Christmas Challenges - STF

Last week, I had reached a new low of 205.5 (10.5 pounds lost) since starting the Strip That Fat program.

Then several Christmas get-togethers came up. Of course, I just enjoyed myself, but maybe with a little more moderation than some times in the past. However, I did eat "way beyond full" a few times. The toll was to jump back up to 208, but now, this Saturday, just two days after Christmas, I am back down to 205.5 equaling the low once again.

The program is really working in spite of challenges, and we don't even follow it fully.

If you would like to know more about how it works, click here to check it out.

STF Saga Continues

We had homecoming at church this weekend. Anyone familiar with churches knows that there are tons of good food at these things. As I said earlier, my wife and I take off from the STF program over the weekend.

My starting weight a few weeks ago was 216. This morning I weighed 209. That is a net loss of seven pounds, which is great, meaning the average has been about a pound or two loss each week which is what my goal is. The all-time low also occurred last week at 208. Losing three or four pounds a week and gaining back only one or two over the weekend seems to be working well.

Check out great weight-loss reviews at the STF site.

Strip That Fat New Low

Yesterday and today, I weighed 208! That is a new low since I started on this program a few weeks ago. I started at 216.

The STF program recommends that you take a three-hour period each week where you can eat anything you want. My wife and I don't even follow the program stictly. Lots of times we take the whole weekend off. I gain some back over those few days, but on Mondays, which I use for a benchmark, I still seem to be having a net loss of at least two pounds a week. That even included the Thanksgiving special meals over the end of last week.

If you would like to know more about STF, go to the Stip That Fat Review Site.

Strip That Fat - Thanksgiving Weekend Damage!

Really it wasn't that bad. I started this program at 216, got down to 210.5, and have gone through special meals on Thanksgiving Day, Saturday, and Sunday. Today, I am starting the new week at 211! That is a total of five pounds lost over three weeks time, including Thanksgiving!

If you want to check out Strip That Fat, Look at this review, or go to http://best-weightloss-review.info/lose-weight.php?cb=rcarney49.

Improve Physical Intimacy - How a Man Can Accomplish It

Improve physical intimacy? Is there a way for the average man to accomplish this? Men are usually a little rough around the edges, yet a woman usually has dreams of romance from her man. She may find his ruggedness attractive, but she also probably dreams of a more tender side for her mate. Her "Prince Charming" may not have those natural tendencies. Since she often views all of life as being interrelated, his lack of tenderness, loving words, and even charm may keep her enjoyment of physical intimacy from being as great as it could be. What's a man to do?

Deference is what a man often does for his wife. While modern society seems to lessen the importance of a man's leadership in his home, the Bible does indicate that a man is to exercise such leadership. That, however, does not mean that he is to be a dictatorial tyrant. Most men do not want such a position of tyranny. The Bible indicates that even the man who views himself as a responsible leader in his home "lives to please his wife." That is why he often defers to his wife. He should not go overboard in this natural tendency. He may desire so much to please his wife that he may be tempted to put her even above God. That would not help matters, but he often does defer to his wife's wishes.

The loving wife who respects her husband, and builds him up, reaps the benefit of his desiring even more to please her. This gives her a great position of influence. The more that she defers to him, the more he desire to reciprocate by deferring to her. This keeps a biblical marriage from being involved in a constant struggle. Since the husband lives to please his wife, he will want to please her in every way he can. If he suspects that her enjoyment of physical intimacy could be improved, he will want to do what he can to bring that about.

Tenderness and Touch

One of the things a husband can do is to learn to be tender toward his wife. She often has a need to feel that he tenderly loves her. He, in learning this tenderness, will also do well to make an extra effort to make her feel special. The Bible, speaking of a wife, does not say that she is a weaker vessel, though she often is physically weaker than he, but it says for the husband to treat her as the weaker vessel. This statement points out a need for him to act in tender loving ways.

The man will need to understand the power of a caress. Most men are visually motivated, and most women are motivated more by touch. (These are generalities. If a women is very visually oriented, or if a man is motivated more by touch, that does not mean anything is wrong with either of them. Still, these generalities have been observed for many years by those who study marriage.) The man who learns to tenderly and lovingly caress his wife can improve their experience of physical intimacy in marriage. Since the man is like a microwave, he is instantly on at first sight. The woman however, like the electric stove, will be like the burner that is first cool, and then begins to warm up. His tender touch can cause that warming sensation.

Romance

Many men are not naturally romantic. This, however, is a skill that can be learned. One of the killers in a marriage is boredom. When the man becomes more romantic at other times besides lovemaking, he adds more variety to the whole marriage. Remember the wife often tends to view all of life as being interrelated. How can a man learn these things? He can pay attention to what makes her smile as she watches romantic movies. He can observe other men who seem to have caught on to this skill. He can read about ways to be more romantic, and if their relationship is very good, he can even ask his wife.

Some other things he can do are to verbally express his love and show affection. He can say that he loves her. He can give her kisses several times during the day.

I have heard of one counselor who has had good success by telling the husband to hug and kiss his wife at several times during the day. He even gave the husband things to say. These husbands did not do these things naturally, but they did them anyway because they truly did love their wives. In many case, the wife knew that the husband was doing these things as an "assignment" rather them doing them spontaneously. After, a few days, it did not matter that this was an assignment. Things did begin to improve. The husbands got into the habit of the right words and actions, and later those words and actions did become natural expressions from them.

Can a man improve physical intimacy in marriage? Surprisingly, what he learns to do outside of the marriage act will often pay great dividends when he and his wife come together for physical intimacy. He certainly can improve this important area of their marriage if he is willing to observe and listen, and put into practice what he learns.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney) This article is based on an excerpt from a chapter in Dr. Carney's forthcoming book, The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss. (Extra links added by original author for this entry only.)

For more tips for the Christian husband, click here or go to http://www.freewebs.com/drrandycarney/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Randy_Carney

New Low for STF

I started this week at 214. This is the second week on the STF program. I held that same weight the first day of this week, and was a half pound lower on Wednesday. Today, I am at 210.5. That is down 3.5 pounds this week, and it is 5.5 pounds below the starting weight. Again, I want the average to be about 2 pounds a week. 1 pound would be O.K. Anything above that is great.

