Daly Focus Blog
As a Christian who believes in the ultimate sovereignty of God, I have to believe He allows our circumstances to fulfill his plans. As the prophet Daniel said, “He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”
I pray that God grants us the grace and wisdom to seek his heart for all people made in his image, the preborn, the elderly, progressive and conservative, each one of us.
Note: Today is Election Day. If you haven’t voted already, I encourage you to do so. I also hope you’ll join me in praying for our country and the election today. -J.D.
***
“What expressions of sexuality have you witnessed lately at your junior high?”
That’s not the sort of question I usually ask my son Troy on our morning drive to school, but I did today. He squirmed a little.
So did I.
That’s how the “Talk” with my older son Trent went a few years ago, too.
One single vote.
What difference can it really make? Not much, some would say.
If that’s how you’re feeling on the eve of tomorrow’s election, you’ve probably never heard the story of Jamison Shoemaker, whose one vote set in motion a chain reaction of political moments that altered the course of our nation’s history.
I won’t spoil the story for you here because I want to invite you to have some fun with us on a special edition of our broadcast today.
They pooled their resources to buy a graveyard.
Pastor Fareed Assad was secluded in an underground room with ten members of his leadership team when he issued this ominous invitation:
“ISIS is overtaking our region,” he said. “God may be calling some of you to flee and some of you to stay. Take a week to pray and fast. If God calls you to stay, come back to this location one week from today.”
By some estimates, half the population in Syria is homeless.
The longest drought in the history of American sports is over.
As we all know by now, after 108 years without a championship, baseball’s Chicago Cubs won the World Series last night, giving life-long fans like me a chance to celebrate after a lifetime of frustration, futility, and being the easy punch line to a seemingly limitless supply of jokes.
Simba: Hey Dad, what is a World Series?
Mufasa: I wouldn’t expect you to know, Simba.
How many of you are MercyMe fans?
Many of you, I’m sure – because the award-winning Christian band with proven crossover appeal has been releasing hit after hit for two decades now. From “I Can Only Imagine” to Word of God Speak,” MercyMe’s popularity has only grown with its most recent album and its current single, “Dear Younger Me”:
And for you MercyMe fans, I have good news: I’m happy to announce that the band will join us on the Focus on the Family 40th Anniversary Cruise in November 2017!
“I dreamt many times of making it and getting in front of a crowd and playing music.”
That’s a lofty vision for any kid who’s alone with a guitar and dreaming his empty bedroom will someday become an audience of thousands. But country singer and songwriter Jimmy Wayne still believed.
That was no small accomplishment given his tumultuous childhood, which didn’t exactly teach him life was filled with possibilities.
His mother was bipolar and wasn’t receiving proper treatment, so Jimmy never knew what her behavior might be on any given day.
My marriage enjoyed a significant boost a couple of summers ago on a family vacation to Glacier National Park in Montana.
Jean, the boys, and I hiked to a place called Hidden Lake but were stopped several hundred yards away. It was spawning season for the trout, and the bears were especially active. Still, from where we were, we could see the bears splashing through the water hunting for fish.
I should say my boys and I could see them.
By now some of you have received my October newsletter which featured an excerpt from my colleague and co-writer Paul Batura’s new book, “Chosen for Greatness: How Adoption Changes the World.” In his warm conversational style, Paul, an adoptive father himself, tells the fascinating stories of sixteen well-known adoptees.
Included in the book are such familiar names as Apple founder Steve Jobs, First Lady Nancy Reagan, the inventor and botanist George Washington Carver and President Gerald Ford.
Are you worried your spouse isn’t your soul mate?
Well, let me encourage you with this: soul mates aren’t found, they’re formed over time.
Juana Mikels and her husband, Terry, are proof of that. College sweethearts, they walked down the aisle believing the planets had surely aligned in order for them to find each other. But just two years into their marriage, the planets had all but fallen out of their orbits.
Juana was convinced she had married the wrong person.
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.
