Marriage
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A Year of Milestones
Forgive me for being quite personal with today’s post, but I think that, by the end, you’ll see why I wanted to share this. The year 2024 is one that our family has thought about for a while. As with so many other things in life, you realize something will happen in a few years and, then, it seems like it will never get there. Until it does. And, for our family, here we are. In a period of about 10 weeks, our family will have two milestones, Lord willing. And they are two things that remind us of some valuable lessons for marriage. First, on June 5, Leah and…
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Our 2023 Thankful List [Video]
So, a number of months ago, we paused recording our podcast. However, today, we bring back one of the yearly features, and we do so for two reasons. First, we love sharing our “thankful list,” and so we have that for you in video form. That’s the main reason, and we hope this encourages you to think of things for which you are thankful this year. But also, we are sharing this in video form because…we have our own YouTube channel! The Faughn Family of Four will begin releasing more videos in January (maybe a couple will be sprinkled in before then), so we ask you to subscribe and let…
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It’s Almost As If…
When so-called “same sex marriage” was allowed in the United States, those who stood against it on moral grounds were made fun of for many reasons. One of those was that we said clearly that this would not be the only thing that we had to deal with. It was defamed as the “slippery slope” argument…as if that’s a total fallacy. On one hand, we said that the same (or similar) “logic” could be used for polygamy or other forms of “marriage.” That was blasted and we were told that the only thing that was desired was to change marriage in this one way. We knew that was not true…
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Add This to “If It Bleeds, It Leads”
For many years, the phrase “If it bleeds, it leads” has been used to describe what gets the main coverage in the news. The idea is that disasters garner the most attention, so the main headline or “tonight’s top story” is nearly always tragic. Murders, natural disasters, and fires are quite often what lead the news. However, with the proliferation of news outlets and the length of time they are available, there might need to be another statement to add to that one. It started with 24-hour news channels that had to fill, well, 24 hours. But with the growth of podcasts, YouTube channels, and more all sharing news, there…
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From Three to Two to One
When you read that title, you may have thought of the last few seconds prior to the launching of a rocket, the end of a dramatic basketball game, or something else like these things. In reality, the title has nothing to do with any of those things. Instead, it has to do with how confusing our society is becoming. It is (or at least it used to be) normal during a wedding ceremony for a preacher to encourage the couple getting married to make sure that God was the third partner in their relationship. He might even spend some time explaining some of the benefits of that. Even if the…
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Sometimes It’s Tough
Now, there’s a wide open topic for you! Let me narrow it down just a bit by saying it is sometimes tough to be an elder’s wife. I’m aware that it is sometimes tough just being a wife, even if your husband doesn’t serve in this capacity. I also am aware that it is sometimes tough being married to a preacher. I’ve lived that life for a long time. However, being the wife of an elder has its own challenges and I would like to share some of those with you. He can’t share everything with me. Before he became an elder one of the greatest qualities of our marriage was that…
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Building Up the Preacher’s Wife
She–along with elders’ wives–holds one of the most difficult “roles” in the Lord’s Church. It is difficult because it is not defined in Scripture, but is often “defined” by each member of a congregation, and she’s just expected to know that. From talking with dozens and dozens of families over the years, allow me to let you in on a little secret. You may not believe it at first, but I promise you it is true. It is this: there is a very high likelihood that your preacher’s wife feels very lonely. Her husband has dozens of people come up to him each week and basically tell him how great…
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Jesus vs. Family
One of the teachings of Jesus that is often just quickly passed over has to do with family. In Matthew 10:34-37, Jesus stated: Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Often, when we…
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ReConnect 2023
A few years ago, Josh and Amanda Ketchum met up with Leah and me with an idea. They noticed that there was nothing that they knew of for preachers and their wives specifically to help build up their marriages. So, out of that meeting (at Chick-fil-A of course), ReConnect was born. The idea behind ReConnect is simple: it is a two-day retreat that is meant to give encouragement to preachers and their wives. Through lessons, discussion groups, and fellowship, these couples are given an opportunity to step out of the grind of ministry and, well, reconnect. This year, we are glad to have this event again, and we are grateful…
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A Conversation Starter
I’m part of a Ladies’ Bible Class which has met every Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 for about thirteen years (we do take a few weeks off around the holidays). We have studied deeply the books of law and the historical books of the Old Testament. We are now on a schedule that takes us through the Psalms, Proverbs, and the prophetic books. We began our next section of Proverbs yesterday – Proverbs 25-29. As we got into chapter 25, near the end of that chapter, verses 23 and 24 really started a great discussion. They read: “The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks. It is…
