Am I Part of the Philippines Vlogging Community?

Since starting this YouTube channel on Valentine’s Day of 2018, I have kind of struggled with how I should market Love Beyond The Sea. After seeking marriage for an astounding 30 years of the prime of my life and been found wanting, in 2015 I found what I was missing and what I had been searching for-marriage! The woman I married in less than eight weeks from the other side of the world, the Philippines, is still my wife today and I believe we will be together until one of us dies. Yet, even I am not sure that qualifies me to be part of the Philippines vlogging community. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. This channel is about making marriage great again. Please subscribe to Love Beyond The Sea and get notifications for videos that will help you decide if you want to pursue marriage or if you want to go your own way. I think the Bible makes it clear marriage is the absolute best for almost all men and women.

My impression is that there are basically two types of Philippines vlogging channels on YouTube and they are the sexpats and the families who are basically displaying their daily lives on their channels. The former is fraught with drama and the latter is mostly drama free. I do think that there is a stigma about the community, namely because of the preponderance of sexpat channels. I won’t name names, if you are aware of the scene, then you know who I am referring to. There are a small number of channels that attack the sexpats, are not married, and do not offer relationship advice, so that is out there too.

We have a home in the Philippines and we’d like to go again in 2021, I have been there four times. I need to know all I can about my Filipina wife so I can be a good husband to her, and I want to pass that on to other men. Here is where I see some separation and that causes me to think about if I am even part of the Philippines vlogging community. That’s were I “cut my teeth” so to speak. My original intent was to help men who are single but want to get married, think about a woman from another country as I did with the Philippines. Think outside the box, go where they’re wanted, but do something to get married because that’s what we want deep down inside and I believe it to be the best situation for most men and women.

I am not a sexpat, and I don’t show a whole lot about our lives like a reality show because my wife doesn’t want to do that and a lot of people wouldn’t be interested. There are a few, but not many that I know of, who want to help men in relationships with Filipinas. I am unapologetically pro marriage, so you know where I stand unequivocally, and this is where what I espouse here on Love Beyond The Sea differs from most others.

I wanted a wife, not a girlfriend, so my mindset was about how to be the kind of husband a woman can respect, follow and stay devoted to. I don’t think you have to worry about any of that if you are only looking to score, and even if you do score, you lose, outside of a committed marital relationship. I wonder if my dogmatic approach is a good fit for the Philippines vlogging community. Maybe a channel about Fil-West Higher Education should be market differently?

We may live someday full-time in the Philippines, but we might not. We are here in America. No doubt if we were to live there, I could have videos about living in the Philippines, and people are very interested in that. I think a YouTube channel called Cost of Living Monthy Expenses Philippines would kill it, even if all the videos were pretty much the same.

The first name of my channel is Love and of course I am talking about marital love. I want to teach about love, real love. It also represents how my wife and I found each other from different sides of the sea. Sometimes, you need to venture out to find love. I don’t need a Philippines connection for that and there are times I think a Philippine connection is a hindrance to the growth of this channel. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, what do you think?

I have over 730 videos and over 100 podcasts on Casting Beyond The Sea you can catch on lvbts.com. If you want to see my wife and I in ordinary situations, the playlist called Just Us should be plenty to show you a normal relationship. I stress “normal” because a westerner going across the sea to marry a young woman from another country and culture is anything but normal, but does that mean the marriage can’t be normal? My videos talk about what a normal marriage should be like.

The reason that matters to me is that today, marriage is being marginalized. Some even think it is obsolete. Some may wonder why it even exists. We can and should talk about those things. I am not doing this for fun, believe me. I am a very serious person generally and marriage is serious business but it is also the place God gave us to have the most exhilarating and fulfilling life. That’s what I want for me and that’s what I want for you.

I don’t know if I should make this a biblical channel, stay the course or do something different. I honestly am confused if I am in the right place and the best place to be found. I do not think there is a rival in the Philippines vlogging community for what my niche is; marriage. It really isn’t that common to hear a man proclaim the merits and virtues and rightness of getting married, especially today, but you know what? I think men should be the ones proclaiming marriage in an age where men are tempted to go their own way or think the deck is stacked against them.

So, Love Beyond The Sea is not for the pleasure and edification of men who want to take advantage of women in the Philippines or to see what it is like living in the beautiful Philippines. I can address both of those things, but I want what I believe is best for guys of all ages and that is marriage. Make marriage great again. Marriage has always been the good life. I don’t care what the sad statistics are, you have to make your own reality. I got married. I think getting married is facing spiritual resistance, demonic resistance to be exact. You can’t see what is happening behind the scenes but you can discern the effects of it.

If you want a channel that gets to the heart of the matter in marital relationships, for any man, especially for those in a relationship with a younger woman from the Philippines, I endeavor to be as practical as I can and describe what works for me; how I try to put biblical principles to use to be married.

Don’t give up on the thought of getting married. Don’t settle for second best or low-hanging fruit. I have high standards for myself and my wife has high standards for herself and for me. Marriage, with all it’s occasional squabbles and differences, is the gold standard for how to live. Live, not just stay alive. It’s even better than I thought it would be with my love beyond the sea.