This podcast is hot! My guest in The Sound Room is Andrew Marin, founder of the Marin Foundation, activist, author, pastor, and lover of Jesus and all God's created people. Truly a privilege to have him in The Sound Room. The church is challenged with loving and bridging relationships to the Gay Community. Andrew is building those bridges. We all have something to learn. Check out his blog, buy his book, and join in on the conversation.
PS: I love how Andrew posted the podcast on his website and refers to me as "Tony G." With a last name like mine, abbreviations are necessary, I guess! It's like I'm "McG" (film-maker)!
I love Andrew Marin's faith and love, compared to he others in this clip spewing hate. But I also love how Andrew even has compassion on those harshly judging others.
This is a great word for February, the month where we typically think about love, red hearts, romance, and gifts from that special person. This isn't about dating or marriage, it's about finding love and acceptance as you are. I love what Oswald Chamber says, "No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first."
I really like how God moves so differently in each person he's created. I've had this podcast going for about three months now. It's called THE SOUND ROOM (TSR) and you can subscribe via iTunes! I'm really stoked on the stories we've captured. I really want to encourage you to listen to Judy Peterson's story. Judy is a friend, pastor, wife, speaker,lover of God, a loved one of God, and a messy disciple seeking to faithfully live out her life. She experienced Christ one Sunday after a long night of bartending in quite the most unique way. She now speaks and shares her story to crowds around the country, but specifically, she meets daily with college students at my alma mater: North Park University in Chicago (which causes me to like her even more). She shares God's love right where people are, she doesn't gloss it over or sugar coat it, and she doesn't focus on changing people's behavior. She focuses on the heart, for it is our heart that dictates how we live. And it's God's job to change our heart which affects how we live anyway. She's funny, bold, and so humble with how's she's found beauty and truth within her own brokenness and specifically through the pain of multiple miscarriages. This is a story to pass on. Do you feel unloved? Do you feel so dirty, sinful, and so far from God that you feel it's impossible for God to forgive you? You need to listen to this podcast! You are loved and accepted..the question is, will you be accepted and be transformed because of it? Will you accept the invitation of Jesus to come and dance with him?
Well, it's Valentine's day and it's still just the three of us. We are still waiting to add our third little lady any day now. We hope she arrives soon cause we are very ready! So, until then, I say Happy Heart's day to the two beauties in my life right now! I love you very much! But speaking of adding our next little one, one of my friends, and fellow PCC staff member, explained how stress and kids relate in a growing family. He just had his 4th child two months ago and said the most stress happened when he had his 2nd, but it decreased as they continued to grow. He charted it out on a piece of paper like this:
Many people confirm this was true of their experience, too, so we are preparing for it to be a huge adjustment, but still very excited. And hopefully, by God's will, we can grow our family to four and beyond. Bring on the stress!
Four years today! I love marriage and wholeheartedly recommend it. Although it requires work, sacrifice, humility, and much forgiveness, there is nothing like sharing life with your best friend, life-love, and parenting partner! This picture is from our bathroom mirror. Last week I wrote to her about how she models the character of the woman in Proverbs 31. Wendy is a gift to me and I want her to know it. I love using dry erase markers in this way. It's part of the way we work in our marriage to show each other love. It's something I try to encourage all couples to utilize as it's been a great tool for us. Try it. It's a simple way to be creative (with words or pictures) by showing your love for your spouse, roommate, or even yourself (write scripture to remind your of God's truth and how much you are loved by Him). I plan to use this as my kids grow up, too.
Tonight was cool. Once a month (or so) we have what is called a DISCIPLESHIP night: A gathering to discuss relevant issues for the Christ-following young adult. With some good pizza and Starbucks' Frapps on hand we went after tonight's Topic:
DATING/LOVE/MARRIAGE/SEX
It was so cool to partner in ministry with my wife Wendy and share (in our crammed living room) with a bunch of our young adults, all who are trying to figure out God's design and authentically live for him in our community. I love it and I was so proud to see these men and women taking their relationships and purity seriously.
I could have gone all night talking about these issues--and teaching from my own baggage, but we have Isella's internal clock to deal with early in the morning so we obviously had to end.
