Daly Focus Blog
One of the hardest things about life on this side of eternity is unexpected trauma. We can be blindsided by a terrible accident, a frightening diagnosis, or any number of unforeseen circumstances, experiences that can shake our faith.
All of us have pondered the question of why bad things happen to good people, including those of us who seek to serve a good God. Answers to that question and others are messy and difficult by definition.
Couples often assume that love is self-sustaining. The truth is you have to invest in it, or it will die.
When Jean and I first started dating, I lived in San Diego, and she lived in Orange County. At the time, she was working evenings at a veterinary clinic, so I occasionally drove 90 miles to bring her dinner. I was willing to inconvenience myself to show my interest.
Fast forward to the early years of our marriage, and my attitude changed.
Sometimes sheer determination is the only way to overcome tough circumstances.
After President John F. Kennedy died in November of 1963, Corporal Keith C. Clark, the Principal Bugler with the United States Army Band, was called upon to play Taps at the funeral.
At the end of the heartbreaking service, with the eyes and ears of the nation upon him, Clark steadied his trembling emotions and began. At first, his playing was flawless, each note perfectly intonated and reverent for the moment.
Some things aren’t worth what they cost in the long run. A humorous metaphor for that is an unlucky baseball fan in San Francisco. He tried to catch a couple foul balls at a baseball game, and it cost him a small fortune.
It all started at the top of the second inning when a foul ball was hit his way. He’d just sat down with $25 worth of food after waiting in line for thirty minutes.
Today is Bring Your Bible to School day, a nationwide, student-led movement that’s observed by hundreds of thousands of students from over 50,000 schools across the country. Today’s events are designed for two purposes:
To share the Bible’s message of love and grace.To celebrate religious liberty and freedom of speech in the United States.
To highlight those objectives, our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Leaving a Legacy of Faith” is featuring a recorded talk titled “The Family Circle” by founder and president of Winning at Home, Dan Seaborn.
How far into the future do you believe good parenting influences children? A week? A year? What if I told you that the choices you make today will affect your family for generations to come?
I see a visual reminder of how influence works every time my family goes camping. Our boys are grown now, but they become like little kids again every time we pull up to a lake. The first thing they do is hop out of the truck, grab a handful of rocks, and see how far they can skip each one.
If you’re playing a game, it’s important to have a scorekeeper. It’s the only way to judge someone’s performance and determine a winner.
But in marriage, scorekeepers are destructive. When a relationship is defined by “winners” and “losers,” it’s only a matter of time before things fall apart.
Scorekeepers are easy to spot in a conflict. Their goal is to win. They don’t compromise, respect their spouse’s point of view, or resolve issues in a way that benefits the relationship.
Making good decisions about your future requires wisdom, discernment – sometimes even divine intervention.
I’ll never forget a moment like that in my own life. I was the quarterback of my high school football team and at a crossroads. Scholarships were on the table, and I had dreams of making it to the pros.
But I was also serious about my faith and wanted it to influence my direction in life. So, right before one of my games, I prayed this prayer: “Lord, if you don’t want me to pursue college football, break a bone today … just don’t let it hurt.”
Jump ahead to the third quarter.
There’s a storm coming. Are you ready?
When author Gary Thomas moved to Houston, he initially felt like locals over-reacted to storm warnings. Weather reports would become ominous and people seemed overly anxious about plywood, waterproofing supplies, and extra groceries. All that fuss for nothing because the storms usually proved insignificant.
Then came Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which dumped over 50 inches of rain in three days, causing catastrophic flooding, $100 billion worth of damage, and the deaths of over 100 people.
The best parenting combines authority with love. It gives children boundaries while helping them to feel cared for and nurtured. Sadly, some parents lean heavy on authority and less on love. That approach reduces parenting to a list of demanding rules that is damaging to a child.
My step-dad, Hank, was all authority. His parenting was as simple as “because-I-say-so.” Break one of his rules, and you’d regret it. It was his way of keeping order, but it didn’t sit well with my older sister, Kim.
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.
