Book Review: When Sinners Say “I Do”

Title: When Sinners Say “I Do” Author: Dave Harvey Publisher: Shepherd Press, 2007; 189 pp. $13.95 Recommendation (4-star scale): While performing a wedding recently, I said something that has become a common refrain for me: “I wish I could tell you that the excitement, anticipation, and thrill you feel towards each other now will endure […]

Grab Bag

A list of collected resources, interesting articles, and even an opportunity or two from the last week: Allister Begg’s conference for pastors is always interesting and helpful. I’ve listened to the audio for the last two or three years, and this year one of the speakers is a guy named Piper. Hmmm. I won’t be […]

Book Review: This Momentary Marriage

Title: This Momentary Marriage Author: John Piper Publisher: Crossway Books, 2009; 180 pp. Recommendation (4-star scale): I suppose I own dozens of books on marriage, parenting, Biblical manhood, and the like. Not counting my counseling books, this topic accounts for something like 20 board feet of shelving in my library. I have preached lots of […]

After the wedding

Having conducted a wedding this afternoon, I’m still thinking about some of the things I wanted to communicate about God and marriage to the couple and to those in attendance. Taking my thoughts primarily from Ephesians 5, I addressed the couple (particularly the husband) and exhorted them to follow the example of Christ in His […]

Today’s Quote – Marriage (Mason)

Mike Mason, The Mystery of Marriage: One thing that is very important to know in marriage is that there is always a way out. And the way out is not divorce! No, the way out in marriage (no matter how bad things may get) is simply to put everything back on the line, our whole […]

Thinking about weddings and marriage

In two days I am performing a marriage ceremony and I am currently in the process of doing premarital counseling with another couple and I just finished reading John Piper’s new book, This Momentary Marriage (which is excellent — a review will be coming next week). So I’ve been thinking a lot about weddings and […]

Today’s Quote – Husbands (Scott)

Stuart Scott, The Exemplary Husband: Only the heart that truly knows and walks with God can even begin to look like the heart of God. A husband will bear good fruit in his character and work only when the thoughts an intentions of his heart seek God, love God, and desire to glorify God. Such […]

Today is an important day

Today is an important day. Twenty-two years ago today, I was living in Dallas and made a trip to the airport to pick up Raye Jeanne, who was living in Washington state at the time. She was coming for a 7-10 day visit between my school semesters. After picking her up, we stopped by the […]

Today’s Quote – Marriage (Piper)

John Piper, This Momentary Marriage, The most foundational thing to see from the Bible about marriage is that it is God’s doing. And the ultimate thing to see from the Bible about marriage is that it is for God’s glory.…Most foundationally, marriage is the doing of God. And ultimately, marriage is the display of God.

Today’s Quote (10/1/08)

C. J. Mahaney, “The Idol Factory,” Pt. 2 Husband and wife — you desire to have a spouse that relates to you with respect, etc. Is that a wrong desire? No. But it’s not a need. And it can become a lust, if when your spouse doesn’t respond as you desire, you in craving and […]

Singleness and Children

Al Mohler always has keen insights into cultural issues and how a believer should view new happenings as they occur. Yesterday he responded to a report from England that many single women are now becoming mothers through artificial insemination — and at much earlier ages (20s and early 30s) than ever before. The entire blog […]

The marriage gene?

I unfolded the front section of my newspaper yesterday to find this headline: “Men’s genes may be the key to good fit.” It seems that researchers in Sweden concluded that men with the presence of a particular gene variant (approximately 40% have an extra copy of allele, a variant of a gene that influences brain […]

What to do when happily married

“What do you do when you are happily married?” The question isn’t “how do you become happily married?” but “since you are happily married, what should you do?” Why, prepare for a divorce, of course. At least that is the logic of Ellen Tien, in her essay “She’s happily married, dreaming of divorce.” [The original […]

Cohabitation and marriage

Al Mohler has an interesting summary and brief analysis about the recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau (as reported in USA Today) that there is an increase in cohabitating couples. The summary statistics: In 2007, there were 6.4 million cohabitating, heterosexual couples in the U.S — up from approximately 5 million in 2006. There […]

Another testimony for permanent marriages

In yesterday’s blog, Al Mohler, citing a recent article from the Washington Post, articulates a downside to divorce that has rarely been mentioned. We speak often of the impact of divorce on young children, and the detriment it is to the marriage partners, but after decades of increased divorce rates, the influence on divorce for […]