Here's some of our notes from the night
Overarching concept: God has called us to a life that honors him. If we know God’s love, our actions will reflect who he is in all of life and all of our relationships. God’s design from the beginning has been one man and one woman in an emotionally, sexually, and spiritually intimate relationship (one flesh) called marriage. We as God’s followers must seek to understand God’s design and live it out faithfully as a means of loving him and loving others (Great Commandment) in healthy community. This is known as a standard (Bull’s eye) that we seek after not because we have to, but because we want to, knowing that it honors God but also has benefits for us and those we are in relationship with. We have an absolute truth from God’s word. Although not every explicit detail has been spelled out for us in scripture we can appropriate God’s truth practically in our life and relationships (and help each other, too)! Remember our life is about experiencing (feeling) and choosing love and this puts us in partnership with God. This puts us accountable to have discussions with our friends and dating partners to prevent from creating bonds (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) that were only meant for marriage---and a good, healthy, God-honoring relationship is worth waiting for!
FLAME-Rob Bell Video recap: Three types of love in the Hebrew: Friendship, Commitment (marriage), and Erotic. We need all three for healthy sexuality! See Video below (10 minutes in length)
Verses we referenced tonight: Genesis 3 Song of Solomon Romans 7 1 Corinthians 6 Galatians 6 Ephesians 4 & 5 1 Thessalonians 4
Resources used in our conversation: (All of them and are available on amazon.com for under $15).
What’s the Difference? Manhood and Womanhood defined according to the Bible By John Piper
Relationships by Drs Les and Leslie Parrot
Boy Meets Girl & I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Boundaries in dating by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
Love is a Choice (Letting Go of unhealthy relationships) by Hemfelt, Minirith, Meier
Thrill of the Chaste, Finding fulfillment while keeping your clothes on by Dawn Eden
Should I Get Married? By M. Blaine Smith
Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships by Chip Ingram
Broken Image by Leanne Payne
All of these books have aided in our relationship before marriage and continue to be resources we reference for others and continue to go back to for ourselves in different ways! To those who participated tonight, thank you! Wendy and I loved it and we will continue to pray for you. Don't forget to take another (or deeper) look into the packet with all it's articles and worksheets. There are great pages in there for those needed healing of past sexual sin, those wondering about current compatability, and those considering marriage. These are great conversation starters and reasons to pray together as a community! Spur one another on toward love and good deeds (purity!)!
God is Good! God's design for relationships is Good. God loves relationships! God loves sex (in marriage)!!!
I am becoming so sappy. Seriously, I have always been in touch with my emotions which hasn't always been perceived as the "macho" thing but, hey, I am proud of it. But I must admit some of this sappiness is getting out of control. Connecting the dots leads me to believe being a husband and father is to blame! What's the evidence? Well, when I am away from my family at work or traveling on a trip I am constantly reminded of them. I hear a song, a sound, see a picture, and/or sometimes a smell triggers me(don't ask). Lately I am finding myself instantly tearing up within seconds. It can happen any where and in the most random places like walking through a mall or in a drive thru--I'm toast! My vision blurs as my eyes well up and I'm warm all over. Just today I caught a glimpse of a commercial with a young family like mine and I felt like I just got hit in the gut out of nowhere. BAM! And to be honest--I love it. I love this sappiness. because I love my family and it makes me grow in love for them more to think about then and actually feel something..and that something feels good!
The real truth is that whether we are husbands, wives, mothers or fathers-it doesn't really matter. It's just being God's creation that does. What I love about God is that he created each one of us to be whole emotionally and to experience the full range of emotions in healthy ways. We "feel" because we "believe." I well up (or cry lets be honest) because I believe my family is a great gift that I enjoy and I believe they love me and make my life better. I feel because of what I believe. And just think how great we "feel" when we truly believe God loves us! Think on that for a while. Read God's word. You and me are created and loved by God. We are in relationship with God. Just being human (created by God) entitles us the opportunity to experience the depth of love and all the gooey craziness that comes when we have feelings as a result. If you are reading this, I hope that you are engaging in the opportunity to feel what God wants you to feel as a result of believing and letting him in to live in you. I hope you, too, are getting all gooey and sappy when you catch a glimpse of a picture or hear a song that reminds you of God and his love for you. Read John 14. (Jesus said those who love him will be loved back by him and his father and that they will LIVE IN US!) He is thinking of you, loving you, and ever present with you all day long wherever you are (Psalm 139).
PS.
My wife made this as a blog post for our family's blog and it was so cute I had to pass it on to our community!
A few of my favorite things by Isella Rose
I love reading a good book... standing up (ok, with a little help)... watching the world around me... having a good laugh... gnawing on things... wiggling my legs... exersaucin' (thanks for the loan, Natalie Stewart!) ....and snuggling with my daddy. More to come as I grow...
(Read my friend Matt Nightingale's post on Andrew to get to know a little more).
Just in case you don't know:
