Faith, Marriage, and NFL Life

There are some who think being a Christian is a liability for people who are in professional sports, that being a Christian tends to make you soft or not a competitor. Kirk Cousins, the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, disagrees. I look back and I don't think I'm going to be playing nine years in the NFL if I'm not a Christian. I mean, football is a grind and it's physically tough, it's emotionally tough, it's mentally tough. And Christians are the most physically, mentally, emotionally tough people that I know. And so football tends to lend itself well to being a Christian and surviving and lasting in the sport, quite frankly. So I think it's been a huge asset for me. I mean, the number of times I would have given up if I didn't believe that God had a plan and was going to use things for my good, I just walked away and said, I don't need this. But I believe that God was using it, that God had brought me to this point for a reason. He gave me a gift and I needed to steward it and trust Him with the rest.

That's what kept me going. This is Family Life Today. Our hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson.

I'm Bob Lapine. You can find us online at familylifetoday.com. How do personal faith and football or any kind of professional athletics, how do those mix? We're going to talk about that today with Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and his wife, Julie. Stay with us. And welcome to Family Life Today.

Thanks for joining us. I grew up in St. Louis and when I was a kid, our football team in St. Louis was the St. Louis football Cardinals. Really?

Yeah. Now the Arizona Cardinals. You don't want to tell us what year that was, do you? That was a long time ago. I still have, I've got at home at our house, a St. Louis football Cardinal trashcan somewhere in our house.

So it goes way back. And then of course, St. Louis got the Rams for a while and now St. Louis has got nobody. So people will say, like, do you have a team that you cheer for? And I've, over the years, I have just kind of cheered for who are the people I want to be cheering for in the NFL. So I was a Tony Dungy fan right during the middle of his stuff. Anytime I'll hear about somebody like a Carson Wentz or people who are focused on the glory of God, I start cheering for them. So I've been, I've been cheering for our guests since Michigan State. Glad to have him on Family Life Today with us.

Yeah. And you know, my 33 years in the league, there's very few actually in 33 years who come through and understand their role is not just to win football games, but the couple we have today understood that from before you even got in the NFL. Kirk and Julie Cousins are here with us today, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, future Super Bowl winners, right?

We don't know what year, maybe this year, you never know. But it's a pleasure to have you here because Kirk, you, I know you when you were a little boy, and I've always seen this perspective. I remember watching the Big Ten, I don't know what you call it, the preseason little banquet they did in Chicago, I think, and watching your speech because it ended up on YouTube.

And I remember watching that going, there's no way a young man of 18 years old has this kind of maturity. But you already had it. You knew, I'm not just a football player. It's bigger than that. God is doing something bigger than just football.

How did you know that? Well, I think God did position us, you know, you look back through stories in the Bible, and you see how God, you know, used times of challenge in David's life to then development we want him to be when he was king. And I think God did the same for me, whether it was through the Christian school I attended, whether it was through, you know, my parents and the way they raised me through the setbacks he had me experience on the football field.

I think God used all those to prepare me for what was coming down the road. There had to be times in high school when being a pretty good football player in your high school started to go to your head a little bit. No, he's the most humble man ever. No, I wouldn't say that.

You should just take that, man. Your wife. He is.

Your wife says you're humble. That's the truth. I remember in high school, I didn't play varsity football till my junior year. You know, you think an NFL player probably got pulled up to the varsity as a sophomore or freshman.

That wasn't my story. So I'm in my very first game my junior year, and obviously in recruiting, junior year is the big year. Senior year is almost too late. And the very first quarter of the very first game my junior year, I get hit on my left side and break my ankle. And so I miss most of my junior year. And I remember driving home from the hospital with the cast on my leg and calling my dad at work to tell him it's broken. I got a cast. I'm out for X number of weeks with tears in my eyes. And I said, Dad, you know, in addition to missing the joy of playing football this fall, I probably won't get to play college football.

And that's a real disappointment because you got to get recruited your junior year. And my dad said, Kirk, first of all, you don't know that. And second of all, you got to remember Proverbs three, five and six, you know, trust the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your understanding and all your ways.

Acknowledge him and he'll direct your steps. My dad wasn't saying that to mean, you know, name it and claim it. Name that verse. And now you're going to be a college quarterback. He was saying, God has a plan for your life.

And if it doesn't involve college football, it doesn't involve college football. But you got to trust him. You got to trust him with a broken ankle. And so at that moment, I kind of put a stake in the ground and said, you know what?

