Marriage on the Rock is based on Psalm 127 verse one which says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain". It is a daily devotional providing guidance for most marital circumstances. The book is based on Biblical principles; ones that should serve Christians well. However, if the principles are true, which I believe they are, people need not be practicing Christians to improve their marriage. Even the strongest marriages can benefit from periodic reminders of how they can demonstrate their love and respect for one another. As a counselor I saw far too many couples who had been married for ten to forty years; they had amassed such bitterness and unforgiveness that they could not move past the hurt and pain that they had inflicted on one another. By the time couples came to see me they were usually certain their spouse was the primary cause. They had little hope that things would change. Some had even tried counseling at some point but failed to apply what they learned. Each person needs to accept their contribution to the state of their marriage. Each needs to be willing to change whether or not their spouse is willing, for we can only change ourselves. In most cases the culprit is self-centeredness. When we learn to die to self, amazing things can happen.
About the Author: If you are looking for proof that God can and will use anyone as a Kingdom worker, my story may be all you need. My father was a non-practicing Jew, my mother a non-practicing Roman Catholic. I first set foot in a church at age 19, and then only because I wanted to marry a girl who had been going to that church all her life. By age 21 I had quit school, taken a job with Westinghouse and had a wife, house and child. My parents had provided a distorted view of marriage; their relationship seemed perfect. My pre-marriage course consisted of a brief meeting with a pastor who seemed more uncomfortable than we were. What we knew about parenting, managing money, communicating, resolving conflict and modeling a biblically based marriage could have been written on the head of a pin. To say we struggled as a couple would be like saying Jack Nickolas was a better-than-average golfer. After seven years of marriage, my wife was diagnosed with bipolar illness with a touch of schizophrenia. Our marriage was difficult but God was faithful throughout our 38 years of marriage and because of my first wife, I have grown spiritually, emotionally and practically. The Lord called Barbara home in 2002 and she is in a far better place. I spent the last year and a half of Barbara's life caring for her, having taken an early retirement from Westinghouse. Not one to sit at home, I did some substitute teaching in the public school system. The Lord used that to open a door at the church to become the part-time, temporary, acting Director of the Children's Ministry. That led to my becoming the full-time, acting Director of Missions, then to Director of Operations and now the Pastor of Marriage. My passion is to see marriages thrive, born both out of the adversity of my first marriage and the incredible blessing of my second. Kathleen and I met on eHarmony in the summer of 2003 and were married the following Valentine's Day. I earned my undergraduate degree from Case-Western Reserve University, an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and my Master of Arts in Counseling from Biblical Seminary.