Daly Focus Blog
Reverend Billy Graham, who died early Wednesday at the age of 99, was called “America’s Pastor” for good reason. For over 70 years he worked in ministry, preaching, evangelizing, counseling U.S Presidents and meeting with world leaders. Millions have come to know Jesus as Savior through his sharing of the Gospel.
Those of us in the Christian community may be mourning the passing of this spiritual giant, but Rev. Graham has been looking forward to this day for many years.
What if you loved your spouse every day like it was your first day together?
Becky’s dad told her that was his secret to a happy marriage. “Every morning,” he said, “I wake up with your mother, and I treat her like it’s our very first day together.”
That advice inspired Becky … until she thought of what her behavior ought to look like if she loved her husband like that. Then her heart sink a little.
Where is God?
Isn’t that the question most of us ask in times of trouble? How can we live with strong faith day in and day out when there’s not even the certainty of the next heartbeat?
Julie and John Manning are living those questions. In the middle of their son Hunter being delivered by C-section, Julie started feeling lightheaded and dizzy. The faces of the physician, surgical staff, and the anesthesiologist went blurry and their voices echoed in the background.
There’s a well-known story about two shoe salesmen who both went to the same region to look for new opportunities. The first salesman was disappointed to he discover that everyone in the region was shoeless. He called his wife and told her, “I’m coming home. No one here wears shoes.”
The second salesman arrived a short time later and was immediately excited. He called his wife and told her, “Honey, everybody here needs shoes.”
Same circumstances, but two very different outlooks.
Yesterday’s tragic violence at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is the nation’s third-deadliest school shooting in history – and the 7th such shooting in 2018 alone.
Sadly, we’ve grown familiar with the awful rhythm of these barbaric events.
First comes the text alert on our phone or we hear about the horror on social media. Or maybe we learn of it from the lament of a friend or a co-worker.
Before we ask “How could this happen?” we instinctively ask “How many?”
Of course, we intuitively know that even one is too many, and that behind every number is a name of someone who means the world to someone else.
God has given married couples a wedding present.
Sex.
The Lord designed physical intimacy to be enjoyed by both husbands and wives. First Corinthians 7 tells us that sex is rooted in mutuality. Husbands are to be sensitive to their wives’ needs, and wives are to be sensitive to their husbands’ needs. Marriage is about serving one another, not demanding your own rights.
Sadly, we live in a broken world that undermines God’s sacred designs. Secular culture portrays sex as primarily for the man.
Valentine’s Day marks the culmination of National Marriage Week here in the United States. Conceived as a “collaborative campaign to strengthen individual marriages, reduce the divorce rate, and build a culture that fosters strong marriages,” the effort mirrors the ongoing daily work of our ministry.
The traditions surrounding Valentine’s Day may frustrate some, but I’ve always enjoyed them. Jean has been my Valentine for three-plus decades now, and I consider her a gift.
For my fellow male readers, I’m going to assume you’ve already taken care of the cards, the flowers and chocolates.
Chances are good that you know a family that’s been touched by the opioid epidemic. Roughly 60,000-65,000 individuals in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in 2016, with about 42,000 of those deaths caused by opioids. It’s estimated that more than 11 million Americans misused prescription opioids last year, and nearly one million used heroin. Among the fastest growing groups of users are teens.
Opioids are a class of drugs derived from or related to compounds naturally found in the opium poppy plant.
Parenting is only for adults.
That’s what Dr. Emerson Eggerichs tells parents who struggle with what he calls the “family crazy cycle.”
It works like this: When children feel unloved, they tend to react in ways that feel disrespectful toward their parents. When parents feel disrespected, they tend to react in ways that feel unloving to the child.
And the cycle starts to spin.
Parenting is only for adults because it’s up to mom and dad – not the child – to stop the crazy cycle.
When my two sons, Trent and Troy, were born, I thought they would be a lot alike. More to the point, I thought Jean and I would be able to raise them the same way.
Boy, was I wrong.
Trent and Troy share a lot of the same interests, but spend an afternoon with each of them, and you’ll find out just how different they are. Trent is thoughtful and super-smart. He may be the smartest one in the whole family.
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.
