Jim Daly

According to the Media, I Attended a Hate Group Conference Last Week

A few Focus colleagues and I spent some time in California last week at a conference put on by our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom, the religious liberty legal defense nonprofit organization that, just last month, won the most important religious liberty case at the Supreme Court in recent history.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when a couple of days later some news outlets were reporting that ADF is a “hate group.”

Here are the headlines of the articles I’m referring to:

ABC News: Jeff Sessions addresses ‘anti-LGBT hate group,’ but DOJ won’t release his remarks
NBC News: Jeff Sessions Tells ‘Hate Group’ DOJ Will Issue Religious Freedom Guidance

The Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision in the Trinity Lutheran case marked ADF’s seventh win in seven years at the nation’s highest court.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: family, homosexuality, news, religious liberty

Humor, Authenticity, and Grace with Chonda Pierce

You don’t have to know Chonda Pierce for long to believe that humor is wired into her DNA.

Like the night the film about her life, Laughing in the Dark, premiered in theaters. Chonda asked her son to accompany her. Halfway through the movie, she leaned over and chuckled into her son’s ear, “This is the saddest movie I have ever seen.”

Humor has carried Chonda through a lot of heartache:

Her suicidal father, who stood in the pulpit every Sunday but touched her inappropriately at home.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, entertainment, faith

What Does Trust in God Look Like in a Crisis?

Who we are often gets buried underneath a mountain of what we do.

There’s something much deeper to all of us that we’ll struggle to find until we get beneath the surface into the deeper question of “Who am I?” We were created for more than just working every day.

Ernie Johnson Jr. had that kind of an identity crisis. You’d never know it from the outside. He was an award-winning sportscaster for national television networks.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith

Baby Charlie and the Chilling Consequences of Socialized Medicine

By now you’ve surely heard about Charlie Gard, the 11-month-old British baby boy. This little fellow is at the center of a controversial court struggle over who should make his medical decisions: his doctors, or his parents?

Charlie was born healthy to first-time parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates, but was soon diagnosed with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS) – an inherited disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.

Charlie shares this condition with only 16 other people in the world.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: news, parenting, pro-life

How Rescued Horses Can Help Hurting Children

When Kim Meeder was growing up, she adored her parents.

She thought her father was a superhero. He didn’t wear a cape, fly, or leap tall buildings, but there wasn’t much else he couldn’t do. Her mother was the most beautiful and loving woman in the world, and Kim wanted to grow up to be just like her.

But when she was just nine years old, Kim lost both of her parents in a horrific tragedy that shattered her heart and left her disillusioned with God.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, kids

After the Death of a Spouse, Is it Ever ‘Too Soon’ for Love?

When actor and comedian Patton Oswalt suddenly lost his wife, Michelle, in April 2016, he went public with his grief.

“She hasn’t left a void. She’s left a blast crater,” the heartbroken widower wrote in an open letter, where he also talked about the impact his wife’s death has had on their 7-year-old daughter, Alice.

And his public, palpable grief may be why some people have reacted with surprise – and even criticism – when news broke of Patton’s recent engagement last week.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, faith, marriage

Are You Messing Up Your Kids?

Author Dannah Gresh says one of the most common fears mothers share with her is, “Am I messing up my kids?”

Her answer: Yes.

That may not seem like a very encouraging response, but if you’re struggling as a parent, you need peace. And to get peace, you need truth. And the truth is, every parent – myself included – is in the same boat.

We’re imperfect people raising imperfect people.

But if that’s true, how do moms learn to trust God with their parenting and with their children?

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, parenting

‘Chemistry’ Isn’t the Secret to Marriage. Differences Are.

There’s a buzzword in pop culture that’s supposed to reveal the secret to a happy marriage.

“Chemistry.”

Successful relationships, we’re told, ultimately boil down to two people sharing common interests.

Obviously, the more points of agreement between a husband and wife, the better. But in God’s economy, the secret to a thriving marriage isn’t in a couple’s similarities, but in how they handle their differences.

God designed marriage to bring together two unique individuals into a sacred union where they “become one.” That requires a lot of hard work, selflessness, and a commitment to love your spouse through the good and the ugly.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage

Police Officer Adopts Boy He Helped Save

It’s a moving story of how God brought a father and son together through tragic circumstances.

It all started when Officer Jody Thompson responded to a dispatch about a physical child abuse case two years ago, CBS News reports.

When he arrived at the scene, Officer Thompson saw something he’d never forget.

A boy, John, was covered in bruises and abrasions from head to toe. He was severely underweight. His wrists were bound by belts, and he had been submerged in a trash can full of cold water.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, news

When Clams Marry Crowbars

Are you a clam or a crowbar?

That’s an analogy Dr. David Clarke uses to help husbands and wives understand how their poor communication skills have landed them in his counseling office.

In almost every marriage, there’s a clam. The percentages suggest it’s usually men, but it can be women, too.

In either case, clams are the ones who don’t naturally talk on an emotionally deep level. They clam up. But every time they do, their spouses break out a crowbar to pry them open.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage, relationships