Saturday, March 11, 2006

Glutton for Punishment

I've felt like I've been in the shadow of the gallows all week.

You see I'm preaching about divorce from Matthew 5 Sunday. Thus I will probably be looking for gainful employment on Monday (just kidding… I hope). There's hardly a topic under the sun that can so quickly upset people like divorce can. People assume judgment and condemnation when it's not there and others provide it when it's not necessary. I can't wait to wade into that killing field.

Anyway… here's a couple of statistical notes that I found while doing research for the sermon.

Percentage of married people who reach their 5th, 10th, 15th, 25th, 35th, and 50th anniversaries:
5th: 82%
10th: 65%
15th: 52%
25th: 33%
35th: 20%
50th: 5%

[Shannon and I will have our 10th anniversary in a few months.]

The average first marriage that ends in divorce is almost eight years long.
The average wait before getting remarried is about three years.
The average second marriage that ends in divorce only lasts seven years.
Almost two-thirds of second marriages end in divorce.

1 comment:

Rodney Olsen said...

I look forward to hearing how your sermon was received.

My wife and I have been married for over 13 years. It's the first and only marriage for both of us and we intend to keep it that way. :)