faith Archives

God Meets Imperfect Families in Their Messiness

Maybe you know this feeling a little too well.

You see other families from the outside, and they look exactly like what you envision a good Christian home to be. Their children don’t squabble, and they obey their parents with almost gleeful enthusiasm. Life seems perfect.

But your reality seems a lot different. You break up two or three spats between the kids before you even leave for church. And once you get there, you paint a smile on your face and answer everybody’s, “How’re you doing?” with a robotic, “I’m great.”

But deep inside you know things aren’t great.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, faith, family February 17, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Take Your Marriage from Selfish to Magnificent

Do you think of your marriage as a “magnificent obsession”?

Hopefully, you’re on the journey toward seeing your relationship in that light. But each of us – at different times in different ways – allows self-interest to tarnish our marriage’s potential.

Selfishness can creep into a relationship from the moment a man and a woman meet, even when they don’t mean for it to. In the initial months of dating, couples pursue a relationship because they like the way they feel when they’re together.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, faith, marriage February 12, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

This Pastor Chose Against Acting on His Same-Sex Attractions

Allan Edwards is a pastor with the Presbyterian Church in America. He’s also married to Leeanne Edwards and the couple is expecting their first child in July.

Allan has also admitted to struggling with same-sex attraction.

In fact, he recently shared his story with National Public Radio. In the midst of the conversation, Allan said the reason he’s never acted on the attraction is because he believes homosexuality is a sin.

Some have suggested that Allan is denying his true identity and that he and his wife couldn’t possibly be happy.

Topics: Current Events Tags: church, faith, homosexuality, marriage, news February 3, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Why This Doctor and Widower Opposes Physician-Assisted Suicide

For many of us, the issue of physician-assisted suicide was brought to our attention last year with the very public illness and death of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman who chose to end her own life with a lethal prescription after receiving a diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer.

This pains me in so many ways, not the least of which is that it compounds the heartbreak of a horrible, terminal illness with the tragic choice of a young woman to take her own life.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, news, policy, pro-life, wife January 27, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Are Christians Too #Blessed?

Are you “blessed”?

There are many Christians, myself included, who would suggest that by the sheer nature of our Salvation in Jesus Christ, we are, indeed, a blessed people.

But if you asked a room full of people what it means to be “blessed,” I suspect you’d get a wide array of answers.

For some, to be blessed means to have health, wealth and a good family.

To others, to be blessed means to travel the world or climb a mountain.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, pop culture, technology January 21, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

This Woman Survived a Church Bombing

September 15, 1963, was a normal Sunday morning in Birmingham, Alabama.

Until 10:22 A.M.

Then everything changed.

Carolyn, a teenager at the time, was making her prescribed rounds through her church, retrieving paperwork from each of the Sunday school classes. On her way up the stairs, she smiled and said good morning to four young girls – Cynthia, Addie, Denise, and Carole – who were headed into the bathroom.

As Carolyn passed the church office, she heard a phone ringing.

Topics: Current Events Tags: broadcast, church, faith, pop culture January 19, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Is Roe v. Wade on the Ropes?

Note: On Jan. 21, the GOP leadership pulled this bill and cancelled the vote. Please read my new post on what’s happened — and, more than ever, please contact your representative. -JD

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Your help is needed.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are currently gearing up for a vote on a bill that would ban abortion (with a few exceptions) after 20 weeks’ gestation.

It’s called the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (H.R. 36) and it builds on the fact that 10 states have already passed local versions of the law since 2010.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, news, policy, pro-life January 16, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Was Atlanta’s Fire Chief Fired Over His Faith?

By now you’ve likely heard that Atlanta Fire Chief, Kelvin Cochran, was recently fired from his position for publishing a book in which he affirmed a biblically orthodox understanding of human sexuality.

The 162-page book in question, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” is a Bible study designed for Christian men.

According to press reports, Mr. Cochran gave a copy of the book to three individuals within his department, all of whom he knew to be Christian.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, homosexuality, news, religious liberty January 14, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Is Your Family’s Schedule Overwhelmed?

I’ve got a riddle for you. “You can spend it, but you can’t keep it. And once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” Do you know what it is? Here’s a clue:

Let’s say you win a contest. The grand prize is $86,400 wired into your bank account each day at midnight. The money is yours to spend however you want. There’s just one catch. At the end of the day, every penny you don’t spend disappears from your account.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, parenting January 13, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How Would You Answer This Critical Question?

I decided to sit down with my boys over the Christmas break and have a talk with them.

We’ve already had THE talk about the birds and the bees. Trent is now 14 and Troy is 12. Like it or not, they’re well on their way toward the battles of life.

In fact, we regularly talk about the big issues of sex, drugs and drinking. We have a mantra in our home which both boys can recite.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, parenting January 7, 2015 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura