Date Nights & Devotions

Aileen and I have never been too good at date nights. We know that, according to all the experts, we are supposed to go out on a date, at minimum, every couple of weeks. Those experts must all have lots of money or access to free babysitters because there’s just no way we can afford to pay someone the going rate to watch the kids every 2 weeks. What we do instead is wait until all the kids are at …

Energy, Time, Creativity

With a friend I’ve been reading through R. Kent Hughes’ book Disciplines of a Godly Man. This week we read the section titled “Relationships.” This section is comprised of 4 chapters and offered all kinds of good food for thought. I wanted to point out just one brief excerpt that kicked me in the gut. It comes in a section discussing “The Discipline of Marriage.” Here is what he says: Men, we are called to a divinely appointed self-love: to …

Become a Patron

Celebrating Dependence

You know the words of Genesis 2:18. There God, having completed his work of Creation, having declared the excellence of all that he has made, says “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” It is useful to consider the context of the creation of Adam’s helper. God declared that it was not good for the man to be alone and that he had need of a helper. And …

Leadership in the Home – A Godly Man Provides

This is the fifth and final part of this series on leadership in the home. You can read the first part here, the second part here, the third part here and the fourth part here. Having looked at the husband’s responsibilities in leadership and protection, we turn today to provision. The husband is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the family’s needs are met. While financial needs are the most obvious component of this, they extend far beyond. Here are several …

Who Do You Love More?

I made my children cry. A short time ago my son and daughter came to me and Abby, representing both of them, I suppose, asked the kind of question little girls ask. It was a question they must have been thinking, or perhaps arguing, about. “Daddy, who do you love more, Mommy or us?” I thought for just a moment and told them the truth. They cried. The fact is, I love their mother more than I love them and …

The Source of Submission

Is submission a consequence of man’s fall into sin? The concept of submission is a tough one to get our minds around. There was a time when I’m sure it came more naturally to people–a time when inequality and hierarchy were assumed. In that kind of social situation I’m sure submission would seem more natural. But today, when we acknowledge that all men (and women) are created equal and when and when there are few things we value higher than …

A Wedding Contract

Last week I went to Ottawa to enjoy my cousin’s wedding. It was a beautiful, classy, simple wedding. While the service was great from beginning to end, I particularly enjoyed the brief sermon which drew a startling contrast between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God; between the love of the world and the love of God. The pastor began by discussing a marriage contract drawn up by Albert Einstein. With his marriage disintegrating and already participating …

The Means to the End

Not too long ago my youngest sister began dating a guy who seems to have made her all twitterpated. Shortly after she started seeing him, she drove up to Canada to spend a few days with my family. I took the opportunity to try to impart some big-brotherly wisdom to her. I told her that I have known a great many couples who began dating as Christians and who set strict limits about how far they wanted the physical limits …

Submission – Does It Precede The Fall?

I have been challenged recently on the subject of submission and how it relates to the role of women in a marriage relationship. In particular, I have been challenged to understand and then prove that the submission prescribed by Scripture is inherent in God’s created order. In other words, the fact that women are to submit to their husbands is not merely the product of the Fall of the human race into sin, but is a product of God’s creation. …

Good Enough For Now

Last week I bookmarked an article I found on FoxNews. The article, entitled “”Til Death Do Us Part’ Is Dying Out” says that “‘Til death do us part” is going the way of “to honor and obey.” That is to say, of course, that it is going the way of the dinosaur. It’s dying out. It’s disappearing. Buh-bye. “Vows like ‘For as long as we continue to love each other,’ ‘For as long as our love shall last’ and ‘Until …