Vineyard Retreat

Karen and I took a trip down memory lane Friday and Saturday when we joined about 30 people from the Vineyard Community Church, Cincinnati who lead the Pre-Marital Classes at the church for a retreat workshop at Shakertown in Pleasant Hill, KY. Many years ago when Tim and Julie were young we vacationed there and had a wonderful time. Despite the Cold rainy weather the Vineyardians made our time fun, worthwhile and interesting.

VCC is one of the few congregations in our area that prepares couples for the challenge of marriage and a new family structure. I wish every church would do the same for it is the most important work facing Christians today.

So much time, energy, anxious fretting and nagging goes into discussing the negative issues of life that we fail to spend the time and money needed to PREVENT all those problems. For example, involvement in pornography can be directly traced to conflict in marriage. Porn is a terrible thing that is one more step toward the destruction of family life.

Many counselors, evangelists and pastors are all worked up over the crisis of porn but do little to prevent it. PreMarital preparation is not a panacea but it can do a lot to give couples an opportunity to enhance their intimacy and keep porn away.

The problem with pornography is not pornography. Porn has no power to grab and hold a man or woman in its grip. No person will trade the intimacy of a life partner for a dead video unless there is some spiritual, emotional barrier to real human intimacy. Intimacy that allows free, open sharing without fear of condemnation and shame is a great antidote to sex outside marriage.

Any church not doing PreMarital Preparation and Marital communications and Parenting for life is neglecting its godly call.

Stop reacting to crises and start preventing those crises.

Thanks, Greg and Dawn, Rich and Ada, Mark and Elizabethas well as all the rest for your warmth and good work.

As Paul says in Ephesians 5: "It is a great mystery but marriage is Christ and the church."