Family and Home Archives

A Deathbed Blessing

Many of us have sat by the side of a dying loved one, trying to bring comfort, trying to help prepare them for their final journey home. But it’s especially powerful and telling, isn’t it, when the person who is suffering is the one who brings the greatest measure of comfort and perspective?

Joan Batura, the mother of Paul Batura, a colleague here at Focus, received her promotion to glory on January 12th. By her own acknowledgment, she had lived a long and wonderful life.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith January 18, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Get Along with People

One Sunday morning, drowsing in a back pew of a little country church, I dimly heard the old preacher urge his flock to “stop worrying about your own halo and shine up your neighbor’s!” And it left me sitting up, wide awake, because it struck me as just about the best eleven-word formula for getting along with people that I ever heard.

Shine up your neighbors’s halo:

I like it for its implication that everyone, in some area of life, has a halo that’s worth watching for and acknowledging.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith January 17, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Some Numbers Are More Important Than a Score

There wasn’t a lot of celebrating Saturday night in our home state of Colorado, but there was definitely – as Luke 15:7 promises – “rejoicing in heaven.” Our beloved Denver Broncos lost a heartbreaker to the New England Patriots, but that result is really inconsequential when souls are won for Christ.

And that’s precisely what happened during the AFC Divisional Playoffs. How do we know? Because people told us.

They were responding to a 30-second commercial from Focus on the Family aired during the game.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids January 16, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Religious Liberty Victory at the Supreme Court

The decision was issued without much fanfare or media hoopla, but the ruling is significant and sweeping in scope. Here are the general details of the case, Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

I think you’d want to know about it.

Cheryl Perich was a teacher at a Lutheran school in Redford, Michigan. Her working relationship with school officials became strained around the same time she was diagnosed with narcolepsy. In response to the personnel tension, she sued the school, citing workplace discrimination.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: religious liberty January 16, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Tim Tebow’s Good News

The Washington Post’s On Faith blog recently invited Focus on the Family’s Esther Fleece to weigh-in on Tim Tebow mania. I’m delighted to share her excellent piece with you:

Tim Tebow’s good news

By Esther Fleece

No, God is not a Denver Broncos fan – certainly not in the sense of the people who paint their faces half orange and half blue and cheer on the home team at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. So Sunday’s exciting-as-it-was-unlikely playoff win over the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers was not, in any way that would suggest the creator of the universe picks sides in a football game, an “act of divine intervention.”

But that doesn’t mean His name wasn’t glorified in the Broncos’ 29-23 victory led by quarterback Tim Tebow, whose unconventional playing style and uncompromising expressions of his Christian faith have made him one of the NFL’s top stories this season.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: news, pop culture January 12, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Cal Thomas: Angel Unaware

Excerpts from a touching and poignant reflection on the dignity of life from columnist Cal Thomas:

My Brother’s Valuable Life

How does one measure whether a life was a success, or a failure?

Some would measure it by recognition, that is, how many knew the person’s name. For others, the measure of a successful life would be the amount of wealth accumulated, or possessions held. Still others would say a life was successful if the person made a major contribution to society — in medicine, sports, politics, or the arts.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family January 12, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Cal Thomas: An Extraordinary Life

Excerpts from a touching and poignant reflection on the dignity of life from columnist Cal Thomas:

My Brother’s Valuable Life

How does one measure whether a life was a success, or a failure?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family January 11, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Tebow Makes Kids’ W15Hes Come True

We’ve all seen the ads: Pro sports star wins a huge game, and in the ensuing celebratory bedlam encounters a camera and a voice behind it that says, “You’ve just won the biggest game of your career. What’s next?”

The answer, a stroke of marketing genius by the House That Walt Built: “I’m going to DisneyWorld.”

But Tim Tebow – if we’ve learned anything at all about him by now – is not your typical NFL star.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, pastors, pop culture January 11, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Six Steps to a Fulfilling Day

More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice the simple ministry of presence.

Still, it is not as simple as it seems.

My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up in meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family January 10, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Will You? Do You?

I will do more than belong – I will participate.

I will do more than care – I will help.

I will do more than believe – I will practice.

I will do more than be fair – I will be kind.

I will do more than forgive – I will forget.

I will do more than dream – I will work.

I will do more than teach – I will inspire.

I will do more than earn – I will enrich.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith January 9, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura