Jim Daly

4 Tips for Parenting an Adult Child Who Has Made Poor Choices

Unfortunately, even good parents might one day see their adult children make poor choices. Here at Focus we’ve spoken with many heartbroken moms and dads who are grappling to understand and respond well to their grown kids’ decisions.

Here are four tips from our counselors on how parents can help their child get back on track.

1. Ease your guilt.
Every parent makes mistakes. However, as an adult, your son or daughter is now old enough to make their own choices and to take responsibility for them.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting

This Woman Survived a Church Bombing

September 15, 1963, was a normal Sunday morning in Birmingham, Alabama.

Until 10:22 A.M.

Then everything changed.

Carolyn, a teenager at the time, was making her prescribed rounds through her church, retrieving paperwork from each of the Sunday school classes. On her way up the stairs, she smiled and said good morning to four young girls – Cynthia, Addie, Denise, and Carole – who were headed into the bathroom.

As Carolyn passed the church office, she heard a phone ringing.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: broadcast, church, faith, pop culture

Today’s Supreme Court Announcement About Marriage Misses This Fact

Today’s news regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to grant certiorari to four marriage cases sets up the impending culmination to a decades-long cultural debate.

The outcome will either uphold a state’s right to define marriage or declare same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

However, regardless of the outcome, today’s news fails to recognize, appreciate and honor a key truth. Marriage is an institution that historically and culturally has always brought the two unique and complementary parts of humanity together into a lifetime, cooperative partnership that establishes and maintains the family.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: marriage, news, policy, religious liberty

Is Roe v. Wade on the Ropes?

Note: On Jan. 21, the GOP leadership pulled this bill and cancelled the vote. Please read my new post on what’s happened — and, more than ever, please contact your representative. -JD

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Your help is needed.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are currently gearing up for a vote on a bill that would ban abortion (with a few exceptions) after 20 weeks’ gestation.

It’s called the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (H.R. 36) and it builds on the fact that 10 states have already passed local versions of the law since 2010.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: faith, news, policy, pro-life

Parenting the Strong-Willed Child as a Team

Let’s be honest: Parenting isn’t for the weak – especially when you’re raising a strong-willed child.

It’s not fun when a pint-sized little one defiantly refuses to obey or when a 14-year-old talks back. Our natural instincts want to kick in. It’s all too easy to respond in anger.

My wife, Jean, and I know this well. We have two teenage boys, and one of them is a strong-willed child. It’s interesting to look back over the years and see how he’s impacted Jean and me in different ways.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, kids, parenting

Was Atlanta’s Fire Chief Fired Over His Faith?

By now you’ve likely heard that Atlanta Fire Chief, Kelvin Cochran, was recently fired from his position for publishing a book in which he affirmed a biblically orthodox understanding of human sexuality.

The 162-page book in question, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” is a Bible study designed for Christian men.

According to press reports, Mr. Cochran gave a copy of the book to three individuals within his department, all of whom he knew to be Christian.

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

Is Your Family’s Schedule Overwhelmed?

I’ve got a riddle for you. “You can spend it, but you can’t keep it. And once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” Do you know what it is? Here’s a clue:

Let’s say you win a contest. The grand prize is $86,400 wired into your bank account each day at midnight. The money is yours to spend however you want. There’s just one catch. At the end of the day, every penny you don’t spend disappears from your account.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, parenting

What We Can Learn from President George H.W. and Barbara Bush’s Marriage

Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, recently celebrated 70 years of marriage, making them the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history. Their marriage isn’t just long-lasting – by all accounts, it’s a happy union characterized by both love and friendship.

Of her marriage, Mrs. Bush has said:

“I think we grew together. I think that when you have a child die and you survive, and you’ve been through a war and you survive, and you build a business and you survive, you either grow apart or together.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: family, marriage

How to Pep Up Your Marriage

Did you get married to work a job, to do laundry, or to pay bills? Most people don’t. Yet, many marriages wind up in exactly that kind of “ho-hum” condition. At some point after the euphoria of the wedding ceremony, life settles into a daily grind of routine activity. Careers are chased, children are born, a larger home is purchased with two new cars in the garage.

And, slowly, the romance fades.

What used to be hours on the phone together and regular date nights becomes two people who only talk about practical matters, like finances or the kids’ grades.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home

How Would You Answer This Critical Question?

I decided to sit down with my boys over the Christmas break and have a talk with them.

We’ve already had THE talk about the birds and the bees. Trent is now 14 and Troy is 12. Like it or not, they’re well on their way toward the battles of life.

In fact, we regularly talk about the big issues of sex, drugs and drinking. We have a mantra in our home which both boys can recite.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, parenting