Love & Respect
Friday night and Saturday were spent at the best marriage conference around! Our church hosted the "Love & Respect" conference and we had over 1,800 people from 13 states in attendance. Dr. Emerson Eggerich and his wife, Sarah, have an amazing ministry to couples. Their message is not original and is definitely no new, empty philosophy. Their message is based on a passage of scripture that has been around for some 2,000 years: "Husbands must love their wives as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." Ephesians 5:33. Dr. Eggerich's best selling book "Love & Respect" is the best marriage book I have ever read! Men are always being challenged to love their wives better, be more sensitive, etc. This book is quite different in that the challenge to wives is to respect their husbands. The idea of respecting our husbands definitely goes against the popular culture! Just watch any sitcom or listen to women gabbing on TV and you will hear them complaining and bagging on their husbands. This doesn't mean that men aren't to respect their wives and that wives aren't to love their husbands....that is what we are created to do. Women are naturally loving and nurturing so God's command (not suggestion!) to us is to respect our husbands...God is not redundant! Men are naturally motivated by respect and honor so God's command is for men to love their wives. We have read the book and our home Bible study went through the 12 week small group study last year and it was truly transformational in our marriage. It was a great refresher for us! There is a conference schedule available on line and it's definitely worth any couple's time to invest in going if it's coming near you.