My Good Thing

It was about 12 years ago exactly that my wife and I started dating. 10 years of marriage, 5 kids, and an adventure called "life" later...

I'm so glad we did.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. http://bible.us/Prov18.2.ESV

Losing Control

I love late night talks with my wife. And we've had hundreds of them over the course of our marriage.

They are typically freeing, enlightening, convicting, focusing, loving (or some combination thereof) conversations.

Tonight was no different.

Our conversation tonight probably fell into convicting/feeling-horrible-about-myself category, yet I am thankful for it.

So now the rubber meets the road, it's time to change.

It's time to lose control.

Well Said...

Regarding the recent statements of our President regarding same-sex marriage, I thought this was well said...

On the Presidential Endorsement of Same-Sex Marriage

For two decades the frog has been in the pot while the temperature has been slowly turned up. Yesterday, it was finally cooked and served to the American people in a sauce so thick as to cover the rancid flavor of the dish.

The process began with the Bush presidencies and their toleration for homosexuality. It was advanced in full by the Clinton Administration. It has now reached its logical zenith under Obama. So we should not be surprised by the official announcement that the President of the United States of America has finally declared to the world his opposition to the historical, common law and biblical meaning of marriage. President Obama may be remembered for many things, but few are as fundamental in its treason to his countrymen, to his oath of office and to the living God, then his decision to use the presidency to redefine a definition of marriage that was established on Day Six of Creation and has been the benchmark of civilization for 6,000 years.

Mark your calendars—May 9, 2012, the President of the United States of America finally crossed a line from which there is no return without repudiation and repentance. Terrorists are dangerous. The economy is a real and present danger. But there is simply nothing other then the holocaust of the unborn which imperils the safety of our country or places our people in jeopardy as does the leader of the Western world publicly raising his fist at the Heavens and declaring that the bedrock institution of society, ordained of God and meant to be protected by the state, is little more than a convention of convenience for the children of Sodom to transform the meaning of something which is precious to Jesus Christ and a living picture of His love for the Church, into a legally protected justification for perversion, and vehicle of hatred aimed directly at that love.

Doug Phillips, President Vision Forum Ministries

To read the post in it's original form, click here.

Date Night

*sigh*

Liz and I got away for a date night tonight. How refreshing! A much needed getaway for both of us.

I've been stressed lately, and when I'm stressed, I'm not sure even why I'm stressed.

Its kinda like my difficulty with finding things. I'm horrible at it. Down right awful! What I'm searching for can be right where I'm looking, and I still can't see it. It's the same when I'm stressed, the reason is inside me and my emotions, and I can't recognize it.

Of course, my wife is opposite. She is a phenomenal finder (if there was such a title), and she is excellent at understanding and putting words to her emotions. (Another reason she's perfect for me!)

In fact, I've learned over the years that she has a better awareness than I about where we are at as a couple - if we are connecting well or emotionally distant. I could go for weeks of disconnect and if my tummy was full and we talked about "business" stuff regularly, I'd think our relationship was great!

Thankfully, my wife knows better than me. (And hopefully I've moved from clueless to at least semi-conscious regarding emotional oneness!)

Anyway, it was a great night to get away and be together. We need to do this more often :)

Sex, Marriage, & Fairytales - Review

Seems I have been in a video mood lately, so might as well keep the streak going...

So, have you seen the video poet? Jeff Bethke has been creating quite a stir, to say the least. His creative videos have been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube.

20 million.

He just posted a new video back a few days ago and it already has been viewed over 3 million times. The name of it is Sex, Marriage, & Fairytales.

Let me say up front that I love what he is doing. He is using his gifts to share his love for Jesus and his heart on some real life matters. His poems contain gripping phrases that challenge us as Christians. His videos have gone "viral" and as a result are bringing I'm sure both praise and condemnation from others.

I have not watched any, but just a brief glance at some of the related videos' titles that YouTube lists (whether they should be called "related" or not is up for debate) shows that he is probably bringing out both the good and the evil in people through his poems. Which makes sense - they are all about Jesus and truth.

