Daly Focus Blog
“Mayday! Mayday!”
You recognize that distress call, don’t you? Even children have a rough idea of what it means. And the fact that they do reveals something important about effective communication.
The “mayday” distress code was designed to be simple and easy to understand. It was created in 1923 by Frederick Mockford, an airport radio officer in London, after his boss challenged him to devise a distress code that would easily be understood by pilots and ground staff in an emergency.
Wednesday’s vote in the Senate regarding the “budget blueprint” for a proposed $3.5 trillion spending spree next year raises far more questions than it answers, and especially for Christians concerned with a disregard for life and religious freedom.
If you’ve considered the ongoing debate these last few weeks to be confusing, join the club.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed a $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill that is purportedly designed to fund roads, bridges and trains. Yet, tucked inside that bill are dollars for salmon recovery, as well as increased food and beverage services on Amtrack.
Kyle Poulson was eight years old when he was told that he was adopted – a moment that became an anchor in his life. He felt blessed to grow up in a loving family with faithful Christian parents who wanted him.
Kyle’s adoptive father died in 1995. Before his adoptive mother passed away in 2016, she encouraged Kyle to find his birth mother, a process he began in February of 2017. Because the records were closed, he ran into dead end after dead end and thought he might never find his birth mother.
Strong-willed women, on the other hand, are often characterized as “bossy” or “controlling.”
Author Cynthia Tobias says that strong-willed women are trail blazers. Strong-willed women:
God doesn’t want to rid women of their personalities. He wants to direct their strong wills and use them for His purposes. When women submit themselves to the Lord, He can channel their strength into transforming their marriages, influencing their children in the right direction, and seeing God’s kingdom advanced in whatever other ways the Lord chooses to use them.
It’s partially stereotype, but mostly true: Most men don’t communicate very well.
Generally speaking, men struggle to discuss things such as a pornography, addictions, financial trouble, anger, or depression.
There are three main reasons for this:
As common as poor communication may be among men, a stubborn unwillingness to improve is not without consequence. It can damage a man’s relationship with God, with his spouse, with his children, and with his friends and coworkers.
King David had a habit of not speaking up in his own household.
The call to forgive others lies at the heart of the Christian message.
But that doesn’t make forgiveness easy.
The human heart is wired for justice. When somebody sins against us, the hurt we feel is a cry for wrongs to be made right again. And when they can’t be, we often want the other person to suffer in some way that helps us feel like the debt has been satisfied.
Much of our struggle comes from not knowing what forgiveness is and what it isn’t – or from naively believing that we can forgive the unforgiveable if we grit our teeth and try hard enough. We confuse “forgiving” with “excusing.” Our rationalizations leave us stuck in bitterness or holding grudges.
Today’s broadcast has me thinking a lot about one of my favorite verses in the Bible. In Romans 2:4, Paul tells us that it’s “God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.” That verse reminds me of how I ought to conduct myself toward others.
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit – an expression of God’s nature through us – and one of the most powerful tools for Christians who wish to act as the hands and feet of Jesus to the world around them.
Once upon a time, our culture respected fathers and held them in high regard. And rightly so. Dads were role models. They invested in their boys, teaching them how to use hammers and saws, so they could help patch fences and build new barns. They taught their boys how to become men and were living examples for their daughters of how a real man should behave.
Once upon a time, children spent so much time with their dads that life’s values were naturally transferred from one generation to the next.
It seems each day brings with it headlines and highlights of renewed attacks on the family, but especially on the autonomy and authority of moms and dads to nurture and raise their children according to their deeply held convictions and beliefs.
I recently came across a shocking report from the Journal of Medical Ethics making the claim that parents should not have the right to prevent their minor children from pursuing “gender affirming surgeries” – i.e., preventing biological boys and girls from surgically altering their bodies.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Appreciating God’s Design for the Human Body,” we’re exploring a familiar passage from the Old Testament. Psalm 139 expresses wonder at God’s creativity: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Our guest is best-selling author Philip Yancey, who shares how every aspect of the human body’s design points to the glory of God our Creator.
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.