To learn about the top weight-loss options, click here, or go to http://best-weightloss-review.info/lose-weight.php?cb=rcarney49.

Starting Second Week of Strip That Fat

We took off from our diets this weekend. (This is a variation from the proram. The program recommends a three-hour period of taking off from you diet--not for a whole weekend.

I started at 216 and ended at 211 on Friday. This is quite fast. Most diet programs recommend losing about 2 pounds a week. We had Fall Festival (Church activity) this weekend, and we went out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant after church yesterday. I did gain back some and started at 214 this morning. That is still a net loss of two pounds for last week, so I am O.K. with that. One of the things we were excited about tonight was eating "potatoes o'brien" for supper. A serving was only 60 calories, and there were no calories from fat. The olive oil that we cooked it in actually had more calories than the potato serving itself.

If you want to see what we are doing, click here to check out Strip that Fat and some other interesting weight-loss programs.

Setback and Progress

Yesterday morning, I had a little setback. Wednesday was the day that I had eaten the least calories. Yesterday morning, though, I had gained back a half pound. I continued on with the Strip That Fat plan, however, and this morning I lost another pound and a half. (I know that weighing daily sometimes is not advocated, but I wanted to see daily progress, or lack thereof. There are a variety of reasons why there are some daily fluctuations.) That makes a total of five pounds this week. I would like to lose about two pounds a week, so this momentum right at the beginning is very exciting.

If you are interested, check out Strip That Fat by clicking here.

Three Pounds

The is Wednesday, our third day on the Strip That Fat program. Last night, was our first night for eating out. We went to a national chain that has specials on Tuesdays for Mexican foods. We were metting at the restaurant, and my wife ordered for me because she got there first. She ordered soft chicken tacos for her and she ordered hard-shell beef tacos for me. She thought the chicken would be lower in calories, fat, and cholesterol than the hard-shell beef tacos. We asked for an information sheet, and the cashier went to the back of the store and brought one out to us. Surprise! mine were 10 calories less than hers. Mine were also lower in fat and cholesterol. How could this be? The only information we didn't have was the amount of meat in the tacos. We speculate that hers contained more than mine.

Anyway, I weighed this morning and weighed three pounds less than yesterday. That makes a total loss of four pounds since we started on Monday. I don't suffer from any illusions that I might not gain on a particular day, but this is quite encouraging so far.

You might want to try it. As with anything, you can't just read about it, you do have to put it into practice. So far, we are satisfied and don't feel hungry, although I confess I thought about something sweet about 9:00 last night, but I passed it up.

To learn more about the program, click here.

Strip That Fat

I am promoting a new product called Strip That Fat.

Go to Best Weight Loss Review
to check it out.

I have taken perhaps a bold move to go out on a limb and tell you how this product works for me. I signed up for it last week.

While this is very personal, I will let you know that my starting weight as I started working with the product was 216 pound. My wife and I are on similar but slightly different versions of the program. Strip That Fat gives you several different options for losing weight. I am using a combination of using customized menus that the product generated for me using my preferences and the process of counting calories, which they also give you good handle on.

The first day on the program, I lost a half pound. The second day, I lost another half pound. That's where we are right now. Still very new.

Again, if you would like to check into this for yourself, click here.

New Squidoo Lens

Randy has a new lens at Affiiate Marketing--The Way to Go. It is about affiliate marketing. Click the link to check it out!

Great Physical Intimacy in Your Marriage

A new page has been added to The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

It deals with helpful resources for maintaining and improving physical intimacy in marriage.

Over the next few weeks, we will be adding articles that deal with the topic of physical intimacy.

To get those helpful resources, Click Here!

Sharing Spiritual Intimacy

If you could take some actions that would guarantee shared spiritual intimacy with your spouse, would you be willing to take them?

Some actions amount to disciplines, and disciplines are not always exciting. When Haman was told to go dip in the Jordan River in order to be cured of his leprosy, he almost missed his cure because he did not want to do that simple thing. He was reminded that if he were asked to do some great thing, he surely would have been willing to do that.

The Ariticle: Sharing Spiritual encourages a couple of tasks that are not always exciting, but they are very valuable. The third task, however is exciting, exhilarating, and sometimes even scary. Check out the article at EzineArticles.com.

If you would like more tips on marriage, go to The LOVING Way to a Christian Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

Recent Publication

Dr. Carney's article, "Marriage Vows: The Way to Happiness," was recently published at the CTS Counseling center. We are excited about this new relationship. This is the counseling center at Christian Theological Seminary. To view the article, go to: CTSCounseling.org. Furthermore, if you are interested in keys to marital bliss, Click Here.

Common Sense Marriage Proposals

Does love do funny things to you? Does it make you do things you would not ordinarily do? That's not all bad. It just means "You've got it bad!" ("bad" being used in a good sense.)

However, we should exercise common sense in anything we do. I suppose we all have heard of someone who was brilliant at his or her job, or was a genius in some other area of life, but just did not have much common sense.

Well, even though love makes us do strange things, and that is not necessarily bad, we need to guard on losing our common sense. If a person is going to make a public marriage proposal, he certainly should exercise that common sense. To find out more, READ THIS.
Also, Don't forget to check out the marriage secrets presented here.
Finally, for more information on Secrets to Marital Bliss, go here.

Growing Toward Spiritual Intimacy by Dr. Randy Carney

Growing Toward Spiritual Intimacy
By Dr. Randy Carney

Growing toward spiritual intimacy happens when a couple practices a disciplined commitment. As in any endeavor, achieving goals brings great satisfaction. When the couple has a goal of achieving spiritual intimacy, they will experience satisfaction as they see progress in that area of their marriage.

When considering spiritual intimacy, we first of all examine the meaning of true spirituality. Many in Christian circles speak of something being very spiritual when it touches the emotions. While it is true that when the Holy Spirit deals with an individual, there is often a certain amount of excitement or perhaps conviction; true spirituality refers to something that goes beyond an emotional experience.

True spirituality has its basis in understanding of the law as it relates to individual rules, but the spiritual aspect is revealed when we look at something less tangible than the rules as expressed in the law. For instance, The Ten Commandments express a set of things not to do and things to do, but the very last commandment internalizes the matter when it says not to covet. The other commandments can be related to this very internal expression.

True spirituality has a positive, as well as negative, aspect. The New Testament puts forth the principles that people should love God with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength. Another positive principle is for a person to love his neighbor as himself.

True spirituality finds itself in faith. This is a faith that goes beyond feeling, and it is a faith that leads to discipline and commitment. When a couple exercises disciplined commitment, each person will find himself or herself growing toward spiritual intimacy. Spiritual intimacy, therefore includes feeling, but it goes beyond feeling as it is produced by faith.

We all need to learn all we can about achieving spiritual intimacy.

Personal Commitment and Spiritual Maturity

Spiritual intimacy begins with personal commitment. A person, first of all, places his trust in the Lord in the matter of salvation. This is an act of the will and is a matter of personal decision. After that initial step, spiritual growth takes places. When each spouse in a marriage is committed to spiritual growth, they each experience greater measures of spiritual intimacy. As they share those experiences with each other, they begin to grow closer together. Their marriage commitment contributes to their growing spiritual intimacy, and their marital intimacy increases. Along with this, their spiritual intimacy grows also.

We all need to learn all we can about how to increase our personal commitment.

Personal Disciplines and Spiritual Maturity

Couples who desire to be growing toward spiritual maturity will develop habits that contribute to their spiritual growth. The privileges to read the Word of God and to Pray can be benefited by the couple who not only recognizes those privileges on a random basis, but by making those actions personal disciplines in their lives.

Discipline is related to commitment in that the discipline is carried out regardless of the feelings of the individual. As a husband or wife begins to exercise spiritual discipline, he or she begins to grow spiritually.

We all need to learn all we can about exercising spiritual disciplines within our lives

When Each Partner in a Marriage Draws Closer to God, They Draw Closer to Each Other

Growing toward spiritual intimacy takes place in a marriage when each partner exercises spiritual discipline, not out of obligation alone, but because of a desire to draw closer to God. You can picture a triangle with the husband at one point at the base of the triangle and the wife at the other point at the base. God, then is pictured at the point at the top of the triangle. You can see, from this illustration, that if both of them grow closer to God, they both grow closer to each other.

We all need to learn all we can about growing closer to God and to each other.

Relationship intimacy increases because of marriage commitment, and the couple achieves success as they grow toward spiritual maturity.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney. Excerpted from a chapter in Dr. Carney's upcoming book: The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss).

Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for many years. Did you find these steps to Spiritual Intimacy helpful. To see more articles like these, go to http://www.randysarticles.blogspot.com/ You can also find more information on this topic at The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Randy_Carney http://EzineArticles.com/?Growing-Toward-Spiritual-Intimacy&id=1237223

Achieving Spiritual Intimacy by Dr. Randy Carney

Achieving spiritual intimacy is part of the process that comes about when a couple decides to build their marriage upon three priniciples given to us by Jesus: "Leaving," "Cleaving." and "Becoming One Flesh." Leaving is important in any marriage. A couple should leave past relationships and focus on their new life together. Cleaving is also important. A couple should stick like glue to each other without smothering each other. A third aspect of a deepening marriage relationship is "becoming one flesh" as Jesus described the process. This becoming one flesh does describe physical intimacy in marriage, but the "becoming one" part of the statement suggests something further. When each member of the marriage relationship comes closer to God in his or her spiritual relationship, they also come closer to each other. The simple fact is that marital intimacy involves spiritual intimacy. Achieving spiritual intimacy is a wonderful benefit that comes to a couple involved in marriage as God intended.

Spiritual intimacy relates to the deep longing for God that each individual experiences. That person may not know what he is searching for, but he will often experiment with many things trying to fill "something" within his life. We all have a "God-shaped vacuum" within us. We try to fill that void with many things, but only God can satisfy that longing.

The Bible looks beyond the "self-assured" appearance of many people, and it challenges us with the statement that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Because of this situation, we have become separated from God because of the very nature of His holiness. This awareness affects our emotional intimacy as disappointment within ourselves begins to bring discouragement in our lives.

That is the wonderful thing about the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word, Gospel, simply means "good news"! The good news is that even though we have all sinned, God loved the world so much that He provided a way for us to regain fellowship with Him. When we respond to what He has provided for us, we begin to move toward that spiritual intimacy we so desperately desire.

We often wonder if God desires a relationship with human beings. We desire intimacy with God. does He desire intimacy with us? I mean, "Why would he want a relationship with creatures that so often are selfish and are so often rebellious against His authority?" We get some insight into this when we realize that we were created in the image of God. Then we (the human race) fell into sin. (Yes, our ancestors sinned, but if we are honest with ourselves, we recognize the fact that we also have sinned.)

How did we get into such a situation? Part of the answer is that when God created us in His image, He also created us in such a way that we could freely choose to love Him or reject Him. When we exercise that freedom to rebel against His right to rule our lives, we experience a separation from Him. Yet, He loved us enough to provide for our redemption. Accepting the Redeeming work of Christ by each partner in a marriage relationship is the first step toward the wonderful benefit of spiritual intimacy that can be found within a Christian marriage.

What hinders spiritual intimacy? Part of it has to do with our goals, values, and commitment. If our goals are selfish or outside of what God allows, of course our spiritual intimacy will be affected. If either the husband or wife becomes a workaholic, then the time that could be spent on achieving spiritual intimacy is moved to the side also.

Likewise, values that do not line up with the Word of God, will certainly get in the way of spiritual intimacy. When the couple gets its values from a society that does take the time to learn what God has to say about life, the cuople's own values will become corrupt. The way to move beyond this problem is to begin to study what the Bible has to say about life and let those biblical values sink in.

Our lack of commitment to the things of God will also hinder our spiritual intimacy. Trying to build a satisfying marriage without taking our spiritual needs into account will have little fruit; and that process certainly will not promote spiritual intimacy.

The Bible speaks of a husband "knowing" his wife. This has often been interpreted to mean that a married couple will be involved in sexual intercourse. This phrase does indeed refer to sexual intimacy within marriage, but it goes deeper than that.

