faith Archives

The Great Vin Scully

Although football has always been my passion, I also love the game of baseball. The late Bart Giamatti, Major League baseball’s former commissioner and a clear romantic of the sport, did too. He once lamented the end of the season in near-poetic terms. Here is what he wrote:

It [baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: divorce, faith, marriage November 13, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Discovering the Difference between Sorrow and Despair

Is there anything more painful to endure than the death of a child?

Having been orphaned and abandoned as a young boy, I’ve been exposed to my share of sorrow. But, so have you. Nobody on earth can escape the human condition. Troubles roll like the relentless tides of the sea. Or, to quote William Shakespeare, “Troubles come not as single spies—but in battalions!”

If your life is happy and currently free of worry, rejoice—but brace yourself.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids October 27, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Sharpening My Saw

Have you heard the story about Luther and Jerry?

As the story goes, these two good old boys had a major disagreement which they couldn’t resolve. They figured the best way to settle the dispute was with a chainsaw—the winner would be the guy who fell the greatest number of trees on Jerry’s farm in eight hours. Given the fact that the heavily treed piece of property needed to be thinned out, the contest was a win-win situation in their minds.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, faith, friendship October 16, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A High School Flashback

Several months ago, Jeff Shook, a good friend from my Yucca Valley High School days back in California, stopped by for a visit. Seeing him brought back a flood of memories—mostly good. The good times had to do with the countless hours Jeff and I spent playing football, basketball, and baseball for our school. Jeff was one of those natural athletes you just knew had the talent to go on to bigger and better things after graduation.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, friendship October 7, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Two Tributes to Dr. James Dobson

Many of you are familiar with the excellent work of Michael Farris and the Home School Legal Defense Association [HSLDA]. Back in March of 1983 when Michael and his colleague, Michael Smith, founded the fledgling organization, homeschooling was pretty much a foreign concept to most Americans.

The history books are full of wildly successful people who have received their formal education at home (John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Agatha Christie, to name just a few), nor is it uncommon today to hear about a high-profile individual whose parents have opted to educate them outside of the traditional system, many for religious reasons.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, faith, staff October 5, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Screwtape and the Art of War

The Art of War is considered by many to be the seminal work on war tactics and strategies. Attributed to Sun Tzu, a sixth century BC military commander, this ancient Chinese military treatise divides the various aspects of warfare into thirteen chapters: Laying Plans, Waging War, Tactical Dispositions, The Nine Battlegrounds, and the Use of Spies among others.

Beyond the obvious military applications of Sun Tzu’s wisdom, his principles have implications for other disciplines. I don’t think it’s a stretch, for example, to apply his lectures on how to win at war to the Christian who desires to overcome his battles in the spiritual realm with the devil.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith, promos October 2, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What if Jesus Never Lived?

What would life be like today if Jesus never lived?

For a moment, let’s set aside the implications of eternity and consider the impact that the life of Jesus has had—and continues to have—here on Earth. Several obvious things come to mind: without Jesus there would be no New Testament in our Bibles, no Christmas festivities with the associated tradition of gift-giving, no celebration of Easter, no Catholic or Protestant churches dotting the landscape, and I think it’s safe to say that gold, silver, wooden, or diamond-studded crosses wouldn’t be sold as popular jewelry accessories.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith September 24, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Conversation with an Atheist

Comedian and illusionist Penn Jillette amazes audiences with his slight of hand tricks and such routines as the “Magic Bullet.” For more than a decade, he’s worked his magic six nights a week in Las Vegas with fellow magician Teller. Both members of the Penn & Teller duo are gifted performers who also happen to be advocates of atheism—the belief that there is no God.

For his part, Penn would be the first to admit that he can be crass, vulgar, and unapologetically opinionated about his lack of belief in God.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, pop culture September 22, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Civil Discourse Should Be Our Aim

Back in July I became a regular contributing panelist for The Washington Post/Newsweek blog “On Faith.” Yesterday I was asked to weigh in the need for more civility in our public discourse. Far too often I’ve observed what resembles a verbal “smackdown” between those who hold opposing points of view.

While exchanging heavy blows with an opponent might be expected in the land of World Wrestling Entertainment, my view is that something is desperately wrong when we resort to throwing verbal jabs.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 16, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Heavens Are Declaring, Are We Listening?

When I was a kid, I loved to stargaze.

Late at night I’d head outdoors to lay down on my back and lose myself in the canopy of the midnight blue sky. I still enjoy doing that, although it’s been a while. Over the years I’ve learned how to identify a number of the eighty-eight constellations. Of course, the naked eye can only see so much. That’s why I’m always fascinated when the Hubble telescope snaps new pictures of deep space which has a way of transporting me to worlds beyond ours.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 12, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura