Respect your Wife!

I have been doing devotional readings from several books over the last year or so. One of them is The Top Ten Ways To Love Your Wife By Hans & Donna Finzel (I think I have met his brother Franz, and he pumped me up). The married authors take on the misconceptions commonly placed on women and their roles in the marriage relationship. One of the things that stuck out to me today is the fact that a lot of times men command and expect women to take care of their domains and responsibilities, and then they go out and try to second guess the women when they execute their plan. It is a situation I know I have found myself in. I can think of an uncountable amount of times when I have come in to "assist" my wife, and just gone and made the situation worse. The truth is that women are not naive; they know what they are doing, they know that they can make choices for themselves, think critically, and solve problems on levels that I can't even begin to comprehend. Give the ladies in your life the respect they deserve, because if they are anything like my wife, they work so hard and do very well at the things they do.

Where is the heart at?

I found this passage of scripture from the 17th chapter of Jeremiah in part because one of the verses was from a devotional I started reading. I think it is a very powerful message:

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

¹⁰ "I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve."

I think what I like about this passage is that it is an intimate conversation, just Jeremiah and God. Jeremiah asks God about the deception of the heart, how easily it sways the mind of the individual. God respond in that he searches the heart, and focuses not on the whims of the heart swaying to and fro, but instead on what pours out of the heart and mind: the actions that an individual takes. To be rewarded not because we think highly of ourselves, or because we take a shower every day, or don't eat our own dandruff is irrelevant; God, in all his might and power, rewards us according to what are deeds deserve. May I live in such a way that merits the great reward of blessing from God our father!

Concluding Living Ethical Lives

I find myself on the last day of coursework for Living Ethical Lives. It has been a very pleasant journey through this course work, and I have to admit that I am saddened that this course is over. I have felt a strong interaction and engagement with the course work, such that I have not experienced in the last couple of course I have taken.

It was greatly beneficial for me to better understand the connection of theology with ethics. It is impossible for the Christian to know the moral way of living without an intimate, connected relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It is amazing in that as you grow in faith and relationship with God the Father, the way you ought to live becomes clearer, easier to understand, and easier to apply in a practical way. Needless to say there will be times when I am faced with ethical dilemmas, and I will need the prayerful guidance and support of my Lord and Savior to know which way to go, but I find a peace in knowing that I have him to turn to.

So where do we go from here? I hope to continue the journaling journey until my next course starts. Until then, this will probably be a forum for my interactions with my Lord, Be it through my devotions or through experiences in my day that draw me closer to him. I hope you continue on this journey with me.

Visiting a Friend

I know this blog is supposed to be a log of my journey through the land of Living Ethical Lives, but I don't feel that it is really serving its intended purpose if it is not at times a carry all for living my life. So I feel the need to comment about the events of my day.

I had the opportunity today to accompany a young girl to jail to visit her father, who is a dear friend of mine. For the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to sit down and watch a father and daughter visit and converse with each other through a two inch sheet of plexi-glass. I left that visit stricken by the love this father had for his daughter. He didn't have to say it or express it in any way; you could see it in his eyes, and the way she responded to him. I have to admit it is something that goes beyond my comprehension, the love a father has for his daughter. It reminds me of the love my father has for me. It truly transcends all my human understanding. As Easter Sunday approaches at dawn, it was a good reminder to see the love a parent has for a child, and the kind of love that my abba father has for me.