Daly Focus Blog
Fifty years ago tonight ABC Radio aired a delightful “live” broadcast of legendary newscaster Paul Harvey reporting from the North Pole.
If you appreciated Paul Harvey or love the magic of radio, you’re going to enjoy this one.
To listen to the special broadcast, click here.
Merry Christmas!
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, entertainment
Do you have real young children? A cross country flight with a two-year-old can be a wearisome and stressful adventure. To help you navigate the experience, I thought it would be helpful to hear from an expert. Shawna Purvis is a friend of Focus and works full-time as a flight attendant for a major airline. Her husband, Ryan, is also a commercial pilot. We asked her for some tips for moms and dads and she very graciously obliged.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events
It struck me the other day and in the process of thinking about it, left a pit in my stomach.
As I prayed about the ongoing heartache surrounding the school shooting in Connecticut, I thought about the fact that many of the children who appeared in Focus on the Family’s “John 3:16” advertisement that aired earlier this year are the same age as many of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We all love the sweetness and innocence of children and just can’t fathom any person deliberately harming one of them.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: news
The churn of the culture reminds me of Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.
It was the legendary painter’s only seascape, and it dramatically captures the moment right before Jesus calms the turbulent waters (Mark 4:35–40). It’s an exquisite piece of art for several reasons, and an appropriate one to point to at this time in our history.
If you were to examine the painting, you would notice there are fourteen people in the boat.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith
It’s been called the “Paradox of Christmas,” the fact that the Creator of heaven and earth gave up what He had so that we might receive what we need.
It’s in this ultimate selfless act that we find the origin of exchanging gifts between loved ones and friends. We try and find that perfect gift to communicate our affection for each other. In many circles the tradition has been trivialized and commercialized, but this is why we give – to be reminded that God so generously gave us the gift of His Son on that first Christmas.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family
When a good friend dies, especially under tragic circumstances, the mind tends to wander with a degree of wistfulness. We think back to moments now frozen in time, to memorable conversations, funny stories or meals together.
In the midst of all that joy at the time we didn’t think of sorrow, we didn’t think of the brevity of it all, the temporal nature of life.
Why would we? Yet, it was Solomon who once wrote that even in laughter the heart may ache – and all joy ends in grief (Proverbs 14:13).
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith
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
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.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: news
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.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment
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.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family
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.Home
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