When a husband "knows" his wife (and the same principles apply to a wife "knowing" her husband), he knows things about her. Especially before they marry, a man and woman learn all kinds of things abut each other because they are extremely interested in each other. Actually, though, in this phase, they know things about each other that others can observe also. The intimate "knowing" the Bible describes involves knowing things about your mate that no one else knows. You know their preferences, their pet peeves, and things like that. Others may be aware of some of those things, but you know them well. Beyond that, however, you also know some of your mate's secret dreams, desires and fears. When you are able to share on this honest level, and at the same time have a shared to commitment to please God, you begin to experience what the Bible is taking about when it speaks of "knowing" each other.

To share dreams and fears requires rigorous-honesty intimacy. To be able to share this deeply only comes after a period of time when trust has grown in the marriage.

Spiritual intimacy is a somewhat intangible quality; however, we can know that we desire something when we do not have it, and we can know that we like it when we do experience some measure of it. We recognize God's call for intimacy within our lives. Spiritual intimacy is something that lasts longer than a mere physical attraction. Even the wonderful enjoyment we experience when we, as one of my daughters put it, "celebrate our marriage" (referring to the physical act of marriage), will fade in intensity. However, spiritual intimacy will grow to a more steady experience in our lives as our faith in God grows.

Love lasts longer than the happiness that is produced by experiences. Likewise, spiritual intimacy will continue as we experience the ups and downs of life.

Achieving measures of spiritual intimacy, and continuing to achieve greater measures, as the marriage endures, is one of the greatest benefits of any Christian marriage.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney, excerpted from a chapter in Dr. Carney's upcoming book, The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.)

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for more than 30 years. The difficulty of achieving intimacy seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find these major steps to intimacy useful? For more articles like these, go to goarticles.com. You also can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Cleaving and Tenacity by Dr. Randy Carney

"Be tenacious!" I yelled to my daughter in the middle of a volleyball game. She was in high school at the time. Tenacity was a concept with which the team was familiar, but the words, "tenacity, tenaciousness, and tenacious" were not words we used very often. It became a standing joke that at some time, during any game, I would yell out, "Be tenacious."

Being tenacious implies that one will "hold firmly." As related to cleaving, it relates to the idea of "sticking or holding together like an adhesive."

Couples who cleave to each other will be very difficult to pry apart. Their love motivates them to stick together. The intimacy that develops over a period of time promotes a natural adhesion to each other. Since intimacy feels so good, it promotes an increased level of commitment. Couples who cleave to each other do so with tenacity.

As you look with the eyes of imagination upon your own marriage, you could view it as a great contest between the success of your marriage and the forces that would tear it apart. As you are the imaginary onlooker, cry out--not with your mouth, but in the depths of your soul--"Be tenacious!"

Marriage is fun, but it requires toughness. That is where the tenacity comes in. Every marriage will have hard places. Some of those places may not be of the couple's making. Some of them, however, will come about because of the process of having to adjust to living with another person.

Diverse individuals try to live together in marriage. We have to learn the art of "good compromise." We also have to learn balanced compromise where both couples move away from their preconceived positions, as opposed to just one person always making a change. When the going gets tough, (in the case of marriage) the tough stay together.

Couples who cleave to each other can endure almost any trial. First of all, they approach new situations, disappointments, and changes with confidence. They may not know how things are going to turn out, but one thing they are sure of is that, no matter what happens, they will face the trial together.

This confidence develops because of their known commitment to each other. When they see that their partner has supported them in the past, they will not be as fearful when new situations arise.

Another reason why couples who cleave to each are able to do so tenaciously is because of the support they receive from each other. We are told that "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor." A couple that supports each other can be tenacious when difficult times come.

Cleaving requires tenacity.

As an imaginary spectator looking at your own marriage, cry out to yourself from the very depth of your soul, "Be tenacious!"

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney.) This article is an adaptation of a short excerpt from a chapter in Dr. Carney's forthcoming book: The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for more than 30 years. The difficulty of achieving intimacy seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find these major steps to intimacy useful? For more articles like these, go to http://randysarticles.blogspot.com/. You also can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Balanced Cleaving Gives Space, Trust, and Belief by Dr. Randy Carney

Leaving, cleaving, and becoming one flesh are important steps to intimacy in any marriage.

Though the word, "cleaving," means in part to "stick like glue," it does not mean that you will smother your spouse. In fact, cleaving will be balanced with giving freedom. When cleaving is properly balanced, the whole process wiii lead to space, trust, and belief.

Proper cleaving provides space for the partner to do interesting things in life. This space is given because of the great trust between the two individuals. Understanding that our wife or husband may have come into the marriage with some interests different from ours will lead toward allowing that person to continue to pursure his or her interests. Likewise, that person might be glad for the spouse to take enough interest to join in those activities, but he or she would also be wise not io insist on making the other try to engage in something that he or she really does not want to pursue.

If the husband plays a particular sport, the wife might allow him to continue to do so because she knows how much it means to him. He also may encourage his wife to continue to pursue some hobby, craft, or activity that he has no interest in learning himself.

When the partners pursue their separate interests, they also are able to gather "conversation pieces." If they spend all their time together, they will not have as much to talk about. However, when they spend some time in other areas, they will have "news" to give each other. This can only work to its best advantage when they trust each other enough to allow each to engage in some separate interests. They give space, but when they are together, they cleave to each other.
It is important to cleave without smothering. Frustration only comes to the partner who feels he or she is being smothered. Extreme possessiveness can hamper any relationship. When a person feels that he is being held too closely, he begins to experience a feeling of bondage. Perhaps the problem is often even greater for a wife sho is being held too closely. When she feels like she cannot make any decisions on her own, she does experience a great deal of frustration.

One of the things that is great about the United States of America is that we make the claim of being free. It seems that freedom, or the desire for it, resides in the human heart the world over. When a marriage does not have some degree of freedom that unmet desire will well up and lead to frustration, disappointment, and a feeling of bondage.

Proper cleaving grows trust. When a partner gives the other freedom without suspicion of that one being unfaithful, that allows the one given the freedom to have that basic need met. Although, predictability may possibly sometimes lead to some boredom, there is a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that you can predict that your partner will be faithful.

