Address to the St. Louis Weekend to Remember® Volunteers

It is good to see each of you and be able to join you today via webcam.

We are on the beginning of some of the greatest ministry opportunities in the history of FamilyLife®. There are many individual reasons, some very personal, as to why each of us are involved with this ministry. But the underlying reason for all of us is that we want to share the Biblical principles of marriage with those around us because we know that this message is life changing.

I would like to take us to Matthew 25:14-30, The Parable of the Talents.

• A friend's book The Path of Consequence caused me to re-think the application of this parable on a day-to-day basis in my own life.

• God has given each of us talents to use in his Kingdom's work. I usually thought of the talents in terms of material possessions when studying this, not extending my thinking to gifts and abilities.

• The protagonists find themselves on a journey to discover a hidden treasure in the book The Path of Consequence by John W. Richardson. The lessons they learned as they looked for and pursued clues...

Heaven - Our Hope

This week we had a wonderful impromptu FamilyLife Staff Meeting with Randy Alcorn speaking.  Certainly it was the hand of Providence that the author of the book Heaven would speak to our staff the morning after a dear friend and coworker met Jesus face-to-face.  Certainly it was the hand of Providence that the author of the book Heaven would speak to our staff the week another dear friend and coworker was discharged from the hospital because there was nothing more the medical staff could do for the cancer she was facing.

In the midst of great suffering, heartache, grief and sadness even the Christian needs to be reminded of our Hope.  The devotional that Randy shared lifted all of our spirits.  One key thing he shared is that "Biblical hope is rooted in the fact that this life and its troubles are brief experiences relative to eternity. Paul said, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18)."

I could not help but think back to 1978 when two men at different times during the year went out ...

Grumbling

I have a confession to make.  I am a grumbler.  It was recently pointed out to me that the words I use sound like I am complaining and grumbling about my situation.  Of course, I vehemently denied this!  After all I was just stating facts about the situation.  Well, God had some training and correction in mind!

I happen to be reading through the book of Numbers and found a number of references to grumbling. Having just finished reading Exodus I remembered the Israelites were also grumbling on their way out of Egypt towards the promised land. ""How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me."  (Numbers 14:27 ESV) As  I studied Numbers 14-17 I became quite aware of the seriousness of grumbling.  Grumbling in the Old Testament time was such an offense to God that he killed those responsible as noted in Chapter 17 "and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods." (Numbers 16:32 ESV)

I think I shall work hard at learning to not grumble and I am very thankful that we are now under the grace of Jesus Christ!

Death was not always God's response to grumbling.  In Exodus he did not slay those who crumbled but he ...

Launched March 1...

FamilyLife is pleased to announce the official launch of MomLife Today, http://www.momlifetoday.com/.

Over the past few years I have monitored a few mom blogs on the Internet.  Some were good, somewhere so so and some were just awful.  What they all had in common was a single moms experience and thoughts of parenting and what it means to be a mom.  I'm excited about MomLife Today because of the crossgenerational panel of moms who contribute, all from various backgrounds and experiences with one common goal to share biblical principles about issues that impact moms.

We are very excited about how God might use this new outreach to speak into the lives

God in his Majesty...

God is awesome! In the first two weekends of the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember schedule we have seen God work mightily in the lives of thousands of couples. In the first two weekends of February God ministered to 10,006 people at 10 Weekend to Remember events.  There were 708 indicated salvation decisions at the combined events.  Amazingly, and to His glory, five of the 10 events were sold out!

You can check out some comments from those attending a Weekend to Remember on the /FamilyLife Weekend to Remember fan page on Facebook.

I believe that all ndividuals are looking for significance in life and specifically in relationships.  It would be my prayer that all find

Joyfull New Year!

A post near the end of January does not qualify as a Happy New Year piece.  Especially in the light of a devastating earthquake in Haiti, lingering illnesses in the family, and deaths of family members of friends of ours.  As I read Psalm 16 I began contemplating the difference between 'happy'and 'joy'.  In the Christian worldview the difference between the two words is significant.  We can be happy only when things are going well and our spirits are uplifted, whereas a state of joyfulness is not dependent upon our circumstances, but rather a willful state of mind (James 1:2, 1Thessalonians 5:16).

I find that David has a great perspective on a new year, one that focuses on his relationship to God and not on what his resolutions for the year might be.  In verse one he talks about the need to be preserved by God ...

Merry Christmas!

We are excited to celebrate Christmas! We have seen the Lord Jesus Christ work in the hearts and minds of thousands of couples this past year. We know there are families celebrating their Christmas together with great joy because of how God changed the life of a husband or a wife or both at a Weekend to Remember marriage conference this last year.

Margie and I wish you a very Merry Christmas! Many of you reading this have a part in our ministry and we wish for you to rejoice with us for the marriages saved and families restored through our ministry here at FamilyLife. 

Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.