What choice do I have? I'm going to hold on to Proverbs three, five and six. I'm going to trust him and we'll see what he wants to do with my life. And, you know, you get to the end, you sign your scholarship with Michigan State. You go on there, you play, you get drafted, you play nine years in the NFL so far. And you look back and you say, God's a lot bigger than a broken ankle. Wow. I mean, that's a great perspective for a dad to have. I didn't have that perspective.

You know, I wish my first, you know, when Cody got done with Central Michigan, then went to Lions as free agent. And by the way, did Central beat you guys? Oh, I think they did. They sure did.

They sure did. He also beat me in that charity football game, too. That's right. Every time I see Cody, I think he's 2-0 against me. He's probably going to bring that up. But, I mean, he's in camp with the Lions his second season. And the general manager comes over to me the day of opening training camp. And Cody had pulled his hamstring like four times the offseason. And he says to me, and we never talk about Cody as a dad.

I was the chaplain. But he pulls me in the little corner of the building and goes, Hey, you know, I shouldn't be telling you this. Cody's going to make the 53. He's really impressive, blah, blah, blah. Two hours later, pulls his hammy again, first day of training camp. I literally took the phone and threw it across the wall. Just like, God, what are you doing?

Instead of going, you know, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. I will say that Dave took it harder than Cody did. I'll say Cody can play. I mean, I've seen him play up close.

He was a 53 talent level player. But the interesting thing is your dad's perspective is now yours. You live that. I mean, you have to do it now weekly, daily, as you go through ups and downs in an NFL season. How do you stay that grounded? The tough games happen enough where you realize this is pretty difficult, and I don't have a whole lot of reason to be uber confident.

And I think Julie would attest to that as well. But you also have people around you, right? You're not isolated. So my wife keeps me grounded, my siblings, my parents. You have enough people around you who have known you long enough that they're not all that impressed with you. And I think that's a healthy place to be too. My dad always said, Kirk, you need to keep big enough people in your life that they're not intimidated by you, that they can call you out on your stuff. And so I think it's important, whoever those people are, that you keep them in your life where they're comfortable with telling you when you're out of line.

You've got people who aren't impressed with you, who will speak truth to you? I've got one on my right right here. We have two at home too. Yeah, we have two boys at home who will keep you humble. Has there ever been a time in his career, though, where you've had to remind Kirk, hey, bring back the perspective that his dad did that day. Is there ever that time, or is he always sort of focused? Well, he's always humble, so I've never had to tone it down, that area. But I think I'm always trying to just kind of loosen him up. Like, this is supposed to be fun play like Jesus would want you to play. He has you playing this game that you love. And almost like, yeah, like Carson Wentz always says, play for an audience of one. And his teammates love when he has fun out there.

And they're all looking to each other, and especially to him, it's kind of like contagious, like whatever mood Kirk's in. Let me ask you about your teammates, because not everybody in the locker room shares your faith. When you were playing at a Christian high school, most of the guys, at least they were from families where everybody was a believer, but now world views are very different.

Morality is very different. You're the team leader as the quarterback. How do you manage your faith in the locker room and the players and how do you do all of that? Well, I get this question a lot. I think like anybody else at their job, you do your job.

You want to do it really well. You want to shine your light. As Julie says to me when I leave the house many days, shine your light today at work. And you want to make sure that you're living out your faith and that you're being bold and sharing your faith and you want to create opportunities for teammates to gather, whether it be a Bible study or a chapel or whatever it may be, to gather and pray together and spend time in the Word together and invite people and kind of put the ball on their court and then let them decide what they want to do. And so I'm not going to hit them over the head with a Bible, but I'm going to let them know that the Bible is available. And Julie does the same with the women's Bible study, and obviously the Wilsons have lived it for 30-plus years. So we try to do that and also try to play football as well as we can. Are there some players who are kind of annoyed by your faith?

Well, I wish I was bold enough to say yes. You know, shame on me probably for not being more bold in my faith, but I think we try to be self-aware enough to be respectful of other people and make sure that they know when we're gathering and they're invited, but then also put the ball on their court and leave it at that. A few years ago, I like this story. There was one of the quarterbacks with Kirk. He came up to him on the practice field one day, and he said something like, I want to be able to come to you with my questions. He was not a believer, and I don't want you to make a big deal about it, but every now and then if I have a question, I just want to ask you about it. And I thought that was so cool because he knew that I can go to Kirk when I feel like it, and he's not going to hammer it down my throat.

