Jim Daly

Fun and Fear

Sometimes, a little fear can wind up being a lot of fun—instructive, too.

Jean and I took the boys camping last week up to beautiful Mueller State Park, a picturesque spot located just outside the town of Woodland Park, Colorado.

Our site was perfectly situated; a cozy corner of land nestled among towering pines and an Aspen tree grove. It was great not to have the pressure of keeping a schedule. To borrow a phrase, we had “gone dark” once arriving in the park.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family

High Cost of Healthcare Reform

Thursday’s broadcast last week featured a conversation between Tony Perkins (president of Family Research Council), our own Senior Vice President Tom Minnery and myself on the topic of managing the nation’s healthcare. As you may know, the nation is engaged in a vigorous debate whether or not the government should step into the health care arena—or leave health coverage to private providers.

It strikes me that regardless of whether you come down on the side of handing the healthcare system to the government or keeping it privatized, we need to acknowledge there aspects of the current system that require our attention.

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Considering the Case for Early Marriage

Dr. Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas, published an interesting and provocative essay in the August edition of Christianity Today entitled, “The Case for Early Marriage.” It’s a thoughtful and challenging piece of work that’s likely to raise the ire on all sides of the ideological and theological spectrum within Christendom. Back in April, Dr. Regnerus lit up the secular blogosphere when he penned a similar column in the online edition of the Washington Post.

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On Michael Vick

Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is back in the news. After having served 19 months in a federal prison and several months under house arrest for charges related to running a dog fighting ring, the suspended star of the Atlanta Falcons is a free man. But the fate of the 29-year-old Vick’s career rests in the hands of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. When asked last week how he planned to rule, Goodell was non-committal. The two men met last Wednesday to discuss the possibility of reinstatement.

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Twitter Me This

Guess who started Twittering?

I realize some will say I’ve gone over to the Dark Side (see Confessions of a non-Twitterite in Boundless). Nevertheless, for better or worse I’ve decided to give Twitter a try—at least for now. If you’re unfamiliar with the social networking service known as Twitter, here’s the skinny.

At the age of 30, Jack Dorsey, a software designer in St. Louis, had a desire to know what his friends were doing throughout the day without necessarily calling or emailing each of them.

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One Small Step

In my last post I spent some time talking about the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing. I just came across a terrific advertisement crafted by the organization called CatholicVote.com.

I love the creative way they cast the pro-life message in light of a man walking on the moon. We applaud these good folks with whom we share our devotion for the defense and celebration of life.

Click here to enjoy the brief yet powerful video, and consider sharing it with a friend.

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40 Years Ago Today

I’ve enjoyed the coverage these last few days revolving around the 40th anniversary of men landing and walking on the moon. If you’re in your mid-40’s, I suspect you can recall something about that special week in the otherwise tumultuous summer of 1969. You might even remember where you were when those famous words of Neil Armstrong echoed back to earth: “That’s one small step for man,” he said slowly and deliberately, “one giant leap for mankind.”

What a wave of nostalgia swept over Jean and me as we watched those grainy images again, this time with our own boys by our side.

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Three Million and Counting

About two decades ago, Dr. Dobson shared a dilemma regarding the number of visitors visiting our offices with Ed and Elsa Prince, friends of Focus on the Family. While Dr. Dobson was delighted that so many constituents wanted to touch base with us in person, it was somewhat difficult to get work done. After all, we had no formal space in which to properly greet these guests.

Ed and Elsa Prince were thoughtful and kind enough to suggest they would like to help with that problem by building a Visitor Center and bookstore on our Colorado Springs campus, a place where guests could come and experience firsthand the Focus story.

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Skipping or Plunking Along

In Russia, it’s called “baking pancakes”, in Poland, “letting the ducks out,” in Ireland, “skiffing” and in the Ukraine it’s known as “letting the frogs out.” But in our house, and I suspect in yours, too, it’s simply called “skipping rocks.”

A few nights ago, after a long day at the office and an hour or so before the sun set behind the mountains, I took our boys, Trent and Troy, over to Monument Lake to teach them the fine art of skimming stones.

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The Lure of Fictional Legends

Somebody once suggested to me that the majority of successful entrepreneurs usually have two things from their past in common: The loss of a parent at a young age—and a paper route.

I was reminded of that while reading the Wall Street Journal recently. Douglas Belkin’s piece this past Saturday titled, “Superman Birthplace is Restored,” offers some interesting background information on the creation of the famous comic strip-turned television-turned movie character. And it actually has a lot to do with what we’re trying to do here at Focus on the Family.

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