Marriage Questions

To the old and wise . . .

• How has your marriage surprised you?
• What have you done that has most helped or hindered communication in your relationship?
• What do you wish you had known when you were first getting started?
• What sort of advice do you have for us?

Beth and I were talking to Pastor Alan after church and we told him we just finished up the Gary Thomas study. Despite his bias toward "Love and Respect" during the sermon - he was very complimentary of Thomas and even told us some stories of personal interaction he has had with Gary. All that to echo what Tracey said in the post below about God's word arriving to us in a timely manner.

Example of Posting a Picture

Just wanted to show everyone an example of posting a picture to the blog - its pretty easy and adds a lot to the "story" you are trying to tell (ask Mr. Tight Pants on the right about this one).

You can post as many pictures as you want, but I would recommend doing it with a broadband connection - it takes a few seconds to upload the pictures.

I hope this is something that will help our small group stay connected through the summer!! Hope to see you all soon.

Prayer request from Joanna

Hi everyone,

We are coming upon Memorial Day again this year and with that comes the one year anniversary of our friend Scott Kornfield's death. This will be a very difficult time for Kristyn and I would just like to ask everyone to keep her in your prayers. She has been more withdrawn lately, and we will continue to be there for her and reach out to her. Please also keep Nate and Chandler in your prayers as well. Nate was riding with Scott when the accident occured and Chandler is the teenager who hit Scott. Also, Scott's brother Todd is still struggling with all this and needs guidance. Please pray that someone can cross his path to help him with this struggle.

There will be a ride on Memorial Day led by Nate to remember Scott. They will take the same course that Scott and Nate were planning last year, stopping at the site of the accident to remember Scott. Please pray for safety and reflection for all those who participate.

Thanks everyone.


Joanna Striplin

Recap from 05/10/06

Hey all,

Just wanted to send a note out for those that weren't able to be there last night at the Gerdings. You missed Duncan's creative desserts!

Joy, we are rejoicing that you are approaching 36 weeks! Thank you, Lord, for that. Prayers for a healthy boy continue and for a safe, swift labor for you. You have been so patient in these weeks and glad you will be out of bed soon.

Jolene and Brian - Pray for a their trip to Jamaica. Safety as they leave on Saturday and will be gone for a week. Also pray for Steve, Brian's best friend, who asked for prayer. Who knows what the Lord will do through the friendship of Jolene and Brian.

Ed McQueen and June- continue to pray for Ed's recovery. June is pretty overloaded with work and caring for Ed, so pray for her as well.

Andrew, Duncan's brother- no update yet on their plans to move to Austin, TX. Continue to pray for wisdom for Andrew and his wife. Duncan's mom is in a lot of pain from surgery. She isn't taking any pain meds, so pray for quick healing of her body and that the pain will soon subside.

Ruth (Noel's Mom) will see a lung specialist on June 6, so still waiting to know what is causing her to feel so crummy.

Okay, well you know how Noel loves homework. Noel and I started off as the lab rats for the homework, hoping to help spark ideas for others. We shared one struggle for us, which has really been one of our marital struggles from the beginning. We are trying to not go through the struggle without finding purpose and to better listen to what God is trying to teach us through the struggle. So that is the homework assignment. Pick a current struggle in your marriage. Then discuss it and come up with what you think God is trying to do through the problem to spur on growth in both of you. Then come up with some solutions to better solve the problem.

Oh, and Noel also had us take a few minutes to define marriage. We all came up with different definitions, but what was interesting is each definition had some different element about marriage. I wish I would have wrote down everyone's but I'll do a summary: Marriage is a covenant, union, makes you one, is a witness to the world of God's glory, more closely than any other relationship reflects the unity of the Trinity; is a spiritual, physical union; a commitment to love, cherish, and honor; marriage can either cause a person to reflect Christ or mirror the devil. Anyway, that is a rough idea.

We ended by talking about Bebo's song, "The Long Way Home." Pretty compelling lyrics.

Hope everyone is having a good week, and our prayers for each of you will continue on!

Blessings to everyone,

Tracey D. Lawrence