Popular author and relationship expert Dr. Gary Chapman illustrates conscience as a five-gallon bucket strapped to our backs. Doing wrong against our spouse or anyone else is like pouring in a measure of liquid.

After a few mistakes, the burden we carry gets heavier. After a few more, heavier still. Eventually, our conscience becomes so full, so heavy to bear, that the contents spill out in unhelpful ways, on us and our spouse.

In Acts 24:16 of the King James Bible, the apostle Paul says of himself: “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.”

The word “exercise” is the Greek word gymnaso, from which we get the English word, “gymnasium.” The word can also be translated as “discipline.”

Paul says, “I discipline myself.” To do what?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 30, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

One of the most important qualities to being an effective parent is a willingness to overcome personal barriers that get in our way. My own dad provides a sobering example of how destructive it can be when a parent stays stuck.

One of the few times he showed up to one of my baseball games, he was stone-cold drunk. When I came to bat, I was so mortified I couldn’t move. Dad yelled awful things at the umpire as pitch after pitch zipped past me.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 29, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Years ago, when Jean and I moved into our current home, the truck was unloaded, and we pulled the lid off each box one by one and looked through every item.

So much stuff went into the trash that I thought it would be helpful to get one of those big trash bins used at construction sites. It was fantastic. I was throwing stuff away left and right.

That’s when the trash fairies showed up.

I’d spend an evening happily tossing one item after another into the garbage.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 26, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A man who knows that well is Tim Leatherman, the inventor of the Leatherman Tool. That’s a pair of pliers with additional tools stored in the handles, like screwdrivers, a saw, wire cutters, and a bottle opener. It’s like a Swiss Army knife that converts into a tool belt.

Tim came up with the idea during a vacation to Europe in 1975. Travelling on a budget, he rented the cheapest car he could afford. It broke down repeatedly throughout the trip.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 25, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What does a hero look like to you? Would you recognize one just by looking?

In comic books, heroes are easy to spot. They wear a mask or a cape and have superhuman abilities. In the real world, heroes often carry a badge and are trained to save lives. Then there are heroes like Darin Barton.

Darin was standing on a highway overpass in Denver, Colorado when a semi-trailer barreling out of control plowed into stalled traffic below him.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 24, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The great Winston Churchill once said, “Those who are unable to look back are unable to look forward.” For America to move into the future with our liberty intact, we must look backward and remember the principles of freedom upon which our country was built.

Looking backward is how Abraham Lincoln led America through the Civil War, one of our country’s darkest, most divisive, and bloodiest time periods. To keep the nation pointed in the right direction, Lincoln continually reminded the country of our noble beginnings.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 23, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

It’s becoming controversial to take pride in America. Some say that a nation stained with injustice isn’t a nation worth celebrating. I would agree with that … if our country didn’t also correct our mistakes. And we do. The objective of a perfect society will never be obtained, so what counts is the direction we move.

Our Founders knew that building America would be a stumbling journey forward, toward our highest principles. And they gave us the greatest possible Constitutional framework with which to do it.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 19, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

When Sheri Rose Shepherd was crowned Mrs. United States in 1994, the achievement felt the culmination of a long, hard journey.

People throughout her life stripped her of self-worth, driving their hate through her like a spike through her soul.

Her English teacher once told her, “Sheri Rose, you will never amount to anything in life.”

Another time, she received a gift in the mail from her mother. When Sheri Rose opened it, her birth certificate was inside with a sticky note that read, “I wish you had never been born.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 16, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

If an area of your life hasn’t become what you’d hoped, you need an apocalypse.

The word “apocalypse” usually brings to mind catastrophic end-of-the-world scenarios. Earthquakes, toppled buildings, destruction everywhere. But the Greek word for “apocalypse” doesn’t mean “destruction.” It means “to uncover or to reveal.”

An apocalypse is what happens in a court of law. Everything is exposed and measured against truth. There are no secrets. Nothing is off limits because it’s embarrassing … or worse yet, incriminating.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 11, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

There’s no easy way for doctors to tell patients they’re going to die, but some ways are better than others. At the very least, I’m sure that you’d prefer a doctor take the time to meet with you in person, explain your condition, and answer your questions.

So, you can probably imagine what Ernest Quintana must have felt when he received bad news about his health. He was in his hospital bed anxiously awaiting his diagnosis when the door opened.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 10, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura