faith Archives

National Day of Prayer Reflections

How did you spend your National Day of Prayer?

Yesterday I mentioned that my plans included participating in a service with the staff here at Focus on the Family. We had a wonderfully moving and inspirational time together. Dan Woolley, a Colorado Springs resident and fellow ministry colleague with Compassion International, joined us.

Dan is a survivor of the Haitian earthquake. His story nearly takes my breath away. Dan shared his miraculous testimony of enduring 65 harrowing hours buried in the rubble of the Hotel Montana.

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

Prayer—For Such a Time as This

Today is the National Day of Prayer, a beautiful and sacred time-honored American tradition. Ironically, a lawsuit threatening its legality and waged by atheists is now making its way to the Supreme Court and bringing more attention to the subject of public prayer than ever before.

But for now, over the course of the next twenty-four hours, there will be thousands of prayer events hosted and conducted throughout our nation. Some will be attended by scores of people and framed by pomp and pageantry; others might consist of two or three co-workers who give up their lunch and gather in a quiet office break room for the simple but profound purpose of praying for this great country.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith May 6, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What if Someone Did Find Noah’s Ark?

As I scanned the headlines last week, there’s one that caught my eye: “Has Noah’s Ark Been Found on Turkish Mountaintop?” According to news reports, a number of evangelical Turkish and Chinese explorers believe they’ve found Noah’s Ark resting 13,000 feet upon Mount Ararat on an eastern Turkish mountain. Although encased in ice and snow, one of the explorers, Yeung Wing-Cheung, said, “It’s not 100% that it is Noah’s Ark, but we think it is 99.9% that this is it.”

Yeung made the startling statement based on several factors.

Topics: Current Events Tags: events, faith, news May 2, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Day of Prayer for Judicial Common Sense

The news came as a bit of a shock last week: According to a federal judge in Wisconsin, the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that a federal endorsement of the day somehow violates the “Establishment Clause” of the First Amendment.

To even the casual observer, Judge Crabbs’s decision was a curious and perplexing one. After all, there have been federally recognized days of prayer in America for as long as there have been stars on the flag.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, policy April 22, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Tebow Chooses Principles Over Pocketbook

Tim Tebow will know in a couple of days where he’ll be playing professional football. Far more important, though, before he signs his first NFL contract, he already knows what his off-the-field priorities are: principles before pocketbook.

The Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and former University of Florida standout made that abundantly clear this past weekend while speaking to a Christian college audience about the reaction in some quarters to his appearance in a commercial for Focus on the Family during this year’s Super Bowl.

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

Heartbreak Across America

By now you’ve probably read or heard the news regarding Russian adoption in America.

“Future adoptions of Russian children by citizens of the United States, which are now suspended, are possible only if an agreement is reached,” said Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

On a good day, international adoption is a complicated and high risk affair, not to mention an emotionally exhaustive endeavor for all parties involved. In recent years you’d need a scorecard to keep track of what countries have opened or closed or changed their adoption programs.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, faith, parenting April 16, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Case for Optimism?

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

Somebody once said that optimists invented the airplane (Orville and Wilbur Wright) but a pessimist invented the parachute (Louis-Sebastien Lenormand).

Of course, rarely are things so simple and so straightforward, especially when you discover the parachute was actually conceived long before the introduction of the airplane! The “modern” parachute was created to escape from ill-fated hot air balloons. Two people might look at the very same thing but wind up coming to very different conclusions.

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

The BEST news!

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here; He is risen!”

Luke 24:5b-6a

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith April 4, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Birds of a Feather – #2

I originally posted this post several years ago. With Easter approaching, I thought it appropriate to repost it today.

Here’s one from the travel file.

During the last twenty years I’ve had the opportunity to visit more than seventy countries. I noticed there’s a rather unusual feature found on the churches in the Baltic States, France, Germany, Hungry, and the Netherlands among other countries in the region.

Upon close inspection, you’ll discover that many churches don’t have a cross at the top of their steeple, spire, or bell tower.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith April 1, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Picture of Perseverance

Please take a good look at this photo of our sweet little nephew. His name is Ethan. What do you see?

The scene is a familiar one, isn’t it? On the surface, a young child is drawing with chalk on a sidewalk in the warm sunshine. It’s a simple and carefree pleasure of childhood, a cheap one, too—and in this instance, a young boy’s chance to creatively express himself.

It’s also a picture of innocence; a sweet and happy outing.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids March 31, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura