Daly Focus Blog
When my boys were 6 and 8, Jean and I took them to Disneyland. That day, they were tired, wanted their own way, and had meltdowns. My solution was to say, “Control yourself, or you will never come here again.”
It was a silly parenting strategy on my part because Jean and I enjoyed going to Disneyland as much as the boys did. Which means I would have never followed through on the consequences I threatened.
In the weeks following the reversal of Roe last June, pro-life activists and organizations endured more than 135 separate attacks and assaults – including one pro-life champion who was shot by a man in Michigan.
83-year-old Joan Jacobson was canvassing an Odessa Township neighborhood last September, encouraging Sharon and Richard Harvey to vote against a pro-abortion amendment that would eventually pass in November.
According to press reports, an argument ensued between Joan and Sharon, escalating to the point that Richard Harvey wound up shooting the elderly pro-life volunteer in the shoulder.
Richard Harvey claims the shot was accidental and that he inadvertently pulled the trigger while trying to protect his wife … from Joan’s clipboard.
Well, that case came to a head this week.
New York magazine once described Tim Keller’s founding of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City as “close to a theological suicide mission” for having the audacity “to create a strictly conservative Christian church in the heart of Sodom.”
Only Tim Keller wasn’t eager for the assignment. In fact, he turned down the invitation and attempted to recruit two other pastors for the church plant, which was born out of a wildly successful dinner ministry hosted by Nancy DeMoss, widow of Art DeMoss, a mail-order insurance mogul.
To witness for Christ, each of us must cross what Pastor Rico Tice calls our “pain line.”
That’s the barrier that keeps us from sharing about Jesus because:
We don’t know what to say.
We don’t feel we’re “good enough” to adequately represent Christianity.
We fear rejection.
We’re avoiding pain.
My wife, Jean, is the only Christian among her four siblings. When her mom passed away, Jean called for a family conference. Everybody sat down in the living room, and Jean went through a detailed explanation of the Gospel and shared what her faith meant to her.
Dr. Tim Keller’s death today marks the close of a remarkable personal ministry of a good man who lived faithfully, tirelessly, and creatively for the Lord.
His last words to his beloved wife Kathy should inspire and convict every Christian believer. According to his son Michael, as he lay dying, Tim said, “There is no downside for me leaving, not in the slightest.” He then kissed Kathy’s forehead, laid back down – and went to Glory.
Even if you consider yourself an atheist, protecting religious freedom is still in your best interest because religious freedom is foundational to every other freedom you enjoy.
Among the freedoms our forefathers protected in the Constitution, religious freedom is first on the list. The freedom to worship – or not to worship – is ours simply because we exist. It is given to us by our Creator – that is, God himself.
That’s an important detail because if a freedom is given to us by the government then the government can also take it away.
Technology offers children the world.
On the positive side, screens help with homework, teach new skills, and connect your child with friends and family.
But there are serious dangers, too. Pornography, predators, and destructive influences are always crouching at the door.
How can parents best love and protect their children when they’re younger and help them develop into young men and women of character?
Author Julie Lowe is with us on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Protecting Your Kids from Worldly Dangers” to offer practical insight and advice.
Has reality crushed your dreams yet?
It will, you know.
Not all of them, of course. But enough. Maybe you never had children, the career you hoped for, the marriage you dreamed of, or you never attained certain goals. We all have our lists.
Author Chrystal Evans Hurst understands that struggle. Like you and me, she’s also walked the road of discontentment. In college, she didn’t handle her new-found adult freedom very well and became a teenage mom.
For my latest podcast out this week, I sat down with bestselling author and thought leader, Arthur Brooks. Arthur is president emeritus of the American Enterprise Institute.
For over an hour, we discussed a variety of topics centered around a popular topic of worldly conversation:
Happiness.
When I think of the subject matter, I think about an unforgettable trip I took to Jakarta, Indonesia, many years ago for a speaking engagement. If you’ve never been there, it has some of the worst smog of any city in the world.
According to a World Health Organization bulletin, more than 300 million people are now living with depression, an increase of more than 18% between 2005 and 2015.
Author Dr. Gregory Jantz can personally relate to those who suffer from depression. Not only is he founder of The Center: A Place of Hope, a clinic for treating depression and other mental health issues, but he has also experienced depression himself.
At one time, he struggled to get out of bed in the morning, and life seemed dull and hopeless.
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.
