Jim Daly

In Thy Dark Streets Shineth, The Everlasting Light

As we find and pray our way through this school shooting in Connecticut, it’s helpful to hold tight to traditions and yes, to remember the words of Phillips Brooks:

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by:
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

At the time he wrote those words, Bishop Brooks was the rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family

Evil in Connecticut

Their stories will be told in the coming days, snapshots of innocence lost and lives cut short by the unspeakable and incomprehensible evil at the hands of another human being. We’re saddened and shocked, as well we should be. There is no parent in America who isn’t knocked over by the tragic news of the horrific elementary school shooting in Newton, Connecticut.

We want to cry. We want to scream. We want to hug our children tighter than we ever have before.

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Ten Favorite Christmas Movie Quotes

This past Wednesday I asked if any of you had a favorite Christmas movie.

In my book, it’s hard to top It’s a Wonderful Life. One of the reasons that film has stood the test of time is due to the fact that we all want to know that we matter. We all want to be needed. I know some of the theology within the movie is flawed. We don’t believe that angels “earn” their wings.

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If You Want Happy Kids, Do This

Forget the luxury vacation or the latest electronic gadget. If you want your child to be happy simply spend time with them, so confirms the Global Kids Happiness Index.

Over 4,000 children between the ages of 6-12 years old in 12 countries were surveyed. Here is what they revealed:

According to TMSW’s research, the most important sources of kids’ happiness, across almost all countries, are family and friends. “Play” consistently ranked third among sources of happiness.

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VIDEO: A Christmas Sneak Peek at History Channel’s The Bible

I have a treat for you.

We’ve just received the first publicly released scenes from the upcoming History Channel series, The Bible. The ten-hour program will air on the four Sundays prior to Easter, beginning March 3, 2013, and will culminate on Easter Sunday with a special grand finale.

As we move quickly toward the celebration of Christmas in two weeks, I invite you to imagine what it would have been like to witness firsthand the wonder of that night that changed the course of the world:

I love the passion and enthusiasm that my friends Mark Burnett and Roma Downey have invested in this new series.

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The Supreme Court and Marriage

The Supreme Court’s decision today to determine whether the Constitution allows state and federal government to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman is a welcome development.

When the executive branch of the government is no longer willing to defend its own law, the final arbiter must be the highest court in the land. The case will likely be heard in March or April with a decision due at the end of June.

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How God Uses Our Tears

T. Dewitt Talmage (pictured below) was a well-known Brooklyn, New York preacher in the late 1800’s. He died in 1902. He once preached a message titled, “The Ministry of Tears.” It speaks powerfully to the reality of grief, but is also laced with an enormous spirit of hope.

He is basically trying to answer this great question: “What’s the use of our tears?”

Here are a few choice lines:

Why, when a family is put together, not have them all stay, or if they must be transplanted to make other homes, then have them all live?

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Ten Resolutions for Mental Health

Pastor and author John Piper recently shared notes he took during a 1976 lecture by Clyde Kilby (pictured, left), one of his professors in English literature at Wheaton College. His plea that night, according to Piper, “was that we stop being unamazed by the strange glory of ordinary things.”

Concluding his talk that October evening, Dr. Kilby offered ten suggested resolutions. With thanks to John Piper and the late Clyde Kilby, I am delighted to post them below:

At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

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Are We Obsessed with Our Pets?

Is it possible to love your dog or cat too much?

A colleague called to my attention a provocative article in World Magazine regarding Americans’ devotion to their pets. The author of the piece told of a veterinarian who likes to ask people if, given the choice between saving the life of a stranger in a burning building or their beloved pet, which one would they save?

“You’d be surprised,” he said, “how many would save their pet.”

Dogs and cats are increasingly becoming more and more part of the family.

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Fiscal Cliff? How About the Moral Cliff?

There is endless talk these days about the looming “fiscal cliff,” the catastrophic economic nightmare that many predict will befall the United States if taxes go up and government spending is significantly cut come January 2, 2013, as mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

To be sure, the stakes are high.

But all this conversation about an economic cliff has got me thinking: Is there a moral cliff? And have we already reached it – or are we walking dangerously close to the edge?

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