He can just answer my question in my own time. Yeah, it was a great opportunity. That's what you hoped for. There's a few of those conversations that come up from time to time. I remember one time praying that the Lord would give me an opportunity to witness to a specific teammate. I prayed it that morning. That afternoon post-practice, I'm sitting in the cold tub, and who walks into the cold tub but the person I had prayed about, and it's just me and him in the cold tub.

We're going to be there for 10 to 12 minutes depending on how long you want to ice your legs. And I thought, okay, you know, I prayed for an opportunity, and God created it quickly. Now I've got to be ready to walk through that door. So you pray for those opportunities, and then you're sensitive when the Lord then tends to bring them up.

You've got to be ready. Have you ever had coaches or fellow players who have suggested that your faith is a detriment to your competitiveness? It's a distraction. Yeah, I think the key is that there can be concern that time spent on anything that isn't football is a distraction, and that could be still good things, but it's not football. And so the key is that you make sure, again, you're doing everything you'd be doing from a football standpoint. You can't be not running the plays correctly out on the field and then talking about when we're going to have Bible study in the locker room.

That doesn't work. So you've got to take care of your business on the field. But I've asked, you know, at times you have coaches who say, hey, you can do Bible study, but it needs to kind of be out of sight. It needs to be out of sight, out of mind, away from things, and you respect that.

You know, you're not going to defy that from your authority figure. So you move the Bible study off to the side and you still have the Bible study. Do you feel like being a Christian athlete has actually made you better?

Of course. In what way? I look back, and I don't think I'm going to be playing nine years in the NFL if I'm not a Christian. I mean, football is a grind, and it's physically tough, it's emotionally tough, it's mentally tough, and Christians are the most physically, mentally, emotionally tough people that I know. And so football tends to lend itself well to being a Christian and surviving and lasting in the sport, quite frankly. So I think it's been a huge asset for me. I mean, the number of times I would have given up if I didn't believe that God had a plan and was going to use things for my good, I just walked away and said, I don't need this. But I believe that God was using it, that God had brought me to this point for a reason. He gave me a gift, and I needed to steward it and trust Him with the rest.

That's what kept me going. I know that I'm thinking of my fifth year with the Detroit Lions as their chaplain. Our head coach, my first coach, Darrell Rogers, was fired, Michigan State coach. He gets fired after four years. And so, you know, chaplain, I'm not paid by the team and just sort of, so I'm like, you know, am I going to stick with the new guy? The new guy was Wayne Fonz. He never came to chapel, had nothing to do with me, but guess where I sat on the team plane?

Every game for the last four years beside Wayne. And so he always, you know, would look over at me like, is this chaplain, dude? But, you know, I'm an old quarterback, so we're flying home from wherever, and I'm talking football and coverages, and why'd you do this? And so after a while, I could tell he's like, what are you? You know, I thought you were this religious guy, right? So he gets the head job, calls me in, and says, hey, listen, I don't know what you do with the guys, but keep doing it. That's great. I like you, so just keep going, right?

Well, here's what happens. We start that season one and seven, and I'm doing chapel. And one of our players is going to have his pastor come in, right? And we have like 40 guys come to chapel, a whole bunch of guys, right? So it's Sunday morning then, you know, and I'm talking to Jimmy, our player, and I say, hey, where's your pastor?

It's like five minutes. He goes, oh, he'll be here. Long story short, I go, well, when's the last time you talked to him?

Oh, like six weeks ago. I'm like, Jimmy, he's not going to be here. He forgot.

What are you talking about? He'll be here. Doesn't show up. So we're walking back in there, and I say to Jimmy, and by the way, no coaches came to chapel, only players. So I say to Jimmy, listen, I'm going to have to wing it, so listen, get up, would you please, and pray, and tell them your guy didn't show up, and Dave, so they have at least an idea, right? So we go sit in the front row. Jimmy gets up, prays, says, here's Dave.

Doesn't say a word. I get up. I turn around. The entire coaching staff, the head coach, Wayne Fount, sitting in the middle of the back, just like this, arms folded, right in the middle, and I'm like, they've never been there, you know? And I'm like, I think my job's on the line, right? So, you know, Bob knows this. As a preacher, you always got to have...

In season, out of season, right? Yeah, you got to know, and so I pull out, and it's basically a message out of 1 Corinthians 9, which is basically this idea. If you're a follower of Christ, you play harder and better than anybody because you're playing for the Lord, not for men, right?

