Daly Focus Blog
Sometimes, a little fear can wind up being a lot of fun—instructive, too.
Jean and I took the boys camping last week up to beautiful Mueller State Park, a picturesque spot located just outside the town of Woodland Park, Colorado.
Our site was perfectly situated; a cozy corner of land nestled among towering pines and an Aspen tree grove. It was great not to have the pressure of keeping a schedule. To borrow a phrase, we had “gone dark” once arriving in the park.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
In Russia, it’s called “baking pancakes”, in Poland, “letting the ducks out,” in Ireland, “skiffing” and in the Ukraine it’s known as “letting the frogs out.” But in our house, and I suspect in yours, too, it’s simply called “skipping rocks.”
A few nights ago, after a long day at the office and an hour or so before the sun set behind the mountains, I took our boys, Trent and Troy, over to Monument Lake to teach them the fine art of skimming stones.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, parenting by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Somebody once suggested to me that the majority of successful entrepreneurs usually have two things from their past in common: The loss of a parent at a young age—and a paper route.
I was reminded of that while reading the Wall Street Journal recently. Douglas Belkin’s piece this past Saturday titled, “Superman Birthplace is Restored,” offers some interesting background information on the creation of the famous comic strip-turned television-turned movie character. And it actually has a lot to do with what we’re trying to do here at Focus on the Family.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, parenting by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
By now you’ve heard about the murder of a wealthy Pensacola couple named Byrd and Melanie Billings. They were found shot to death inside their nine-bedroom home this past Thursday night, the apparent victims of a robbery gone bad. Late Sunday night, police investigators announced the arrests of two suspects, though more are expected.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said, “We are very anxious to share this story … it’s going to be a humdinger, I’ll tell you that.”
Actually, it already is.
Topics: Current Events Tags: adoption, events, faith, family, news by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
A remarkable event happened recently which was largely ignored by the media. Earlier this year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted the 2009 Margaret Sanger Award, the highest honor offered by Planned Parenthood, named after their founder, a noted eugenicist. If you’re unfamiliar with eugenics, it’s an approach to “improving” the human race through the process of “selective breeding.” Yes, for those who know about World War II, this was one of many theories embraced by the Nazis.
Topics: Current Events Tags: events, family, news, pro-life by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Ken Windebank, a colleague of mine, likes to ask a question of people, and I have begun to do it myself. The question is simple, “What’s one thing you did well as a parent?” The other day, for instance, I was meeting with a very successful financial manager in Southern California. I’ll call him Gary. I asked Gary that question and, after a brief pause, he said, “The best thing we did was to have dinner together as a family every night.”
Eating dinner together?
Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, parenting by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Sometimes God has to use simple words to get through to me. Case in point.
One of the things I like to do after dinner is to engage the family in a brief time of devotions. Given the age of our boys, we’re reading from a children’s picture story version of the Bible. The other day I was reading the story of King Saul, David, and Goliath. Keep in mind that the editors of the children’s Bible condensed the whole 58-verse saga down to about eight illustrated pages with maybe six words on each page.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, parenting by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
If you are like most Americans, you’ve watched your retirement savings shrink with the plunging stock market. You might be one of the hundreds of thousands without work searching for a job as unemployment soars. And the forecast out of Washington, D.C. these days says we’re in for tough times. America isn’t the only country rocked by such economic turbulence. Countries around the world are in the same boat.
Which is why the current global economic crisis was the hot topic at last week’s G-20 summit of world leaders in London.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, family, finances by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
I’ve read that disagreements over money–how it’s earned, spent, saved, and invested–is the top cause of stress in marriage. Whether or not financial issues are at the top of your list, these tough economic times are enough to make anyone’s head spin. Between trying to invest wisely with the volatility of the stock market, the fear of a pay cut or job loss, and questions over how to reduce debt, it’s no wonder we’re receiving so many calls from families seeking wise counsel.
Topics: Focus Events Tags: events, family, finances by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Jean and I were married August 24, 1986. We started with a bang—with lots of travel, the thrill of being newlyweds, and the dreams of spending a lifetime together. While I cannot pinpoint with any accuracy the date when we reached rock bottom, the dark clouds moved in sometime during our second year of marriage. I remember that night all too well. I had stepped into the bathroom to brush my teeth as we readied ourselves for bed.
Topics: Focus Events Tags: events, faith, family, marriage by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
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.