see preston blog | Archive

Archive - June, 2011

to my future wife

June 30, 2011 in sex, relationships, and women with 68 Comments

UPDATE: Please read this post first, it will explain quite a lot.

Note: Some people have, erroneously, read this post as if to suggest that I support the courtship movement that has attempted to replace dating with a “more Christian” model for relationships. Far from it. While I understand that some people have found this model useful, I hope they continue to recognize that it is by no means universal or necessarily more Christian. I’m pretty into normal, regular dating. (You can see some of the posts I’ve written after this and my guest post over at Ally Spott’s blog on July 12 for confirmation.) Just wanted to make that clear first and foremost. Cool? Cool. As always, thank you for reading.

To my future wife–

Hello.

I thought about writing you this a few weeks ago, when I heard that Southwestern Seminary was now providing an option for young women to concentrate in homemaking for their bachelor degree. Then Donald Miller came under fire for writing a post about the qualities his fiancée had prayed for to be in her husband. Then last week I found Lauren’s amazing post about girls and dating, followed by Max’s equally amazing post about guys and dating. (I know you read them and we talk about their posts a lot, but bear with me, there’s purpose in this.) Then I saw a commercial for Christianmingle.com, which is apparently a Christian singles website. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it, but the reassuring voiceover told me “God is telling you it’s your time to act.” That’s hard to argue with. God said so, and all. Since then, I haven’t been able to get this post out of my head, this open letter to you. I’m not sure why, but it needs to be written, so here it goes.

First of all, you are breathtakingly beautiful. Your eyes have held my soul more than once, and I can’t really explain how excited I get every time you smile. But I’ve told you before how attractive you are, I just hope you’ve heard less about how wonderful your body is and more about how awestruck I am that the Creator wove together you, this woman of a beauty that begins first in her soul and then it radiates outs, saturating her flesh and then pushing farther still, broad and full, so that someone would have to be a fool to not want to be around you all the time.

And you let me be. I don’t get it. I don’t think I ever will.

holy silence

June 29, 2011 in bits of theological ramblings, oneword2011, reflections with 7 Comments

The mornings aren’t as quiet when we’re all in the house. I attempt to rise early to be in sync with the rhythms of life together, to find a few minutes of quiet before the routine sets in. It’s a happy noise, full of familiarity, but silent in its own way. There’s not much said beyond greetings and exchanges of love. There’s breakfast made as each is inclined, the coffee received with thanks. And on these mornings, when silence lingers in my throat but the noise, the welcome noise of life in this house, surrounds me, I think to the passages of the Scripture assigned to this morning, I sip my coffee, and I consider Him. Continue Reading…

three strands

June 28, 2011 in bits of theological ramblings, reflections with 3 Comments

Today, I am taking a break from longer posts and intensive narrative. These are three strands, related, and, I admit, taken from something else I am working on. These strands may seem somewhat detached to you, not connected as I see them, or you may see the links, but here they are, threads for this Tuesday, and they may tease you into weaving something of your own. I can hope.

The first strand …

I believe in the intercessory power of brown butter, toasted coconut, chocolate chip and cacao nibs cookies. Continue Reading…

monday muddlings: the irrational season (part one)

June 27, 2011 in monday fiction with 1 Comment

Per usual on Mondays, I am bringing you a bit of fiction. I had so much happen these past few days and so much writing to do, I was left only with the very first part of a story. But I want to be as faithful as I can be to posting consistently, so I am posting this as a kind of teaser–or maybe proof that I did work on something–and will have the rest next week.

“The Irrational Season”

They had made love under the magnolia tree next to the river in the hottest part of the day. Now they lay intertwined on his spread out shirt and the blanket they had brought under the guise of having a picnic. He passed the blunt to her, which she took a deep, strong hit of before offering it back. Her mother was testing her urine every morning, so she hadn’t been able to do anything more than pot for weeks. The THC would still show up on the little strip, but she had begun to keep a small bottle of makeup remover in her pocket that was filled with bleach. A few drops in the cup and no one was the wiser. There were other methods of hiding the hemp, but they only lasted a handful of hours and there was no certainty of when in the day her mother would test her. The bleach was cumbersome, but if she still wanted to get high—and she still wanted to get high—it was worth the price. Continue Reading…

the sixteenth formica friday

June 24, 2011 in formica friday with 3 Comments

It’s that time again, another Formica Friday, a treasure trove of hodgepodge, random tidbits, and a bit of this and that. What exactly is Formica Friday? Check out the tongue-in-cheek, I got away with this?, definition from the first post.