And it was this whole thing about winning, so it's real highly motivational, right? I get done, and I say, okay, let's pray, and I close my eyes and pray, and I open my eyes. Wayne is the head coach standing an inch from my face. He had walked up through my prayer.

I'll never forget this. And I'm standing there looking at him. He goes, is this what you do at chapel?

Is this what you do? I go, yeah, Wayne. He goes, that was awesome. He gives me a big hug, and these coaches are all behind him, and they're all like, yeah, good job, son, you know, way to go.

And they leave. Here's the funny thing. And you were only like 30 at the time. Oh, I'm young, and I'm like, I don't know what's awesome.

Here's what I find out. And by the way, we beat the Packers, right? No, that's big. So we win. But I find out later that week, one of the coaches comes up to me and goes, hey, did you wonder why we all were at chapel? I go, yeah, what's going on? He goes, well, we were in a meeting, all the coaching staff, and we're like, why are we losing? We have talent.

We're one and seven. He goes, one of the coaches goes, do you realize that like the whole team goes to chapel before the games? And Wayne's like, what are you talking about? He goes, they all are at chapel on Sunday morning. And one of the other coaches goes, we don't even know what that Wilson guy's telling them.

Maybe he's saying, you know, don't hit people, don't play hard. Oh, that's funny. And Wayne goes, we're all going to chapel Sunday.

If it's not good, I'm firing that guy. That's what was happening. I love it.

That's amazing. And so God shows up in this moment. And again, you can imagine, Wayne never missed chapel the rest of the time he was there. Sure. He was there to win a game.

But it was a perspective that I think a lot of people don't understand. Whatever you do, Colossians 3, do your work heartily as for the Lord, right? Amen. Whether you're on a football field, you're in an office, you're a stay at home mom, you're a plumber, you're a doctor, anyone. Your calling as a follower of Christ, whether you're an NFL quarterback or not, is what? Bring glory to Him by the way you play, the way you treat the people in the locker room, people at the office, right?

Sure. So that's where you guys, I've watched you for your entire career, everywhere you've gone. And now I know it's not just Kirk, it's a team. You have shined the light of God.

You've made His name famous. It's so cool to hear you saying that as a freshman. Right.

And here you are years later still trying to do that. But let me ask you, is that ever, as Bob said, pushed back against? Like, tone it down, keep it soft, it's not about that, it's about football.

Has that ever been a problem? I think it's just about being aware and sensitive and respectful. And I think you reach out to the opportunities you've been given and you are sensitive to who's interested, who is moving in that direction, and can I kind of help guide and share and be a light. Of course, to us, it just is common sense. Like, how could you not, you know, want to provide the chaplain and the chapel and the time for the teammates to bond in that way? For us, it's common sense. I just wish everybody understood that. And yet I watch you guys, and as we've been talking even earlier, you talked about how, Julie, you moved to Washington and you got a job, you got a roommate. Just right there alone is a big difference because most people move into a new city and their girlfriends move in with them.

And so I'm sure a lot of the players were like, what, wait, what? Why aren't you living with Kirk? Did you have that? Yes.

Oh, yeah. I just want to encourage those women and the boyfriends and the girlfriends and the fiancés that it's not that hard. All I did was ask one person. I just said, do you know anyone that needs a roommate?

Kirk asked his teammate, I think. And there you go, one second. And yes, it's awkward.

And yes, it's annoying. And people probably thought it was weird that you weren't living together. Well, it was interesting, though. You know, when you take that leap to move to Washington, you're going to need a job and a roommate to make it work. And God provides a job and a roommate.

It was pretty interesting. I was trying to get jobs in both cities, Atlanta and the Washington, DC area. And I've been in Atlanta my entire life and I could not get a job there.

I tried for months and I had one interview in Virginia and I got the job like the next day. And that just gave me such a peace because it was crazy for me to move a few states away. No one in my family had ever really done that, especially not for technically a boyfriend. And so the fact that I got a job and a roommate within days of praying about it, it just really, really gave me confidence in the Lord's plan. And yeah, I had a great roommate and people just don't even think like that. And I don't want to act like I'm judging them, but I just, I want God's best for them. And God's best is for you to not live together and to be uncomfortable during that time.

And that will bless you so much more. And it's like such an awkward thing to share with friends. Kirk, I'm sitting here looking at your silicone wedding band. Yeah.

And do I have this right? You wear that to work? Yeah, I just wear it everywhere. So I keep it on during games. Game day. Yeah. I got a wedding ring and didn't know about these yet and was always taking mine off for practice for a workout for literally every day it was going off and on two or three times and it just wasn't very efficient.

