Daly Focus Blog
I was only four years old on the night of Thursday, December 9, 1965 (45 years ago!), but to this day, I can tell you where I was and what I was doing – watching the debut of A Charlie Brown Christmas on CBS in our southern California home.
It was an instant hit, much to the surprise of network executives, but surely not to me. (I assumed the whole world was watching!) Creator Charles Schulz argued with the bosses at CBS over a host of issues.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, faith, pop culture
Pundits and analysts continue to weigh in on the recent Pew Report that concluded marriage is becoming increasingly obsolete and irrelevant.
As you can imagine, I hold to a significantly different perspective. Fortunately, many of you do as well. I’ve been particularly heartened by the robust response to my thoughts, which can be viewed by clicking here.
As I shared just a day after USA Today declared marriage to be going the way of powdered wigs, the report doesn’t quite tell the whole story.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage
The actor Leslie Nielsen died yesterday in Florida from complications associated with pneumonia. He was 84.
I read something in his obituary that struck me as somewhat instructive. I thought I’d shared it with you here.
Most people remember the Canadian native as a comedic actor, especially for his role as the bumbling Dr. Rumack, a passenger in Airplane, a spoof movie from the 1980s. In the latter part of his career, Mr. Nielsen was the king of the deadpan and dry delivery and became famous for exchanges like this one from Airplane:
Dr.
Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: faith, news, pop culture
Happy Thanksgiving!
The family and I are in California today. I pray that you and yours take every opportunity to give thanks to God for every good (and not so good) thing.
It seems appropriate to look back today, not just within our own families, but across the years to the beginning of America.
You may not be overly familiar with the name Nathaniel Morton. He was a nephew of Governor William Bradford and served as secretary of the Plymouth colony.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith, religious liberty
We’re headed to California today, to spend Thanksgiving with Jean’s mom and dad, and give Trent and Troy some much appreciated and cherished time with Grandma and Grandpa.
Fortunately, there’s no snow here in Colorado Springs or in Denver to slow departure – but west of here the mountains are getting blitzed with a heavy storm and gusty winds. The powder junkies should be in their glory – if they can make it up the interstate to the slopes.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, family, staff
In this week’s On Faith blog, the Washington Post’s Sally Quinn posed the following question to me and my fellow panelists:
In October 1789, President George Washington declared his support for a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God.”
Do you have a Thanksgiving blessing or prayer? What are you grateful for?
Here is how I responded:
It’s customary in our family to ask this very important question each year, and everybody usually groans and thinks it a chore.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family
Welcome to Thanksgiving Monday.
Do you ever feel like everyone has more than you?
On today and tomorrow’s Focus on the Family radio program you’ll have a chance to listen in on a conversation I had with one of the wealthiest women in the world.
No, not Oprah Winfrey or an heir to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet.
Her name is Susie Larson.
There was a time not too long ago when she had more bills than income and more mouths to feed than food.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting
On Thursday, USA Today published a story highlighting new research from the Pew Center claiming marriage to be obsolete.
A gross exaggeration?
You think?
Christianity Today very graciously invited a response and just published it in today’s online edition.
I would welcome your thoughts and reaction.
To view the piece as it appears in CT, please click here or simply continue reading below…
Marriage in Obsolescence
Why recent headlines on marriage don’t do the new Pew survey justice.
Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: faith, family, marriage
Bob Herbert is a respected and decorated opinion columnist for The New York Times. On the paper’s website he’s referred to as a journalist known for his “fearless articulation of unpopular truths.”
This past Monday Mr. Herbert lived up to his billing when he opined about the heartbreaking state of the African-American family.
The veteran columnist served up a one-two punch. After noting that black boys and girls are three times more likely to live in single-parent households than white children and twice as likely to have a parent without a full-time job, he dove directly into the heart of the crisis:
The first and most important step (to fix the problem) would be a major effort to begin knitting the black family back together.
Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: faith, family, husband, news
I’d like to share something with you that’s cute, funny and inspirational.
How could you pass that up?
What you’re about to hear is a recording of a 5-year-old girl’s call to 911 on behalf of her ailing father. Savannah’s dad was having trouble breathing and unable to call for an ambulance. Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. But this highly intelligent little girl not only had the wherewithal to summon the paramedics, but she displayed some classic femininity in the process.
Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: humor, kids
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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