This coming year is a big year for the Williamson family because Melody and I will be celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary next summer.  It is hard to believe that we’ve been married that long. Marriage is a wonderful, God-ordained, blessing that serves as the most fundamental building block of society.  Sharing your life in oneness with another individual is the essence of community and is one of God’s greatest gifts.   But, as any married couple knows, marriage has both its ups and downs, its smooth sailing times and its rough times.  Anyone embarking on that journey without a realization that things will not always be rosy is in for a rude awaking.

Christians need to be ever vigilant for our marriages and our families.  Satan wants to destroy them both and we must be intentional about strengthening them according to Biblical principles so we can weather the difficult times.    Over a year ago Melody and I and two other couples from Keizer attended a one day Family Life conference at the Moda Center in Portland called “I Still Do”.  The speakers were inspiring and the Biblical teaching was a great reminder of God’s plan for marriage.  While at the conference I kept thinking, “I wish our whole church could come to this conference.”   But then on a break we discovered a new DVD series that many churches are using from Family Life called The Art of Marriage.   This program is a series of professionally produced and edited DVD programs that works through the essential message of the Family Life conference in a very accessible format.  It uses humor, drama, art, real life testimonies, and straight forward Biblical teaching to bring home the message of God’s design for marriage and how to make it for the long run.

We will be offering The Art of Marriage program here at the Keizer Church during the Winter quarter on Wednesday nights.  One of the unique things about the class is that each week there are fun “date night” homework assignments that will help you build on and reinforce the message of the weekly DVD session.    I’m praying that this will be a tremendous blessing to the marriages and families of our congregation.   Please plan to attend with your spouse and invite your friends and neighbors to join us.   DTW