Knowing that you can trust your husband or wife, allows you to give that wonderful freedom he or she needs. The sentence, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," has some merit. Of course, that could not be taken to the extreme either. A proper balance between cleaving and freedom gives space and trust.

The benefit of balanced cleaving also causes mates to believe in each other. Having someone to believe in you always brings encouragement. You may face some quite difficult tasks when you pursue some of your dreams. When those hard times come, you may be tempted to give up; but when you have someone who believes in you, you have the confidence to carry on.

When you cleave to your partner and give freedom, you help your mate to feel trusted. He or she, in turn, will likely feel that he or she can trust you. When that happens, you have the opportunity to support each other. You will support each other when pursuing the interests you share, and you will support each other in your separate interests.

Balanced cleaving gives space, develops trust, and causes each of you to believe in each other.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney. This article is an adaptation of a short excerpt from a chapter in Dr. Carney's forthcoming book: The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.

About the Author:
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for more than 30 years. The difficulty of achieving intimacy seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find these major steps to intimacy useful? For more articles like these, go to http://randysarticles.blogspot.com/. You also can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Cleaving and Its Call to Commitment by Dr. Randy Carney

Leaving is a very important process in any marriage because it paves the way for cleaving. Cleaving means to "stick like glue." That does not mean the partners smother each other, but it does mean that they devote themselves to one another.

Cleaving does call for us to devote time to each other. That is one of our major commitments. We often speak of quality time and quantity time. Quality time is very important, but quantity time is also important. When the members of a couple love each other, they enjoy spending time with each other. Now, if the relationship has deteriorated, it may not be enjoyable like it once was, but if a couple wants to make improvements in their marriage after they have drifted apart, they will have to spend productive time with each other.

Cleaving not only has a call to commitment of time, it also has a call to commitment of sharing. Sharing involves sharing our possessions. It also involves the sharing of thoughts. How we respond when our mate shares his or her thoughts with us is quite important. Aside from sharing our thoughts, we need to share experiences. One person facetiously said that strong families had one thing in common. He said they all went camping together. Then he shared some of the humorous things that happened to them during that time. Usually, a camping experience will have something in it that does not go according to plan, but somehow, the family survives. He said they were drawn closer together because of it. Now, maybe you don't need to run out and buy some camping equipment, but you will need to share experiences as well as thoughts. Vacation times together can be very helpful in developing the experience of cleaving to each other.

Great benefits come to those who are able to share their dreams with each other. Doing this is a little fearful because our dreams (I'm speaking of dreams for the future, not what we see when our eyes close at night) are very private. Also, we are not sure that we are even able to come close to accomplishing those dreams. We are allowing ourselves to be vulnerable when we share our dreams. We are afraid, perhaps, that others may think our dreams are even silly. However, when we allow our partner to share his or her dreams with us, we do a great service when we take those dreams seriously and share some encouragement with them.

When dreams are shared, we have the opportunity to show support to our husband or wife. We also can grow closer because we simply believe in each other. Those dreams that seem insurmountable can be helped by a partner who will see at least a small part of that dream that can be accomplished. Then we could suggest that they consider maybe trying to accomplish that smaller task as a part of the larger dream.

A couples' relationship grows by spending time together, sharing our thoughts, and sharing our dreams. Our relationship grows even further when we take an even more vulnerable position by sharing our fears with each other. This is very difficult to do because we would often rather avoid our fears. However, when are able to share on this level, we move to deeper levels of cleaving to each other. When our spouse shares his or fears, we are in a position to give comfort. Just being able to share on such a level also removes a feeling of aloneness. We also are able to give support.

When we know our partner's fears, which we do not broadcast to others, we can understand how he or she may react to certain statements that others may make. We can even take steps, without others knowing what we are doing, to give encouragement and support during those times.

Cleaving has a call to commitment: especially in the areas of time and sharing. All positive efforts in those areas will yield benefits to partners in a marriage who wish to grow to even deeper levels of commitment. When we go in this direction, we begin to cleave to each other.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney, excerpted from a chapter in Dr. Carney's upcoming book, The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.)

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for more than 30 years. The difficulty of achieving intimacy seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find these major steps to intimacy useful? For more articles like these, go to goarticles.com. You also can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Leaving and Cleaving: Steps to Intimacy in Marriage by Dr. Randy Carney

(Originally published in GoArticles.com)

Leaving and cleaving are major steps to intimacy in any marriage. Most marital problems can be traced to either a failure to leave or to cleave. These words have their origin in the Bible. They are first mentioned in the Old Testament, and then repeated in the New Testament. Jesus, Himself, affirmed their importance. After leaving takes place, and cleaving begins, then intimacy, or "becoming one flesh" develops.

What does it mean to cleave to your husband or wife? Someone pointed out that a meat cleaver is used to slice things in two. That certainly is not the intended meaning as it relates to marriage. Instead, cleave means to "hold tightly." You might say that it means to "stick like glue!" Now, it does not mean smothering your spouse, but it does mean that a husband and wife will be totally devoted to each other. That is why the marriage vows often talk about being faithful until death.

How does cleaving come about? It does not happen simply by accident. Rather, it involves a conscious action of the will. Marriage intimacy does not develop just because of natural attraction, although the move toward intimacy may start because of such attraction; however, there will be times when one of the partners in the marriage will not be at his or her best. Indeed, there may also be times when neither of them are at their best. At those times, the natural attraction that they previously experienced will seem rather vague. Most marriages will also face hard times. It will take more than a "warm fuzzy feeling" to sustain the partners during those times of difficulty.

True love is often spelled c-o-m-m-i-t-m-e-n-t. That is what will carry a person through hard times. Cleaving is indeed a conscious action of the will.

Cleaving will be related to the step of leaving. When a person leaves his father and mother (and sometimes his former acquaintances or even some hobbies or former things that claimed time), he is able to give full attention to his wife. The same can be said for the wife who needs to devote time to her husband.

When a true leaving takes place, the couple will not be pulled in two or three different directions. They will attack their problems together. The husband will need to cut the apron strings and leave his mother. Likewise, the wife will have to transfer her reliance upon her "Daddy advisor" from her father to her husband.

