Relationships

It Matters That they Lived

Elizabeth Mitchell
6 Mar 2018
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“Weeping may tarry for the night,” (Psalm 30:5) It matters that they lived, regardless how short the span. It matters on a scale of enormous significance that your friends’ loved ones drew breath for a wisp of time or for a lengthy chain of years. A life that was loved is worthy to matter to us, too. On every side people are grieving, and we are allowed entrance into that sacred space where breathing has become an unbearable task. When a small child leaves shattered parents or elderly saints cross the threshold of heaven, those left behind are devastated. For […]

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No Home Here

Omar Aleman
8 Feb 2018
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 The successful businessman married the peasant maid much to the disdain of his family and friends, and soon thereafter I was born. He passed five years later, which led my mom and I to leave the country and move to the U.S. Several years later, my mom married a man lacking the sophistication and charisma of my dad; soon, however, I begrudgingly had to admit that these two immigrants with third grade educations and no knowledge of English were pretty good at parenting. However, they could not “hold a candle” to a teenager with vast “intellectual superiority,” knowledge of the […]

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What is True Love?

John Hawkins, Sr
7 Feb 2018
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“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (Corinthians 13: 4-8 NKJV). Feelings are fickle This is the biblical definition of true love. What we see from this definition is that true love is an action not just a feeling. When in love we do feel something. However, to […]

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I Had (Have) A Friend

Stephan Tchividjian
31 Jan 2018
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Friendship is talked about…but seldom experienced. I would like to tell you about my friend. My friend grew up in another country. He was born in a small town where he was raised by an angel of a mother and a complex father. He was part of a large family. My friend became a Christian in his teen years. I first met him when he was in his early twenties and just starting a family. He had two families, and he was devoted to both of them. Please don’t imagine that he actually had two wives and two lives, no. […]

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friend

Parenting On Purpose By Being Your Child’s First Date

Dr. Bob Barnes and Torrey Roberts
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date

  Your child’s first date is probably one of the most significant events of his or her life…and it should be no different than any of these other “teachable firsts.” It’s the parent’s privilege to be the other half of the child’s first date. How can a teen know how to handle dating properly if a parent doesn’t choose to be the instructor? Your child’s first dates should be with you. Communication Dating your child has so many advantages. First, it allows a parent to get to know their children one on one. It sets up time for you to […]

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Eight Strategies to Strengthen Your Marriage

Terry Morrow
1 Jan 2018
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Recently, our community experienced the outer bands of Hurricane Irma. Though we didn’t suffer a direct hit, as expected, we spent the days before the storm preparing for the winds and rain that were threatening our homes and families. I began to wonder, “Do we spend the same amount of intentional energy on protecting and safeguarding our marriages?” Though the news doesn’t cover it, and it is unlikely that we will see hourly visual updates on the projected paths of the storms brewing in our lives, threatening winds and rains threaten our marriages on a daily basis. God promises protection […]

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Give Your Kids and Teens What They Really Want This Christmas

C.J. Wetzler
6 Dec 2017
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In 2015 IKEA, the Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture and home furnishings retailer, asked “Why do we insist on not giving our children the gifts they really want for Christmas?” To answer this question, IKEA created an experiment in which children from 10 different families were asked to write two separate letters: one to Santa Clause and the other to their parents. As expected, to Santa Clause, kids requested everything from the latest tech to a unicorn. In the other letter however, the one to their parents, kids wrote, “I want you to spend more time with me… that we do more […]

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Meet the Twins

Stephan Tchividjian
1 Dec 2017
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Meet My Twin, J I have a friend named J.  He is always good for a great story.  J comes from a large family and has an influential father.  J grew up as the youngest child.  I come from a big family too; however, I am the oldest.  The oldest is the test case; the youngest is often the most spoiled. I also know the drama that exists with large families, but I would not want it any other way. There is always a good story in the making. I have always admired J because whatever situation he is in […]

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Hiking with Tequila

Stephan Tchividjian
20 Nov 2017
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hiking

I love to hike. I could truly say that it’s one of my favorite pastimes. I could honestly do it everyday. I have had some incredible adventures throughout the years hiking. I have hiked alone, I have hiked with my wife, Lisa, I have hiked with friends, and I have hiked with strangers. My hikes have been beautiful, my hikes have been frightening, my hikes have caused injury, my hikes have been long, my hikes have been short, my hikes have been hot, and my hikes have been cold, my hikes have been…oh, you get the idea…my hikes have simply […]

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Dealing with Infidelity

Norm Wise
6 Nov 2017
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“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (Hebrews 13:4 NLT). Tom Smith, the highly respected academic survey researcher, has this to say about extramarital sex: “The best estimates are that about 3% to 4% of currently married people have a sexual partner besides their spouse in a given year and about 15% to 18% of ever-married people have had a sexual partner other than their spouse while married.” www.forbes.com/2009/06/28/sanford-ensign-affair-opinions-columnists-extramarital-sex.html There are few heartaches as severe to any married person who is faithful […]

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