SecondIron's Blog

Sharpening Iron to Live Second

Nine Ways to Not Suck as a Husband

Nine years ago today my life was changed forever in ways I never imagined. In order to put things into perspective, nine years ago today I was still a mess of a man. That day I married my best friend who in turn has attempted to clean the mess she married. Over the past nine years I have spent repairing the damage of the years prior to becoming a husband. My wife unknowingly has taught me lessons on being a man, better yet being a better man and husband that I thought I would share. A good husband is never the first to go to sleep at night or the last to awake in the morning. -Honore de Balzac Click To Tweet You see women in general believe when they marry a man they will be able to fix all that’s broken. Sometimes this is true, sometimes it will be a long journey similar to that of the Trail of Tears. “God created marriage. No government subcommittee envisioned it. No social organization developed it. Marriage was conceived and born in the mind of God.”  ~ Max Lucado  Men meanwhile think that if they get married they can continue to be a kid just with bigger and better toys. This is probably what I thought nine years ago. Little did I know I needed fixing, better yet that I wanted to be fixed. 9 ways to Not Suck as a Husband Be Emotionally available – yes guys this means share your feelings and communicate with your spouse. You will be surprised how […]

Faith, Freedom and Fireworks

How Faith, Freedom and Fireworks became a Holiday Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago we adopted the Declaration of Independence and in turn walked away from the sovereign rule of Great Britain.  We now celebrated this day with parades, barbecues and fireworks. Where we now fill our day with picnics, baseball and reunions with family or friends once were filled with mortar shells and bullets as our forefathers defended our newly founded country. July 4th almost never happened you know… I don’t mean the day or even the separation from our motherland.  The actual separation happened on July 2nd,  but it took Congress until the 4th to come to an agreement (and have yet to really agree since) on what is known today as the Declaration of Independence. John Adams, even he declared back then that the day would be epoch and “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.  It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forever more.” (source: Had a declaration letter) Even as this day was being established so many years ago it was speculated that we should have bonfires (barbecues), parades, sports (baseball), illuminations (fireworks) and well we all know people tend to fire guns in the air thinking they won’t […]

6 Ways to Pray for Our Families

Pray like you mean it, pray as you believe it, pray as they need it. As men we have an outstanding opportunity to lead our families by our prayer life. There are some simple steps we can take to not only pray for but bless our family during our daily walk. 1.) Pray first thing in the morning – Take the moments while the house is silent and no one else is awake.  Take a walk or get on your knees and thank God for the blessings in your life and to protect your family throughout the day as you are apart. 2.) Commute your way prayerfully – Whether you drive, carpool, ride the bus or walk to work you can talk to God along the way.  Talk to him like he is there with you (because he is) have a conversation.  Confess your weaknesses and pray for his blessing over your family. What better time to pray than when we are challenged the most in the rush hour traffic of our day. “Work as if you were to live a hundred years, pray as if you were to die tomorrow.” – Benjamin Franklin Click To Tweet 3.) Take moments to breathe and pray – We tend to get busy with our work that everything else starts to slip.  We owe it to ourselves to keep our eyes on Christ throughout the day and focus prayerfully.  When we have a moment between a meeting or during your walk to the water cooler, pause and pray.  Be […]