Did you know that the traditional gift to mark ten years of marriage is tin or aluminum? Apparently, those metals symbolize the flexibility and durability required to last a decade together. Okay, I guess. That feels a little underwhelming to me. But when I learned the modern gift for ten years is diamonds, that seemed overwhelming. Shouldn’t diamonds signify way bigger milestones further down the road? Regardless, I didn’t give ...
Well, I should’ve posted this last summer - but hey, better late than never, right? Being married for nine years has changed me in ways I never saw coming. Rachel could tell you all about how I’ve grown up (in areas I didn’t even know needed work), and honestly, I feel more grounded, more stable, and - this is a big one - I actually like me more than I ...
Rachel and I completed ten years of knowing each other and eight years of marriage last year, and I’m glad to honestly be able to say we are doing great. The guys I know don’t really talk about their marriages with one another, and so I have no reference point; I just have learned that putting my wife’s needs first is what I am called to do and what I ...
Rachel told me a while back that the seventh year of marriage is supposedly the hardest, with statistics showing that half of married couples who divorce do so by this point. I had never heard of this concept, but apparently, it’s a “thing” – and related to the “seven-year itch” (i.e., the desire to have an affair). With this in mind, and as I’ve done with our six month, one year, two ...
With Christmas fast approaching, I was thinking about the relationship between the parents of Jesus. We don’t know much at all about Joseph from historical texts, but English translations convey that he was a carpenter pledged to be married to Mary, a Jewish girl in her teens. However, under Jewish law and according to Old Testament scholars, a betrothed woman was considered to be married. When Mary got pregnant, Joseph ...
Every fall, it’s hurricane season down here in Southeast Florida - which serves as an annual reminder that disaster could be headed my way. I’ve had to deal with four major hurricanes while I’ve lived down here, and it has not been fun. Typically, what happens is that the news channels let us know a new one is moving in our direction, and everyone monitors the updates to see where ...
I met Rachel in 2013 while volunteering at a summer camp in Banner Elk, North Carolina. According to her, she started falling in love with me after seeing how I was with kids: playful, carefree, easygoing, undistracted, fully present, joyful, silly, and super cute. That same year, she went to Ecuador for six months to serve at an orphanage, and I visited her during Christmas break. We had an amazing ...
Rachel’s granddad passed away recently. His name was Cliff Davis, and he almost made it to the ripe old age of 91. He lived with Grandma on the second level of Rachel’s parents’ home, and I loved seeing both of them whenever we went up there to visit. I felt like I got to know Granddad Davis over the last few years better than even my own grandparents - who ...
You might think this odd, but whenever it is raining and I’m driving around, I don’t use my car’s windshield wipers. This makes Rachel crazy. She’s like, “How can you even see!?” and I’m like, “I dunno, I just do!” I know she doesn’t understand why I won’t turn on the wipers to clear the windshield when it’s such a simple and sensible thing to do. But I just don’t. ...
Well, in marriage, the lessons just keep on coming. And I’m committed to keep sharing what I’m learning just in case it helps someone else. I know all of my single friends want to get married, and I want them to get married as well. (Immediately!) But the more wisdom you can gain right now will save you a lot of headache and heartache down the road. So let’s get ...