A Rod for the Backs of Fools

In the introduction to A Commentary on Marriage in the Bible, I wrote,

I realize the irony of a divorced man writing a book on marriage. My only defense is that I was once much more a fool than I am today, and change did not come easily.

That statement becomes more true every day. I can’t help but look back at myself with amazement. How did I bear myself? How did God bear me? Even as I know that I am less a fool today than yesterday, the reminder is humbling. Tomorrow I will be even less the fool, which means I am still a fool today.

My stripes have been painfully earned, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I consider each one a mile marker on a one-way road. Each one brings me one step closer to the man God wants me to be.