I put a new spin on the title of Bobby McFerrin's hit song from the 80's to get you to read this. (If that catchy tune is now stuck in your head, I sincerely apologize.) But now that I have your attention, I wanted to make a point of real substance. Here goes...
Do not depend on your spouse to make you happy.
Read MoreBefore any of us assume that we have done an adequate job of equipping and protecting our children, we should consider what our kids say. According to research done by ABC’s Primetime in 2006, while about 90 percent of parents say they've spoken to their teens about sex, only half of their teens agree. There is an obvious disconnect.
Read MoreImperfect and Normal Families like yours and mine want to have meaningful conversations, but they don't always come easy. A husband or wife can often get so busy that he or she fails to engage in life-giving conversation with his or her spouse. The result is that we get disconnected and end up passing like "two ships in the night." And that's not good for anybody.
It has become common practice for people to quote the stat that the divorce rate for Christians is the same as the general population in America. I have said this many times over the years. The primary source for this was research by the well-respected Barna Group. Unfortunately, the criteria they used to identify Christians in their 2004 study was simply to ask people to self-identify with a religious preference. They found that those with no religious affiliation had a 35% divorce rate. Those who identified themselves as "born again Christians" also had a 35% divorce rate. And thus, we arrive at the much-hyped stat. But here's the problem some of us have with the statistic...
Read MoreI'm not half the dad I want to be. Like you, I often fall way short of being the kind of man that my kids need in a father. And it can be discouraging. Sometimes, I think that none of us will ever move beyond a dad rating of "slightly above average." But occasionally, another father inspires me to greatness.
Read MoreUsing data from a recent SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving) study, the article essentially suggests that if you see bad driving habits in your kids, there is a high likelihood that they learned them from you. So if you are setting an expectation for your teen drivers that they shouldn't text and drive, you better not be doing it yourself. Augh! That's not what I want to hear.
Read MoreI hate getting drive thru food with my entire family. Hate. It. With a newly married daughter and our other teenage kids going in different directions, it is truly a rare occurrence that there are six or seven of us in the drive thru at the same time. But it still happens on occasion, particularly on road trips. And there I find myself, talking to the guy on the other side of the speaker at Taco Bell or Sonic, trying to get everyone's order right. And it's always miserable.
Read More
