Even though I’ve been a marriage pastor for almost 13 years, my wife and I still struggle in one particular aspect of marital intimacy. I can teach others about this topic all day long but still find myself falling short in this part of our marriage. We both love Jesus and each spend time reading …
This past weekend I spoke at a church marriage retreat in Branson, MO. I spoke four times about intimacy. Contrary to popular belief, intimacy involves much more than just physical/sexual intimacy. Each talk focused on a different component of marital intimacy and only one of them centered on physical intimacy. In this two-part series, I’ll …
A few weeks ago I moderated a late night panel at the Merge premarital class at Watermark Community Church. The panel included two couples who walked through marital infidelity. In each couple, one spouse cheated on their spouse with someone else. But through forgiveness, hard work, and reconciliation, each couple now shares their painful story …
I originally titled this post, “My Biggest (Ongoing) Mistake as a Dad.” Those big words are not meant to be click bait. Rather, I want to share my biggest ongoing mistake and continual struggle I have as a parent. I know I’m not alone in this battle since I’ve heard many other parents share something …
One of my biggest concerns as a married man is that our home and marriage would become boring. I fear getting stuck in ruts and focusing more on the kids, crazy schedules, and to-do lists more than we do on our relationship with God or our marriage. I’m not minimizing the importance of kids and …
When we met with Debbie in her office for premarital counseling, Kristen and I nodded our heads up and down. We agreed with her assessment of our relationship and affirmed her concerns about our future. “Sure, we’ll probably have some challenges with communication and unmet expectations.” “Yes, I’ll struggle with people-pleasing and busyness.” “Of course we …
Sometime last year, one of my marriage ministry teammates celebrated her third wedding anniversary. When I asked her what they were doing to celebrate, she shared with me something she and her husband started doing on their first anniversary two years prior. Their first anniversary fell in the middle of a Dallas ice storm. Whenever …
One of the universal challenges all couples face is how to best resolve conflict. Maybe you’re like one of these couples below: You grew up in different families and saw it modeled in very different ways. You each have a unique personality and temperament. One of you might withdraw from conflict while the other might …
A few days ago while in a disagreement with one of my boys, we exchanged a few “pleasantries” that I don’t want to repeat for you on the internet. We both allowed our frustration to get the best of us. We escalated in anger and the content of what we shared was not kind. While …
I never had the sex talk growing up. My dad passed away when I was six years old, and even though my mom remarried, my step-dad never had the sex talk with me either. Rather, I learned about sex from pornography, movies, friends, and experience. It wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I …
