Daly Focus Blog
What does a hero look like? In comic books, they wear a mask or a cape. In real life, they’re not so easy to spot.
Like William Crawford. For years, he worked as a janitor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. To the cadets, he was a shy, unassuming worker who quietly went about his cleaning duties around the squadron. But one day, a cadet who was studying World War II read an incredible story about a soldier who risked his life in battle to save dozens of fellow soldiers.
Years ago, I ran a short errand before an important meeting I had across town. As I hustled from the store to my car, I saw a young mother struggling to corral two toddlers while muscling a grocery cart across the parking lot. She looked tired and overwhelmed. I was just pulling out when I saw her reach her car and break into tears. Her tire was flat.
I wasn’t prepared for the situation. I was running late, and I wasn’t dressed to wrestle with a flat tire.
Score one in the Buckeye State for the genius of the checks and balances system of government.
The Ohio Senate’s override of Governor Mike DeWine’s incredulous veto of legislation banning the sexual mutilation of children caps a bizarre legislative odyssey that left many social conservatives heavy-hearted – and vowing action to right the chief executive’s wrong.
Wednesday’s vote ensures that the Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation Act (SAFE Act) will now go into effect in 90 days.
The Act makes it illegal for doctors to prescribe puberty blocking drugs and opposite sex hormones for minors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record on Monday, closing above 38,000 for the first time ever. Not to be outdone, the S&P 500 also set a new high. How long it lasts is a question and matter left to financial gurus, many of whom disagree.
Tracking the stock market’s performance provides us with an indication of where the economy is, and maybe even where it’s going. Numbers can’t tell us everything, but they can tell us a lot.
Money can be a touchy subject for husbands and wives because most, if not all, of the decisions a couple makes each day involve money.
Do you drink coffee at home or spend extra money at a coffee shop?
What kind of clothing do you buy?
What kind of car do you drive?
Should you pursue a different job?
Should you buy a new house?
Should you spend less or more on groceries?
Even your dreams for the future are impacted by your budget.
When the culture erupts into chaos and violence breaks out in the streets, anger is usually identified as the culprit. We’re told that people get so angry about the economy, about politics, or about injustice that they can’t help but act destructively.
Actually, destructive behavior isn’t the result of angry people, but of people who aren’t in control of their anger. We all get angry, and anger itself can be quite productive. Anger motivated our ancestors to rise up and fight a Revolution for freedom and to put an end to slavery.
Racism is a problem in America. What isn’t so obvious is what to do about it.
I grew up in Compton, California. I’ve seen the ugliness of racism up close. So has Pastor Miles McPherson, who grew up in a black neighborhood but went to school in a white neighborhood. He says he was too dark for white people and too light for black people. He was disrespected and mistreated by both races.
Although race relations have improved over the past few generations, nothing we’ve tried has eradicated it.
Some people believe scientific truth is the only truth, meaning we should only believe in tangible things that we can see and touch.
But truth is more sophisticated than that. Lots of things are true even though we can’t physically touch or observe them. Like our thoughts and ideas. Or what about truth that is so meaningful we need stories to communicate them? Stories in the Bible, for example, are true in a deeply profound way that apply to everyone everywhere in every generation.
Few things in life are as good as we think they are.
Believe it or not, there’s even a scientific term for that phenomenon. It’s called the Better-Than-Average Effect. In short, our tendency is to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to.
We don’t sing as well as we think we do.
We don’t eat or exercise as healthy as we should.
We minimize our addictions.
We downplay our depression.
We believe that our marriages are healthier than they are.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Understanding the Goodness of God’s Word,” our guest, author Wendy Speake, is talking about the topic of “feasting” – not on food but on Scripture.
She’s written a great book called The 40-Day Feast: Taste and See the Goodness of God’s Word about how to ingest and savor the Bible and understand God more deeply.
The idea of feasting originated in the Garden of Eden. God’s first command to Adam and Eve was to “eat of every tree of the garden” (Genesis 2:16) except one.
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.
