Something Special

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” (Ephesians 5:25 CSB)

The much cliched saying is that time flies when you are having fun. I remember enjoying my high school experience thoroughly. I had a terrific community I was a part of in my school with strong traditions and lots of fun along the way. It never felt like it flew by, though, when the end of that season finally arrived it all felt very much surreal. The same thing goes for college. Those years felt faster, but I don’t remember consciously processing the thought that the time was moving particularly quickly. Given that, you would think that a span of twenty years as compared with that combined eight years would feel like an eternity. But the last twenty years have passed by in the blink of an eye. As much fun as high school and college were, it doesn’t even compare with the joys of marriage. Today I’ve been married for twenty years to my one and only, and the joys of the journey are only getting sweeter. Let me share a few with you.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 5:25, 6:4

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her…Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever gotten started off on the wrong foot only to get back on track once things got up and running pretty well? I think about the NCAA Men’s March Madness championship game from a couple of years ago. My Kansas Jayhawks were playing UNC for the title. The game didn’t start very well. At the half we were down 15. We weren’t shooting well. They were. It was a pretty dispiriting beginning. But then things got back on track and the game went entirely more smoothly in the second half…unless of course you happen to be a UNC fan in which case this illustration completely fails. Just focus on the win over Duke in the Final Four and you’ll be fine. Let’s jump to something happier for you. The CBS sitcom Young Sheldon is coming to an end. As it does, one particular storyline is getting up and running really well. It’s become for me the best part of the show. Let’s talk about it this morning and why it’s such a good thing.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 5:22,25

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. . . .Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m a terrible bowler. I enjoy it. But I’m terrible at it. On occasion I’ve been to the lanes, gotten into a real rhythm, and done reasonably well. More often than not, though, I would do better keeping score by tracking the number of gutter balls I throw. Plus, bowling alleys are almost always seedy-looking places that smell like feet (the same goes with skating rinks, but that’s another story). Sure, there are more and more “entertainment zones” in the mold of Dave and Busters popping up which invariably include bowling lanes, and those are pretty nice, but for some reason stand-alone bowling alleys always seem dumpy. A network comedy about a professional bowler, then, doesn’t really seem like it would be one to catch my eye. Yet after four episodes, I can’t get enough. Let’s talk this morning about CBS’ latest sitcom offering, How We Roll.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 5:25

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

“Another review for you this morning and a verse we’ve talked about before. This time a television medical drama. Entries in that particular genre are a dime a dozen these days. Each new TV season brings multiple new premiers. Today’s focal feature premiered in the U.S. in 2017 and is copied from a Korean series of the same name that ran for one season in 2013. It is an import I’m glad we’re able to enjoy. It falls in the plot pattern of past shows like Doogie Howser, M.D. and House where the main characters is just a bit different from everyone else. In this one he’s not a child genius or a jerk, he’s autistic. Let’s talk this morning about The Good Doctor.

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Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 5:25

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

If Paul’s words to wives were tough here, his words to husbands are even more challenging.  Wives are called to submit to their husbands as a function of their prior and larger submission to Christ.  Husbands are called to love their wives after the pattern of Christ’s love for the church.  That, of course, prompts a question: How did Christ loved the church?  Answer: He died for her.  He committed Himself to the last breath to seeing her become fully who God created her to be.  Everything he did was for her benefit.  Every single decision He made was filtered through the lens of whether or not it was going to be to her advantage.  For husbands, this is our standard. Read the rest…