When I was single, I assumed engagement would be one of the easiest and most blissful parts of my relationship with my future spouse. But the day after I asked my fiancée, Raquel, if she would marry me, I discovered how wrong I was.
Category: Marriage
Is Porn Killing Men’s Desire for Marriage?
According to a recent study by the Barna group, at least 70 percent of single, self-identified Christian men view pornography on a monthly basis. Many Christian women probably look at this statistic and fear being stuck with a husband who’s more aroused by his smartphone than her. But I’m more worried many of these men will never get married at all.
I Want to Relive My Rehearsal Dinner
I’ll be frank: when my mom first shared her zany idea for my wedding rehearsal dinner, I had my doubts. She had this idea that since I’m a lawyer, she would go with a courtroom theme. She would play the judge, and my fiancee and I would have to call “witnesses” to prove that we really should get married. You can imagine how weird and awkward this could have gotten, but it didn’t.
Destroying Your Marriage is Easier Than You Think
It’s amazing how quickly unintended destruction can happen to a home. A few years ago in my hometown, a family was shooting bottle rockets in front of their house on New Year’s Eve. Someone lit a rocket and accidentally tipped the bottle over. The rocket shot out, flew through the open door, and into the Christmas tree.
What Stupid Marital Fights Look Like
Recently, I was headed down Connecticut Avenue in the morning while it was still dark. There are several pedestrian crosswalks on that street that nobody uses at 5:20 a.m., so I was understandably surprised when I saw an old man standing in the middle of the street waving at me and yelling.
What to do When Bad Tension Happens to a Good Marriage
The last three months have been pretty hard on my family. A lot of it had to do with me traveling too much for work and struggling to find the time to complete a challenging feature article. Plus, the girls started school, which changed our whole routine, and my poor wife has gotten pretty sick a couple of times. And as much as I hate to admit it, somewhere in the midst of all that stress, my wife and I stopped being our best selves with each other.
What I Learned About Marriage From Two Taxi Drivers
I’m the kind of guy who likes to chat with taxi drivers en route to my destination, and recently, I had two drivers who provided a little bit of perspective on marriage.
The Real Reason Your In-Laws Don’t Like You
A couple of years ago, I was talking to a young fiancee who was upset because her future in-laws didn’t like her. As she shared her experience, it was hard to believe that these adults, who were otherwise decent people, could be so socially tone deaf, so oblivious to their own unkind words and actions.
The Glorious Frustration of Being Married
Before I got married, I drove however fast I wanted and took whatever route I wanted. Granted, on my way to wherever I was going, I also had a knack for running late because of my propensity to get lost. And although I hate to admit it, even now my inner compass doesn’t function like the other people out there who have an unexplainable good sense of direction. One of those other people is my wife, and it wasn’t long into our relationship before she figured out that when it came to finding our way around unfamiliar areas, she and…
One Way to Stop an Argument with Your Spouse
The other night, I was on my way out the door to go to a church men’s group, and I told my wife I didn’t know how to get there. She gave me directions to the house, which was located in another part of D.C. I repeated the directions back to her, and then I got in the car and drove away. But then one block later, I realized I didn’t have my cell phone with me.
My Friend’s Wife is Going to Jesus Today – Please Pray
Last week, I posted a status update on my Facebook page asking the readers of the blog to pray for a miracle for Wanda Harrison, the wife of my friend Kevin. She had unexpectedly suffered a brain bleed that left her in a coma and without much hope for surviving. I concluded the status update by saying, I know that it’s hard to figure out how to respond to status updates like this one. Nobody wants to ‘like’ bad news. So here’s an idea: if you will join me in a simple prayer for God to do a wild miracle…
How to Fall in Love with Your Spouse Again
A couple of days ago, I was getting on the Metro when I saw a young woman did something that caught my eye. She noticed that her beau was on our train, and she plowed through the people on the train to get to him.
Five Reasons I’m Glad I’m Married
Recently, I wrote a post on Boundless in which I compared marriage to being a new homeowner and reminded single readers that marriage is a process that involves a lot of hard work. I still stand by everything I said, but some of our readers responded and made a good point: Married Christians have a nasty habit of providing endless know-it-all warnings about the various reasons marriage is going to be way harder than single folks can imagine. One reader commented that, actually, it’s easy for her to imagine all the things that could go wrong with marriage; she preferred to…
What You May Not Want to Hear About Marriage
After aggressively saving for a while, my wife and I just purchased a home that was totally remodeled. When the inspector was going through the house, he warned us that during the course of the first year, the new structure would settle, leaving cracks in the walls. Then a friend who purchased a similar home warned me that no matter how good the house looked, I would find all kinds of things wrong with it during the first year. Despite getting this advice from an experienced home inspector and a trusted friend, my internal reaction in response was, My house is going to be different.
Hold Onto Your Spouse Tonight
Yesterday, I was leaving for work when I noticed that my two-year-old daughter wouldn’t look at me when I said goodbye. “Is everything okay?” I asked. She just looked at the floor.











