Jim Daly

Update on the Supreme Court Rulings

By now, you’ve probably heard about the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on June 30th, which upheld the protection of religious liberties. At issue was one facet of the Affordable Care Act which would have forced many business owners to violate their religious principles by requiring them to fund possible abortion-causing drugs in their company health plans.

As the dust settles from this case, moms and dads all over the country who are busy at work and at home are wondering, “What difference does all this make to me?

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: broadcast, news, policy, pro-life, religious liberty

This Truth is the Key to Your Success

A lot of people assume it’s their circumstances that determine their attitude. But that’s really not the case. It’s actually quite the opposite.

Let me tell you about Christy and Debra. I think their stories illustrate the point well.

Christy is in her thirties. She’s college educated and ambitious, but with the economy struggling, she started cleaning houses to make ends meet. One of her daily tasks is scrubbing toilets. She hates it. From her view, she deserves better.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, family, finances

Guest Post: Does New Research Prove Kids Do Better with Two Moms?

Today’s post comes courtesy of Glenn Stanton, Focus on the Family’s director of Family Formation Studies.

A new study from the University of Melbourne in Australia on how kids from same-sex homes fare is getting a good deal of press. Perhaps you’ve seen the news stories and wondered if this changes the nature of the debate over the importance of the family?

It does not.

This new study gives the same kind of findings we’ve seen before, coming from the same kinds of studies with the same kinds of serious short-comings and method problems.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: family, homosexuality, kids, news, parenting

How to Balance a Busy Family Life

Life just keeps moving faster and faster for all of us.

With jobs and kids and all that goes into running a household, daily life can be difficult to balance.

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to make that task a little easier.

The first idea comes from my friend and former Focus board member, Al Mohler. Like most of us, he leads a busy life. And it was busy in the early years of his family as well.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, marriage

How to Keep Your Priorities in Order

I often hear from folks who want to reprioritize their lives. They just don’t know how.

I get it.

The world is moving faster and growing more hectic for all of us. It’s easy to feel pressured to do it all. From our jobs and the bills to school plays and soccer practice, everything seems important. But all that busyness leaves us with crumbs of time to scrape together for family and friends, and, yes, even God.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, marriage

Counting the Heavy Cost of American Independence

The following is excerpted from a previous July 4th reflection:

When it comes to America’s sovereignty, freedom has never been free. Dating back to the Revolutionary War right up until our ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 1.3 million Americans have died in combat. It’s important to remember that each of these deaths is not an isolated incident; no man is an island. When a soldier falls, life within a family unit is irrevocably and permanently changed.

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

Testifying to the Gospel of God’s Grace

Our family is visiting Mt. Rushmore this 4th of July weekend. In the visitor center Tom Brokaw narrates a film about Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who carved the four Presidents’ images—Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln—into the granite. Brokaw says of those who worked on the mountain, “… these were ordinary men accomplishing extraordinary things.”

It made me think of our Christian faith. Yes, we are ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things through Christ. In fact, this testimony came to us this week.

Continue ReadingTopics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, faith, finances, marriage, parenting

Guest Post: How Does the Hobby Lobby Decision Affect Wedding Vendors?

The Supreme Court’s June 30 decision, which protects Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties from having to pay for possible abortion-causing drugs in company health plans, was a necessary win for religious freedom. The Court’s opinion, written by Justice Alito, relies on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) to reach its conclusion that religious freedom trumps the government interest in this instance.

Many Christians are already asking: “Well, if religious freedom can trump a government law, then could wedding vendors refuse to participate in same-sex weddings on religious grounds?”

In several cases over the past few years involving Christian photographers, bakers, and florists, state courts and civil rights commissions have said “no.”

Does Hobby Lobby change things?

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

The Three Most Common Regrets of the Dying

Every so often it’s good to get little reminders that serve as something of a reset button for what’s truly important in life.

I recently experienced that when a colleague of mine shared some thoughts he found online from a palliative care nurse.

As you can imagine, when each work day is spent caring for folks in the final weeks of their lives, the subject matter tends to dip below the surface to what’s truly meaningful.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, friendship, kids, marriage

Is Your Smartphone Making You into an Android?

I spend a lot of time in airports.

Air travel is a little easier when you love your job – as I do – and when I can pass the time in between flights visiting with my fellow travelers. Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had have taken place in an airport … maybe because people there come off a little more honest, a little more vulnerable, with those they likely won’t see again.

But I’m finding those airport conversations a little harder to come by.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, friendship, relationships, technology