Category: Conflict resolution

TTWMN 239: Leaving So Soon?

by Mike & Nancy | Aug 24, 2019 | Audio, Conflict resolution, Podcast, Recovery, Relationships, Spiritual Life | 0

I’ve noticed that no matter what your age, we all like to think we have a lot of years ahead of us, years to plan for retirement, complete that bucket list, or spend with the kids & grandkids.

Then something happens that reminds us of our mortality—an accident or health scare, or maybe someone we know who is waaaay younger than us is suddenly gone, or gets that diagnosis we would all dread.

As Christians, we all know, at least intellectually, that “this world is not our home”, and that our real life for all eternity is in heaven… but sometimes we can’t help but ask, “Leaving so soon?!”

TTWMN 236: Peer Pressure

by Mike & Nancy | Jul 20, 2019 | Audio, Conflict resolution, Culture, Podcast, Purpose, Relationships | 0

I was having lunch with someone the other day, and she noted how easy it is to slip little by little into the world—maybe from busyness, too tired at the end of the day or in too much of a rush to get to work in the morning—to take the time to read the bible, pray, spend even a little time with the Lord.

Indeed.

As any happily married person will tell you, the best relationships don’t just happen—they take time, and work…a lot of work. And on top of that, there are a lot of things going on in the World today trying to convince us that time is wrongly spent. The enemy will try any way he can to get us to turn from Christ.

Pressure will come from our family, our workplace, even from within our church. They will call us hateful because of our adherence to the Word of God, divisive or unsubmissive because we won’t blindly follow our leadership as they implement the latest awesome new way to be “Christian”.

They will lie about us, paint a horrible picture of us that we won’t be allowed to challenge. As the heat is turned up, the love of many will grow cold as they make spouse, child, workplace or church, more important than Christ himself, feeling they’re tired of arguing, it’s too embarrassing, or it “just isn’t worth it.”

TTWMN 235: Epidemic of Ingratitude

by Mike & Nancy | Jul 13, 2019 | Addiction, Audio, Cause & Effect, Communication, Conflict resolution, Culture, Forgiveness, Intimacy, Podcast, Purpose, Spiritual Life | 0

With the recent World Cup success of the US Women’s Soccer team, perhaps many of you, like me, were stunned and shocked at the behavior of more than one team member… the disrespect of our country, our President, and of their fellow Americans who elected him.

The word “spoiled” kept coming to mind, but was it really that much worse than what we’ve seen from others these days, especially of that generation? Antifa, which belies its supposed namesake and acts with the most Fascist tactics that ever were…

NFL players who kneeled for the National Anthem, claiming this country which made them instant multi-millionaires to play a game, has continuously enslaved them…

Social and Mainstream Media mass bullying of kids who dare to go against their “norm” by showing Christian values and common courtesy.

It all leads to topic: the epidemic of ingratitude.

TTWMN 230: Blessed Are The Peacemakers

by Mike & Nancy | Apr 6, 2019 | Audio, Conflict resolution, Forgiveness, Health & Wellness, Podcast, Relationships, Spiritual Life | 0

...

TTWMN 223: 10 Things I Hate About You

by Mike & Nancy | Jan 26, 2019 | Conflict resolution, Family, Forgiveness, Husbands & Wives, Intimacy, Marriage, Podcast, Relationships | 0

Relationships are tricky things, and maintaining balance in them between each other’s needs and desires can sometimes be like tip-toeing through a minefield. But it doesn’t have to be that way… all you have to do is ignore everything the world and political correctness says is right and just, everything it says you deserve, and you’ll have no problems at all! Well… that’s not exactly right, but it is a pretty good start. If you want a wonderful, perfect marriage, your only hope is to embrace the S word… submission. But before we get there, let’s clear the air about the things that really sabotage marriages, involving the ten things we do to each other that really undermine the intimacy you were hoping to have.

TTWMN 220: Peace On Earth

by Mike & Nancy | Dec 22, 2018 | Audio, Cause & Effect, Conflict resolution, Eternal Life, Health & Wellness, Podcast, Prayer, Purpose, Relationships, Spiritual Life | 0

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is watch all those great holiday shows and Christmas movies. “Miracle on 34th Street” (UN-colorized), Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (with George C. Scott as Scrooge please), “A Christmas Story” about a kid wanting a Red Ryder B-B Gun, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” narrated by Burl Ives, the original Seuss classic “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, “Holiday Inn” with Bing and Fred, and the Waltons prequel “The Homecoming”, about the Christmas joy found all around despite the Great Depression—all of these take me away to a simpler time, often to my childhood, giving me a warm feeling inside like a hot cup of cocoa. Then I turn on the news, and am instantly reminded of the 3rd verse in “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”: “And in despair I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth,” I said, “For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men”. Yup. But the very next verse tells us why that’s not really true: “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep, The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.” Well that’s encouraging, but we’re still surrounded by unrelenting anger, hate, discontentment and offense. So to get back to the peace we’re supposed to have, let’s remember one more classic, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”…

