God's Initiative

3/5/12…Over several years, I recorded a number of instrumental tracks. This was my last one. I recorded this with my PRS guitar and Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3 software. Except for the drums, all sounds are with my guitar or guitar effects pedals linked through an M-Audio interface to a computer.

The song's title and spiritual theme weave around the words, will and initiative. When I am closest to Him, I seek His will, not mine own. These times I savor. Why, because I can sense His initiative in my life, somehow guiding me through his Spirit, which in turn seems to bring about the most good that truly glorifies the One I love. Enjoy...

To listen to God's Initiative, click play:

photo by Greg P.

Unconditional Love is NOT Compromise

2/6/12…I recently wrote regarding marriage not being a compromise. So many people in my life have reiterated marriage is about compromising or finding some common ground to what the other person wants. The thing is; I still disagree with this statement. In compromise, each person loses. No one wins. Indeed, I still believe passion does not exist in compromise.

Marriage is NOT compromise. Some would say unconditional love is also equated to compromising; i.e. give up something of yourself in order to love someone else unconditionally. And yet if I let this thought ruminate in the recesses of my mind, I cannot help but also think unconditional love is NOT compromise. Unconditional love is about giving up something of ourselves without any expectation of anything in return. It is the purest form of love, especially when done to others who actually despise you or are indifferent to you.

The only way to love unconditionally is to have passion. When I begin compromising is when I lose passion. When I lose passion is when I lose the ability to love unconditionally. Why? Because my mind is telling me I am losing something. 

In my life, Christ has been the only one to ever stir passion within me. What I now fight as a husband is this incorrect thinking of compromising in order to make my wife happy. Compromising eventually leads to a deadening of love. Passion soon leaves. The façade becomes exhausting. 

The only hope is stirring my passion for Christ in all seasons. 

A Message to My Son

1/15/12…I came across a verse in Deuteronomy regarding marriage. Strangely, the verse seemed out of place and came out of nowhere. Oh how I wished someone had told me about it when I first remarried;

24:5 When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

My first year of marriage at times became a struggle regarding what God would have me do next, or more importantly how to start leading us both. I was at times not content, nor focused on the happiness of my wife. Instead I was always looking to the future. If I had come across this verse or had someone tell me about it, I think my whole outlook would have changed.

I would have rested in the fact that making my wife happy in the first year of marriage glorifies God.