My Wife celebrated her birthday yesterday, she is 30 years old. I have had the great joy of knowing her since she was 18 years old. We dated for 5 years and have been married 6 with an amazing baby girl. She is a wonderful friend and amazing mum. It has been one of life’s greatest joys to share the up’s and downs with a woman like Carly. I count it a joy to know she supports me through the high’s and low’s of being a Pastor. This week we were able to sign the papers for our first house in Maricopa, and this weekend we get to celebrate her birthday. She moved across the world to partner with me in ministry, she changed careers and had our first baby away from family. She is bold and courageous and my best friend.

Thankyou sweetie, you are my special lady and I love you dearly.

If you are interested in seeing what Carly is up to she has a sweet blog all the small things.

In 1814, Adelbert von Chamisso wrote a children’s book called Peter Schlemihl, the tale of a man who lost his shadow by selling it to the devil in exchange for a bottomless purse. Interestingly the name  Schlemihl means bungler or incompetent person, doesn’t seem like a bad deal giving up your shadow for unlimited funds. The issue is a man without a shadow is shunned by human society. The women he loves rejects him, and he spends the rest of his life wandering the world in scientific exploration. No longer able to participate in the world he finds himself watching.

“The metaphor of losing one’s shadow is a powerful one. People without shadows are those without a past and thus without a soul.”- L. Sweet

Your shadow shows your humanity, it reveals that you have history, sin, fragility, a story and with Christ demonstrates the possibility of redemption. Christ redeems you to life, your shadow demonstrates to others the possibility of redemption. Christ’s life change should be evident you are remarkably changed by Christ, your shadow is a reminder of the life without him.

I am always excited to get a Mark Driscoll book. Confessions of a Reformission Rev and Death by Love are two of my all time favorite books. Real Marriage is Mark and Grace Driscoll’s entrance into the conversation for Christian marriage. It seems that most of the controversy and debate extends around the chapter “Can We ____” which is a nuts and bolts look at sex within the boundaries of marriage. Mark boldly makes statements that he bases on a biblical perspective, his goal is to examine what the bible says he then combines this by asking 3 questions “Is it Lawful, Is it Helpful and Is it enslaving?”

I appreciate Mark’s willingness to be bold, it makes a nice change from books that don’t ruffle feathers because they are afraid of who the might offend. John MacArthur won’t be too thrilled with his interpretation of Song of Solomon, but it might make you read scripture a little more!

The books strength for me lies in his conversation on friendship. He takes the time to examine some famous Christian’s marriages and has a conversation about the necessity to be friend and do face-to-face ministry together. This particular idea makes the book worth it.

His insights on serving and humility are great and a helpful reminder. Grace’s transparency talking about struggles and sexual abuse make for a bold and insightful chapter, and her willingness to share makes the book really engaging. Both the chapter on sexual abuse and pornography contain a great many statistics (which I appreciate) and are deeply insightful, again making bold statements.

The book concludes with a chapter on reverse-engineering your marriage, “the most important day is your last.” I love the idea of finishing strong and the book makes a great case for building a marriage that “ends” well. Mark and Grace write a polarizing book, be prepared for bold statements and a willingness to comment on the potentially “off-limits”. I think the book is excellent, but I am also a fan of their ministry, so this review might be a little biased!