faith Archives

My Greatest Need

What’s your greatest need today? Is it finding a job? Avoiding foreclosure? Getting married? Identifying one friend who cares enough to listen? Hitting a deadline? Learning how to corral an incorrigible two-year-old? Loving a spouse who is emotionally distant? Perhaps having faith that God will return your prodigal son or daughter safely home?

There’s a fascinating story in the Bible about a man who was paralyzed who thought his greatest need was to be healed. As you’ll see in a moment, in a way his story is our story, too.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family June 8, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Tackle Tough Times

I recently heard a story that was pulled from the pages of Australia’s history books. It struck me as a good lesson on how to approach and handle modern-day struggles.

In the late 1790’s the common belief throughout the Australian colony was that the region beyond the imposing Blue Mountains was lush and fertile. As such, numerous explorers set out to try and to conquer the area. While planning their trips, as conventional wisdom would suggest, they steered clear of the steep ridges and deep gorges of the terrain.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith June 7, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Remembering Art Linkletter

America lost one of its good guys last week when the affable and genial Art Linkletter passed away at the age of 97.

Art was the host of two of television’s longest-running programs, “House Party” and “People are Funny.” Like millions of Americans, I have terrific memories of watching him talk and laugh with young children. Being a child myself back in the 1960s, I could relate to the kids appearing on his show. In fact, I can remember thinking they looked and thought and sounded a lot like me.

Topics: Current Events Tags: entertainment, events, faith, pop culture June 3, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Update on Ethan

If you’re new to my blog, let me point you to the touching and inspiring story of my nephew, Ethan. I blogged about Ethan earlier this year (see A Picture of Perseverance).

In short, our sweet little relative has endured far more than most adults. He’s undergone three open heart surgeries, all to reconstruct his entire coronary system. Throughout the long ordeal he has maintained an amazing attitude.

Since many of my readers were so kind to pray for Ethan, I thought I’d give an update on his condition as well as share some exciting news from within his family.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, staff May 27, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Political Illusion

As you may know, my family turned-off our television set a couple of years ago. It was a personal decision; we found ourselves wasting way too much time watching it and too little time talking together as a family. I wouldn’t presume to suggest that you do the same, or feel guilty if you don’t. All I can tell you is that it has done wonders for the cohesiveness of the Daly family.

Perhaps this decision is why I so quickly connected with a recent column from Chuck Colson.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, pop culture May 20, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What Makes a Good Judge?

That’s the question I posed to my friend Chuck Colson during a recent Focus on the Family radio program that discussed President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court.

Solicitor General Kagan is a former Dean of Harvard’s law school and clearly a very bright and accomplished scholar. But during our visit, Chuck expressed some deep reservations about the Solicitor General’s nomination. Chuck’s objections were not based on her intellect but instead her judicial philosophy.

Topics: Current Events Tags: events, faith, policy May 18, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Who Stole the Cross?

About 75 years ago, the Veterans of Foreign Wars erected a 5’8″ white cross in the Mojave National Preserve, an area now controlled by the National Park Service out in California’s desert.

Officially known as the “Mojave Memorial Cross,” it was put in place to honor the fallen heroes of World War I. Not everyone is happy with its presence atop Sunrise Rock. For the better part of a decade, this memorial has been the subject of a fierce court battle.

Topics: Current Events Tags: events, faith, policy, pop culture May 13, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Emerging Adults and the Teaching of Truth

Dr. Christian Smith is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. Credentials of that caliber will usually place an academic’s scholarly work outside normal day-to-day banter.

Sometimes, but not always.

Such is the case with Dr. Smith’s new book entitled, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. This collaborative work with Patricia Snell contains some interesting and eyebrow-raising information Christians need to know.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family May 12, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Gendercide: The War Against Girls

Gendercide, a term first coined in a 1985 book by Mary Anne Warren, is a cold and ominous sounding word, and rightly so. Coupled with a photo of a single pair of empty pink baby shoes silhouetted against a black backdrop, it’s downright haunting. But that’s what the editors of a recent issue of the Economist did when they published a startling expose on a largely ignored modern-day holocaust.

What is it all about?

According to a technical understanding of the term, “gendercide” is the deliberate extermination of one particular gender, male or female.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, pro-life May 11, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Motherhood By The Numbers

As you know, yesterday was Mother’s Day. It was an emotional time for me. My heart melts at the thought of my own dear mom, a great woman now gone from earth for nearly 40 years. Though decades have passed since her untimely death when I was just 9 years old, her influence on me remains steady and sure. My mother was a strong but very gentle lady. If I close my eyes, I can still hear her voice and feel the softness of her hand in mine.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, news, wife May 10, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura