Relationships

When Storms Hit Hard

Terry Morrow
12 Oct 2017
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Last month, South Florida experienced the effects of what many expected would be a devastating hurricane. As we prepared for a direct hit from a category 4 or 5 storm, schools and businesses closed so we could prepare for the wind and potentially flooding rain. Prayers were lifted for the storm to move and spare us. . .  and, almost miraculously overnight, the path of the hurricane shifted west to stay mostly in the ocean. Our prayers had been answered. While we were still impacted by the outer bands of the hurricane, most homes and families weathered the storm relatively […]

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Spiritual Friendship and Marriage

Norm Wise
5 Oct 2017
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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another”  (John 13:34-35 NIV). “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). I have been counseling people since 1972. I began counseling married couples in 1982. Most of these couples have been people who professed faith in Christ Jesus. They sang in choirs, served on deacon boards and went on mission […]

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Pu Pu Platters and Intimacy

Chris Alexander
8 Aug 2017
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Being single for the majority of my 52 years of living, I have a few observations when it comes to dating. Though there are some consistencies from dating in my 20’s and in my 50’s, there is one aspect that seems to be more prevalent today: the lack of intimacy. By intimacy I am not talking about sex but emotional intimacy. (Half of you just turned the page. For the rest who are still reading, I’ll try my best to keep you engaged.) With the ever-increasing internet connections replacing human contact and interfacing, it is no wonder true intimacy is […]

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Is That All There Is?

Patricia Hartman
6 Jul 2017
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In 1969, Peggy Lee sang a haunting song questioning life. After seeing a house go up in smoke as a child, was that all there was to things? After going to a circus, was that all there was to the big top? After being dismissed by a boyfriend, was that all there was to love? It highlights our disappointment with things, achievement, pursuing vain pleasures and loves. It’s the kind of thinking that fuels mid-life crisis. The fingerprints of midlife crisis on marriage are all around us: midlife men of God giving up their pulpits and wives in shame, midlife […]

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Fixer-upper Husband?

Patricia Hartman
1 Apr 2017
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Several married friends have come to me recently frustrated with their husbands’ behaviors. Their husbands were not ______ing the way that they “should.” All three wives had different blanks, but the bottom line was that they had talked to their husbands about what they were witnessing, and their husbands did not heed their advice. My friends “knew” that what they were suggesting was better, or if they jumped in they could fix it.   Is that our calling? When you buy a house that needs fixing, you call it a fixer-upper. Once you buy it, you have to fix the […]

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For Better, Not Worse

Patricia Hartman
7 Mar 2017
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Last month, as I waited in my hair salon for the goo on my head to perform the miracle of turning back time, “Sue” (alias) announced her tale of woes that ended the prior week in divorce. Sue seemingly was married to Attila the Hun. If what she said about him was true, words like unlovable, despicable and dangerous come to mind. Kiddie pornography. Beating dogs. Mean and armed. Then Sue shared that her ex had Parkinson’s. Based on her understanding of the symptoms, changed behavior can manifest itself. In her retrospect, his bad behavior started about five years prior […]

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The Perfect Valentine’s Day – For Men Only

Patricia Hartman
9 Feb 2017
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Perfection is in the eyes of the beholder. Valentine’s Day has a number of beholders: Girls hoping for valentine cards from the right guys Couples hoping to charge their marriage with a romantic get-away Guys hoping to join the estimated six million who pop the question No matter which stage of love you’re in, romantic love is at the center – the desire to have a soul mate for life.   What makes it perfect? Our modern-day Valentine’s tradition started in England with men wooing their intendeds by sending handmade cards filled with love. Ultimately, it’s all about the pursuit. […]

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Personalize Your Wedding Vows

Keisha McDonnough Virtue
3 Feb 2017
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Weddings can be simultaneously beautiful, enjoyable events as well as stress-producing, thanks to a virtual plethora of choices from colors, to flowers, music to food. One choice that often gets overlooked is whether to use conventional vows or to write your own. On the one hand, using conventional vows is not only easy, but a time-honored tradition incorporating many tenets of the faith-based marriage such as “through sickness and health,” or “til death do us part.” Regardless of whether these formal phrases are included in the spoken vows of a marriage ceremony, they are an inseparable part of the very […]

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Finding That Perfect Mate

Chris Alexander
2 Feb 2017
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First of all, if you think there is a perfect mate out there, you’re probably also searching for a unicorn-riding leprechaun carrying a golden egg-laying goose. Believe me when I say this does not come from a place of cynicism but of reality. Too many of us have a glamorized view of what our potential mate should portray. Hollywood movies have done their share of skewing our views of what true love realistically embodies. And is true love the only requirement when searching for a spouse? Interview long-term married couples and most would say true love is just the tip […]

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