(Skip to the bottom for some relationship advice! I gurantee it's better then something even Oprah would tell you)


I should be sleeping...It's 3:45 in the morning and I have to wake at 7 am. Just one of those nights where I can't make myself go to bed.


For some reason, it's finally felt like Summer to me the last couple days. It's been like the mildest Summer of all time in Ohio. We don't have AC where I live, and usually there are days in the summer where it can be brutal in our house. But we've been having highs in the high 70's like all sumer long. Seems it rarely has gotten above 80 till this week.


Anyway, I went to the Beach Waterpark on Sunday, and then to a Dayton Dragons baseball game Tuesday night. I guess those were summer activities too which got me in the summer mood.


I went to the Beach with my buddy Elias, his sister Illyn a friend Abby, and all of Elias' Puerto Rican cousins. Puerto Ricans are pretty cool...very affectionate. Kiss you on the cheek when you walk in the door type of affectionate.


I wonder why Americans aren't like that? Maybe it all kind of balances out and it is more dependent on certain families within the US and within Puerto Rico. But I think Puerto Ricans are just more affectionate in general then us Americans.




If you are in a relationship, heed this advice! Seriously, I think it's something worth thinking about... I am trying to heed to it myself also...it's actually advice from a college professor at UC that my little brother knew.


I believe the professor was in his mid to late 40's. The advice is not groundbreaking, but just kinda common sense.


This professor has seen a lot of relationships throughout his years of teaching at UC as well as working with a Christian Student Ministry on campus.


The advice or warning is kind of simple...basically the main thing that derails young people's lives, messes up their dreams, causes them to waste years of their lives, are realtionships that are unhealthy/just not meant to be, etc.


It's hard man...everyone wants to be with someone. I won't pontificate (big word for me!) too much, but just be careful.


A friend told me something the other day though that has stuck with me...everything that is beautiful takes time. Those relationships that are forced or just take off like a rocket with no restraint are probably not gonna make it.


It's hard to be patient. We all want everything right now...look at the internet. It's all about speed. "Man it's taking more than 6 seconds for this webpage to load!"


I lack patience. Probably our whole culture does...I just wonder what we miss out on because of it, especially in the relationship scene.


The proof is sadly in the pudding...the divorce rate is like 60%. I'm not saying that all those people who got divorced were couples who "weren't meant to be", or "forced things", etc. A lot of it is just people not honoring their committment, and not looking to God for help, but rather just taking the easy way out.


But I imagine a lot of those failed marriages occurred because many of those people didn't know what they were getting into. Many of those couple probably shouldn't have gotten married.


In all this talk, I worry myself. I'm just like you. I think I mentioned this before, but the biggest temptation I think I have is to put my hope in a girl. To expect her to be my rock...to be my ultimate hope. Maybe you're thinking that doesn't sound too bad. But people will always let us down, no matter how great they seem...and this is a little morbid, but people die also! There's gotta be a hope beyond this life...beyond that girl or guy.




So in conclusion...


-Dump your boyfriends right now girls!


-Just kidding...be thankful that you have a boyfriend, or girlfriend and enjoy the time with them...but evaluate the relationship. Could you marry this person? If not, what's the point of continuing with them?

There's 2 reasons for not getting married if in a serious longterm relationship

1) Not believing in the idea of marriage...probably the worse reason since it throws out God, the Bible, etc.
2) One person, or both people not wanting to totally committ to the other person.


-Read 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible about love...does your relationship include those things. You hear that read at weddings so much that it almost gets old. But it really is an amazing chapter, and just great advice and truth about what love should be...even if you don't read the Bible. Read that chapter. I think it shows how we should love people as well as how God loves us.



-Listen to "If You're Not The One" by Daniel Beddingfield and consider it the best romantic song ever written. If you don't, then you probably don't love your boyfriend or girlfriend.