And so I found these that I could just keep on at all times. And so it's on all the time. And that means it's on during games and practices and lifts, and it makes it really easy. There aren't many players wearing a wedding band on the football field.

No, I don't think so. A lot of players are wearing gloves. So if they have it on, it's probably hidden, but as a quarterback, I don't have any gloves on. So it shows.

It doesn't affect the spiral at all. No, not in the left hand. So it works out well. But no, you know, we were, you were talking about making those tough decisions to walk with God and, you know, Dave spoke to our team in a Bible study once and shared, you know, the difference between boys and men, you know, in terms of what it means to have spiritual maturity and boys do what feels right and men do what is right. You know, I just think that was certainly one area of life in terms of having purity before marriage is to do what is right, not what feels right. And, you know, that's just, that's not very common these days. And how do you maintain now, you know, you've been married a few years, six years, right?

Almost seven in the NFL. How do you keep a great marriage in this profession? And maybe you don't have a great marriage.

Maybe you're faking the whole thing. I think marriage is so easy for us and I don't, that's probably, there's something in there that's probably like, maybe we should, like this should be hard. I don't know. He's just very easy to be married to. But Kirk takes a Sabbath every Tuesday during the season. And in the off season, that's his day off.

Yes. He takes a whole day off from work and he doesn't do anything that is work. And he started doing that a few years ago. And that to me is one of the greatest blessings of our marriage, especially during football season, because I know Tuesday's coming. And not that it's all about me on that day. It's just that it's quality time for our family, for me and him, for him and the boys.

He's just reading or just kind of resting and relaxing and doing what recharges him. And cause some of these days in the season are, you know, 12, 13 hour days where I don't see him. So the fact that Tuesday's coming, the fact that he does that for our family just really honors me. And I think that really helps our marriage, honestly. Yeah, it was a learning experience for us. That's when we talk about everything.

That year I got benched. I didn't have a Sabbath and I was spinning my wheels. And that off season, we had heard teaching on it before, but we said, you know what, let's take it seriously. There's 10 commandments. So many people take the nine seriously, but the Sabbath one we ignore. And so we said, we're going to actually take 24 hours off. And it also happened to be that my football play improved when I started taking one day off. And it was like, God can do more with six than I can do a seven. He's probably the only football player that takes a Sabbath. I was just going to say, I don't know, a single player.

At the quarterback position is probably a little more rare. I mean, on a Tuesday when it's their day off, they're taking day off, but they're still watching film still. I mean, again, I'm just saying that's bad, but you really don't work. People ask me, what do I do on the Sabbath? And I say, it's more what I don't do. It's that anything related to work I don't do so I can go do anything else, but I just try to stay away from work. And it honestly more than it is rest it's faith because I sit there and I go, Lord, the Packers are coming on Sunday.

I think I need to be watching the third down blitz tape. And I have to sit there and say, you know what, Lord, I'm going to trust you that you can do more with six than I can do a seven. And so just as much of a resting for me, which it is, it's really a faith thing. And I think God's saying, Kirk, do you believe that Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 message that you had as a junior in high school, do you really believe that I'm still going to do that for you?

Or do you have to do it for yourself? And so the journey of faith is not an easy one and it's not ending anytime soon. God's going to keep us on that journey of faith all the way through life. You guys have talked the whole time about your faith, about your walk with God. You went all the way back to your matchmaker who heard from God and followed through and talked to you.

Talk about that a little bit. What does that mean to you to hear from God and then to obey what he says? One thing I'm learning currently in my walk with God is that hearing and responding to his voice is a bigger deal than I realized in my younger years.

It's hard to have a dynamic walk with God and a true relationship with God if you're not trying to hear from him, listen to him, and then whatever you hear to then obey it and respond to it. And in the event of our matchmaker, she said, God put it on my heart that you two should be set up, which he had to have put it on her heart because it was such an outlandish idea. Because she had known both of us for ten years plus and had never mentioned it until she felt God told her.

And she acted on it. So she not only heard the voice of God, but then she responded to it. And we'll have generations that are blessed as a result of one person hearing and responding to God's voice one time. Think of what I've missed out on my Christian walk all these years because I haven't done a great job of that.

And so that's something I want to grow in, and it's something we want to grow in. Julie, how do you hear God's voice? Prayer is a huge thing for me, and I'll get a nudge. Or even coming on this radio show, this is totally out of my comfort zone.

