Daly Focus Blog
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
January is Sanctity of Human Life month, so it’s very fitting that I share with you some more about a film project Focus has been working on called The Drop Box. I’ve highlighted this touching documentary in this blog before, and you’ll be hearing more about it in the weeks to come. The documentary highlights the work of Pastor Lee Jong-rak who leads Jusarang Community Church in Seoul, South Korea.
The hallmark ministry of Pastor Lee’s church is its care for children that are left in its “baby box,” a warm, safe receptacle where an infant can be left anonymously instead of being discarded in a cold alley or a dumpster.
Sometimes life’s pain can be so deep we lose ourselves in a fog of uncertainty and confusion. We struggle to see things that were once crystal clear – things like who God is and who we are in Him.
That was Laurie Sacher’s story. Broken dreams had stripped her of hope, leaving behind heartache and nagging questions about God’s character and His love for her.
But then a dog wandered into her life … literally. It was scraggly, blind, and homeless.
We’ve all suffered heartache.
Even if we grew up in a loving home, we were raised by imperfect people who made mistakes, no matter how well-intentioned they may have been. So none of us escapes completely unscathed. It’s the reality of being born into a fallen world.
That’s a truth I know all too well.
I’ve openly shared about my troubled childhood. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s enough to explain that my mother died when I was nine years old.
Let’s try to guess which of these two men is doing more to expand the Kingdom of God.
We’ll call the first guy Kevin. Kevin gets up every morning at 5:30 a.m. and gets ready for a long commute into his downtown office where he works in middle management in the banking industry. He works hard because he has a family to support: a wife, three kids and a dog.
Calvin is our second guy – “Pastor C,” as the kids in youth group call him.
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.
