Daly Focus Blog
It’s been over 46 years since my mother slipped from this life into the next.
I was just 9 years old when she died, and her death disoriented me in ways big and small. In a very practical way, her passing marked the abrupt end of my childhood. Already reeling from the abandonment of my father at 5, it came at the worst possible time, though it’s never a good time for a child to lose a parent.
Of the many calls, emails and letters we receive at Focus on the Family, those involving the tragic subject of spousal abuse are among the most heart-wrenching. They’re also inquiries that demand an unequivocal response with no room for misinterpretation.
I raise this issue today in light of the current controversy involving Southwestern Seminary President Dr. Paige Patterson. The former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Patterson has been rightly credited with helping lead a conservative theological revolution within the denomination at a time when progressives were attempting to liberalize the understanding of Scripture.
Most couples come into a relationship with a sense of idealism. They’re so much in love and so much alike and so happy.
Over time, though, they discover that they’re really not that much alike – and maybe not so happy, either. That’s when a marriage ends up being all about “me” and “my happiness,” instead of “us” and “our happiness.”
Dr. Larry Crabb says the central problem in marriages like that is “unrecognized self-centeredness.” We ask, “What can my spouse do for me?” rather than “What can I offer my spouse that would make a difference in their life?” Instead of ministering, we manipulate.
Early in their marriage, Dr. John Trent’s wife would get up early and cook him breakfast. One morning, he came into the kitchen and instead of bacon and eggs, he found a book. It was one of John’s textbooks from college.
She said, “Do you remember when you first got this book? You couldn’t wait to read every page. Now you use it as a door stop for your study.” She paused then said, “That’s what our marriage feels like.”
John’s wife had given him a word picture.
Yesterday’s announcement that the Boy Scouts of America will drop “Boy” from the name of its signature program is yet another sad development for the once storied and celebrated organization.
You’ll recall that the Boy Scouts announced in 2013 that they would be allowing openly homosexual scouts to join local troops. In 2015, they began accepting openly homosexual leaders. Since these changes, scout membership has dropped approximately ten percent. Many churches have decided to cancel sponsorship of troops.
Are faith-based adoption agencies – those that believe foster children and newborns fare best when placed in a home with a mom and a dad – threatened with extinction?
The outlook is ominous.
But first, let’s establish some facts. At any given time, there are more than 100,000 foster children available for adoption in the United States, meaning that there are always many more children waiting for their forever home than there ought to be. I am personally aware of what it means to be one of those waiting children, since that was me at one point in my own childhood.
Making big decisions can be frightening for teenagers. They get overwhelmed thinking about buying a car, deciding on a college, choosing a career, and even eventually getting married. We want to help them in these big decisions, but we don’t always know how.
I’ve got good news for you. John Ortberg is our guest, and he has some great advice for parents who are trying to help their teenagers decide their next steps.
His ideas resonate with me.
Today is the 43rd anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Stories from the Vietnam war have been told for decades, from the soldiers who fought it to the victims caught in the crossfire. Few of those stories are as inspirational as that of Kim Phuc Phan Thi.
You remember her as “the napalm girl,” the central figure in the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photo “The Terror of War.” The photo portrays a young girl running naked down the road, her skin on fire from a napalm attack.
The plight of Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old boy from Liverpool, England who’s been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease and blocked by court-order from leaving the country for alternative treatment, is a tragedy on many levels.
Sadly, it’s also a microcosm of the evolving and expanding death culture gripping modern-day society.
Alfie was taken off life support earlier this week, a move dictated by Great Britain’s Supreme Court. They determined further treatment would be “unkind” and “futile.”
Little Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, vehemently disagree, and have been petitioning the courts to simply let them take their child to Italy for treatment.
Just under a year since Brio relaunched, the magazine was honored with the Evangelical Press Association’s highest award in the “Youth” category. Focus on the Family’s publication for teen girls received an Award of Excellence at the EPA’s annual convention earlier this month.
I thought my friend and colleague, Bob DeMoss, summed it up well:
“We had high expectations for how well Brio would be received by teen girls, but the response in our first year far exceeded what we could have imagined.
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.
