Recently in For Family Ministers Category

"What's happening in your marriage?" I asked.

"My husband treats me with disrespect," she said. "He's sarcastic with me, ignores me when I'm talking, and spends more time playing video games than listening to me."

A couple months before Rich and I were married, I received a startling phone call from our pastor.

"I got the results of your FOCCUS inventory," he said. "You guys have a lot of issues that need to be worked out. We're going to have to set aside some time to talk these over before your wedding."

Meghan and Pete fell madly in love at their small Midwestern college. When they weren't in class, or working their respective jobs, they spent every waking moment together. After just a few months, the couple began to dance around the subject of marriage. A year later they made a commitment to one another before God and their friends and families. 

"I don't get why you're pressuring me to go to that stupid meeting," Chip told his wife, Cheryl.

Cheryl stared at him. "Pressuring you? I just asked if you'd be willing to go with me. It'll only take an hour. Why is that such a problem for you?"

Have you ever stopped to think about why you got married? When I married Will some twenty-four years ago, I wanted love, babies, sex (a tremendous motivation pre-wedding), and to live happily ever after. Will would say his goal was nearly identical--with the exception of the order. And that was good, but honestly, we married for all the wrong reasons. We were hoping to find ultimate fulfillment in each other. To recognize our deepest dreams and desires through each other. And to be elevated to greater fulfillment through each other.

Nestled in a cozy cabin along the rugged Oregon coast, I pulled a blanket tight across my shoulders. Just a few feet away, behind a bolted bathroom door, my husband of one week was struggling valiantly with a severe case of 24-hour flu.

"Heroin? Our son is on heroin?" Emotion washed over Laurie. How is he? How could he? 

Laurie and Jason had just found out their 18-year-old son was in jail for heroin possession and use. They were overwhelmed with the shock and horror of it and with concern for their son.

But there are times when we disagree. Not argue - we don't participate in that activity much anymore. But we just plain and simple do not agree on a specific topic. Be it the children, the climate, the animals, or something else, we come at it from different perspectives and make dissimilar deductions.

It could not be more revealing: What you spend your money on reflects what you think is important. We either invite or repel the world's culture with every dollar we spend.