The Irrelevant Church

When did the church become irrelevant? We’re writing this sandwiched between two conferences on Marriage and Family. The sense we’re getting is that the church has become completely irrelevant when it comes to helping marriages and families. Why? Follow this line of thought.

IF marriage is the litmus test of Spiritual formation.

IF family is the incubator of Spiritual formation.

THEN with divorce as prevalent in the church as out and with teens leaving the church in droves, the church has become irrelevant.

Perhaps the next revival/reformation/great awakening in the life of the church will come when people in the church realize that when we put marriage first and family second the rest will take care of itself.

So when do you think the church became irrelevant?

Jay and Laura

Sometimes Husband is spelled @$$!

Last week Laura lost a dear friend. Karen was one of Laura’s best friends in college and lost her four year battle with cancer. My wife’s week was filled with anxiety every time she’d get a post from Karen’s “care page”. Most telling was the afternoon Laura spent in tears as she wrote a goodbye email to Karen at her husband Scott’s request. I say “most telling” because Laura is NOT a crier, I AM~

Laura leaves Wednesday morning for Atlanta to attend the funeral on Thursday and she’ll return home Friday because we leave Monday for a convention in Dallas. We’re cramming a weeks worth of work into two days so I can play “SUPER-DAD!” while Laura’s gone.

So WHY is Husband spelled @$$? Because on Friday all I could think about was getting our talks finished for the numerous conferences we’re speaking at this summer.

“C’mon Laura we really need to pound out these talks…get your head in the game! Focus with me, we are running out of time!” Finally she looked at me and said in a quivering voice, “Sorry, I’ve just had a stressful week”

Now wait for it… wait for it…my response…“Why have you had a stressful week?”

The look on her face showed pain I haven’t caused in quite some time…and it certainly made me think…Jay Laffoon you are just an @$$!

Pray for Laura as she heads south…pray that I get my head out of my back pocket! And let’s all pray we continue to learn and grow in this journey called marriage!

Jay (aka @$$)

Who gets the “Little Pink House”?

In the news this week John “Cougar” Mellencamp and his wife of 18 years are “calling it quits”.  Frankly I hate that phrase.  Why do people think “quitting” is so much easier than “fighting”?  Maybe it’s because we’ve become a society of wimps and wussys and YES I know what that last word means.  Sorry, but I’m tired of people NOT realizing what is and isn’t worth fighting for in this life.

Marriage is hard work, period. And yes sometimes you have to fight for your marriage.  Laura and I had a fight (ok heated disagreement) just the other night, and yes it was about one of the big three in marriage (Money, Sex, and Family). I didn’t like her at the moment and I’m positive she didn’t like me!

What did we do about it?  We cooled off and talked the issue through…you know like responsible adults.  You see every marriage is going to be filled with disagreement, hurt and disappointment because we’re all humans and that’s what happens. The JOY of marriage is fighting through the pain, and hurt and disappointment in order to build a life together!

Fighting with and for my bride!

Jay~