Upside Down Marriage

Dr. Howard G. Hendricks writes in the foreword:Upside Down Marriage "A wife? A family? Try it-you'll like it, but if it doesn't work out, not to worry!" That's the scuttlebutt in the bars and on the streets of where young Mr. Everyman hangs out. Women are for watching and wanting and for bewitching. It's a game, a conquest, but it doesn't have to ruin your life. Sometimes you hit it just right and, you know, there's a status to having a pretty chick on your arm--maybe even one with a rich daddy! Marriage for men in our slam-bang marital dust-storm comes with unspoken escape clauses. Secret passage-ways out. Nobody ever says out into what, out with legal, emotional, and--worst of all--spiritual baggage too heavy to carry. Out of marriage, maybe, but wishing someone would have told you the straight story before it all happened, the real truth about joining your life with a woman. Jeff Hendley, one of my former students, has acquitted himself well in shining his biblical searchlight on our current cloud of confusion. Man-to-man, he puts in plain English what God meant when He said it was not good that man should live alone. Without pulling any punches, he opens his heart and tells his readers what it is really like to deal with one's own male humanity. This book is not about how to understand women, but how to grab your own bearded chin and hold it in the mirror of God's relentless glare. Since the Garden of Eden, it has not mattered what a man's theological persuasion is. God said, in effect, "You're it, man! You are responsible for My world. When I give you a wife, you are in the driver's seat, looking out for her and for your children, and your grandchildren. You are the head of your family by My decree." Through the centuries we have managed to distort and up-end this divine intention for husbands. Here is a down-to-earth, straight-out-of scripture reminder that, although men will be men, men can be extraordinary models of virtue and integrity. Real men, married and wannabes, need to grab this critical inside scoop. Howard G. Hendricks Distinguished Professor and Chairman Center for Christian Leadership Dallas Theological Seminary