Family Friday

We're retreating this weekend with the newly-married class at McKinney. We love being connected with this class, not only because God is doing some really cool things in and through them, but also because it gives us a much-needed connection with people who are at a similar stage in life.

The connection with people who smell what you're steppin' in is more important to my wife than to I, but it's important to me too. We haven't always had that ability, so we're really thankful to have it now.

Not only is it good from the standpoint of having friendships, but it's good for our marriage. Each of those couples serve as mirrors for Kari and I to look into. Sometimes they give us verbal feedback on things they notice in our lives, but most of the time we learn from them by osmosis. At some points we'll see something in one of those marriages that encourages Kari and I to love each other in a different way. Sometimes we'll see something in one of those marriages that reminds us how gracious God has been to us. And sometimes we see something in one of those marriages that convicts us to fix something we're doing wrong.

We love getting to serve the young-married ministry at McKinney, in part because they do a good job of serving us; most of the time without even knowing it. Our marriage is stronger because we spend time hanging out with people who are working to make their marriage stronger. Hopefully, we'll do some of that this weekend.