Daly Focus Blog
April Fool’s Day is about catching people off-guard with surprises they never see coming. Like the prank pulled on residents of Sitka, Alaska on April 1, 1974. People woke up that morning to black smoke rising from the crater of Mt. Edgecumbe, a volcano just a few miles away that hadn’t erupted in nearly 800 years.
That morning, 911 was flooded with so many calls that the Coast Guard sent a helicopter to investigate. The source of the trouble, it turns out, was not lava or hot ash.
According to Dr. Meg Meeker, boys today grow up in a world that is often at odds with their natural instincts to be curious and to explore. They’re taught to be cooperative and passive, to stay safe and avoid risks. What’s more, parents don’t always recognize how dangerous social media, popular entertainment, and marathon gaming can be for boys. Overconsumption can deaden their sensibilities and disconnect them from human interaction.
Dr. Meeker bases her expertise in years of clinical experience as a pediatrician, relevant scientific data, common sense, and her Christian faith.
God’s light often shines the brightest when circumstances are at their darkest and most bleak.
Which makes today’s world an opportunity for Christians to be salt and light by recommitting to studying God’s Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us into the lives of others – our families, our neighborhoods, our churches, and our communities. We are ambassadors for Christ, called to be prepared to “give a reason for the hope that is in us” (1 Peter 3:15).
Author Gary Thomas thought he had a good marriage. Then God reminded him of the pledge he made to his wife at their wedding: “I promise to love and cherish you until death do us part.” Thirty-six years later, Gary realized that he hadn’t thought of the word “cherish” in terms of his marriage since the day he spoke the vows.
Determined to change course, Gary set out to understand what it really meant to cherish his wife.
Rich Griffith is a single Dad of three teenage sons, all of whom he adopted. He soon realized that despite ministering to teenagers for many years, he didn’t know how to disciple his children as a parent. Neither do a lot of parents.
And that is why Rich likes to help parents teach their children how to engage their world by discerning which voices in their lives are helpful and harmful. The wisdom for determining whether or not a voice is worth listening to is discovered through what he calls the “Three Ts”:
Time.
There are a lot of great dads out there, but many men are disengaged from their boys. They don’t see masculinity as a quality they offer to their sons. They see it as something boys figure out on their own.
That was my story. I didn’t have a father to teach me how to be a man. I had to figure it out by myself. But that journey wasn’t easy, and it’s why I can say from experience that leaving a boy in the hands of “trial-and-error” is not ideal.
Author Jeff Manion once decided to de-clutter his life. His goal was to throw out or give away five items every day. Over a period of six weeks, he got rid of outdated video tapes and DVDs, old sneakers, and more than a few things from the garage. At the end of that short period, Jeff succeeded in tossing out a total of 210 items.
He thought he’d feel relief. Instead, he felt disappointment – not because he missed the things he’d gotten rid of but because his life was no different in their absence.
Maybe you can relate to this exchange between author and speaker, Dan Seaborn, and his wife Jane.
Jane: I like hot tea.Dan: I like sweetened iced tea.
Jane:I don’t like to be sweaty.Dan: I love to sweat.
Jane: Yellow lights mean stop.Dan: Yellow lights mean floor it, baby!
Jane: He drives way too fast.Dan: She drives way too slowly.
Jane: I like grilled chicken.Dan:I like my chicken deep fried in oil and covered in Shake and Bake.
Pastoring can be a tough, stressful job.
Most of us don’t realize how true that is because we’re only with our pastors for an hour or two on Sunday mornings and have little understanding of the time and energy necessary to keep the church moving forward.
Did you know that the average pastor works 50 to 74 hours per week, doing all kinds of jobs – teacher, counselor, worship leader, business executive, even janitorial and maintenance work?
Infidelity is one of the top reasons why marriages end in divorce. That should come as no surprise. It’s hard to repair the gaping wounds that an affair rips into a relationship. Many couples choose to walk away. Even Christians often view infidelity as a “get out of jail free card.”
Josh and Katie Walters know firsthand the betrayal and devastation of infidelity. They now serve on staff at Seacoast Church, a multi-campus ministry in South Carolina, but six years into their marriage, Katie confessed that she was having an affair with one of Josh’s best friends.
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.
