Family

Real Men…

“Be a man!” yells the coach to his starting middle linebacker. “Make the play!” Most men have heard it at one time or another, “Be a man!” But what does that even mean? Male-bashing has become a popular past time. Television sitcoms portray men as buffoons and “comic relief.” Our secular world is in a crisis of male arrested development and, sadly, men overall have not done much to make amends for this. Many disregard the responsibility for their lives and actions. One does not have to look very far to find single mothers struggling just to survive and provide […]

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It All Adds Up

Proverbs 27:23 states, “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks; give careful attention to your herds.” Did you know that the message behind this statement can also be applied to your specific financial situation? Here’s how; the first step in determining where you are financially is putting together a statement of net worth. In simplest terms it is a list of everything you own minus everything you owe (assets minus liabilities). It’s a snap shot, frozen in time, of every single financial decision you have ever made. It reflects your propensity to accumulate, and conversely, your propensity to […]

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Extending Love

There was a time when extended family met the needs of a person in crisis. Those were the farm communities that built America to become what it is today. When a couple or a mom had a need it was her brothers and sisters, her aunts and uncles and her parents who helped her through difficult times. The people who loved her sacrificially, loved her through the hard times. When a father was no longer present at home, the extended family pitched in to help out. It was the natural thing to do. They lived right there in the same […]

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How to Have Great Relationships

Relationships take work! The more significant the relationship is in a person’s life, the more effort and energy it takes to keep it moving forward in a healthy direction. For example, a person who is married would naturally invest a lot more time and energy with a spouse than he would in talking with his next door neighbor. And because he spends more time with his significant other, there are greater chances for misunderstanding to take place, offenses to form or for disagreements to arise. If these challenges and obstacles are not handled correctly, they can actually put a wedge […]

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Who Do Your Kids Look Up To?

Who do your kids look up to?  Who are their heroes?  Is it even important to think about who our children look up to?  Only to the extent that we as parents realize that our children will want to emulate their heroes. You tend to want to be like the person or people you look up to.  If you look up to them and they are your heroes, they are probably also your role models.  Parents can’t afford to miss this because our children attempt to model their lives after their role models.  How many people at Apple started dressing […]

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Love And Marriage

Love is not something you feel. It’s something you do. ~ David Wilkerson In a day and age when marriage seems to be losing both its popularity and appeal, as Christians, we need to guard our relationships. Whether it’s at work or even within our circle of friends, someone at some point will make a derogatory comment about their spouse. While it may seem like innocent banter at the time, in actuality it is influencing our feelings about our relationship. Being aware of our inherent tendencies can help us avoid snares and keep us focused on truth. Perhaps you are […]

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Christmas ideas from the heart

We have all received one at some time or another – a well intentioned but unusable Christmas gift, that sits around collecting dust because we don’t have the heart to part with it. This year, surprise that special someone with a gift that not only is from the heart, but also helps keep additional clutter to a minimum.Ideas for Her: Beautify and Pamper No woman would pass up a day of pampering, including a manicure/pedicure, massage, facial, haircut and color! Don’t forget to go the extra mile and include babysitting, if necessary. Buy or hand make a “Coupon Book” These […]

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My response is my responsibility

My response is my responsibility Last month my wife and I finished “Love and Respect,” a married couples study, for the second time. Not that we didn’t get it the first time but it was so good that we wanted a refresher course. I think everyone has a need for refresher courses. Our daily routine can get so busy we can forget the basics of how to live every area of our life according to how God wants us to. I know I have taken several studies a second time over the last 12 years, and I will probably do […]

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for better or worse

“Why are we washing dishes again dad?” my young son asked me. “We always wash, Dad. Should mom be doing this?” It was a natural question coming from a child who believed we had gone past our responsibility of service. Why are we still serving? Thankfully, he stopped just short of saying, “Mom should be doing this!” A child growing up in our culture today has no way of knowing what the marriage relationship is all about. We have come to believe that marriage is something you “get.” You get another salary, another person to do the chores and you […]

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families are losing touch in cyberspace

As social interaction changes from verbal conversations to texted acronyms or 140-character bites, parents and adolescents find themselves in a generational gap, widening a chasm of non-communication within families, says Dr. Jimmy Myers, owner and director of the Timothy Center in Austin, Texas, and author of “Toe to Toe with Your Teens.” The Nielsen Company reports teens send an average of 80 texts per day, or 2,272 a month. Inside Facebook reported 5.4 million users between the ages of 13 and 17 were using Facebook in February. According to Myers, parenting and adolescent issues associated with the emergence of technology […]

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