I heard the Switchfoot in church today

This is cool. Pittsburgh has an awards show for high school drama productions done by schools in the greater Pittsburgh area. Really great idea.

Message this morning was broadly about marriage. However, on a more specific basis, it was, according to the subtitle in my Bible, "Imitating Christ's Humility." Here's the passage that Phil spoke on:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Phil commented on one of the causes of "irreconcilable differences" is what he calls the "cycle of selfishness." In a nutshell, the cycle involves the husband and the wife both looking out for themselves and not looking out for each other. Their selfishness causes them to drift apart and to stop functioning as a couple.
As I was listening to the message, this question came to mind: "How prepared should/could a couple be for marriage?" It strikes me that you cannot possibly be prepared for everything you will experience in a marriage relationship. But how can you be as best prepared as possible? I don't know the answer. But what I do know is that I feel that there is a lot that can be learned by my relationships with my friends and family. And I believe that will help me in a future marriage relationship.

For the record, I had some great baked oatmeal today. I think I ate about fifth of the pan. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmm.

Garlic