I have posted his Sex, Marriage & Fairytales video below. He shares some good thoughts for both married couples and singles. I'll be honest, it's difficult to receive from him entirely and fully simply because of his age and having never been married. Maybe that's my pride though. I'm young and still early in my marriage. That doesn't take away from the truth he shares.

Side note: Jeff is stepping out and following his heart - what most people don't do. It's a lot easier to criticize someone else's step of faith than to step out ourselves...

Anyway, it's obvious even to a young man like Mr. Bethke that marriage in America... scratch that ...marriage in the Church has problems. As a result, we are not setting a godly example for the next generation to follow. Jeff has some good insights and thoughts for all of us.

So take a look. What do you think?

For more on Jeff Bethke, click here.

A Letter To My Wife, On Our Anniversary...

A letter to my wife, on our anniversary....

Elizabeth,

Ten years ago today I was preparing myself to meet you on an altar in a country church in western New York. Ten years ago we made a promise to one another, to stay together and love one another through thick and thin, good times and bad. We made these promises before the Lord of the Universe who has been with us and has blessed us through our first decade of life together.

I’m so glad we made these promises to each other ten years ago today.

You have been my companion through the thick and thin, the good and bad. You are my friend and lover. You have stuck by my side even when I was difficult to stick by. If there is one quality that you have shown me it is that of your faithfulness.

You are a faithful wife, a faithful mother of our children, you are faithful in the running of our home, and faithful in your walk with Jesus.

You have been my faithful companion.

I thank God, honey, for your love, kindness, patience and faithfulness to me. I don’t deserve the love you give me, yet you give it freely. You are fun, energetic, passionate, compassionate, patient, and more. There is no one else I would rather be spending my life with.

So today, on our ten year anniversary, I want to tell you that I love you. That I would marry you all over again… I am more in love with you today than I have ever been. And I sooo look forward to the next ten years (and more!) together.

I love you. Happy anniversary.

John

Ten Years of Love

It's been fun reminiscing through the past ten years of marriage to my beautiful wife Elizabeth :) As a final installment before our actual anniversary post (scroll through my old posts for others), I wanted to share a recent portrait of the family, unveiled on the web for the first time!

From our dating days until now, who would have known the wonderful journey God would lead us on. A young, twitterpated couple, now ten years older (and hopefully wiser), blessed with five beautiful children, and still twitterpated :0)

I thank God for my wife and the time we have been able to share together, and I greatly look forward with anticipation to the next decade of marriage together!

Arrows in the Quiver

If you have been following my blog at all, I have been doing regular posts on my wife and my relationship, spanning the last decade and more. Next month, we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary, and it's definitely been fun looking back on our marriage and how things have changed over the years.

The Bible says in Psalm 127:3-5,

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
   the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
   are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
   who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
   when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.


In 2003, we were blessed with our first baby, Lauren. Since then, God has also blessed us with Josiah, Carson, Judah and Caleb. Five arrows in our quiver!


For fun, I thought I'd upload a baby pic of each of our kids and see if you could guess which picture belongs to who...


Give it a shot, and let me know who's who!

Early Years

I was preparing this morning to write another post on my wife and my marriage together as we lead up to our 10th anniversary. I picked up an old photo album that I haven't viewed for a while and perused through the pictures. How fun!

The pictures were of the time before we had our first child, before the days of digital cameras, before my gray hairs showed up on the scene. I noticed that my face seemed to be a little thinner back then, it's gotta be something to do with the lighting...

So, from deep in the vault of our family photos, here are some favorite "couple" shots of our early years together. Each one painstakingly scanned in for your viewing pleasure. And of course, my wife made me sign a contract that no pictures would be placed on my blog of her without her approval, so each picture has been given her official stamp of approval (I may have had to persuade her to allow one or two to go up :)

Enjoy!

First Dinner Date! (just started seeing each other, we're not excited at all lol)

It's Official! This was soon after I asked Liz to marry me... she said yes!

