Daly Focus Blog
My dad had a bad habit of breaking his promises. So when I was 11, and our trip to a Dodgers baseball game almost fell through, I thought for sure it would be just one more disappointment in a long line of them.
We were running late that day, and we just barely missed the bus to the stadium. Honestly, I figured my dad would do what he had always done in circumstances like that: offer a weak apology and take us home.
By: Joe Battaglia
Whether we like it or not, all fathers are teachers.
Some are absent.
Some are reluctant.
But children will learn SOMETHING from their dad.
Even if it’s nothing.
The question is what do we want them to learn, and from whom?
I became acutely aware of this scenario in a rather strange way—by shopping with my daughter when she was about 13-14 years old.
While we were at a mall, my daughter asked to go into a very hip, fashionable store for teens to buy a shirt.
Jesus could have judged the woman caught in adultery (John 8:3-11). She was guilty, after all. The crowd knew it. She knew it, too. And according to the strict law of Moses, she deserved death by stoning.
Rocks in hand, the men dragged the woman through the streets, and asked Jesus for her final verdict. Instead of condemning her, Jesus forgave her.
That story from the book of John is helpful for couples whose marriages have been assaulted by the betrayal of adultery.
Kristen Schell discovered the value of community on a summer immersion program in France. She was a stranger in a foreign land, but she had rarely felt so welcomed, loved, and connected – and she didn’t even understand the language.
In a many European countries like France, community takes place around the table. Family and friends join together to celebrate food, life, and each other.
That perspective on life came back to her years later while she and a neighbor were preparing for a backyard barbecue.
Week Ending 6-5-18
Breaking Up with Perfect (by Amy Carroll)
I’ll Push You (by Patrick Gray & Justin Skeesuck)
Through the Eyes of a Lion (by Levi Lusko)
The Read-Aloud Family (by Sarah MacKenzie)
Don’t Go to Bed Angry (by Deb DeArmond & Ronald DeArmond)
The Birth Order Book (by Dr. Kevin Leman)
Our Newlywed Kitchen (by Laura Schupp)
A Family Shaped by Grace (by Gary Morland)
The Graduate Survival Guide (by Anthony ONeal & Rachel Cruze)
Faith, Hope, Love, and Deployment (by Heather Gray)
Raising Kingdom Kids (by Tony Evans)
Love & Respect (by Emerson Eggerichs)
A Lifelong Love (by Gary Thomas)
The Focus on the Family Guide to Talking with Your Kids about Sex (by J.
Have you ever felt lonely?
Have you ever felt abandoned?
Have you ever felt like it wouldn’t matter to anyone if you lived or died?
That’s how well-known author and speaker Josh McDowell felt when he was just 11 years old. His father, the “town drunk,” was abusive to his wife and created such havoc for the family that Josh became suicidal. He felt God had abandoned him – if God existed at all, that is.
Technology is wiring our children’s brains to believe five fundamental lies:
I’m the center of the universe.
I deserve to be happy all the time.
I must have choices.
I’m my own authority.
I don’t need other people.
What’s technology’s part? Eighty percent of a child’s ability to interact with the world around him develops after the child is born. Until about age 25, neurons in a child’s brain are connected through repetition, through the things the child does frequently.
I’m currently on a plane flying back home from a visit with friends of the ministry. While I was changing planes in Chicago, I asked my colleague, Bruce Hausknecht, to break down in shirt-sleeve English Jack Phillips’ victory today at the Supreme Court.
Without a doubt, today’s Supreme Court decision recognizes that religious freedom is still entitled to its pre-eminent place among our constitutional guarantees.
I’ve been saying for some time that the conflict between LGBT rights and religious freedom doesn’t have to be a win-lose.
I’m delighted to hear of the 7-2 Supreme Court victory today for Jack Phillips and his bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop.
It’s been a long time in coming.
No one should be forced to violate their faith in order to earn a living, and Jack, who I’ve met and consider a friend, just wants to be free to live out his faith in his chosen profession.
As Jack has said on several occasions, this case was never about refusing to serve gay people.
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.
