God speaking to me...this time about relationships

God can speak to us in so many ways.  That alone is impressive.  It is even more impressive that God speaks to us in ways that hone in with our personalities.  Lately gone has been speaking to me through means of my intellect more so than through experiences.  A perfect example of this is how much I feel I've learned recently about relationships and the actions God calls me to in those regards, and I'm not even in a relationship.

Over the course of the past several weeks I have had great Godly conversations with several people about their relationships, models of Godly relationships, or what Scripture says about the subject.  These conversations have been ones that truly speak to me despite that fact that I cannot fully relate to every aspect of them because of my standing in the world of "relationships".  In addition to that, I've had one particular old friend that has been posting up a storm on facebook about her single friends needing to contact her to find a mate. While it's been comical at times, she has also taken to blogging about the topic and how she sees many of the struggles and factors that come into play in the dating world.  It is a great read and a source that I think highly of-she's been married for a few years now and has 3 kids with her wonderful husband.

Then, a BCM director friend posted a link to a church's site where they have the audio from a sermon series about relationships and marriage.  It's good stuff. 

Bouncing off of that, I read through 1 Timothy 6:11-12 and was very encouraged and challenged to prepare myself to step up more as a man.  And when I say "prepare myself to step up more as a man" I mean in every aspect of life: relationships, my witness and testimony of Christ's continual work in my life, ministry, finances, and thought.  God does not call me, as a man, to an easy and sidelined existence.  The creator of the universe made me in such a way that I would take hold of every opportunity before me to bring glory to His name in a mighty way.  That goes for how I pursue and treat a women to how I make the most of every opportunity to serve those around me as Christ served.

I also think about how fortunate I have been in my life to be surrounded by great men of God that have given a great example of how to lead, serve, and minister without sacrificing manhood in any way.  I look at men like my hometown pastor Johnny Hutchison, my college roommate and bff Ben Neiser, and my buddy Jace Tubbs who have all modeled how to be a man in service to everyone around them, especially their wives.  I hope to be able to live a servant manhood as they have in all aspects of my life, including marriage.  But, I'm not there yet, so for now I listen and prepare.


-peace