Category: Basic Training

In an earlier set of posts, I wrote about the biggest challenges men face. These included Managing Work-Life Balance, Reordering Our Priorities, Resisting Temptations, and Maintaining Sexual Purity. Someone recently suggested though that another of a man’s biggest challenges is marriage. Well, at the risk of sounding like a “humblebrag”, that was not me.  I’m blessed with a great marriage! So during this week in honor of my 37th wedding anniversary, I’m writing not of the challenges, but about the benefits of marriage, and to share some of my experiences from more than three decades of wedded bliss. In this post and the next, I will describe several of the lessons I’ve learned from my marriage such as:  Companionship Offsets Loneliness  Provision (Security) and Support  Sex for Intimacy and Procreation (to also avoid temptation) Self-sacrifice  Servant Leadership  Love and Respect  Character Refinement and Holiness  First, let’s start with some biblical

This week is a guest post from best-selling author and speaker, Jay Payleitner. I met Jay a few years ago and have picked his brain on a few occasions about my blog and my eventual book about God Buddies. I hope you enjoy his take about God writing out the list of your closest friends. — Rich, your Chief God Buddy It’s pretty clear, some bucket list items deliver more long-term value, edification, and spiritual significance than others. As a matter of fact, I dedicated an entire book titled What If God Wrote Your Bucket List? to the idea of polishing and prioritizing your bucket list based on God’s values. One of the chapters suggests that God values human friendships. Which leads to the question, “How many friends do you have? True friends?” I daresay that most people have had fewer than a dozen authentic friends over the course of

Most guys thrive from the mentorship and leadership of an attentive father who taught them about masculinity, the skills necessary to grow into a mature adult, and how love and respect are shown in marriage. However, too little is given to the relationship between a son and his mother, for this relationship is often a tell-tale sign of how a man treats all of the women in his life.  So as I remember the third Mother’s Day since my mom’s passing, I have no better way to honor her than with a post about the impact of mothers.  First, let me tell you about my mother, June Gorecki.   About My Mom June Carolyn Baechtold was born on June 17, 1941, in Chicago. She later resided in several locations in Illinois, before spending much of the last 12 years of her life in Arizona. She passed away in Tucson on Independence