Come to Our Retreat!
Break Free

I was talking to a friend the other day about some issues he was having in a relationship. Tension was high. Frustration was thick. Expectations were not being met. He asked my advice. I gave it.

I said, “You are a perfectionist. You have to be perfect in every aspect of your life and you...

Continue Reading...
Just Do Your Thing, Let God Do his

Maybe this is a public confession and has nothing to do with you. Maybe this post is just me needing to share an insecurity I have that most people don’t struggle with. The truth about me is I think I can do God’s job as good as He can do it. I don’t say that out loud, but in my...

Continue Reading...
A Game We Always Lose

When we compare ourselves to others, we always lose. We are never pretty enough, smart enough, rich enough, successful enough, popular enough, recognized enough. The comparison game brings anxiety to our mind and hurt to our heart.

There is a comparison game that many people play in their...

Continue Reading...
New Year, New You

Going into a new year, we all have great intentions, don’t we? We’re going to lose that weight. We’re going to read our Bible every day. We’re going to spend more time with our kids than on our phone. We’re going to improve in our marriage. We’re going to eat...

Continue Reading...
Hope In The Waiting

We are less than 2 weeks away from Christmas. I love Christmas. I love giving gifts. I love getting gifts. I love shopping for gifts. I love the feeling of nostalgia surrounding Christmas. I can hardly wait until Christmas. There is a sense of anticipation.

One Christmas tradition celebrated by...

Continue Reading...
God Hates Divorce

We received an email this weekend that broke my heart. It was from a woman desperate for our advice.

She had a vision for her marriage. She dreamed of happily ever after. She never wanted to her marriage to be ordinary. She thought the longer she was married the happier she’d be.

Her vision...

Continue Reading...
Not That Far Away

When I was in high school I remember my basketball coach saying, “For every day you don’t practice, it will take you two days to get better than you are today.” I have no idea if that was a true statement, but it stuck with me. It upped my commitment to practice. I didn’t...

Continue Reading...
Seduced by the Stage

I had the opportunity yesterday to speak at Cross Point. It is an honor to be able to speak at a church I love. After the service people were very kind and encouraging about the message, both in person and on Twitter.

As I was leaving last night, I was reminded of a phrase that Trish...

Continue Reading...
Why We Lie

I (Justin) haven’t been able to turn on the TV the last few days without seeing blanket coverage of the General Petreaus affair story. It has been all over the news and the internet.

Yesterday, during lunch I sat in a restaurant and programming was interrupted so the President could...

Continue Reading...
A Step of Faith

Someone files for divorce in the United States every 20 seconds. 60% of all divorces are filed by people age 25-39. Of the people that stay married, most don’t have the marriage they dreamed they would have when they said, “I do.”

What if we could change that?

That is the...

Continue Reading...
It's Only A Season

Trish and I have been talking a lot lately about seasons of life. As parents of two teenagers and one that drives, we have entered a new season of life. New seasons of life can be exciting. But not all seasons of life feel good. They can be painful, lonely, heart-wrenching or dry.

As I...

Continue Reading...
A Few Months from Now

Sin’s greatest strength is that it is relentless. It wears you down. It messes with your mind. It always over promises and under delivers.

Sin doesn’t usually require you to make huge compromises or take giant leaps away from God…it lures you into...

Continue Reading...
You Have to Choose It

This weekend was a pretty cool weekend. Trish and I got to be a part of Lifeway’s Festival of Marriage weekend. Over 600 couples gathered in North Carolina and Dr. Gary Chapman opened the weekend with a powerful talk on The Five Love Languages.

Trish and I...

Continue Reading...
Seven Years Without Normal

Although we share our story often, I (Trish) don’t think about the details that took place seven years ago because I live in who we are now and not who we were then. But every year I see October 9th on the calendar, it brings it all back a fresh my desperate desire to go back...

Continue Reading...
1 Year After the Affair

Seven years ago today, everything changed. With four words, I cost my wife, family and so many around me what seemed like everything.

“I’m having an affair.”

With those words, my sin was exposed and life as we knew it came to an end. Over the next two days, God would crush my...

Continue Reading...
What Every Husband Needs at Home (That He Usually Gets from Work)

On Monday we got really honest about why guys struggle with being successful at their jobs, but not feeling successful at home. We heard from some women that said that this wasn’t a gender thing, that women feel that way too. As a guy writing the post, I didn’t want to speak for...

Continue Reading...