Pastor Jay //

I wanted to share an excerpt from a downloadable mini e-book project I am currently working on:

Mini e-book: Relationships 101 – Connecting

On July 16, 1999 a Piper Saratoga II left the Essex County Airport in New Jersey and set a bearing for Martha’s Vinyard. The Kennedy family was gathering for a wedding at the family vacation house, but John, Jr. his wife and her sister never arrived. With 310 hours of flying experience, including 45 hours of night flying, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was well qualified to make the flight during the day under normal conditions. However, he was flying during a dark night and a haze. The plane went down into the sea for no other apparent reason than a condition called spatial disorientation. With spatial disorientation, the pilot becomes convinced that they are still flying parallel to the ground. There is a tendency to allow the plane to bank into a turn when the horizon is not visible. The inner ear may give the wrong impression that the plane is turning when it is not. Lights from Martha’s Vineyard would have provided a visual guide, but the haze that night obscured them from view. The instrument panel would have clearly indicated the true position and heading of the plane, but pilots tend to trust their instincts over the instruments. The plane was equipped with an auto-pilot device that could have been turned on and automatically brought the plane to a safe flying pattern. [“John F. Kennedy, Jr” Wikipedia.com (accessed April, 6 2008)

It is a easy to look back upon the hard facts of the plane wreckage and see what went wrong, but to survive, the time for correction is when you are in the pilot’s seat. Marriages today are failing at unprecedented rates. Everyone seems to be intimately effected by divorce. Even marriages that seem to be “good” marriages fail and we can’t understand why. As in the case with John, Jr., the dangerous conditions are not always seen until it is too late. Notice the critical errors for them that relate to all relationships:

Following instinct rather than the instruments

·         Being unprepared for difficult conditions

·         Ignoring help available at the flip of a switch

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More to come…

You must see this music video. It is powerful. Warren Barfield wrote this song after a fight with his wife.

Are you connecting with your spouse? Unfortunately, it seems that many marriages are loosely connected. “He” is hoping “she” will change and “she” is agonizing that “he” will not change either. It seems to me that many marriages need a major overhall on some simple issues. We tend to deal with our problems the same way expecting different results. If you missed last week’s message on True Love: Relationships 101, you may want to take a few minutes to listen to it on our church website (audio sermon link page). Or, ask for a copy at the sound booth. I think you will find some very simple and helpful suggestions about how to grow deeper in your relationship.

Also, ladies, I have prepared a special email that will gives practical suggestions about how to increase your husband’s ability to listen to you. If you are interested, please send me an email and I will send it to you. It is an interesting concept that I gleaned from speaker Gary Smalley.