TTWMN 206: What I Meant To Say

by Mike & Nancy | Jul 21, 2018 | Audio, Communication, Conflict resolution, Husbands & Wives, Podcast | 0

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and they react to something you said in a way that surprised you? Maybe they were offended by something you said when you meant no offense at all. Or maybe they arrived at a conclusion based on something you said that is contrary to what you believe or meant to say. Why is that? Communication is both a science and an art. Effective communication only occurs when both parties understand one another’s views and opinions and can either have productive dialogue to resolve a difference or simply agree to disagree without raising the tension to a dangerous level. The Bible has a lot to say about the words we speak and how we speak them, giving us examples of how godly people should communicate with one another. Today’s show is titled “What I Meant to Say” as we look to God’s Word to give us advice on how we effectively communicate with each other as spouses, families and fellow believers.

TTWMN 200: Problem of Pain

by Mike & Nancy | May 12, 2018 | Addiction, Audio, Cause & Effect, Conflict resolution, Health & Wellness, Podcast, Purpose | 0

We don’t like pain. Nobody does. We go to great lengths to avoid it for ourselves, and if we can’t avoid it, we try to ignore it. And if we can’t ignore it, we try to numb it with alcohol, drugs, food or some other indulgence of the flesh to take our minds off of it. If that weren’t bad enough, we also try everything to shield our kids from experiencing pain. We haven’t done them any favors—we’ve actually handicapped them from experiencing the fullness of life, robbed them of the best tool they could have to become responsible, productive, fully-functioning adults. Yes, we need our pain, and our kids do too.

TTWMN 199: What’s Tearing Us Apart

by Mike & Nancy | Apr 28, 2018 | Audio, Conflict resolution, Husbands & Wives, Marriage, Podcast, Purpose | 0

Here’s a vocabulary word for today: “strife”, defined as “angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict.” Merriam Webster includes the idea of a “struggle for superiority” in strife. While you don’t need to look too far today to see examples of strife in the news, between political parties, interest groups and even generations, Christians are now experiencing increasing strife in places that maybe we never thought we would. And if we don’t first check ourselves and our motives before engaging in it with those closest to us, this strife can have devastating consequences.

TTWMN 191: Perspectives

by Mike & Nancy | Sep 30, 2017 | Audio, Conflict resolution, Eternal Life, Health & Wellness, Podcast, Spiritual Life | 0

Have you ever tried to go up or down a flight of stairs and misjudged how many steps there were? How about walking down the sidewalk when you step off a curb that you didn’t know was there? Hopefully those stumbles caused you no greater physical damage than embarrassment at the potential snickers from onlookers. But walking through this world without watching carefully where you’re going can be vastly more hazardous to your health, your spiritual health, than simply taking a careless misstep down the stairs. And one of the most needed tools in developing the wisdom and vision to take the right steps, seems to be sadly lacking in our reactionary society – perspective.

TTWMN 176: The Heart Speaks

by Mike & Nancy | May 20, 2017 | Audio, Church Life, Conflict resolution, Eternal Life, Podcast, Purpose, Relationships, Spiritual Life | 0

Face it: it’s getting more and more difficult to keep your cool these days. Between the increasing rudeness, aggressiveness and selfishness on full display out there, it doesn’t take much to rattle us, or even push us over the edge. Add to that the political rancor and decline of any kind of morality, kindness and values in society, and we all may want to just curl up in the fetal position until Jesus comes. But remember, we live in a fallen world, and we’ve been warned that it would be like this as the clock ticks down to the Last Day. We are supposed to better. We are supposed to be the lifeline to this dying world. We are supposed to be the example of love, grace and humility—we’re supposed to be like Jesus. So here to test how well we’re doing is teacher and author of the book “Broken yet Blessed,” Kathi McCarty.

TTWMN 172: Minds Without God

by Mike & Nancy | Apr 8, 2017 | Addiction, Audio, Communication, Conflict resolution, Podcast, Recovery | 0

There’s no shortage of examples today of irrational, contradictory and nonsensical thinking—just turn on the news, read the feeds in facebook, or just go to your local college campus. And this sort of thinking frequently leads to violent, even “rabid” behavior, with a level of obsession and compulsion that in years not so distant in the past would have landed the perpetrator somewhere they could get “mental help”. Even Christian parents are stunned and at a loss to understand what happened to their child, who seemed so solid in the Lord, but who, after a semester or so at college, has become a sexually confused, socialistic anarchist. The reason is easy to discern, but difficult to accept: we are watching the world-takeover of minds without God.