Thinking and acting in the same way, wives don’t fight with your husbands. Not-fighting is the key to “winning.” And the goal here is that unbelieving husbands would be won over. It’s your beautiful and […]
Tag: Marriage
Farewell, Jan
On May 10, 2019, our friend Jan Peterson died, joining her husband and my mentor, Eugene Peterson, just seven months after his death. Jan lived much of the last three decades of her life in […]
Psalm 45 – the wedding psalm
A rendering of Psalm 45, the only psalm about marriage.
The unexpected spirituality of marriage
If there’s anything the Western world is infatuated with, it’s infatuation. We love love. We are swept off our feet by romance. If we believe in anything, it’s that the greatest achievement any of us […]
The lie behind my “yeah, but” spirituality
What attitude do I bring to the Scriptures when I read them? Is there an attentiveness to what is written? Is there an expectation to hear from God? Is there a readiness to obey? Obedience […]
Hugh Hefner, Playboy & the death of sex
I remember the first time I saw a Playboy magazine. I was about 11 and an older neighbor has stolen a copy from the nearby 7-11. Not yet to puberty, it didn’t have the effect […]
Leap first
“The intellect is there to instruct us after the act.” — Ray Bradbury A few years ago, I took a flying leap off of a rock high above a river. But I jumped too far out, […]
Unowned
I used to be a Coke guy. I refused to drink Pepsi because Coke was my brand. But then one day, I realized that I had let a soft drink manufacturer own me. I was […]
Clovers & how to keep a marriage alive
Soon after my wife and I were married, we were visited by her aunt and uncle and together the four of us visited a botanical garden. In the gift shop, Aunt Bev bought a small […]
Oneness: God's vision for marriage & for the whole world
I’ve seen too much pain in the gender wars in the church, too much using the Scriptures as a weapon. As a result, I came to avoid passages like Eph. 5:22-33. It was only when […]
Celebrating marriage — including the dark parts
“Marriage is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” I was sitting in Eugene Peterson’s class on Ephesians at Regent College when he said those words. He didn’t elaborate and I think I missed the rest […]
The gift of thanks
It’s never too early to celebrate Thanksgiving. In fact, aside from the turkey and fixings which would quickly grow tiresome, it ought to be a daily observance. Recent studies have shown that if there is […]
Learning how to be a husband
I’m not a great husband. I’m not the worst, either. Just middling. After 21 years of life together as husband and wife, you’d think that I’d have it figured out. But it’s this same old […]
The importance of singleness in a world infatuated with romance
Every single day, my Facebook page shows wonderful pictures of couples celebrating their anniversaries together. I love it. Marriage is to be celebrated and enjoyed. The writer of Hebrews tells us in no uncertain terms: […]
Church is about a community to serve, not a service to attend
Relationships are both the means and the end of this life. We were made for community, and yet it is the most difficult thing we ever do. The biblical account confirms this. After an amazing […]