When we feel alone we look for relationships.
When we build relationships we look for connection.
When we recognize connection we hope for intimacy.
When we embrace intimacy…

… sometimes our hopes are dashed.

Our girlfriend is too manic.
Our boyfriend is too needy.
Our wife is too wounded.
Our husband is too self-centered.

And, it all comes crumbling down.

You can’t make her happy!
You can’t make him happy!
You feel so alone.

Left unchecked angry and loneliness are the ingredients for rage.

I hate this! Nothing makes sense.
I know I’m not good enough! And…
I know I will never be!

Did you read about my dream?

If not, please do. Here’s a link.

I dreamt about praying because I believe God is near.

In my dream I did what has become normal, natural and routine for me: I continued the conversation.

Presence

My wife Amy is right there —->

If I don’t think I have her attention I might say, “Aim!”, “Hey!”, “Cutie!” or “Amy!” to get her attention, but typically she is aware of me and her love for me when she is around me will tune her to me when I want her attention.

I had a dream Sunday night.  I couldn’t wait to tell you about it, but I did.

I was riding on a flat bottom rail car through an unnamed city.  

Our flatbed train was kind of like a ten-foot wide airport moving walkway. We were traveling in an open flatbed rail car with no safety features at all. It seemed normal. 1

I traveled with my son Josh, and a third person who was a combination of my wife Amy and daughter Shannon.  Since they are so close, it didn’t seem weird at all.  

What God Did To Win Your Heart.

It’s a captivating subtitle: What God Did To Win Your Heart.

Lucado’s challenge is to personalize the life and death of Christ.  
Lucado explains that Jesus’ proclamation “I did it just for you.” is his resounding, enduring and personalized message.

Lucado makes the case that the trial, judgment, and execution was not happenstance.  “Knowing his last deeds would be forever pondered, don’t you think he chose them carefully? Deliberately? Of course he did. There were no accidents that day.”

Proclaiming to the end, “I did it for you. I did it all for you.”

Welcome today to our friends from Chris Spradlin’s insightful and practical EpicParent.

Chris was gracious enough to allow me to guest post on EpicParent today.  You can read “You’re Not Alone!!” here.

Let me catch you all up.

This week we took a look at fifteen year old Desean’s choice to come home drunk.

We took a look at his scenario from three perspectives:

What’s A Mom To Do?

What’s A Dad To Do?

What’s a Best Friend to Do?

Today we’ll consider what a neighbor should and should not do.

Taxes are due this week.  Tax preparers prepare tax returns, but what’s a best friend to do with a drunk best friend?

Let me explain. 1

Desean loved his friends.  He’s got several friends.  Not all of his friends get along together.

One night, a Wednesday night, Desean and Chris stayed out late.  Chris had been with Desean and some of his other friends, but when they started talking about getting drunk Chris “remembered” homework he wanted to get done.  He left hoping Desean would join him.  He didn’t.

Desean’s mom and sister trusted Desean; and they trusted Chris.

I’ve read and valued Patrick Morley’s book Man In The Mirror.  I found it relevant, poignant and inspirational.  I had not read anything by Patrick Morley in years, but I was anticipating more of the same.

I was not disappointed.

Morley has a great reputation, and based on my experiences he certainly knows what he’s talking about.

Whether I would choose to refer to his “7 Primal Needs” as primal not I did agree with him that they were of import.

Man Alive: Transforming Your 7 Primal Needs into a Powerful Spiritual Life is based on his decades of discipling and mentoring men.

My friend Angela said it briefly and wisely…”love takes courage.” <3

Courage.
Courage to love.
Courage to love through conflict.
Courage to love despite inevitable change. and the courage to love from a distance.

Remember that the time and effort we invest in a relationship, is evidence of the value we place in it:

If we prioritize our marriage relationship it will most likely give us a happier marriage.

If we prioritize time and trust with a best friend it will most likely yield a lasting friendship.

Ask most any child, teen, adult or senior citizen, “What is love?” and their answers will vary. They might not vary so much in the quaity of their experience, but the quantity of their experiences.

Sure, love involves feelings — romanticized by music, literature, and other media, but it’s also so much more.

We all yearn to create and — when we feel like we’re losing it — recreate the “love” what we feel we have lost.

Why do marriage fall apart?
Why do dating relationships between people who “love” one another fail?

They feel like the “love” is lost.

I’ve been confronted by several people that I respect recently. Whether I want it to or not, confrontation can tear at, or even trample, my self-identity.

One person suggested that I sounded like I thought that I knew more than other people and “if only they knew what I knew then they would be okay.”  I hate when I’ve been condescending. 

I’ve also been confronted that I seem intimidated around people who are wealthier than me; and they are right.

Self-Doubt Sunday