When you were growing up, did you ever get into a real tug-of-war? You know, the kind with a thick, scratchy rope? Two groups pulling against each other and, in between, a murky mud hole the size of Lake Erie?
There’s another tug-of-war taking place today.((READMORE))

One of the biggest needs of your children—no matter what their age—is for physical touch. Regular hugs, kisses and hand holding all say to them, “You are loved.”

When your children are little, make sure they have lots of time in your lap to cuddle.((READMORE))

Part of our job as parents is dealing with the sins of our children. Correcting misbehavior, admonishing them for mistakes in judgment and disciplining them for their own good make up a fairly big wedge on the parenting pie chart.((READMORE))

Barbara and I have not been perfect parents. But when you have as many children as we do, God gives you a few hundred lessons along the way. And from our years of experience, we’ve come up with a list of five non-negotiables that all parents need in order to raise a family God’s way. ((READMORE))

Everyone knows about the prestige of the Nobel Prize, an award given to those who make significant political, scientific and literary contributions to the cause of peace and human understanding. (It’s named, ironically, for the inventor of TNT.((READMORE))

We women are awfully fond of admitting that we need our husbands to affirm us and to express their love and appreciation of us through their words and actions. It’s important for us to know—especially after children and age have done their demolition work on our bodies and our once-youthful appearance—that we are still desirable and lovely.((READMORE))

Tommy was a National Guard Reservist called into action during the Gulf War. On the last Sunday before his actual deployment, the church he attended had a special time of prayer, sending him off with their promise of support and encouragement.((READMORE))

My mother, Dalcie Rainey, died just before sunrise on a Sunday morning after a gallant two-year battle with Alzheimer’s. She was buried that Tuesday. Then Barbara and I, after lingering behind to visit with family for a day, left early on Thursday and drove to Nashville, arriving just in time for the birth of our third grandchild.((READMORE))

I suppose I’m hopelessly tied to my upbringing in the ’60s and ’70s, when there were a lot of radical movements in America. Today I find myself calling for radical parents who hold radical beliefs, who have radical purpose and who are committed to raising a radical generation that follows Jesus Christ wholeheartedly.((READMORE))

I told you yesterday about a schoolteacher whose exasperated words left a permanent mark on my young spirit. How true it is that our words—especially those spoken in anger or under pressure—have the power to wound deeply and linger long in our memories.((READMORE))

Barbara and I often prayed that the Lord would supply healthy friends to come alongside our kids at school and at church—friends who could be good, steady influences on them. But we also learned four critical unvarnished observations about peers.  ((READMORE))

I was talking with a businessman recently who is involved in a Bible study with about a half-dozen men. These guys are all “well oiled,” financially speaking. But as I listened to him describe these men, I wondered what kind of Christianity they were modeling to their children.((READMORE))

When Truett Cathy opened his Dwarf House restaurant in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946, he made a decision never to deal with money on the Lord’s Day. The Dwarf House was always closed on Sundays.((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))

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))

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))

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 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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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))

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’m writing this letter to tell you about someone I used to know.”

In her letter, the woman described a man she greatly admired as she grew up. She had worked as a babysitter for this man’s three sons.((READMORE))

If you woke up feeling especially blah this morning, you’re in good company. January 24 is now officially “the most depressing day of the year.”
Those are the findings of Dr. Cliff Arnall, an English psychologist who specializes in seasonal disorders at the University of Cardiff in Wales.((READMORE))

Larry Burkett once told me that of all the couples who divorce in America, between 85 and 90 percent would say the number one problem in their marriage is money. They are unable to agree on how to handle it, save it, spend it, give it, budget it, account for it and keep from arguing about it.((READMORE))

Bill Bright used to tell the story of a man who carefully saved his money until he was finally able to travel on a beautiful cruise ship. It was all he could do just to save enough to buy his ticket.((READMORE))

There are two words in today’s verse given to husbands as a very specific assignment in loving their wives : “nourish” and “cherish.”

The word “nourish” means not only “to feed” but also “to nurture to maturity.((READMORE))

It didn’t take me long to realize that Dennis was not like my father.

My dad was an all-American “Mr. Fixit.” He loved working around the house and the yard—making repairs, painting, tinkering on the car.((READMORE))

Many years ago, I was asked to marry a couple in a state where I wasn’t licensed to perform weddings. No big deal—on the Friday I arrived in town, I figured I’d just go down to the county recorder’s office and sign the right paperwork.((READMORE))

When our children were little, I would pray with them in the morning and ask God that they would “have a good day.” Something about the simplicity of that prayer seemed appropriate for what they were facing.((READMORE))

If you’re like most married Americans, your relationship likely resembles one of these three positions:

1. Face to face. Like typical newlyweds, this couple is cruising down the highway of life in a convertible with the top down.((READMORE))

We’re all familiar with the nutritional listings on food and beverage packages. Most of us are interested in total calories per serving, especially calories coming from good or bad fat, as well as readings on carbohydrates, sugar and sodium.((READMORE))

When we had six children at home, I often felt overwhelmed, as if all my efforts in parenting were about to crash around me. In the middle of this busy time, some younger mothers asked if I would meet with them once a month to offer some encouragement and advice about parenting.((READMORE))

A few years ago, I went on my first real diet. My doctor told me that even though I wasn’t carrying an enormous amount of weight, a guy at my age with my family history and combination of vital statistics was headed toward an encounter with Type II diabetes.((READMORE))