Nine out of ten affairs begin with an emotional attraction. It usually happens when a need that a spouse is not meeting begins to be met by another person of the opposite sex.

• You begin to talk about problems you are having with your spouse.
• You find it easier to unwind and relax with someone other than your spouse.
• You’re dishonest with your spouse about things dealing with a person of the opposite sex.
• You’ve got a need you feel your mate isn’t meeting and someone else begins to fill that need.
• You rationalize that this new relationship okay, because they are a Christian or “just a friend” and they are helping you through a difficult time.
• You look forward to being with this person more than with your own mate.
• You hide your friendship from your mate.

So, how do you keep this from happening?

• Guard Your Heart. Put a fence around your heart that protects that sacred ground that’s reserved only for your spouse. Share only your deepest feelings, needs and difficulties with each other, not with friends of the opposite sex.
• Know the power of your eyes. The eyes are the window to your heart. Pull the shades down if you sense someone is pausing a little too long in front of your window.
• Don’t hide things from your spouse. One strategy of the enemy is to isolate you from your spouse, by keeping secrets from your mate.
• Get rid of any emotional attractions that have already begun. A friendship with the opposite sex that meets the needs your mate should be meeting must be ended quickly. It may be painful, but it won’t be as painful as dealing with the wreckage caused by a sinful relationship.
• Never be ashamed to ask for counseling or outside help. One of the best thing that can happen in a your marriage is when you come to an impasse, you seek outside help from a reliable source.

• I was informed today that there are 50 (mostly teenagers) from the Childress church going to Mexico City this July. Two years ago when we went, we took 30. I am SO looking forward to that week! I LOVE hanging with our youth group! And I love serving people in Mexico.
• It’s been a grieving week at the Morgan house this week. Our cat “Dummy-Cat” (yes, that’s her name and no, I’m not making that up), had 2 kittens a few weeks ago. We gave the two kittens away Thursday to a good home. Cooper hasn’t taken the change very well. He wants the two kittens back. In the meantime, Dummy-Cat has been fixed (or broken) so the kitten thing won’t happen again.
• I didn’t get a date night with Lea this week It has been our desire that when we became parents, not to cease being husband and wife. BUT…I know this will only happen if we are intentional!!! One day the four boys will leave (hopefully), and I want Lea and I to be madly in love. It will not happen if we ignore one another for the next 18 years!!!
• God really rocked my world this week when I was studying the story of King Saul (1 Samuel 15). God gave him specific instructions on a job He wanted done. Saul did it 95% right. God made sure Saul knew that partial obedience was not good enough. It’s pretty amazing that God said, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” God wants my obedience more than He wants my singing, giving, communion, church attendance, etc. Wow!
• We’re going to be back in the auditorium for worship this Sunday for the first time in 2 months. Two months ago we had a water valve break in the balcony of the building and it flooded the balcony, auditorium and basement. I’m ready to have my video system and power point back. Yea!
• his Sunday we’ll be focusing on our graduating seniors. I’ll be encouraging them in the lesson, and we’ll honor them with a bible and other special recognition. I love what the elders do here in Childress. They will meet Sunday with each graduating senior and tell them how proud they are of them. They will remind them that they expect them to continue to be faithful when they go to college, and they’ll ask them where they plan to attend church when the get to college. They tell the graduating senior that they plan to write a “letter of recommendation” about the graduate to the church where they are planning on attending so the church there will be expecting them. This has worked wonders. Cool elders, huh?
  
• Here’s a cartoon for all you bloggers out there…

A man bought a brand new Ferrari. He wanted to get a blessing for it, so he went to see his priest. “Father O’Malley, can I have a blessing for my Ferrari?” “Certainly, my son, but what’s a Ferrari?” The man was so incensed that the priest wasn’t impressed with his new car that he went right up the street to the next priest he could find and asked him the same thing. “Father Schmidt, can I have a blessing for my Ferrari?” “Naturally” the priest said, “But what’s a Ferrari?” Frustrated and in desperation, the man went to a third priest. “Priest Dibble, can I have a blessing for my Ferrari?” The third priest said, “Wow! You got a Ferrari? A Ferrari can go 0 to 100 mph in 5.5 seconds and has won 21 Grand Prix races this year. And a Ferrari sells for $180,000. Can I have a ride in it?” The man was impressed with this priest’s knowledge of a Ferrari and took the man once around the block. Then he asked, “Now, can I please have a blessing for my Ferrari?” The priest said, “Sure, but what’s a blessing?”

Sometimes we’re a lot like the last priest, we know more about cars, football, television and worldly things than we do about blessings. Paul wants us to know just how blessed we are to be a child of God. We are blessed beyond belief. Ephesians 1:3-10 give us a lot of the reasons why we’re spiritually blessed. Here are 5 of them.

• God has Chosen Us! (vs.4)
• God has Adopted Us! (vs.5)
• God has Freely given Us His Grace! (vs.6)
• God has Redeemed Us! (vs.7)
• God has United Us (vs.10)

This is a brief summary of last Sunday’s sermon that you can catch on podcast, download and listen on your computer, or just listen to it on the website (it even works with dial-up). I hope you’ll get a chance to swing by and listen if you want. Click here —-> (It’s GOOD to be a Child of God.)

One of the funny stories I’ve included in this lessons is, “Do you want me to spank you?” It’s a story about my 3rd son Connor. When he was little, he was SO strong-willed. We tried everything on our strong-willed child including Dobson’s book, “The Strong Willed Child.” He was so strong-willed that the book only worked when I spanked him with it If you can’t hear the story on the sermon link, I’ll try and share the story with you here in the next few of days.

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HOW TO DOWNLOAD A SERMON: For those with dial-up, see if this works. Click on the link to go to the sermon. By the “play” button you’ll see the three words: Send To Friends, Download, Permalink. “Right” click with your mouse button on the word “Download” and then click “Save As.” It will save it will download and save to your computer (make sure you know where you save it). It may take a few minutes to download, because it’s about 31 mega-bites. After listening, just delete it from your computer.

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Also, if you haven’t learned about Bloglines you’re missing out. Bloglines is a program you can use to read everyone’s blogs, and it will tell you who’s updated with new posts. Pretty handy little program. You might want to check it out.

I write in my Bible, a lot. I write notes about scriptures and about things that encourage me. Here are 10 things I’ve written in my bible that remind me of what’s important.

#1 Jesus was approachable and touchable, I should be too.
#2 Enjoy your spiritual Journey. It’s a marathon not a 40-yard dash.
#3 Be Yourself and Don’t Try to Be Who You’re Not.
#4 Stay Positive.
#5 Don’t lose Sleep Over what Critics Thinks.
#6 Put Your Family First.
#7 Turn Water into Wine.
#8 It’s God’s Grace and He can Give it to Anyone He wants.
#9 Pray Ridiculous Prayers.
#10 Don’t Quit.

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Need some interesting Saturday reading? Check out this news article about a church outreach that unfortunately draws too much attention to the alcohol. Click here for story!