Yeah, this isn't her deal. But you're good at it. You are. But I just chose to take the leap of faith. But, you know, I definitely notice nudgings or somebody I need to pray for or say something to. And that's as I grow in my faith, it happens more and more. Especially, I don't know if it's just older age or what, but I'm just getting more confident and not feeling nervous to invite someone to Bible study or ask them a tough question.

I just love the challenge now. Well, you know, Bob, maybe you know this, Kirk. God speaks in the pews. Yeah. Pews, P-E-W-S.

Anybody want to take a guess what that stands for? I know what they are. My wife does. She serves it over and over. But it is interesting when you answer that question, like how does he hear the voice of God?

It could be audible. I mean, not that he couldn't do that. But I always say the pews, people. He often will use a person or he could use Cooper. You know, he can use a child.

He can use a neighbor. He can use anybody, a pastor. Events, you know, closed doors, open doors, circumstances, Word of God. You open the Word of God and you speak, and Spirit of God. That nudge you're talking about is probably the Spirit of God. But it's like, man, if we thought he still speaks, he wants us to hear and obey, it'd be like we'd be a head on a swivel.

There's a football term. Head on a swivel is like, how's he going to speak today? How's he going to lead? And the big question is, will we obey?

And if we do, a legacy could be at stake. And I think when you're in the Word regularly and when you are intending to walk by the Spirit regularly, so you're saying, okay, Lord, what have you got for me today? And you're recognizing his voice. I think you hear it more often when you're tuned in than when you're distracted. And I think that's where we've just got all of us be saying, how do I tune in today? How do you hear on the radio?

You tune in the radio to get the right station. Will you tune in to God through his Word by saying, Lord, what do you have for me today? And then see what he brings along through people, through events, like you said. I think that's really good. And I would just like to say as we close, thank you.

Yeah. Not just for being on this radio podcast, but for your commitment, your stand. It is a light that you're not just shining here in Minnesota, you're shining it across the world. And God is using you to make him famous. So thank you for doing that.

Not everybody does that. You too, man, you're young and yet you said, God, this isn't about us. This is about you.

You've given us this position. We want you to be honored and glorified and you're doing it. Thanks for your example.

That's kind of you to say that. I need to also say thank you to you all because I drive around Minneapolis and my hometown in Michigan and listen to Family Life and I hear you all on your show. And so thanks for your content. Thanks for the difference you're making in so many people's lives.

And just on my way home from work, giving me even a nice boost of encouragement from your words. Well, Julie, thanks for stepping out of your comfort zone. Way to go, Julie.

It wasn't so bad. And you know, really what you guys have been sharing with us today is an example of, Dave and Ann, what you guys talk about in your book, Vertical Marriage. It's having a God-centered, God-focused marriage relationship.

It's how marriage was designed to work. And I know you guys have read Dave and Ann's book and I think you've seen the videos. We're hoping that Family Life Today listeners, if you haven't read Vertical Marriage or if you haven't gotten together with other couples to go through the small group series that Dave and Ann have done, the Vertical Marriage five-part DVD series, information about both of these resources available online at familylifetoday.com. You can call if you have any questions or if you'd like to order by phone. Our number is 1-800-FL-TODAY. Again, the website familylifetoday.com.

Look for information about Vertical Marriage, both the book and the small group series, or call if you have any questions or if you'd like to order by phone, 1-800-358-6329. That's 1-800-F as in Family, L as in Life, and then the word Today. Now, finally, as we close out this week, our first full week of 2021, we once again just want to say thank you to those of you who are not only listeners to Family Life but those of you who are cheerleaders and supporters and voters, those of you who voted during the month of December with a year-end contribution, you are making this program available in your community for not just your family but for your neighbors, your friends. We are together effectively developing godly marriages and families. That's the mission here at Family Life, and you're a part of that mission as you support this ongoing work. So thank you for your year-end contributions, and don't forget, we're going to need your ongoing support throughout the year. So thanks for whatever you're able to do here in 2021 and pray for us and for what God has for us for this year. We appreciate you, and we hope you have a great weekend. Hope you and your family are able to worship together in your local church this weekend, and I hope you can join us back on Monday when we're going to talk about what is job number one for us as parents.

Do you know what that is? We'll talk about it next week. Hope you can be with us. I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, along with our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our hosts, Dave and Ann Wilson, I'm Bob Lapine. We'll see you back next time for another edition of Family Life Today. Family Life Today is a production of Family Life of Little Rock, Arkansas, a crew ministry. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow.