101 Questions to Ask...

I occasionally run into a book sort of serendipitously that I think has good material for anyone. This one book I found the title to somewhere online (I don't remember where) and wrote it down and put the note in Katie's room so she could choose to check it out, or not to. She checked it out, because it is intriguing, and potentially useful. She didn't check it out because of any imminent need, but because it's better to look at it now before she needs it than to forget to do so until it's not so relevant or at least timely. The title, now that I've explained that, is 101 Questions to Ask Before You Get Engaged, by H. Norman Wright.
Katie kept making comments to me about the various questions as she read the book, and then eventually just handed me the book itself so I could see the quality of content. It does have some thought-provoking questions! Here I am married 25 years and could benefit in terms of marriage or in terms of personal growth and self-examination from pondering how I would answer them, such as, "What are five habits you're glad you have, and five you wish you didn't?" "What has been your source of information about marriage? Parents, friends, classes, books? What would you do to learn more about marriage after you're married?" "If you could ask Jesus to change an area of your life, which area would it be, and how would you like it changed? How long has this been a concern?" "What are the areas of your life you must control and those areas in your life you would like to control?" "In a relationship, what part of giving of yourself do you struggle with?" I could list so many of these questions. I could ponder so many! I could write about so many--I could learn from so many--and work on so many! Why is it I have to get so old before I find so much to learn about! And why did I go through so much of my life not wanting to admit that I had so much to learn?
The author has also written "Before You Say 'I Do'"--and, the back of the book says, more than 70 books on communication, marriage, and family. Pretty neat. I think I'll be looking up his name in the library.
Today I received a response to this blog entry which directed me to a set of seven videos featuring David Gudgel, Senior Pastor of Bethany Bible Church in Phoenix, AZ. He gave pertinent information for those in various levels of the relationship mode, between dating and getting married--and his advice would be useful whether a person is in the Christian faith or not. His son Brent, who responded to my blog entry, wrote a book called, Before You Get Engaged. If the book is like the videos, and you were interested enough to read this blog entry, you may be interested in the videos and the book. Click here to get to the videos.