Guardrails...what's yours?

Being a mom, wife, and friend can be tiring. I am a pretty happy person and I love being in the world. I meet lots of people as I am just a people person and I talk to anyone who will listen. At least 2 of the 3 of my children are that way also. As a Zumba instructor I have met many more people and I tend to be a very friendly person. We have coffee, lunch, dinner, and parties etc. I love my class and they are just awesome as most people in my life are. Last week our pastor( Andy Stanley) and his wife(Sandra Stanley) talked about Guardrails. It was not so mind blowing but I think it was great for my husband and I to hear.

Here is what I experienced a while back. There was situation a while ago where a friend wanted me to train and workout with her husband. This person was attractive as I myself am(lol)too. I immediately saw the guardrails go up. That is the name of the message that our pastor is talking about. Shockingly to me my hubby saw no problem with this. I was stunned. He even encouraged me to do this. I was like "Is he kidding, he wants me to work out with an attractive male, you want me to talk about life with another male"? These are all the thoughts that I had in my head and it was like crickets all around. I respect my husband and loves him dearly but I had to take a stand and say no. I had to paint visual a picture of how this could go very wrong. He agreed and was still totally against it as I wanted him to be. To tell your wife to be a workout partner with someone of the opposite sex was just like serving me up on a platter. DUH! Well, this bothered me for many years until last Sunday. Andy and his wife Sandra said that they have guardrails and when you get to close it's time to take a step back from the edge. Disaster can come in all forms. It starts out with coffee, lunch, meeting at a bookstore, dinner, and before you know it you are working out etc. with someone that is not your spouse. For me this was the edge and I had the sense to know to step back before the damage was done. Do you have guardrails? What are you guardrails? Do you get close enough to the edge and step back? These are questions that I have been asking myself lately....