Ok LORD... I can see you aren't going to let this go and maybe I never should have asked my friends and others to PRAY for me... because you won't stop putting things in my life to remind me! SO oh well...
-=-=-=-
I'm sure that for some of you, the idea of stating your intentions at the beginning of a relationship is distasteful. Mentioning the possibility of marriage up front is foolish, you'd say, because it makes the relationship too serious, too soon.
...
I also agree that it's foolish for a couple in a courtship to immediately assume they're going to be married. But stating your intention to explore and consider the possibility of marriage is very different from assuming that marriage is inevitable. By clearly stating the intent of the relationship, a man is asserting that he is open to marriage. He is acknowleding that unless there is clear intent to consider that level of commitment, the girl has no reason to waste her time developing anything more than friendship with him.
...
This is why, in one _ _ _ _ _, courtship is a commitment--it's a promise not to play _ _ _ _ _ with another person's _ _ _ _ _. It's ***serious***. It's a willingness to honestly explore the merits of a lifelong commitment. The man is setting a clear course for the romance by answering the "What's the _ _ _ _ _?" question abotu the relationship at the very out***. The _ _ _ _ _ of the relationship will be to consider marriage.
What is courtship? It's dating with a purpose. It's friendship plus possibility. It's romance chaperoned by wisdom. That's what I mean by setting a _ _ _ _ _ course for romance. It's not without risk; it's simply a way to be careful with the other person's heart _ _ _ _ _ opening up your lives together to God's joyful best.
Who Am I?
KTF
JDK
RPK
Are the answers to all the _ _ _ _ _ the same? ;)
"...from one scar*ed hand to the other..."
Because she puts a _ _ _ _ _ on His face and mine :D "I don't D- _ _ _ _ _ you!"
Because that's what people do. They leap, and hope to God they can fly, because otherwise you just drop like a rock, wondering the whole way down, why in the *hell* did I jump? But here I am, Sarah, falling, and the only one that makes me feel like I can fly... is you.
I'm a guy. Since when do we get anything right the first time?
I'm like a vault baby, locked down!
Don't...ever...do that again!
I saw that going differently in my mind.
[last lines] Basic principles - there are none.
S _ _ _ _
-=-=-=-=-
Relationships are for people who are waiting for something better to come along.
Give me a ring... sometime. [Laughs] I mean, on the phone.
Can you believe what a beautiful day it is?
Sometimes it's really hard to see the forest through the sleaze.
Albert
-=-=-=-
You know what it's like getting up every morning feeling hopeless? Feeling like the love of your life is waking up with the wrong man? But, at the same time hoping that she still finds happiness, even if it's never going to be with you?
I've waited my entire life to be this miserable.
You can't stop it... [shouts] You cannot stop it...
"What's the point of KNOWING if there's nothing you can do to stop it..."
[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hitch]
6 comments:
C- I'm sorry I don't know where you're going with this. too much information. you sound like the 40-year old virgin. you should find someone to tell this to in person, not broadcast it to whoever visits this site, which is either a) nobody, or b) people whose impression of you will decrease upon reading the site.
this might sound harsh but i hope you take heed. if you really need to vent, just do it on a private post.
-PJ
Hmm J well if you don't "get it"... then you should ask me about the book title and etc... I am your CC small-group leader (2008) for a reason :)
Beginning to see the *3*rd comment...
K _ _ _ _ The Fool
Jesus' Dark Knight
Real Prince Kaspian
OK.... so the Eliot you used to know married Shunammite... the holy spirit "mysteriously" drew your attention to 1 Kings 1 and R____ S. the other day.... O....K.......
God sometimes guides in more unusual ways
The bible has many examples of God guiding individuals in dramatic ways. He spoke to Samuel as a small boy in a way in which he could hear with his physical ears (1 Samuel 3:4-14). He guided Abraham (Genesis 18), Joseph (Matthew 2:19), and Peter (Acts 12:7) through angels. He often spoke through prophets both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament (for instance, Agabus in Acts 11:27, 28; 21:10, 11). He guided through visions (sometimes referred to today as “pictures”). For example, one night God spoke to Paul in a vision. Paul saw a man in Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Not surprisingly, Paul and his companions took this as guidance that God had called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia (Acts 16:9,10).
We also find examples of God guiding (for instance, Matthew 1:20, 2:12, 13, 22). I was praying for a couple who were good friends of ours. The husband had recently come to faith in Christ. The wife was highly intelligent but strongly against what had happened to her husband. She became a little hostile towards us. One night I had a dream in which I saw her face quite changed her eyes full of the joy of the Lord. This encouraged us to continue praying to keeping close to them. A few months later she came to faith in Christ. I remember looking at her and seeing the face I had seen in the dream a few months earlier.
All these are ways in which God guided people in the past and still does today.
COMMON SENSE
When we become Christians we are not called to abandon common sense. The psalmist warns: “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you” (Psalm 32:9). The New Testament writers often encourage us to think and never discourage us from using our minds (for instance, 2 Timothy 2:7).
If we abandon common sense, then we get ourselves into absurd situations. In his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer quotes an example of a woman who each morning, having consecrated the day to the Lord as soon as she woke, “would then ask him whether she was to get up or not,” and would not stir till “the voice” told her to dress.
As she put on each article she asked the Lord whether she was to put it on and very often the Lord would tell her to put on the right shoe and leave off the other; sometimes she was to put on both stockings and no shoes; and sometimes both shoes and no stockings. It was the same with all the articles of dress.49
It is true to say that God's promises of guidance were not given so that we could avoid the strain of thinking. Indeed, John Wesley, the father of Methodism, said that God usually guided him be presenting reasons to his mind for acting in a certain way. This is important in every area—especially in the areas of marriage and jobs.
Common sense is one of the factors to be taken into account in the whole area of choosing a partner for live. It is common sense to look at at least three very important areas.
....
....
Spiritual compatibility. A Christian should only marry another Christian. Paul warns us of the danger of marrying someone who is not a Christian (2 Corinthians 6:14). In practice, if one of the parties is not a Christian, it nearly always leads to a great tension in the marriage. The Christian feels torn between a desire to serve his or her partner and a desire to serve the Lord. But spiritual compatibility means more than the fact that both are Christians. It means that each party respects the other's spirituality, rather than simply being able to say, “At least they pass the test of being a Christian.”
Personal compatibility. Obviously, our marriage partner should be a good friend and someone with whom there is a great deal in common. One of the many advantages of not sleeping together before getting married is that it is easier to concentrate on this area and discover whether or not there is personal compatibility. Often the sexual side can dominate the earlier stages of a relationship. If the foundations have not been built on friendship, then when the initial sexual excitement wears off it can leave the relationship with a very fragile basis.
Physical compatibility. By physical compatibility I mean we should be attracted to each other. It is not enough to be spirituality and emotionally compatible; the chemistry must work as well. Often the secular world puts it first, be this comes last in the order of priorities. The world often says that it is necessary to sleep together in order to see whether there is sexual compatibility. This is quite wrong. In the biological sense, any incompatibility that can be tested by sexual intercourse is so rare that it can be discounted.
Again, common sense is vital when considering God's guidance about our jobs and careers. The general rule is that we should stay with the job we are already in until God calls us to do something else (1 Corinthians 7:17-24). Having said that, in seeking God's will for one's career, it is common sense to take a long-term view of life. It is wise to look ahead ten, fifteen, twenty years and ask the questions: “Where is my present job taking me? Is that where I want to go in the long term? Or is my long-term vision for something quite different? In which case, where should I be now in order to get there?”
[Nicky Grumble, Questions of Life]
When I Googled it, apparently the ALPHA course is based off this text...
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