lwagner's blog

We spend a lot of years in the classroom…more than we realize. Certainly, we spend the years it takes to finish high school…and college…and graduate school. That’s a lot of hours spent with teachers. Many different subjects taught. Many different skills learned. When you consider it, the teachers that you have over your lifetime exert a lot of influence on you. And not just in teaching the content that the course demands.

Who they are influences you, too. Because, like it or not, your teachers also are role models for you. They influence your ideas of right and wrong, important and unimportant, etc. They have helped shape you into the person you are today.

My wife and I love to have adult time. When you have 2 little ones, both of you have jobs, and you have developed a dependence on sleep (gotta have at least 5 hrs. a night!), time together and time with other adults is a much desired luxury. We love to get together with our small group and talk… about anything! Small group time centers around whatever we’re studying but inevitably it also centers around each other’s lives. Reconnecting and sharing. Laughing and praying. 

We have been blessed to be a part of a group made of excellent parents. We are so blessed to get to “talk shop” and learn from others who are on the journey of parenthood. We have gotten helpful hints and super strategies for everything from meal time to bedtime and from discipline to potting training. So many ways to be better parents.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Hannah and Samuel. That’s partly due to the fact that my wife and I have lived the story…there was a time that we were waiting on God for a child of our own. But it’s also because I love how Hannah came to God with her heart’s desire and what we learn about God through this scene. 

We learn that it’s ok to go to God with your heart’s desires—it’s ok to cry out to God—we don’t need to be afraid that we’re bothering God—we can trust that He listens. That’s what we see Hannah doing—there is one thing in life that she wants and she can’t have it. She knows that only God can change her circumstances and so she cries out to Him. Look at the connection between Hannah’s suffering and her prayer: she has every reason to be bitter but instead of giving into her emotions, she lets her circumstances drive her to prayer. Her pain leads her to an abiding faith. 

We’re in the midst of a financial crisis in our country right now.  Many who are reading this have lost half of their investment portfolio.  Some have lost their jobs.  Others are in foreclosure or near it.  It’s already a financial crisis greater than most of us have ever experienced.

And from all reports, we are only experiencing the beginning stages of the crisis.  Many expect this crisis to last another year or two at minimum.  And that’s the part that creates the most anxiety.  Most people have had their lives changed in one way or another but most are still hanging in there.  And yet, if this crisis continues on for several years, many of us will struggle to “hang in there”.  It’s the not knowing how long it’s going to last that causes so much of the fear.

Ask any marriage expert and they will tell you that the key to a marriage lasting (read: surviving) is how the couple handles conflict. Everyone knows that conflict in marriage is a reality…really, conflict in any human relationship is a reality. If you are married, you will experience some conflict from time to time. The key to a marriage lasting is how that conflict is dealt with. If it is dealt with in a healthy manner, that marriage will most likely last. If the conflict consistently results in unhealthy exchanges, that marriage is much less likely to last.  But if you were to ask a marriage expert what the key to a happy, fulfilling marriage is (read: thriving) and many will tell you the key is empathy. Drs.