Daly Focus Blog
This weekend’s murderous rampages in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that claimed a total of 31 lives, join an ever-growing list of incidents of mass violence in America.
Whenever horror of this magnitude occurs our focus almost always turns to motive. Although it’s impossible to make sense of the inexplicable, we still want to know what’s behind the evil.
For these two separate tragedies, less than 24 hours apart, the early evidence seems clear both murderers were driven by hatred.
So here’s the scenario. It’s a weeknight, and your child has spent most of the evening on the same school assignment. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t understand the information. To top it off, he’s brought home a note from the teacher warning you about a failing grade.
What do you do?
Many parents immediately assume the worst. They think their child has a behavior problem, difficulty learning, or is just plain lazy. But most of the time school challenges like this aren’t a crisis.
Imagine two keys.
Now imagine threading those keys onto a key ring.
Here’s the question: are either of those keys more complete now that they are joined together than they were individually?
Answer: no.
And neither will you be if you’re single and hoping to be married one day. “Singlehood” is often considered synonymous with “incomplete” – as in, there’s something unfinished in you that only a spouse can complete.
As romantic as Hollywood makes that scenario sound, it’s not really true.
Deborah Pegues was once vice president of MCA Universal Studios. She headed up the venture capital division that was responsible for starting new companies. It was a high-risk, high stress business. Her role frequently required her to confront people.
You might even say she got good at it.
Which is precisely the reason we’ve invited her to our studios to talk about how to confront someone effectively. We’re airing the conversation on our Focus on the Family Broadcast titled “Facing Confrontation with Grace.”
Deborah says most people try to avoid confrontation because it’s hard, and it doesn’t feel good.
I was deeply saddened to hear the recent news regarding well-known author and speaker Joshua Harris. First, Harris and his wife, Shannon, announced they have chosen to divorce after 21 years of marriage. Harris made his announcement in an Instagram post.
A few days later, in another post, he declared that he’d undergone “a massive shift” regarding his faith in Jesus and that he no longer considers himself a Christian.
Although Joshua suggests that these decisions were the result of “significant changes” he’d undergone in recent years, he hasn’t specifically described what has led to such dramatic shifts in his philosophy and worldview.
You remember the story of the Prodigal Son. Traditionally, it’s told from the point of view of the younger son who demands his father’s money and comes crawling home in shame after he squanders it all.
But I wonder if we should call it the story of the prodigal sons. The older son stayed home, but he didn’t have the heart of his father. He rejected his brother and wouldn’t even come to celebrate that his younger brother had been rescued from the clutches of death.
Would you risk your life to save your son or daughter?
I suspect almost every parent would answer in the affirmative but very few moms and dads are confronted with the reality of laying down their life for their child.
Fred Pepperman of Tennessee paid the ultimate price earlier this month when he jumped into a riptide off the Florida coast to save his three daughters from drowning.
The brave father succeeded in saving them but collapsed in the process and was unable to be revived.
By: Melanie Morgan
“This world’s going to hell in a handbasket,” seems to be the mantra of society today. But I beg to differ. My name is Melanie, and I’m a millennial. I’ve grown up in the age of the Internet, though you may be surprised to hear that I do remember the days of dial up and atlas maps for road trips.
I don’t remember Y2K, and I don’t remember much of life prior to 9/11.
When author and counselor Dr. David Clarke speaks to parents, he humorously asks if children are a gift from God … or instruments of slow torture.
His answer: both!
He tells parents they’re fighting three wars:
With their own children. Kids are wonderful gifts from God, but they’re fiendishly inventive at getting their own way.With their spouse. Most couples find out after their first child is born that they have different parenting styles.With the culture. Everything from the entertainment industry to social media to public policy makes parenting children increasingly difficult.
Jack Phillips continues to be in the news because those who disagree with him continue to harass the Colorado baker.
As you may recall, the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear Colorado baker Jack Phillips’ first case of alleged discrimination, Autumn Scardina called the Masterpiece Cakeshop and asked him to create a pink and blue cake to celebrate Scardina’s gender transition.
Like with the first case, Jack declined since it conflicted with his deeply held religious convictions.
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.
