Date night! I remember date night in college when I would take my future wife, Cassidy out on a date. I would try to come up with interesting questions to ask and do my best to plan out every detail to ensure she felt special. I'd try to dress nice and wear some cologne.

Now, after three years of marriage I am not as detailed on dating as I once was. The tendency in marriage is the longer you are married, the quicker we lose the importance of pursuing our spouse. One of the jokes I hear from older couples is that they do not date as much because they "already won over" their spouse!

"The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the LORD." Proverbs 18:22 (NLT)

What we have to realize is that a relationship needs pursuit! Marriage is God's first institution. If the marriage fails it affects generations. In today's culture more students are growing up in broken homes than ever before. The hurting marriages are affected in the church just as much as in society. More than anything, students want a meaningful relationship with their parents.

In our marriage, we try our best to date each other a priority! We spend a majority of our time trying to invest in others. In ministry, we have to make it a priority to pursue and have fun together. What better way than be spontaneous and go have fun on a date.

One way we are trying to make marriage a priority at our church is to provide a special night out for couples. Many times, we become so busy with life the first relationships that suffer is God and our spouse. We are having a special date night this Friday night. Free childcare is provided and we are encouraging parents to go and spend a great night together. We have a great resource from MarriedLife Online that we are using. It is called "We Marriage" and follows a Wii themed date night.

The goal is to help marriages grow closer together with each other and Christ! If you are married, pursue each other and go out on a hot date!