“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Proverbs 18:21 The words we speak have so much power in our lives. They literally are the source of life and death, as King Solomon wrote thousands of years ago. I’d never really given much thought to the scriptures devoted to our speech until I […]
“What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?” This quote by Gary Thomas has caused an earthquake inside my soul. “If this were true, it would explain a lot,” I thought to myself. I have to be honest here. I got married because I wanted to be in […]
I’ve been married now for five months and I still don’t have a clue how my wife’s mind works. She can go from loving me one minute to being emotionally empty the next, from exciting to be around to downright depressing. It can sometimes be a roller coaster ride, and it always catches me completely […]
I have been feeling a bit of writer’s block this past week. It’s always hard for me to sit still long enough to write anything of substance unless I’m really passionate about it, but when I can’t articulate what I want to say it gets even harder. I’ve never considered myself a writer. Most days […]
The wildest part of marriage so far is being able to have sex! Ann and I are really getting the hang of it and it keeps getting better. I don’t have any great sex or marriage advice as of yet. I’m still a beginner. Here are a few things that I have learned that consistently […]
Ann and I are realizing that we may be giving all of you the wrong impression. We have thoroughly presented the glorious side of adventure in our blog posts, but we have not expressed the harder side of living life without a pre-installed safety net. It is so easy to see the glory and not […]
People told me it would happen; it’s just a matter of time. All married couples eventually end up fighting. Since the wedding, friends have often asked me how married life is. I don’t really know how to answer. It’s such a loaded question. I mean, obviously married life is great! I get to wake up next to my best friend every […]
Ann and I had the opportunity to sit down with John Eldredge for a marriage counseling session recently. For those who don’t know, John is a brilliant writer who has written a number of books that have helped lots of people come closer to God and live from their whole hearts. Ever since I met […]
Today is Joe and I’s second anniversary…our second month of being married, that is. Our “newlywed” experience has been quite the wild adventure, to say the least. I’m assuming it’s also probably very different compared to what other couples experience in their first few months after sealing the deal. Joe and I have been travelling […]
More than one person warned me and Ann not to do anything too stressful right after we got married. A few of our friends mentioned that they thought going on the summer tour was a liability to our marriage. Criss-crossing the US in a van with seven other 20 year olds, sleeping in a different […]
Last week Joe and I, along with the Live Offensively team and some of our close friends, spent four days selling t-shirts and ministering to students at Creation music festival. Located in the Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania, Creation is the world’s largest Christian music festival, bringing in nearly 80,000 people each year. This is the only festival […]
I have had more than one married friend tell me that once they got married their number one climbing partner stopped climbing with them. Apparently, there are a lot of women out there who are captured by adventure, God’s Creation, and taking risks but once they are hitched they seek security and comfort, and want […]
“Good is the enemy of the great,” says Jim Collins in his best seller Good to Great. He goes on to explain, “We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is […]
Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico on the shores of the Yucatan in 1519. He had only one objective, his commitment in life, to find the legendary city of Gold and capture and seize the great treasures of the Aztec Indians. Cortez was a firm believer in the philosophy of “All or Nothing” without an option […]
I’ll never forget my first ride up to altitude to jump out of the king air at the local airport by my house. I can still remember feeling the sweat drip down my chest on the inside of my jump suit as it climbed to altitude. The awareness of my mortality had never been so […]
