Relationships

Is the Destruction of our Families Fostering Mental Illness?

In the light of current events, our entire country is collectively moving through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and inevitably for some, acceptance. While the motivating factors are different, the overarching question resounds in the same outcry: WHY? Why must the innocent, our children, be the object of suffering and hatred? When we blow away the chaff, what’s left is the family or the lack thereof.  What defines families? While the world defines family in many ways, the Biblical definition has remained the same: two parents, a father and a mother, guiding children through childhood, adolescence […]

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Love Well by Meeting the Need

God created us for an intimate relationship with Him and others. We are born with biological needs for bonding and closeness. We’re physically needy. We need food, clothing, water and shelter to survive. We’re spiritually needy. Man needs communion with God and freedom from guilt and shame; we need forgiveness, mercy and grace. We’re also emotionally and relationally needy. We need a relationship with God and others. We’re intellectually needy; we’re born with intellectual capacity, but we need instruction and information.  Unaware, many of our deepest and most potent desires are wrapped up in our desire to have our needs […]

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To Forgive Is to Obey

This year I’ve chosen to read the New Testament chronologically. Initially, I didn’t enjoy the process, but as I’ve read the gospel accounts leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross, I’ve thought a lot about obedience and its connection to forgiveness. Jesus, in His humanity, has experienced the hurts and betrayals of humankind, and in His humanness, He prayed and asked God to let the cup of suffering pass. Knowing He was God made man, being fully aware of the agony he’d experience, He still chose to humble himself and yield to the will of God. He had a […]

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Dealing with Relationship Cancer: Anger

Some children hear the word “No” and they become frustrated or argue. They are disappointed, but they remain in control. Other children hear the same word and explode into rage. Some adults can discuss differences of opinion and work through conflict. Other adults only need to be inconvenienced the least bit on the highway and they explode into rage. It is all about anger! Anger is arguably the most debilitating relationship cancer there is. When a parent sees rage explode out of their child, there is a feeling of helplessness. When an adult sees rage erupt from their spouse, fear […]

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Live The Life South Florida is ALL IN for Marriages and Families

At a time when our society is in turmoil and many families are in crisis, dealing with more stressors than ever before, Life the Life South Florida is launching a 10-year initiative entitled “All In” for marriage and families, designed to transform Broward Country for the better through healthy relationship education beginning in middle school through senior adults. Live the Life’s board of directors is comprised of South Florida power couples with a strong commitment to families and a collaborative plan to achieve four key objectives: increase marriage decrease divorce decrease nonmarital childbearing, and increase church attendance.   “If we […]

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Find the YES!

I’ve been reading the New Testament chronologically. I’ve read the New Testament many times but never chronologically. The stories and teachings are more than familiar. Still, I hold fast to the truth of Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” I believe that a person’s soul and intents of the heart can and will be changed if they read the Scriptures, even in the absence of […]

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Good News Wants to Know… – Thanksgiving “Thank You”

As we approach Thanksgiving, Good News Wants to Know…To whom would you like to write a “thank you” note right now (e.g., a childhood friend, business colleague, neighbor?) and why? If I can write anyone a thank you note right now, it would be to my grandfather. His name was Peter, but we called him Pop. Not only was he the nicest, most loving, caring person that I ever met, but he was the first person that ever brought my brother and I to church. I never met a person that did not like Pop. He would travel through a blizzard to […]

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Fingerprints Versus Soul Prints

Our fingerprints leave impressions made by the minute ridge formations or patterns found on the finger. To date, no two people have been found to have the same arrangement of patterns, even twins. Even as we shed skin, the ridge formations are identical and remain unchanged throughout our life. Investigations have relied heavily on the thumbprint for someone’s identity, but with advanced technology, we can learn much more about someone than just a matched print. Mass Spectrometry is able to not only provide an image but it can also identify the weight of molecules and whose molecules they are. The […]

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The Challenges of Physical Intimacy In Marriage

Over the years of working in the relationship education arena, I’ve found that most of our challenges are relatively common in that many of us struggle with the same issues. Satan deceives us into believing we’re the only ones struggling with the particular problem, and then we isolate ourselves because we’re either too embarrassed or ashamed to reach for help.  To remove the stigma of asking the questions that make us uncomfortable and vulnerable, we decided to host an online “After Hours” Q & A with our LivetheLifeSoFlo Instagram account. We go live every Wednesday at 9:00 pm. During the […]

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Good News Wants to Know… – Cuba

As people seek freedom from the communist regime in Cuba, the uprising is impacting all of us as many in Cuba are without food and starving. Here in South Florida we see public demonstrations, and we all have friends, family or co-workers with roots in Cuba. Good News Wants to Know…  What are your feelings and how is this situation personally impacting you? I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, which has become socialist/communist under Chavez and Maduro. We have family and friends that live there still, and we have friends who came from Cuba and lost everything when they had […]

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