I came across this Arabian proverb the other day, it says “The camel never sees it’s own hump, but it’s neighbors hump is ever before it’s eyes.” Now, I think there’s a lot of truth in that.

Yeah, that’s kind of a humorous picture but there is a lot of truth to that, particularly in marriage. Sometimes you give me some feedback that I wouldn’t love because you point out that, “Hey you’ve got a hump on your back.”

And it kind of goes both ways, but we kind of serve as a mirror to each other. As iron sharpens iron, we help each other.

That’s right and it’s so helpful in marriage, not to be defensive but to allow that spouse to give us a full picture of who we really are.

Friend, keep that in mind and maybe think of those camels the next time your about to criticize or comment on your spouse.

If you have a comment or question for the New Shine.FM relationship experts Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, visit the relationships experts page at Shine.FM.

Listen to today’s audio here.

Have you ever checked into a “non-smoking” room and a hotel and caught the distinct odor of cigarette smoke?  Well, there’s a reason for that.

According a story in USA Today, researchers have found that when a hotel allows smoking in any of its rooms, the smoke gets into all of its rooms.

Georg Matt, a researcher at San Diego State University, says nicotine residues and other chemical traces don’t stay in the smoking rooms.  He says “they end up in the hallways and in other rooms, including non-smoking rooms.”

The study found smoke residue on surfaces and in the air of both smoking and non-smoking rooms in 30 California hotels where smoking was allowed. Levels were highest in the smoking rooms, but levels in non-smoking rooms were much higher than those found at 10 smoke-free hotels.

Volunteers who stayed overnight in the smoking hotels also ended up with sticky nicotine residues on their fingers, whether they stayed in smoking rooms or not.

Matt says his study suggests non-smokers should choose only hotels with no smoking. He says it’s likely that non-smoking guests are routinely exposed to second-hand smoke seeping under doorways and moving through ventilation systems as people smoke elsewhere in hotels.

The study also shows widespread contamination with what researchers call “third-hand smoke,” the pollutants left behind on furniture, drapes, carpets and in the air, long after cigarettes are extinguished.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, second-hand smoke is linked with a variety of health effects, including asthma attacks, heart disease and lung cancer,. The effects of third-hand smoke are not as clear.

I’m Bill Maier for Shine.FM.

Click here for the audio version of this article.

As a mom, it’s hard to be away from your kids.  Whether you stay at home or work, home school or public school, there are always going to be times when you have to be away from your children.  In Lisa’s Home School, learn how to deal with mommy guilt!

Janice, a 48-year-old mother of two, had gotten pregnant when she was 17.  When her son was just 5 months old, she was forced to give him up for adoption.  She was able to visit her son a few times in foster care – enough to know that the family was changing his name from Therman to Spencer.  And it’s a good thing she knew that, because, now 30 years later, typing Spencer Parrish into google, she was able to find her son.  Spencer had typed a note into an adoption website 12 years ago, and Janice saw that note!  Spencer, a former soldier and now married father of 2, was in the Atlanta airport on his was to Afghanistan when his mom called him to let him know his birth mother called.  The 2 friended each other on Facebook and kept in touch while he was in Afghanistan, and just last week were reunited when he returned to the states.   Read all about it here.

Sometimes in a marriage, a spouse will do something that you just simply do not understand. And I’ve kind of experienced that this week with you.

Yeah, I’ve invested a lot of my time and effort in a project. It’s a bridal shower and I’m creating streamers and I’m putting a lot of myself into making them all home made and I’ve selected them.

And your spending endless hours on this just so detailed that you would think how are they going to notice this.

You would never do that with your time. But you have allowed me the space to make my own choice and express my own gifts and I love that.

Well, I do know it’s important to you. You wouldn’t spend that kind of time if it wasn’t. Sometimes that happens in marriage even when you don’t understand it, you can appreciate and value their unique interests.

If you have a comment or question for the New Shine.FM relationship experts Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, visit the relationships experts page at Shine.FM

Click here to listen to today’s audio.

Are your kids really studying when they hit the books—or are they doing something else?

According to a story on Plugged In.com, researchers recently observed 263 students from middle school, high school and college as they were studying.

