Thoughts from Within

In 1939, Academy award-winning director Frank Capra, produced and directed a film starring Jimmy Stewart entitled Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In the film, Stewart’s character, Jefferson Smith, goes to Washington D.C. as a wide-eyed idealist completely naïve to the political process. In the end, Smith stands behind his convictions and elicits change in the capital’s business-as-usual attitude. In mid-September, I too, went to Washington. It was my first time visiting our capital city, and like Smith, I was wide-eyed and naïve. Over the years, I have had a growing interest in politics and the process by which our government operates. I had some knowledge – what one gets from civics classes and news sources– but my time in D.C. really allowed me to gain a better grasp on our federal government and how our Founders intended it to operate. The purpose of my visit was to spend a week on Capitol Hill lobbying on behalf of the Buckeye Christian School Organization (BCSO) and the...

If you are married, the title of this blog probably caught your attention. Well, with Valentine's Day soon approaching and with "love being in the air"... these are my thoughts from within ... The general opinion of marriage today is that it is difficult. It takes a lot of hard work to sustain. That it is not always so blissful. In fact, the hard work that is said it takes to make a marriage work is often cited as the reason so many marriages end in divorce. After our wedding, I remember a certain couple who- week after week- kept asking my wife and I if "the honeymoon was over," suggesting that the happiness we were enjoying would wane over time. Both my wife and I were very disheartened at this suggestion. Not because we feared our joy would lessen over time, but because everyone else- it seemed- shared the same outlook on their marriage. But for my wife and me, it hasn't come to that. In thirteen years, our passion for each other hasn't weaken...