Thomas Umstattd Jr.

New Site: PracticalCourtship.com

I have started a new website Practical Courtship! The goal of the website is to help make courtship work. So in a way it is a critique of courtship but it is also a guide. So far, it has received a fair bit of traffic and a ton of great comments. I encourage you to come by and check it out. Leave a comment and join the conversation. Also, let me know if you are interested in writing an article for...

The Thin Line Between Creepy and Charming

Yesterday I tweeted “The only difference between creepy and charming is permission.” Some explanation is in order. No, I did not go on a date last night. No, I did not have yet another awkward encounter with a woman. But there is a story here and an interesting conclusion. The tweet was the result of three completely unrelated things blending in my mind. Thing 1: Barrack Obama There has...

An End of an Adventure

Grace and I both felt our courtship was distracting us from our most important relationship, our relationship with the Lord.  We have decided to call our courtship off and refocus on what God has for us as individuals. We are still friends. The main purpose of courtship is to glorify God and draw us closer to him. Even though this courtship has come to an end we have avoided splat . God is faithful...

7 Challenges to Middle Distance Relationships

Grace and I live about an hour away from each other. Grace works in Austin an hour from her home and mine forming a giant one hour triangle of doom. I call this triangle of driving "a middle distance relationship." We are to far to see each other daily and to close for week long visits. This causes unique challenges. Whenever I want to spend an hour with Grace I must commit two hours to...

What is Courtship?

So, what is courtship anyway? How is it different from dating? Grace and I get this question a lot. Here is our official answer. Courtship: If Jesus ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy. Courtship has a purpose and happens to be a lot fun. As opposed to being fun and happening to have a purpose. Courtship is about identifying martial compatibility. Courtship about honesty and intentionality...

Christian Courtship – The Need for Lower Standards

I am unaware of any generation at any time in the last 6000 years that has done as poor a job at marriage as the baby boomer generation. They have the most staggering divorce rate in the world. So why do we listen to their advice when it comes to our relationships? The typical baby boomer advice to young people is to set high standards for a future spouse. No standard is too high for our parents and...

A New Adventure

I am setting of on one of the biggest, most exiting and dangerous adventures of my life. And I am not talking about my trip to Ecuador. Grace Chambers and I are now officially courting. And by official I mean Facebook official. After several meetings with her dad he asked her if she was interested in starting a relationship and she said “yes.” If you don’t know Grace yet I’ll just say you’re...