Jim Daly

Gendercide: The War Against Girls

Gendercide, a term first coined in a 1985 book by Mary Anne Warren, is a cold and ominous sounding word, and rightly so. Coupled with a photo of a single pair of empty pink baby shoes silhouetted against a black backdrop, it’s downright haunting. But that’s what the editors of a recent issue of the Economist did when they published a startling expose on a largely ignored modern-day holocaust.

What is it all about?

According to a technical understanding of the term, “gendercide” is the deliberate extermination of one particular gender, male or female.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, pro-life

Motherhood By The Numbers

As you know, yesterday was Mother’s Day. It was an emotional time for me. My heart melts at the thought of my own dear mom, a great woman now gone from earth for nearly 40 years. Though decades have passed since her untimely death when I was just 9 years old, her influence on me remains steady and sure. My mother was a strong but very gentle lady. If I close my eyes, I can still hear her voice and feel the softness of her hand in mine.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, news, wife

National Day of Prayer Reflections

How did you spend your National Day of Prayer?

Yesterday I mentioned that my plans included participating in a service with the staff here at Focus on the Family. We had a wonderfully moving and inspirational time together. Dan Woolley, a Colorado Springs resident and fellow ministry colleague with Compassion International, joined us.

Dan is a survivor of the Haitian earthquake. His story nearly takes my breath away. Dan shared his miraculous testimony of enduring 65 harrowing hours buried in the rubble of the Hotel Montana.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith

Prayer—For Such a Time as This

Today is the National Day of Prayer, a beautiful and sacred time-honored American tradition. Ironically, a lawsuit threatening its legality and waged by atheists is now making its way to the Supreme Court and bringing more attention to the subject of public prayer than ever before.

But for now, over the course of the next twenty-four hours, there will be thousands of prayer events hosted and conducted throughout our nation. Some will be attended by scores of people and framed by pomp and pageantry; others might consist of two or three co-workers who give up their lunch and gather in a quiet office break room for the simple but profound purpose of praying for this great country.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith

An Eye to the Future

Do you remember the movie Back to the Future, the fun iconic film of the 1980’s featuring the then-rising star, Michael J. Fox? It spent 11 weeks at the top of the charts in the hot summer of 1985 and spawned two popular sequels. That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?

In a way, I was reminded of that film while recording yesterday’s Focus on the Family radio program. Along with Dr. Juli Slattery and John Fuller, the three of us went back in time and discussed the foundational principles of the ministry.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, promos

What if Someone Did Find Noah’s Ark?

As I scanned the headlines last week, there’s one that caught my eye: “Has Noah’s Ark Been Found on Turkish Mountaintop?” According to news reports, a number of evangelical Turkish and Chinese explorers believe they’ve found Noah’s Ark resting 13,000 feet upon Mount Ararat on an eastern Turkish mountain. Although encased in ice and snow, one of the explorers, Yeung Wing-Cheung, said, “It’s not 100% that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9% that this is it.”

Yeung made the startling statement based on several factors.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: events, faith, news

Ultra Good News From Sooner Country

William Shakespeare said it: “Troubles come not as single spies—but in battalions!” Well, old Will wasn’t always right. Only days after sharing the good news about the pro-life movement in the Cornhusker State (Nebraska Passes Two Major Pro-life Bills), there’s more encouraging reports regarding the sanctity of life out of the state of Oklahoma today.

One week after Governor Brad Henry vetoed two pro-life bills, the state’s legislature has voted overwhelmingly to override the vetoes.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: news, pro-life

Welcome to Denver, Tim Tebow!

As a football fan in general and a Denver Broncos fan in particular, I was elated to see our home team select Florida’s Tim Tebow with the number 25 overall pick in last night’s NFL draft. Dusting the snow off our local papers in our driveway this morning, I was greeted with the following headlines in my Denver Post and Colorado Springs Gazette:

“Professing Faith: McDaniels Makes His Tenure-Defining Choice in Florida QB”

“Mr. Eye Black A Black Eye?”

“McStunner: Tebow”

Sports coverage around the country is echoing a similar theme.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, events, pop culture

A Day of Prayer for Judicial Common Sense

The news came as a bit of a shock last week: According to a federal judge in Wisconsin, the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that a federal endorsement of the day somehow violates the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment.

To even the casual observer, Judge Crabbs’s decision was a curious and perplexing one. After all, there have been federally recognized days of prayer in America for as long as there have been stars on the flag.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, policy

Nebraska Passes Two Major Pro-Life Bills

Something remarkable happened last week which has been largely ignored by the national press. After a quick Google search, aside from the pro-life news agencies whom you’d expect to cover it, I found that just one major media outlet has touched on the story: ABC. Candidly, I would have thought such a big news story would have sparked much more of a national dialogue.

Here’s what happened.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman signed into law two groundbreaking measures that will change the way abortions are handled in the Cornhusker State.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: events, policy, pro-life