Why Pursuing “The One” Will Leave You Lonely

As the man said, "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

“A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike; to restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in one’s right hand.” – Proverbs 27:15-16 (ESV) Note: Welcome to my 100th post — which also coincides with the first anniversary of our launch. Thank you for reading, for […]

On Stock Cars and Station Wagons

Why confusing love and marriage leads to dysfunction

Commenter Dale provided a reminder recently of an important concept that deserves more attention: “Dalrock, on his blog, has somewhat regularly been hitting the idea that we have love and marriage totally backwards. We think that a relationship of romantic love is the correct place in which to have sex and create marriage. A consequence […]

Hallelujah Anyhow: How to Remain Supremely Hopeful

Don't let disappointment have the last word

“The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians–when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.” – Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy As […]

When You Marry a Mountain Girl, You Marry The Mountain

Part 2 of 2

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” -Proverbs 18:22 (ESV) In part 1, we talked about the wisdom of getting to know your beloved before you say “I do.” That mountain in the title isn’t just the woman’s family. To help you in this process, here are […]

When You Marry A Mountain Girl, You Marry The Mountain

Part 1 of 2

“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.” -Proverbs 12:4 The title of today’s post is an old Appalachian saying — I can’t remember when or where I first heard it. In its most common use, it means that a woman’s attachment to her […]

Yes, Dear — Part II

Some hows and whys of marital headship

“…but if you try sometimes… you get what you need.” -Mick Jagger In part I, we discussed why encouraging men to just say “Yes, Dear,” to keep peace is horrible advice. In this second installment, I’d like to offer some thoughts on how and why a man is called by God to lead his wife. […]

Yes, Dear

Happy wife, happy life -- but is saying yes all the time the key?

“You can’t always get what you want…” -Mick Jagger I attend a lot of wedding receptions. I’m playing at most of them, but I am also at an age where my sons’ friends — and my friends’ sons — are getting married. It doesn’t happen at every event, but you’d be surprised at how many […]