This does not mean that the couple will never seek advice from either of their parents, but they will be doing so with the understanding that they are responsible for their own decisions within that marriage. Their former roles were to obey their parents. Their new roles are to consider what their parents have to say.

In order for true intimacy to develop in a marriage, there must be a "leaving" and a "cleaving." That then paves the way for becoming "one flesh" which indeed is true marital intimacy.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney--Condensed from a chapter in Dr. Carney's upcoming book: The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.)

Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for more than 30 years. The difficulty of achieving intimacy seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find these major steps to intimacy useful? For more articles like these, go to http://randysarticles.blogspot.com/. You also can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Understand How Your Spouse's Shape Affects Both of You by Dr. Randy Carney

Understand How Your Spouse's Shape Affects Both of You by Dr. Randy Carney

(Originally published in GoArticles.com)

Criticism is one of the most frustrating things a person has to face. Too much of it can tear a person down. On the other hand, criticism can be a very valuable thing. When a person listens to his critics, he is in a position to see where he has been misunderstood if the criticism is not valid. He may also see that someone is just taking shots at him unnecessarily. He may, however, recognize that there are some good points in the criticism and take steps to improve himself.

In a marriage, however, criticism is often devastating to the spouse unless it is handled very carefully. It is more likely that your spouse will need a feeling of acceptance than a feeling of criticism.


When you begin to focus on your spouse's strengths, you can encourage him to work toward greater accomplishments. Your spouse does have strengths, and sometimes those strengths are what drew you to him or her when you first met.


Understanding your partner is the greatest need that anyone has in a marriage. Sometimes it is very easy to misunderstand where someone is coming from. Christians who are married will perhaps understand talk of spiritual gifts. Others, while not familiar with the term spiritual gift, will understand that we all have inner motivations.


For those of you involved in Christian marriages, if you understand how different spiritual gifts motivate people, you will come a long way in improving relationships with your spouse.
When you gain such understanding, your patience will improve. Sometimes all that is needed to improve a relationship is an improved understanding of how spiritual gifts affect people. For instance, a person who has the gift of mercy will react to a situation differently from someone who has the gift of prophecy.


If you were in a crowded gathering at a restaurant or at a fellowship at church, and someone dropped or knocked over a glass of water, those with differing spiritual gifts would react in different ways. The prophet might say, "That's what happens when you are not careful." The teacher might say, "The reason it fell is that it was positioned in a dangerous way." The giver might say, "Here, let me buy you a new dessert." The server might say, "Oh, let me help clean that up." The ruler or administrator might say, "Susie, go get a paper towel. John, would you get the mop. I will refill the glass." Each one views the situation in a different way, but largely from the standpoint of his or her motivational gift.


Most people who have done extensive study on spiritual gifts say that there are at least two types of gifts: ministry gifts and motivational gifts. In regard to motivational gifts, they often say a person will have only one predominant motivational gift. The motivational gifts are referred to in I Corinthians 1:2-4. This word, translated gift, comes from the Greek word for Charisma Seven categories of motivational gifts are listed in Romans 12:6-8. The characteristics of these motivational gifts may not be evidenced full in how well a person does something, but they do express themselves in what motivates a person.


The other type of gift is a ministry gift. These same Bible teachers often say there are many ministry gifts, while an individual has only one motivational gift that stands out. Ministry gifts are special characteristics that allow a person to accomplish a needed task. The S in SHAPE stands for spiritual gift. (We are using the acronym that Rick Warren uses in his book, The Purpose-Driven Life, however he does not claim to be original in coining the term.) Trying to understand your spouse's motivational gift will help you deal with your Christian marriage.


Helping your mate is one of your greatest goals. One of the best ways to do that is to discover the heart or passion that drives your mate's life. When you are discovering your mate's shape, you find what his or her spiritual gift is. You also look for the heart passion he or she has.


Once you find that heart, you have the opportunity to encourage your mate to grow. Sometimes he or she may be given an opportunity for something outside of his or her comfort zone. If it is not something he or she has a passion for, you might encourage your mate to pass it by, but if it is something that person has a real heart for, you might encourage her to go ahead because she will only get better by trying. In each case their heart for the project should help them overcome their discomfort.


Just as the S in SHAPE stood for spiritual gifts, the H in SHAPE stands for heart motivations. When you understand these two areas, you will also know in what areas you will be able to give added support to your husband or wife. When they are working in their "heart-area," they will often be fulfilled, but their motivation may lead them into uncharted waters at times. Then, you will need to give encouragement.


We need understanding in the areas of spiritual gifts and heart motivations; but, beyond that we need to encourage our other half to use their God-given abilities. These abilities may have been acquired through skill and much practice.


Purpose is the most motivating force in the world. When people have purpose, they can endure all kinds of hardships. The A in SHAPE stands for abilities. When you encourage your spouse to use his abilities in God-given ways, he will feel a sense of purpose. Those abilities may have been natural or acquired abilities, but the important thing to do with any ability is to use it for God.


We are always encouraged when we can be involved in things that we do well. If you look at your wife's abilities, and encourage her to use them, that will help her self-esteem. Likewise, wives, if you encourage your husband in those things he does well and show respect for his skill, he will have a feeling of fulfillment.


Sometimes men experience what is called a mid-life crisis. Ladies are not exempt from that either, but men often feel that time is running out, or they are concerned about whether they have made a difference up to this point in life. Encouraging them to use their gifts and natural abilities to fulfill a God-given purpose will help them to overcome some lingering doubts that may develop into what is called a mid-life crisis.


The P in SHAPE stands for personality type. When you understand the characteristics of your spouses personality, you are able to give space when needed. If you have differing personalities, sometimes you will know not to take things personally when your spouse acts from his or her personality type.


Knowing that some types of personality are better suited for certain tasks, you will be able to divide up the responsibilities that exist in the marriage. For instance, if one spouse is very good with details, and the other is not, perhaps that spouse should be the one to take care of balancing the checkbook for the family.


