I hate to be the one to say this, but by all measurements, even the most positive marriage in America is in trouble.
Last weekend Tiger Woods, arguably the greatest golfer who has ever lived, embarrassed himself at a tournament he has won seven times. Coming in dead last and shooting the worst tournament of his professional career, Tiger admitted he hadn’t been practicing and preparing like he used to because now he needed to spend time with his children. And we all applaud that, don’t we?
But you know the back-story. Unfaithfulness in marriage, a toxic lifestyle, living in the shadows has cost Tiger more in emotional, relational, professional, and reputation capital than he’ll ever earn in two lifetimes.
But it’s not just Tiger. Look at the news headlines about the CEO of HP, by all measurements one of the most successful CEO’s they ever had, got fired over sexual harassment, extramarital affairs and no telling what else was going on.
I think I make my point. It doesn’t have to be a high-profile professional athlete or business leader to convince us that when half the marriages in America fail, when 1 million children in America lose the presence of their father in their home, when 1.4 million children drop out of school before high school because they have no parental support at home, and when divorce costs the U.S. economy in excess of $50 billion, something has got to give.
The other thing that is strange about this whole phenomenon, is if you listen to what’s being said in the pulpits across America, very little is being directed toward marriage, parenting, or the family. Why is this? Maybe we’re afraid to offend because there are so many people living in pain, we don’t want to remind them of where they are.
So what happens? We accept in our relationships what we tend to accept in our professional life – mediocrity. We just believe that’s the way it has to be. Marriage is an outdated idea, an old-fashioned notion that doesn’t hold up in the current stresses and strains of modern day life.
I am here to tell you that is not true. Nothing can be further from the truth. That’s why for the next ten weeks @ The Gathering at both services, we will be dealing with the ten things they don’t tell you before you say, “I do.” Yeah, it takes skill. It takes one set of skills to get married, it takes another set of skills to be married, and yet another whole set of skills to stay married in a healthy, energizing, productive way.
And while we can’t cover all of those skills, we’re going to raise to the surface the most powerful principles when understood, learned, and applied, that can change your marriage from something that is mediocre and miserable, into something that is great and excellent.
You can make marriage fun again. You can have a great relationship with your spouse that gets better and better as the years go by. If you join us on this ten-week journey, I guarantee you’re going to find hope, direction, and support.