The Wedding Is Who You Want... the Marriage Is Who You Got!: The Dating Companion Handbook

By Gary Ballard Jr.

This book must accompany you on your dates whether they be one-on-one or a couples (group) outing! This is the most concise yet thorough compatibility-examination guide available today!

Sit down with your significant other or group and have some of the most productive, honest, insightful, hopeful, and engulfing conversations and negotiations ever!

The author will seem to be in the room with you guys, moderating and refereeing the entire discussion, as you determine if your potential lover is all right or all wrong for youa knight in shining armor or a wolf in sheeps clothing? This companion guide is a sure way to find out in the most fun, engaging, and memorable way ever!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532009808

Gary Ballard Jr.

Gary Ballard Jr. is the president and director of the Assembly of the Saints Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska, and has been in fulltime ministry since October 1994. He has an extensively colorful and climactic past and upbringing, which lends him to be a very variegated and infectious character. Being a young child of divorced parents caused him to move back and forth between the two every so many years, which also exposed him to various cities, states, and cultures that has given him a tremendous handle and appreciation of cultural diversity! He dropped out of college his sophomore year while attending Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to pursue the ministry full-time and has been employed in the same ever since. Known for his unique, poignant, and polarizing perspectives, his comedic delivery is often what makes him so revered and sought after for speaking and lecturing opportunities. His unrelenting candor and insights into relevant social issues makes him a distinguishable and necessary voice to culture in his generation! He is the husband of Demetria and father of Omran, Garrett, and Gabriel.

Book preview

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THE WEDDING IS WHO YOU WANT… THE MARRIAGE IS WHO YOU GOT!

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The Dating Companion Handbook

G. BALLARD JR.

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THE WEDDING IS WHO YOU WANT… THE MARRIAGE IS WHO YOU GOT!

THE DATING COMPANION HANDBOOK

Copyright © 2017 Gary Ballard Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-0979-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-0980-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919417

iUniverse rev. date: 01/06/2017

CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter One

Where this all began …

Chapter Two

Grow’n Up …

Chapter Three

Negotiations…

Chapter Four

Say Something I’m Giving Up On…

Chapter Five

Awe’s of Attraction…

Chapter Six

Just Who Do You Think I Am!?

Prayer

Conclusion

Dedication

FOREWORD

This book has not come about from my professing to be nor from my believing myself to be an expert or spiritual authority on marriage … by ANY means! It comes rather, as a result of reflecting on observations and corresponding thoughts and meditations on marriage and relationships I’ve come to know. After being left to raise a one year and few months old daughter in my twenties, then soon after becoming divorced, to now being remarried for close to 18 years, to having performed dozens of weddings, having conducted countless premarital counseling sessions and numerous marital mediation sessions, and to the witnessing of many divorces, I am more than just casually acquainted with the institution of marriage. I have decades of experiences from which I have gleaned and reflected from that qualify me to share some real life perspectives and quantifiable conclusions.

It is my hope that this dating companion mini-book accompanied by corresponding prayer(s), will assist you in meditating DEEP DEEP WITHIN, as you ascertain whether or not you’re fully aware of and capable of successfully holding the office of a Husband or the office