Knowing and encouraging each other's strengths will help you to have a spirit of cooperation rather than antagonism as you work through the various tasks that are required in marriage.
Knowing each others bent will also allow you to participate in "give and take," and that knowledge will also allow you to "give each other some space."


Finally, the E in SHAPE stands for experiences. We all have a history. We have had good experiences, and what we have learned from those good experience can be used to help others along the way when they face similar experiences in their own lives. That is easy to understand. However, our painful experiences can also be used to help others. When someone is experiencing a particularly painful situation, someone who has been through a similar experience will be able to help them in a way that others cannot.


We do need to try to understand how a person's past experiences have shaped their personalities. Doing so will allow us to be patient in some areas that onlookers would not understand. On the other hand, just because a person has had a painful experience in the past, does not mean that they are not responsible for the decisions they make today. While we are sympathetic with our partner's past, we must also encourage them to live in the present and not allow their "victim mentality" to be an excuse for not behaving responsibility.


When we understand how our spouse's SHAPEs (Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences) affect both of us, we will go a long way toward improved communication and encouragement in our marriages.


(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney--Condensed from a chapter in Dr. Carney's upcoming book: The LOVING Way to a Successful Marriage: Six Keys to Marital Bliss.)


About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for more than 30 years. Understanding each other seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find those major steps to understanding useful? For more articles like these, go to http://randysarticles.blogspot.com/. You also can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

After Marriage Compatibility Tests--Major Steps to Success by Dr. Randy Carney

After Marriage Compatibility Tests--Major Steps to Success by Dr. Randy Carney

(Originally published in GoArticles.com)

Marriage compatibility tests can be helpful to anyone thinking about getting married, or perhaps even more helpful for couples who are already married. However, what do you do after you get the results?

Several tests for compatibility can be found on the internet, but the real value to a couple is to know what to do when they get the results of the tests.

Problems in marriage are often related to several different areas: There may be a problem in the area of leaving. How do couples in blissful relationships deals with holidays and inlaws? One of the first keys that lead to marital bliss deal with process of leaving former relationships (the ties do not have to be severed completely, but they do have to be severed enough to give security to your partner.)

Another area or step for success relates to overcoming. Habits are hard to break, but the couple that learns to overcome some of the pull from the past will make major strides in their marriage relationship.

Another major step to success after a couple finds out their compatibility or incompatibility through testing is in the area of values. They must value each other, and they must have things in common that they share.

An additional major step to success comes when a couple discovers true intimacy. What items hinder their intimacy? They will work on learning all they can about each other. They will learn to forgive. They will also give each other pleasure in the area of physical intimacy.

Couples will also see the importance of meeting each other's needs. The husband has a need to be respected, and the wife has a need to feel loved. As one spouse meets the other's needs, the second partner is inspired to meet the needs of the first spouse.

Probably the most important step to take is to learn principles of giving. We learn to give to each other.

So, you can see steps that can be taken in six major areas, when a couple wants to improve their compatibility: *Leaving *Overcoming *Valuing *Intimacy gaining *Needs providing *Giving
Did you notice the first letter of each area, when put together with the others, spells, "Loving"?

There are many secrets to marital bliss. Author, Michael Webb has discovered at least a hundred, and most of those will display themselves in one of the areas mentioned above.

Take a marriage compatibility test? Yes, but make sure you take major steps to success after you get the results!

(Copyright 208 by Randy Carney)

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for years. Understanding each other seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find those major steps to success useful? You can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Your All-Important Marriage Certificate by Dr. Randy Carney

Your All-Important Marriage Certificate by Dr. Randy Carney

(Originally published in GoArticles.com)

How important is your marriage certificate? Though some would say it is just a piece of paper, it is actually far more than that.

It is a legal document. It shows that you have claims to each other's property, or perhaps, better, that what each of you have, you have in common.

It is also important to have a marriage certificate if one of the spouses dies. To insure that your husband or wife gets what you want them to have as far as material possessions go, the marriage certificate is all important.

To be sure, what makes the marriage strong is related to what the certificate represents. Deeper qualities, such as love and respect, are not reduced to pen and ink. On the other hand, a person who is not willing to put his or her commitment in writing may have very little or no commitment at all.

While our society today may be lax about who gets a room together, the marriage certificate was once a very important document for the newlyweds when they wanted to get a room to spend the night.

Today, we might do well to understand that the document represents a commitment to faithfulness to the marriage partner. It helps to alleviate the fear that this may be a here today; gone tomorrow relationship. One of the greatest fears one of the marriage partners may have may be related to the question: "Will he (or she) really stay with me?" Something about the paper document seems to seal the answer to that question in a greater way than the verbal words that seem to have a tendency to fade away. In fact they could be regarded as just a vapor that can fade into the oblivion of the memory of the one who might want to forget them.

So, when you consider marriage, don't forget the all-important marriage certificate.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney)

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for years. A lack of real commitment to each other seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find this article helpful? You can learn a lot more about further secrets to marital bliss by going to: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Marriage Proposals and Common Sense by Dr. Randy Carney

Marriage Proposals and Common Sense by Dr. Randy Carney
(Originally published in GoArticles.com )

What are some common sense things to consider when getting ready to make a marriage proposal? First of all, you should be sure of your own commitment. Why do you want to make this proposal in the first place? It should certainly have to do with the fact that you love and respect the one you are going to ask to marry you in the first place.

Generally, your proposal should be in keeping with the importance of the occasion. It should not reflect a flippant attitude on your part. That is not to say that you could never use humor when getting ready to propose, but you had better be very sure that both of you already know the answer to the question before it is popped if you want to bathe the occasion in humor.

The same could be said for public proposals. If the one you are going to ask may be surprised by the proposal, it is certainly better to ask in private.

If you strongly suspect the proposal will be accepted, it may be appropriate to arrange some unusual public display of the question, but, really, it is only best to do something like this when you have discerned from the one you are going to ask that they are comfortable with such public presentations. Certainly, you should be very sure that the answer is known to both of you as yes,and that it really is just a matter of timing when the question is to be popped. This should be discerned before making a public display of the asking of one of the most important questions you will ever ask.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney)

About the Author:

Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for years. He has found that exercising common sense (which sometimes has become clouded to the couple) brings success in any marriage. Did you find these common-sense ideas useful? You can learn a lot more secrets to marital bliss by going to: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Love and Marriage Do Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage by Dr. Randy Carney

Love and Marriage Do Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage by Dr. Randy Carney

(Originally published in goarticles.com)

An old, old song says that love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. In some countries, marriages are arranged ahead of time. This seems strange to those of us in the United States, but many arranged marriages do end up being happy marriages. What happens, even in those cases, is that the couple grows to love each other.

