Daly Focus Blog
When I think of today’s and tomorrow’s radio guest, Sarah Kovac, I’m reminded of a story I once heard about two people strolling along the beach.
One was blind, the other was not.
At the top of a large sand dune, the blind man stopped and breathed in the salt air. “Isn’t this absolutely beautiful?”
“How can you appreciate any of this?” the sighted man asked.
The blind man smiled. “Can’t you feel the warmth of the sun or the sand between your toes?
It started out as a day filled with eager anticipation for a 3-year-old boy going to the zoo with his mom and siblings. We can imagine the happiness of the Saturday morning scene.
But the carefree adventure quickly took an ominous turn once the family made it into the park.
By now, you’ve heard what happened. Trying to get a better look at the endangered gorillas, the youngster somehow fell 15 feet into the enclosure’s water-filled moat.
When was the last time you shared your faith with someone?
I ask, not to shame those of us who haven’t talked to anyone about Christ in quite a while, but to draw us back to the journey.
We hesitate to talk to people about the Lord for any number of reasons. Maybe certain aspects of witnessing don’t fit our personality temperament. Or we don’t know what to say. Or we don’t feel we’re a good enough person to adequately represent Christianity.
When I hear good people say good things, I like to pass them along. So I want to share three items from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ commencement speech to the graduates of Hillsdale College.
1. Benefits don’t exist without responsibility.
The small farm of his youth taught Justice Thomas that you reap what you sow. There are no crops if you don’t take care of the land. “If we didn’t work, we didn’t eat.
Their friendship started in an unlikely way – with a lie and an arrest.
Jameel McGee was walking down a Benton Harbor, Michigan street when police officer Andrew Collins falsely accused him of dealing drugs and arrested McGee. The arrest – and the phony report Collins filed – led to McGee spending four years in prison. During his sentence, McGee lost everything.
While in prison, all McGee could think of was of getting back at the man whose actions had stolen so much from him.
When I was 9 years old, I was put in foster care. In many ways, it was only another obstacle in a life full of hard knocks.
My parents divorced when I was 5, after Dad threatened to kill Mom with a hammer. My mom soon remarried a harsh man named Hank who loved Mom, but didn’t like us kids. Hank abandoned us after Mom died of cancer. His departure was what landed me in foster care.
Sometimes I can’t help but smile when people tell me they’re just not sure how the Lord wants them to serve. “Lord, what do you want me to do with my life?” they’ll repeatedly pray.
I grin because, regardless of whatever unique and specific calling God may place on each of us, He’s already communicated many things that He expects from all of us. One is found in Scripture nearly 50 times: to care for the widow and the orphan (for example, James 1:27).
Today is the National Day of Prayer, a wonderful and sacred time-honored American tradition. The effort is headed by the NDP Task Force, led by Focus board member emerita Shirley Dobson, who is celebrating her 25th anniversary in her role as NDP Chairman.
On this eve of this very special day, I would like to pose a few questions.
Why should believers take a day to focus on prayer? Why pray for our fellow citizens, our leaders and the needs and challenges facing America?
What do you think about your marriage?
I don’t mean in vague terms, like, “It’s good,” or “We’ve had better days.” I mean, literally. What are the actual thoughts you have about your marriage?
Do you think of your spouse as someone to nurture and care for – or as someone you have to endure? Do you think of conflict as a battle to win – or as an opportunity for God to draw the two of you closer together?
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of one of C.S. Lewis’ most important books, “The Screwtape Letters.”
Have you read it?
In this classic, Lewis re-imagines Hell as a gruesome bureaucracy where a senior demon, Screwtape, corresponds with his nephew and apprentice, Wormwood. The younger spirit’s assignment is to corrupt a newly converted Christian young man living in London during the tumultuous days of World War II. Through the letters, Lewis examines Christian morality, temptation, and good and evil.
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.
