A few years ago, I was struggling to move past my past. I was haunted by the mistakes I’d made. I was reminded of the people I hurt and wounded with my poor choices. I knew God forgave me; I knew my wife forgave me;  but couldn’t find the grace to forgive myself.

I remember sitting in Starbucks wit...

A few months ago, I was running late one morning (not unusual) and needed to swap cars with Trish before I could  head to my meeting. Trish called me and said, “Your car needed gas, so I am filling it up for you. Why don’t you meet me at Kroger and you can leave from there. It will save you from hav...

We have great intentions going into the holidays. We romanticize time with family and truly believe those things that bother us at other times during the year aren’t going to bother us as much because it is Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over ...

I (Justin) am a wimp when it comes to all things related to illness. I hate being sick. I don’t like being around people who are sick. I hate hospitals and doctors offices. I throw up at the sight, sound or smell of vomit. I am not a good person to have near you when you are not feeling well.

Trish...

It’s no secret that life has been pretty hectic for us over the past few months. Our travel schedule has been full, our kids’ sports season is in full swing, life has been busy.

In a moment of quiet a few days ago, I felt God prompt me with this question: “Am I enough for you?”

It’s easy for me va...

One of the ways God has allowed us to use our story is in helping people avoid some of the choices and some of the behavior patterns we’ve had in our marriage. I’m asked several times a week, “What can I do to make sure I or my spouse doesn’t have an affair.” So today we wanted to share five things ...

When I got married, I just assumed that love would compensate for a lot. I loved Trish, so I could I could put our marriage on autopilot and be okay.

• We love each other so date nights can be optional
• We love each other so working 80 hours a week will be ok
• We love each other so she knows how so
...

We all have a list.

You know that list.

It is that mental list of all the things your husband does wrong. It is that scorecard you keep so your wife will know how much she owes you. It is that list you have carefully saved and tucked away so you can pull it out at just the right moment in your nex...

Life is busy. It isn’t that we don’t have good intentions when it comes to staying connected as a family, it’s just hard to be intentional.

I’ve never drifted into spiritual health. I’ve never seen our family drift into quality time together. We’ve never drifted into deep, meaningful, life-givin...

Psalm 30:5 says:

 Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

As awesome and encouraging this scripture is joy didn’t come to our house this past Monday morning. It should have, we’d sold our house in Zionsville, Indiana after moving out of it over four years ago. We were s...

I lived the majority of my life trying to build and protect my reputation. In that process, I didn’t do the hard work of character development.

Reputation and character are two different things.

Reputation is what others believe to be true about you. Character is who you really are. When you’re dr...

Have you ever been at a crossroads in your life? Two paths to choose from and neither is wrong?

The path you’ve been on is familiar. It’s much less complicated; much less faith-filled; much more comfortable.

This new direction is risky, unknown and uncomfortable…but it’s the way you know God is ca...

The word, unconditional is an amazing word.

It isn’t dependent on performance. It isn’t dependent on ability. It isn’t biased. It doesn’t have favorites. It isn’t based on what one deserves or doesn’t deserve. It can’t be earned or paid back.

Unconditional is without conditions.

It isn’t dependen...

We had a chance to be on HisRadio this morning answering a listener’s question about blended families. Check out this short video below:

For more about the RefineUs Tour, find dates and locations HERE:

Life is busy. Trish and I used to think that the “next” season of life would be less hectic, less stressful, less busy than our current season. Life doesn’t seem to get less busy with time; it only picks up steam.

It is easy to go days, weeks and even months without intentionally connecting with yo...

No one gets married expecting failure. No bride stands in a chapel full of family and friends, imagining how much she will despise her husband in ten years. No groom gazes into the eyes of his bride, daydreaming of one day living in the same house,  but not really sharing life.

We don’t aim for fai...