marriage Archives

WANTED: Your Family Photos!

You probably know Focus on the Family’s motto is “Helping families thrive.”

What you may not know is that our Colorado Springs campus is a significant tourist destination – we’ve had more than 200,000 visitors come through our doors annually for many years running. They come to learn more about who we are and what we do and to share with us how our radio programs and resources have helped them. There is plenty for them to enjoy as they walk through our facility, but one thing is missing.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: faith, family, kids, marriage, parenting January 26, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

You Can Find Hope in Troubled Times

I was recently talking with a friend, and he began to draw a parallel between a mutual acquaintance of ours and my childhood. The person in question is a real survivor and currently managing a rather chaotic existence. He said it reminded him of me and the untraditional life of my youth.

While there are similarities, I suggested there was a significant distinction between the two. Unlike this friend of ours who appears content with his troubled lot, I managed to survive abandonment and loneliness because of one main thing: I lived in a constant state of hope, always praying and dreaming that I might someday, someway, trade chaos for order and an unconventional family life for a traditional home.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: broadcast, husband, marriage, wife January 26, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Satisfaction

There was an interesting blurb in last Thursday’s USA Today’s “Snapshots” (Life Section, p. D1).

The Pew Research Center asked the following question:

Who is most satisfied with family life?

Married people reported the highest degree of satisfaction, followed by the widowed. Next came those who live with a partner.

In other words, those who are cohabitating are less happy than those who have lost a spouse to death.

Why?

There is a power and beauty (and satisfaction) in the act of commitment.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, kids, marriage, parenting January 12, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Key to Satisfaction

The subject of cohabitation has been in the news quite a bit lately. According to the United States Census Bureau, between 2009 and 2010, the number of opposite-sex cohabitating couples increased by 13 percent, from 6.7 million to 7.5 million.

New York’s newly elected governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his girlfriend, TV Chef Sandra Lee, are one of them.

According to the New York Times:

With 23 cookbooks and 2 television shows, Ms. Lee is arguably far more famous outside of political circles than the man she is dating.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, marriage, parenting January 7, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Does Apple Think Christianity is Offensive?

I am one of the nearly 500,000 proud signers of the Manhattan Declaration, a document and movement spearheaded by my friends Chuck Colson and Dr. Robert George. As drafted, the piece and its adherents proudly and unapologetically affirm support for the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty.

For the last few months, the organizers behind the Declaration have been trying to get Apple to reinstate an app for its iPhone users. Apple had originally approved the app, but pulled it after a small but well organized group of homosexual activists voiced their objections.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage, pop culture, technology January 6, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Just Show Up!

The actor Woody Allen once wryly observed that “eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Would you agree?

I shared Dave’s story on Tuesday. He is a very successful business executive and found himself struggling with maintaining a healthy work and life balance. By God’s grace he happened to connect with our ministry at a very critical point in his life. He made some key adjustments. As a result, Dave was there when his son needed him most.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, marriage December 9, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Why We’re Here

I want to tell you a story.

What follows is an example of how the sacrificial funds invested in the Lord’s ministry called Focus on the Family manifest themselves in the lives of those who live far beyond our walls here in Colorado Springs.

I want to tell you a story about a father and his son.

The dad’s name is Dave, and his college-aged boy goes by Pete.

Dave is a great father who, along his wife, Wendy, regularly and deliberately invest in the lives of their children.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, marriage December 7, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Marriage in Obsolescence, Part II

Pundits and analysts continue to weigh in on the recent Pew Report that concluded marriage is becoming increasingly obsolete and irrelevant.

As you can imagine, I hold to a significantly different perspective. Fortunately, many of you do as well. I’ve been particularly heartened by the robust response to my thoughts, which can be viewed by clicking here.

As I shared just a day after USA Today declared marriage to be going the way of powdered wigs, the report doesn’t quite tell the whole story.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, marriage November 30, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Is Marriage Going Out of Style?

On Thursday, USA Today published a story highlighting new research from the Pew Center claiming marriage to be obsolete.

A gross exaggeration?

You think?

Christianity Today very graciously invited a response and just published it in today’s online edition.

I would welcome your thoughts and reaction.

To view the piece as it appears in CT, please click here or simply continue reading below…

Marriage in Obsolescence

Why recent headlines on marriage don’t do the new Pew survey justice.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, family, marriage November 19, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Fight Fair

I am not a music aficionado by any measure, but somebody recently reminded me that it was the old British rock group, The Kinks, who once popularized the following lament:

Well I met a pretty girl, as pretty as can be
I thought she was my baby till she introduced to me
A great big tall fella, about six foot tall
I shivered and I shook, couldn’t do any more

‘Cause I’m a lover not a fighter…

It’s just a silly song, of course, but I think this idea, that lovers can’t be fighters, is, in many ways, a faulty concept that’s been culturally ingrained.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, marriage November 1, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura