Do you ever wish you could get a second chance at something after your first attempt missed the mark?

In the world of golf, taking a second shot from same spot is called a “taking a mulligan.” There are several theories regarding the origin of the term, but most go back to the 1920s and a gentleman named David Mulligan who was known to embrace do-overs on the links at his country club in Montreal.

As a golfer, I can appreciate the temptation.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith April 18, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Some relationships are naturally sources of conflict.

Whether it’s a spouse, a family member, a friend, a coworker, or even someone at church, we all have that one person who rubs us the wrong way.

The question is, how should we address conflict with that person?

Perhaps we don’t. Maybe we pretend that the conflict doesn’t exist. Or we refuse to talk about it. Or we verbally or emotionally attack the other person.

There’s a better way.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith April 5, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Have you ever felt so caught up in what you wanted that you struggled to seek God’s will?

I struggled with that in high school when I had hopes of playing pro football. But God had different plans for me.

Learning to trust God has been a long journey for our guest on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Abandoning Idols to Cling to God,” Christian recording artist Phil Stacey.

After growing up in a musical Christian family, Phil was featured as a soloist for the Lee Singers, one of Lee University’s premiere touring ensembles.

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

By age 10, Dimas Salaberrios had discovered the seedy underbelly of Queens, New York, learned how it worked, and mapped out his future.

He would become the “Street God.”

Dimas became a drug dealer at age 11. By his early twenties, he’d been arrested nine times. Yet, he never served time in jail thanks to parents who had connections to judges and the money to protect him with well-paid lawyers. After Dimas’ tenth arrest, he was sent to Rikers Island for a year.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith March 17, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Your worldview is important. It helps you answer life’s most basic questions:

Creation – How things began.Fall – What’s gone wrong with the world.Redemption – The solution for fixing what’s gone wrong with the world.Restoration – What the world will look like once redemption has taken place.

Whether you realize it or not, you do have a worldview. You either fill in the blanks with random answers, or you seek truth like you’re assembling a jigsaw puzzle, thoughtfully and carefully putting small pieces of information together to form a bigger, unified picture of reality.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith March 14, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Someone once said, “The hardest thing that I’ve ever heard was that my child died. The hardest thing that I’ve ever done is live every day since.”

Levi and Jennie Lusko are the founders and lead pastors of Fresh Life Church, a multi-site ministry located in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Utah. In December of 2012, five days before Christmas, they were enjoying a weekly date-night while a relative watched their children. When the Luskos arrived to pick up their children, five-year-old Lenya was having a severe asthma attack.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith March 9, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

As I’ve shared before, I’ve had to overcome adversity. My dad died an alcoholic, and my stepdad walked out on my siblings and me the day of my mother’s funeral. To be honest, although I usually end up with greater faith after encountering challenge or loss, the journey there isn’t always easy.

Daniel Ritchie has a unique perspective about what it’s like to experience a deeper connection with God through adversity. He was born without arms and struggled to breathe on his own.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith March 2, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura