Daly Focus Blog
Sometimes you need a little luck.
Park ranger Roy Sullivan had a lot of it. In fact, he holds the dubious honor by the Guinness World Records of having survived more lightning strikes than anyone.
Seven to be exact, between 1942 and 1977.
In one incident, Sullivan was driving along a mountain pass when a bolt of lightning struck trees on opposite sides of the road from each other. After hitting the first tree, the lightning passed through Sullivan’s open windows and struck the other one.
Some couples get stuck on the way to marriage. A groom named Brandon Valdez got stuck on the way to his wedding – literally – inside a broken elevator!
To honor the tradition of not seeing one another before the ceremony, Brandon and his bride-to-be, Misty, spent the night in separate hotels. In the morning, Brandon and his groomsmen boarded an elevator for the first floor. Somewhere between floors two and three the elevator jolted to a stop.
When Dr. Kathy Koch was a child, she was swimming in a lake on a family vacation when something cut open her forehead. She made it to shore and screamed for her parents, who came running and took her to the hospital for stitches. Later, Kathy could have given in to her anxiety and stayed out of the water. Instead, she confronted her fear and overcame it.
This is how resilient people live. They don’t deny what happened, but they’re also not controlled by it.
Are your kids having trouble with their grades? Most parents facing that issue are careful to explore all the typical reasons, like study habits and the negative influence of friends. But one crucial area usually gets overlooked: the child’s learning style.
When author Cynthia Tobias was a kid, she struggled with traditional classroom-type education. Unlike her younger sister, who was a compliant and serious student, Cynthia was determined to do things her own way. Fortunately, her father was wise enough to make the most of his daughter’s learning style.
Imagine taking your four-year-old child to a nearby park. Other families greet your child, but there’s no response. Then, when it’s time to leave, your child says goodbye, but more so to the tables, and trees, and playground equipment than to the people.
Author Julie Homok described her baby girl Lizzie as happy, engaged, and developing normally. Then one day she started crawling into walls. What at first seemed like a funny accident became a disheartening realization that Lizzie was losing touch with the world around her.
If you’re getting married soon, which image best reflects your love for each other – a beautiful bouquet of flowers? Or a packet of seeds?
Some weddings are a flower extravaganza. There are flower centerpieces, elaborate flower decorations, and even a flower girl. And don’t forget the most important arrangement of all – the bridal bouquet. All those flowers are intended to represent the couple’s love: vibrant, alive, and in full bloom.
But the late Gary Smalley, who officiated a lot of weddings, used a unique illustration to help couples understand the true nature of their love.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Finding Hope in the Messiah,” we’re listening to Lily Isaacs – vocalist and matriarch of the southern gospel and bluegrass group The Isaacs – share her testimony.
Lily was born in Europe after World War II to two Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors who moved the family to the United States when Lily was two years old. She grew up in the Bronx, NY and studied theater and performed off Broadway.
How many strokes of good luck does it take for a coincidence to become a miracle?
While you consider your answer, let me share the story of Laura Buxton. She was 10 years old in 2001 when she released a red balloon into the air over her hometown in Staffordshire, England. On a card attached to the balloon, she wrote, “Please return to Laura Buxton.” Her home address was on the other side.
A few weeks later, a man 140 miles away found the balloon stuck in his hedges.
Airline passenger Becca Kinsey knew she had a problem the moment she stepped into the airport security line. She was a young mother forced to travel alone with her young boys, James and Wyatt, ages five and two. She was doing her best, but things got out of control, and she started to panic.
That’s when another young mom near Becca in line came to her rescue. She picked up one of Becca’s boys and helped Becca navigate through security.
Author Brad Rhoads never anticipated having trouble in his marriage. He and his wife, Marilyn, were so confident in their relationship that they were married within ten months of their first date and left a two-day marriage conference after just 30 minutes because they didn’t believe they needed guidance.
Their marriage faced trouble right away.
Brad blamed Marilyn. And Marilyn blamed Brad. She considered him a workaholic who devoted so much of himself to his law practice that he had nothing left to offer their marriage.
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.