Shortly after our engagement

Yes, I had red hair

One of our favorite pics, taken on a NYC trip. Riding the Staten Island Ferry,
Statue of Liberty in background

Whale watching in Massachusetts, more like freezing cold water watching

Caught me a good one :)

Yes we did.

Uhh, not sure...

Another fav, camera on a timer, NYC in the background,
Liz pregnant with our first baby, Lauren.

Monsters Inc

This fall/winter marks the 10th anniversary of the Disney/Pixar film Monsters Inc. I normally wouldn't care a lick about that, except for the fact that Monsters Inc was the first movie my wife and I ever saw together as a married couple.

We had just gotten married in upstate NY, and had honeymooned in the Adirondack Mountains in the northern part of the state. We stayed in a small rustic cabin where we enjoyed our first week of marriage together. It was a quaint, secluded, peaceful little spot to share those first few moments together.

One of the things we did while on our honeymoon was visit a local mall that happened to still be showing the romantic flick (ha!) Monsters Inc. It turned out to be semi-romantic as we were able to have the theater all to ourselves! Not sure if that was divine favor or the fact that nobody wanted to see the movie anymore, either way, it makes for good memories.

So, as my third installment of reflecting on 10 years of marriage to my lovely bride, for your viewing pleasure here is the creative intro to Monsters Inc that we saw together as we watched the film 10 years ago. Enjoy!

PS. For any Monsters Inc nerds out there, the above photo is a pin that can be purchased here ;)

Wedding Day

This is post two as I will be posting here and there some special and fun pictures of my wife and I as we lead up to our 10th anniversary this December.

This is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day. It wasn't taken by a professional photographer, rather, the moment was caught I believe by one of Liz's uncles. The picture was captured when we were walking through the reception hall, everyone clapping and cheering for the new couple. As you can tell, we were pretty thrilled too :)

Picking Your Apple

What a great day my family and I had. We visited Haney's Appledale Farm in Nancy, KY, then finished the afternoon off with some Mexican food at one of our favorite family restaurants in Somerset, El Charro.


Then, the evening finished off with a great conversation with my 8-year-old daughter, Lauren. Lauren initiated the conversation while everyone was still awake, and I believe one of the first parts of the conversation was something about her wanting to marry someone who loves God and hates Halloween :) I love it! Though hating Halloween isn't the primary decision-maker in choosing a spouse (nor is it the focus of this post) the deeper issue of loving God is of utmost importance as you determine who you will spend the rest of your life with.


After we had put all the boys to bed, Lauren and I continued to talk more about marriage while I held her in my arms. It was beautiful. So many times my thoughts can be with anything and everything else, but for tonight, we had a good father-daughter connection. She was wondering about marriage and is most definitely thinking about who she should marry (even giving me a specific young boy that I shall not reveal here!) I was surprised this level of thinking happens at this age, and I am also reminded that I am male and she is female. Girls dream about marriage from young so it seems while boys are caught up in adventures and the next thing that's going on I guess :)


Anyway, I shared with her about how her Mom and I got married, how I asked her to marry me (which my wife stepped in to help with the details ;) how old we were, how I asked her Dad permission to marry her Mom, etc. Again, to my surprise, she is already counting the years until she is 18, I believe being aware of marrying age! Yikes! Wake up Dad!


She was so open to what I was sharing with her, it was beautiful. The best advice I believe I gave her was to find a young man who is married to Jesus first. Who loves Jesus more than he loves even her. Similarly, I told her to find a man who loves Jesus as much as she does. How can she marry a man and start a family if they are not walking in step?


We got talking about when the young man will come to me as her Dad and ask permission to marry her, and then eventually ask her. It was just a wonderful moment that God gave us together that no doubt is helping to shape her thoughts and how she prepares for marriage and finds a spouse one day. Of course, she is learning most from my wife and my example that we daily live before all our kids.


I am so blessed to be married to a woman who is married to Jesus first and foremost. I am so thankful the Holy Spirit was involved as I "picked my apple," the love of my life, Elizabeth. I pray that Lauren will involve Him as well as her day to be married approaches, which is coming much sooner than Daddy realizes :)