Daly Focus Blog
Believe it or not, you can learn a lot about your marriage from a little dog named Tidbit.
He’s the ugliest dog I think I’ve ever seen. He’s a two and a half pound Yorkie Poo – a mix between a Poodle and Yorkshire Terrier. He’s 15 years old and quirky. He’s afraid to walk across tile floors and is too small to get up and down the stairs on his own. He looks bad, too.
We live in a broken world. It’s not a matter of if the culture will influence our children, it’s a matter of when and how. As such, it’s wise to teach them discernment from a young age. Fortunately, parents can find incredible guidance in the Christian worldview.
The question is, because the enemy comes to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10), what does living as a Christian in today’s culture look like and how can we live out those principles for our families and neighborhoods?
Communication can be difficult for teenagers. When my boys Trent and Troy were younger, I usually tried to strike up a conversation every morning as I drove them to school. Sometimes they were thoughtful and had a lot to say. Other days, all I got were one-word answers.
Many homes feel disconnected because children are distracted by technology. Research indicates that teenagers spend as many as seven to nine hours every day in front of some kind of screen, from computers and smartphones to tablets and televisions.
Tyler Sexton has been an overcomer since the day he was born. So have his parents, Lisa and Kevin.
When Tyler was born at 28 weeks, doctors immediately placed him in an incubator and rushed him by helicopter to a hospital four hours away. They told Lisa and Kevin that Tyler’s lungs could collapse, and he’d die mid-flight. Tyler survived, but a long road of physical trouble, including 16 surgeries, lay ahead.
At 18 months, Tyler was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
I can tell I’m getting older. For one thing, the guy staring back at me from the mirror has more wrinkles and grey hair than he used to. For another thing, my relationship with my two boys Trent and Troy is different than it used to be. Years ago, we’d wrestle, and I could pin both of them to the floor at the same time. Fast forward a few years, and I could only wrestle one at a time – and it was a coin flip as to which of us would win.
A few years ago, Levi Lusko experienced a midlife crisis that sent him spiraling downward.
A devoted husband, father, pastor, author and speaker, Levi was busy most days from early morning until he went to bed late at night. For nearly two decades, his ambition for more kept his candle burning at both ends. By 2020, Levi had flown a million and a half miles. When the pandemic hit, his activity and his ability to manage his emotions all came to a screeching halt.
“Do I really believe?”
That’s not always such an easy question to answer. We say we believe in all kinds of things – from God and country to values like marriage, family, and justice. But what happens when those beliefs get challenged? Do we stand passively on the sidelines and pretend we believe? Or do we get in the wheelbarrow?
That phrase, “Get in the wheelbarrow,” is a metaphor from the mid-19th century. It sprang up around a man named The Great Blondin.
When I talk to people who believe differently than I do, I often ask myself, “Am I being kind? Or am I just being nice?” There is a difference.
Nice is usually a thin veneer of kindness with nothing of substance underneath. Nice is how you act toward the barista who gets your coffee order right. Or the person waiting patiently next to you in line. Or a family member with whom you’re on good terms.
Before Greta Eskridge had children, she was a high school teacher. She was confronted by the pervasiveness of pornography when she discovered that one of her ninth-grade male students had a sexually explicit photo in his binder.
Greta asked the student not to bring material like that to her class again, and then she explained how objectifying, disrespectful, and demeaning pornography is to women. She still remembers the look of confusion that came over the student’s face.
Words have power. They express profound truth. Or they strip truth of all meaning. Let me give you just two examples.
The first involves a Washington lobbyist who spoke about the Constitution of the United States to a national audience. She described our founding document as quote “that little piece of paper.” You’d think she was referring to a sticky note on the president’s desk instead of one of the most consequential and enduring documents in history.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
