dads who are too busy or self-absorbed to invest themselves in their children. This neglect often produces a wound in a child that rarely heals right. But when it does heal, you can be sure God has done it.((READMORE))

There are seasons in life when our work requires more of us than it does at other times. Tax season for the accountant. Christmas season for the retailer. Whatever your line of work, it likely has a natural rhythm that spikes at certain times.((READMORE))