Interestingly, they found that within two minutes, many were texting, tweeting, surfing the Web, watching TV or updating their Facebook page.

After 15 minutes, the scientists found that students had spent just 65% of their time, on average, actually studying.

Research indicates that multitaskers generally remember less of what they study. And the stuff they do remember, they have more difficulty understanding.

David Meyer, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan points out that there’s nothing magical about the brains of tech-savvy young people that prevents them from being impacted by the effects of multitasking.

He says “They may like to do it, they may even be addicted to it, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s far better to focus on one task from start to finish.”

And while we’re talking technology, check out this new research:

According to a new study by the National Safety Council, motor vehicle crashes involving cellphones are “vastly underreported.”   The council estimates that fully 25% of all motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. now involve cellphone use.

And if you’ve warned your teens about the dangers of texting and driving, are you practicing what you preach?

It turns out that 90 percent of parents surveyed reported technology-related multitasking in the past month, such as talking on the phone, texting or changing a DVD or CD.  And here’s the worst part—these parents admit to doing these distracting things while driving WITH THEIR KIDS IN THE CAR!

I’m Bill Maier for Shine.FM.

Click here for the audio version of this article.

Being a politician is no easy gig—just ask 4-year-old Dorset, Minnesota mayor Robert “Bobby” Tufts.  According to Bobby’s mom, 34-year-old Emma, the toddler ran a two-month campaign starting in late June 2012, visiting local restaurants and handing out pins with his photo imprinted that read, “Vote for Bobby!”  In August, his name was picked out of a hat. “He was so excited and told everyone at daycare that he was going to be mayor forever.”  Check him out here. 

If your car is just past being covered under warranty, ask your mechanic or dealer if they can do a good-will repair.  Sometimes they are authorized to do that.  Also research the repair you need before going in to the dealership because sometimes the manufacturer has given a notice to the dealership about the problems – and when you ask about it, they are allowed to repair it “under warranty” for free!  These tips and more in Lisa’s Home School. 

Well, we had an exciting game night this last week with our friends, Kevin and Kathy. We don’t do this often, but we played this game called Boggle.

Yeah, and it was really fun. The whole object is to look at these letters and try to make your own list and create words that you can see on the board.

Yeah, and what’s amazing is that you see words that I don’t, and vice versa and I said man this is just like a conversation in our relationship.

Yeah, it was a little too familiar wasn’t it? None of the words on my list did you even see. Some of yours were kind of made up words, let me just say.

Oh okay, let’s go there. Well friend, if your feeling boggled by some of the things your spouse says, remember it always comes down to a listening ear, a lot of patience, and empathy.

If you have a comment or question for the New Shine.FM relationship experts Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, visit the relationships experts page at Shine.FM

Click here to listen to today’s audio.

Two Americans are being persecuted for their faith in countries that are hostile to Christianity.

The government of North Korea says a Korean-American given 15 years hard labor has begun his sentence at a special prison.

North Korea accuses Kenneth Bae of unspecified acts against the government. Friends and colleagues say Bae is a devout Christian who frequently traveled to North Korea to feed orphans.

Mr. Bae was arrested November 3rd in a city that borders China and Russia.  He told CBN News that several members of his family including his mother and brothers are in a North Korean concentration camp because of their own evangelistic activity.

They were sent to the camp because authorities found a Bible and several gospel pamphlets in their house.

Over 200,000 prisoners are being held in political prison camps in North Korea, and as many as 30,000 of them are Christians.

On the other side of the world, American Pastor Saeed Abedini has seen his family for the first time since being released from solitary confinement in an Iranian jail.

Fellow prisoners say Abedini was “glowing” when he saw his wife and two boys.

The pastor spent over a week in what he called a “small dark hole,” but says it was a time of intimacy with God, where he could feel the prayers of intercessors.

His wife, Naghmeh, says this is a small victory, but she’s “still demanding justice be done and that Saeed be released.”  She says she is very concerned about her husband’s health.

Please keep Mr. Bae and Paster Saeed in your prayers, and ask God that he will supernaturally intervene and cause them to be released.

I’m Bill Maier for Shine.FM.

Click here for the audio version of this article.