Kenton J. Kutney

COMMENTARY BY Caitlin Thomas Caitlin Thomas is a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. More young adults are opting to cohabit rather than marry or to delay marriage for financial reasons, such as debt, according to a recent  study published in Demography. However, National Marriage Week  presents a good opportunity to review how rigorous, long-term studies  have measured the substantial impact of marriage on financial stability, as well as relationship longevity and health outcomes. Here are five additional facts you may not know about cohabitation: 1. Cohabiting couples are more prone to break up (and break up for good) than married couples.   In the May 2003 issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family Study, Georgina Binstock and Arland Thornton  found that, in the first year of living together, couples who cohabited were eight times more likely to end their relationships than those who were married.  In the second and thir...

"Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace as bargain-basement goods, cut-rate forgiveness, cut-rate comfort, cut-rate sacraments; grace as the church’s inexhaustible pantry, from which it is doled out by careless hands without hesitation or limit. It is grace without a price, without cost… Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, as principle, as system. It means forgiveness of sins as a general truth; it means God’s love as merely a Christian idea of God. Those who affirm it have already had their sins forgiven. The church that teaches this doctrine of grace thereby conveys such grace upon itself. The world finds in this church a cheap cover-up for its sins, for which it shows no remorse and from which it has even less desire to be free. Cheap grace is, thus, denial of God’s living Word, denial of the incarnation of the word of God. Cheap grace means justification of sin but not of the sinner. Because grace alone...

From an Paschal homily by John Chrysostom: "Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness. Let no one lament their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn their transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free. He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into Hades and took Hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted His flesh! And anticipating this, Isaiah exclaimed: "Hades was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions." It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains! It took a body and came upon God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw, but crumbled before what can not seen! O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy vi...

To the year behind, lessons learned; to the year ahead, dream new dreams; this year's goal, to live in the moment. May I be calm, may I be strong, may I be content. 

wise men still seek Him believing to understand love blossoms to life no mere fairytale   for this genealogy   runs back through all time   this story starts where  many stories get there start  love, but immortal a few hundred years  awaiting God's next big move  He visits a teen boy meets girl, in love yet there's a classic plot twist this love's a faith leap something has happened  O Mary what have you done  ponder in your heart fear ... 'fear not! fear not!' there must've been some real fright  so many questions  have you heard the news  the stars' configuration  let the quest begin angel wings choir sings shepherds and their flocks by night lit by guiding star poor but rich in heart shepherds especially blessed great is their reward  stars, sheep, cows, angels creation calls Creator  baby King in manger from far away lands we have come to worship Him  words fail to express the small toddler coos...

God’s presence is not the same as the feeling of God’s presence and He may be doing most for us when we think He is doing least. - CS Lewis