All biblical quotes are taken from the New International Version of the bible
I dedicate this page to my wife Catherine without whom I would have no
page to ponder. I love you Cat with all my heart.
I also wish to give special thanks to the following:
To my Dad and Mom, who have recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary
after having lovingly raised six children. Their example is an inspiration to
me.
To the Ministry of Focus on the Family and the
outreach of Dr. James Dobson for standing firm for the Institutions of Marriage
and Family amidst the cocophony of voices that would destroy this most vital of
unions.
To the Ministry of Family Life Today
with Dennis Rainey, from whom I continue to gain valuable insight into who I am
as a man, a husband, and a father.
Genesis Chapter 2:24-25
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his
wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked and
they felt no shame.
Here you will notice a pattern:
First: There is a choice to be made. To leave the old way of life and to
begin a new way. In modern terms we could think of it this way:
Stay a swinging single and play the wide range of options, at the expense of
developing a deeper relationship with any one.Or Leave and Cleave to a single other, foresaking the field with its options for
that deeper relationship we all need. Even Adam found this out in the cool of
the garden, where he walked with God himself: Genesis 2:20b – But for Adam no
suitable helper was found.
Second: There is the notion of commitment, the two become one before God.
Thus a covenental relationship is begun between a man, a woman, and God.
Third: Within this new relationship there is a physical as well as
emotional intimacy that is right and good.
Finding the right woman to spend the rest of my life with is a Gift from God.
Seeking her highest good is the essence of my life. It is my deepest desire to
put her in her Rightful Place, on a Pedestal of Honour.
I will be the first to admit that I cannot do this perfectly. Nobody can. The
joy is not so much in achieving the goal, as in the process of day by day
learning a new way to honour and love her.
Edwin Downward 