I finished the first pass of my trail the other day. What an accomplishment. Now for some fine tuning. No pics of the bottom yet.

Well the traveling season has started, I pray for the safety of all. Below I talk about marriage, and I must confess I do not have all the answers. In 20 years or so of being married I have been selfish in some ways and not put my wife in her proper place. In thinking about it however and reflecting I do believe that what I wrote below is true (I'd like to think God inspired it- but then pride comes knocking), and furthermore I am confident that the principle outlined can be applied to all marriages. Existing ones included, and can give those considering it a benchmark as to how to be. I believe God's word supports what I have said.

2 Cor 10 God's plan for marriage. It doesn't fit here necessarily but its been on my mind lately. Imagine this- two people who have the other's best interests and comfort put ahead of their own. Simple isn't it? Now we as humans come along and make a mess of it. We expect certain things in marriage, or we may feel something is missing. Notice how in the last two statements the emphasis is more personal and not "other" focused. If we have expectations that aren't being met for the other person - why aren't we meeting them? If we feel the other person is "missing" something then why don't we provide it? We become way to "me" focused. The other thing I've noticed is that we get to focused on this life. Cling is a wonderful descriptive word describing it.

Lets face it we're all selfish, or can be. We usually have to make a conscious choice not to be. I think that is why God is the way He is. He wants us to choose His way deliberately and consciously. He will marvelously make sure that all injustice is in some way righted, so He doesn't "have" to act "now" in most things, but He can watch and see if we choose Him. So if you are mad at God for injustices in the world or in your own life then do you have a reason? Of course you do, nobody is ever angry without reason, but now the more important question- IS it a valid reason? Are the injustices you are angry about really a result of somebody's selfish choices? Maybe even your own? Is being mad at God valid anyway?

I wonder what this chapter holds. Wow - Paul is defending his ministry. The quote I underlined is in verse 12 - When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves they are not wise. We should not boast because we do have flaws. If we recognize we are flawed then what we think should happen may and probably is in all likelihood flawed as well. Would you agree? We shouldn't compare ourselves with others, and we shouldn't even compare ourselves with our own past actions. Its too easy to then think we have "arrived" or become something other than the flawed people we are. When we do boast -being humbled is not far away. Or we can be stubborn, and refuse to acknowledge being humbled.