Saturday, February 12, 2011

LOVE DARE #40

Day 40: Love is a Covenant

WRITE OUT A RENEWAL OF YOUR VOWS AND PLACE THEM IN YOUR HOME. PERHAPS, IF APPROPRIATE, YOU COULD MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO FORMALLY RENEW YOUR WEDDING VOWS BEFORE A MINISTER AND WITH FAMILY PRESENT. MAKE IT A LIVING TESTAMENT TO THE VALUE OF MARRIAGE IN GOD'S EYES AND THE HIGH HONOR OF BEING ONE WITH YOUR MATE.

Our final LOVE DARE. Congratulations - forty days and forty nights completed. It's been an amazing journey. We've reached the end of the LOVE DARE commitment, but the commitment of loving your spouse will never come to an end. Consider this as an opportunity to establish a new covenant - a covenant, not a contract. The two seem similar, but are actually very different.

We sign a contract outlining timeframes, conditions, and agreed-upon consequences if broken. But a covenant is based on trust with no expiration date - never intended to be broken. Marriage is the strongest covenant on earth between two people - pledging unconditional love for a lifetime. It's not something you can do on your own strength, but God - the One who initiated the first covenant - will enable you to succeed as a covenant keeper.

Your marriage is before you now – it’s in your hands. What will it be - mediocre? Good enough to get by? We ask you - we DARE you - make it a "Championship Marriage." Game on!

VERSE FOR TODAY'S DARE: "Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God" (Ruth 1:16).
THOUGHT FOR TODAY'S DARE: Happy Valentine's Day! May it be your best ever. We pray for all marriages - and ask you to pray for one another, as well.

We want to remind you that Dale and I will be teaching the "Championship Marriage" session this Sunday, February 13 at College Church of the Nazarene (Olathe, KS) in room K-102 at 11:00 am. We would love for you to join us. If you would like us to speak to your group, please contact us.

Blessings for a "LOVE DARE" life,
Dale and Susan Crook

(Want to take it a step further? Purchase the “Love Dare” book by Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick for additional information and to record your results.)