Tonight was a much more productive night than last night- I actually had some energy. And I felt a little better than this morning.

After work, I stopped by Smith’s to pick up some groceries, and ended up with pretty much all fruits and vegetables. After last weekend with all of its sugars and starches, I felt a need to do some sort of detox today. I came home tonight and stir-fried some garlic, celery, zucchini, green beans and onions with soy sauce and chicken for dinner. It was pretty good for off the cuff.

After dinner, I downloaded and listened to the first message in Tommy Nelson’s “Love Song” series, a set of teachings on the Song of Solomon. If you are young or old and have a flicker of love for your spouse or romantic hopes in your soul, Tommy’s series, listened to by so many over the years, is worth sitting through. The series is 6 messages that are downloadable podcasts free through iTunes. If you are single or married, they are a listen. Tommy does an excellent treatment on love and sex as God designed it to be, and on the joys of marriage, weathering the hard times, and even on how to look for/at a potential spouse.

In the first session on dating, Tom had a lot to say, but two points stood out for me. Men, strive to be a person of character. A woman wants to feel pride in the quality of the man she is with- that he is tender, and that he loves her and looks out for her; that he has a good name among those in the community.. Character is more important than appearance and wealth. Also, the first thing Solomon lauds his beloved for is her strength and her servant heart. Solomon also loves his beloved for her character. She serves and is industrious. Men, look for te servant heart first. And likewise, strive relentlessly to serve your beloved.

While I have personally decided to try and take a Josh Harris approach to love and romance, I find I am as interested as ever in wanting to learn how to be a better man and a mate in a couple, and I am also interested in knowing about resources that could help others who are married or dating. I may beyond repair myself (I say facetiously), but I’d still like to be able to encourage others in relationships. I hate seeing marriages fail. It makes my heart ache.

I got a few loads of clothes washed, dried and folded after listening to Tommy, and the I read a few more chapters in Joshua.

I don’t know. I may not fully understand it all, but David said God’s Word was a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. I can’t go wrong if I just camp out in the Word for a while and pray as items come up.

I have to say- there sure is a lot of blood shed by Joshua and the Israelites when they took Canaan. In every town they conquered, every person was slaughtered. At God’s command. That’s a tough read. There are places when God will give a people over to destruction.

I have another load of clothes to fold, some exercises to do, and then it is time to go to bed. Wow. I’ll be in bed by 11 for once.