How do love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage? For a marriage to be at its best, love must certainly be a major component. Perhaps, though, it will be well to define the word, love. Love often seems to be related to some type of romantic attraction that perhaps is very explosive. Sometimes emotions and chemistry do produce those types of attractions, but it would be better to understand love as it relates to a longer look at a relationship. Love is far more than just an exciting time. Excitement cannot be generated forever. Indeed if the quality that generates excitement is the same day in and day out, it will become common-place and no longer generate excitement.

Love as related to marriage, while having romantic aspects, will better be related to the fact of caring for your husband or wife.

The husband who cares about his wife will strive to bring some romance into the marriage because he understands that is a great need of his wife.

The wife who cares about her husband will make efforts to help him feel respected and admired because that is one of his greatest needs.

Together, they will experience, love, respect, and romance. When that happens, love and marriage do go together like a horse and carriage.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney)

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for years. He has learned that love and respect brings success in any marriage. Did you find this article helpful? You can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Marriage Counseling: Why Would It Be Worth It? by Dr. Randy Carney

Marriage Counseling: Why Would It Be Worth It? by Dr. Randy Carney
Originally published in GoArticles.com

Why would a couple want to go to a marriage counselor?

Oftentimes, the husband will be reluctant to go because he feels that it reflects failure (and he feels that it reflects greatly upon his ability), and he does not like to admit failure. The wife can refuse for this reason also.

However, sometimes a couple can be helped by each of them listening to the other partner try to put into words the frustration he or she is having. When those words are directed at the third party instead of at each other, sometimes the other person hears things they never took time to hear before. Most marriage counselors do not want to just be referees, but even having rules for a discussion laid down and for which the spouses will be accountable can be helpful when it comes to working out the problems in the marriage. Then the counselor may require the couple to write down things they appreciate about each other. Sometimes this surprises the spouse of a partner who is not very verbal.

Just taking the time to go to a counselor, however, does show that the couple understands that their marriage is one of the most, if not the most, important area(s) of theirs lives. That may be worth as much, or more in some instances, as what they will hear from their counselor.

Is marriage counseling worth it? Yes, if the counselor is a good counselor. Yes, if the couple needs some help communicating. Yes, if it would remind them of why they came together in the first place. Certainly, the marriage relationship is worth anything that would help it.

(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney)

About the Author

Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for years. Understanding each other seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find this encouragement helpful? You can learn more secrets to marital bliss by going to: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

Marriage Vows: The Key to Happiness by Dr. Randy Carney

Marriage Vows: The Key to Happiness by Dr. Randy Carney

(Originally published at GoArticles.com)

Could something as simple as mere words be the key to true happiness? Yes, and No. Yes, if the words express something deeper. No, if the words are only mouthed. Marriage vows that indicate true commitment can be the key to true happiness.

Is romantic love important? Of course. Is respect important? Of course. Is time spent together important? Yes. Is sharing important? Very important. Marriage vows that express true commitment bring true happiness. In fact, some would say that love is spelled c-o-m-m-i-t-m-e-n-t!

Vows that a couple write, if they choose to do, so should not be done in order to get away from the lasting commitment expressed in traditional marriage vows. Statements like "for as long as you both shall love," do not bring much security to a marriage partner.

When you have a marriage vow that expresses a lifetime commitment, and one that expresses the idea of giving all of your possessions to your partner, happiness comes when those vows are carried out. Pay attention to what you are going to say when you get married. If the vows express true commitment, then happiness will be yours, and your spouse's. However, this only comes about when both of you strive to carry out those vows with all of your heart.
(Copyright 2008 by Randy Carney)

For more articles like this one, go to GoArticles.com.

About the Author
Dr. Randy Carney has worked with married couples for years. Committing to each other seems to be a major hurdle that, if overcome, brings success in any marriage. Did you find those major steps to commitment useful? You can learn a lot more about how further secrets to marital bliss can help you here: Secrets of Marital Bliss.

The Childhood of Jesus

We don't seem to know very much about the childhood of Jesus.

I have always been intrigued by the thought that there were other children in the family. How often is the second child challenged and frustrated by trying to measure up to an older sibling? The other children in the lineup also face this situation. Perhaps they hear, "Why can't you be like your brother (or sister)?"

Just think what it would be like, however, to have a perfect older brother. That would be one you really could not measure up to. I'm sure the sinful nature of His brothers kept them from really seeing that Jesus was indeed as good as he really was. It took something earth shaking (Well, there was an earthquake at the time of the crucifixion, wasn't there?) to bring them to the realization of the truth. The fact of the Resurrection impacted them all, just like it does all the rest of us who have become believers throughout history.

Just think about it. Jesus was subject unto his parents. He was subject unto them even though He knew more than they did. He was subject unto them even though they were sinful (and He was not!).

What thoughts and insights do you have concerning the childhood of Jesus? Please post your comments under the "Week 3 Posts" entry in the Preachers Meeting blog.

Wow! This was free. It was a post for another blog called "Preachers Meeting." It got put here first by mistake. However, If you are interested in more comments like ths one, go to preachersmeeting.blogspot.com.

Hello and Welcome to Randy's Articles

This is my second blog. I just launched one a few weeks ago for a group that meets for discussion and encouragement in our local area.

This site will be a central place to learn about articles I am posting on the web. They will be on a wide range of topics. I have a friend who says, "Come back often. We'll treat you so many different ways, you are bound to like one of them!" Well, we'll cover so many different topics that your are bound to like some of them--hopefully almost all of them.

Some of the first ones we will highlight offer encouragement and insight to improving each of our marriages. We will, however, look at topics like "Self-removal of moles," and "How to Run Your Car on Water"! So, come by often. You're bound to like some of them.