November 18, 2019 – Click here to listen
I received this email yesterday and thought it was very poignant. Divorce rates are soaring and the wake of it is destroying lives, especially children.
Good Morning Bob,
I really appreciate your daily messages, look forward to them. I write a blog occasionally and would appreciate your input on this one page. I wrote it out of exasperation because one daughter just filed for divorce from her third husband and is already dating. My youngest daughter and her boyfriend/fiancé just broke up, my friend from church and his wife are getting their second divorce (did it once, got remarried, now divorcing again). My friend asked me “what can I do to save this marriage?” I asked if he ever prayed with his wife.
NO! He responded
I asked, “Why?”
“I am not comfortable doing that!”
My wife and I start every morning praying together, and our marriage seems to grow stronger all the time. But many people simply cannot bring themselves to pray with their spouse.
Sorry for the ramble . . . would appreciate any input on the blog.
John, the Barabbas
A CORD OF THREE STRANDS
September 13, 2019
Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, considered the wisest person to have lived, said in Ecclesiastes 4:12: “Though one person may be overpowered by another, two can resist one opponent. A triple-braided rope is not easily broken”. That is obviously true, but there is another fact of the triple-braid rope I want to point out.
Sadly, most marriages nowadays are comprised of only two people, a husband and a wife, and as Solomon said, they are stronger together than by themselves. But try this illustration: Take two pieces of cord, like common twine, and color each end of one red (I used fingernail polish) and each end of the second blue, one for the man and one for the woman. Grasp one blue and one red end in one hand and the other two ends in the other hand and pull. Obviously, the two are stronger than one. Grasp just the red in one hand, loosely holding the blue, and hold opposite in the other hand and pull. There is no resistance, they come apart easily. They were just “dating”.
Now twirl the two cords together in a spiral, they’ve gotten married. The two have formed one (looks like mating snakes!) Now pull as in the first example.
Strong, right?
And the spiral gets tighter as you apply more pressure. But pull just the red with one hand, the blue with the other, and they untangle with little resistance and go their separate ways. Divorced! Like snakes done mating. Let that sink in for a while. Remember the song “I don’t wanna play house” by Tammy Wynette?
I don’t wanna play house; I know it can’t be fun
I’ve watched mommy and daddy
And if that’s the way it’s done
I don’t wanna play house; It makes my mommy cry
‘Cause when she played house
My daddy said good-bye.But now take a third cord, no color-code required, and braid all three together like a girls pigtail, and we have something much greater. Grasp the two ends, holding all three strands and pull, and the braid is VERY strong. Well DUH, that’s obvious, and all people usually focus on. Like they say on TV “But wait . . . there’s more”. Pull just the red cord with one hand, and hold the blue and neutral in the other hand, and what happens? They do not come undone; the braid just gets tighter. Pull just the red on one end and just the blue on the other, like those two snakes that are done mating and want to go their separate ways, and don’t touch the other two cords on either end. Same result. Nothing comes apart, the weave only gets tighter.
That third cord is Jesus. And when He is woven into a marriage, it not only becomes much stronger, even though not applying pressure in either direction, just His presence keeps it together, even tighter as stress is applied. If Jesus is not part of your marriage, invite Him in today. Praying with your spouse everyday weaves Him into your marriage, every day another braid or two and before long you have a long, unbreakable rope. And no it’s not a hangman’s noose . . . LOL
https://mylifeisabiblererun.com/2019/09/13/a-cord-of-three-strands/
Well said John the Barabbas – Well said! My wife and I celebrate 49 years of marriage December 12th. That my friends is a long rope.
Mark 10:8
. . . and the two will become one flesh.’ So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”