After 32 years of marriage, you might think you know everything about your spouse. But what if there’s still so much more to discover?

Recently, my wife Michelle and I, along with our daughter Kayla and a friend, attended a beautiful lantern festival. Thousands of people gathered around a lake, enjoying conversations beneath the night sky before releasing their glowing lanterns onto the water.

But the most meaningful part of the evening wasn’t the lanterns.

It was a simple deck of question cards.

As Michelle and I asked each other questions, laughed, and listened, I realized something powerful:

Knowing someone for a long time doesn’t mean you’ve finished knowing them.

In this episode of Faith • Focus • Fortitude™, we explore the importance of being intentional in our relationships, staying curious about the people we love, and giving others the gift of our attention.

James 1:19 reminds us to be quick to listen and slow to speak.

Whether you’ve been married for decades, are raising children, or have lifelong friendships, there’s always an opportunity to grow closer.

Your challenge this week: Ask someone you love a question you’ve never asked before. Put away the distractions and genuinely listen.

Because loving someone doesn’t mean you’ve finished learning them.

Keep Faith. Stay Focused. Apply Fortitude.

And… LOCK IT IN!

Visit www.ronchrist.com to learn more about Faith • Focus • Fortitude™.

#FaithFocusFortitude #Marriage #Relationships #Faith #ChristianEncouragement #IntentionalLiving

One day, every one of us will leave behind two dates with a dash between them. But have you ever stopped to think about what that dash represents?

It’s your life. Your relationships. Your choices. Your faith. And the difference you make in the lives of others.

In this episode of Faith • Focus • Fortitude™, I share a powerful experience from a retirement dinner honoring a longtime customer and friend who spent 24 years building a successful business. What impressed me most wasn’t his accomplishments—it was the relationships he built and the lives he touched.

I also reflect on my own journey, including surviving a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 2018, overcoming challenges from my childhood, and discovering that God can use every chapter of our story for a greater purpose.

Through Jeremiah 29:11, we’re reminded that God has a plan for our lives, even when we cannot see what lies ahead.

In this episode, I challenge you to consider three questions:

● How are you using the time God has given you?

● Are you building relationships or simply collecting accomplishments?

● What kind of legacy are you creating through your faith, love, and service?

Your past doesn’t have to define your future, and your story isn’t finished.

The question isn’t how long your dash will be. It’s what you’re doing with it today.

If this message encourages you, follow Faith • Focus • Fortitude™, share this episode with someone who needs encouragement, and consider how God might use you to make a difference in someone’s life.

Until next time…

Keep Faith. Stay Focused. Apply Fortitude.

And… LOCK IT IN!

Have you ever been frustrated with someone and thought, “They should know”?

They should know what I meant.
They should know what I expected.
They should know how I feel.

But what if they don’t?

A simple misunderstanding between my wife Michelle, our daughter Kayla, and me over what we were doing for Michelle’s birthday dinner reminded me of something important:

Nobody needs to be wrong for a situation to go wrong.

We all heard the same conversation. We all thought we understood the plan. But we walked away with completely different expectations.

And something as simple as deciding what to have for dinner turned into nearly an hour of frustration before we finally ordered Chinese food.

That experience reminded me:

Expectations require communication.
Communication creates clarity.
Clarity builds trust.
Trust strengthens relationships.
And consistency protects all of it.

In this episode of Faith • Focus • Fortitude™, we talk about the danger of assumptions, the importance of listening, how expectations affect our relationships, and why sometimes the expectation that needs to change is our own.

James 1:19 reminds us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Maybe instead of assuming, we need to ask.

Maybe instead of reacting, we need to get curious.

Because:

Assumption creates frustration.
Curiosity creates connection.

And when it comes to God, faith isn’t trusting Him because He’s following our plan.

Faith is trusting God even when we don’t understand His.

So here’s the challenge:

Think about one relationship in your life and ask yourself:

“Are there expectations here that we’ve never actually talked about?”

Maybe the conversation you’ve been avoiding is exactly the conversation that relationship needs.

Until next time…

Keep Faith.
Stay Focused.
Apply Fortitude.
And… lock it in!