The following article is a guest post by Pastor Jamie Rasmussen of Scottsdale Bible Church. Many people see marriage as a “societal and cultural norm” passed down for generations. Each new generation accepts it or changes it to fit their current and progressing values. Others see marriage as “divinely sourced”—coming from an external divine being—who […]

→ read more

I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day.  I love the hearts and flowers and the pink and red and the sugar and smiles.  I love the perforated cards sold in cardboard boxes that schoolchildren give to their classmates.  I love this day.  It is a sparkly, glittery, girly-girl kind of holiday and deep inside – well, really […]

→ read more

We have 3 children. For the most part we feel we’ve been able to express our love well to each of our children even though (we all admit) there were times when we had to concentrate more on the special needs of our son, which may have looked like we loved him more. Nothing could […]

→ read more

Sometimes marriage sounds like a symphony. Every note working together, the dynamics, the ebb and flow of rest and movement, everything working in complete harmony. And sometimes marriages sound like a piano thrown down the stairs of a 30-story building.  Regardless of effort and time, there is no harmony. I have been a musician since […]

→ read more

At the end of 2018 Scott and I will have been married 27 years. This is longer than some of the young men and women in the couples we mentor have even been alive. It’s longer than either of our parents’ marriages lasted. There have been seasons when 27 years is longer than we would […]

→ read more

I was flying to Canada one autumn to speak at a college. I was on a British carrier that had a lot of Europeans on board. The computer that selected my seat had placed me next to a husband and wife in their mid-fifties. They were a Jewish couple from England who had been vacationing […]

→ read more

Those of us who were raised in the Church know the narrative of Christmas, the story of Christ and his life and ministry forwards and backwards.  It’s often brought up in teachings, studies and sermons that so many of the people who lived in the same day and age as Jesus missed the boat on […]

→ read more

It’s not a stretch to compare a kid’s birthday party to a war zone. I mean, 30 kids playing games, having a water balloon fight, eating cake and ice cream, and opening presents is certainly the fastest way I know to make your home look like the Battle of Armageddon. My six year old daughter’s […]

→ read more

We were naïve and idealistic. It goes with being young. Our world was far more about promises than problems. What lay over the horizon was of greater concern to us than what we could see in our rear view mirror. Although we spent most of our days checking requirements off of our educational dance card, […]

→ read more

  Early this year, our family had to make one of the toughest choices we’ve faced in a while. We had to choose to lose our dog. I know what you’re thinking…no, we didn’t leave him on someone’s doorstep or drive him out to the country. He was always more than capable of getting lost […]

→ read more