Family and Home Archives

Worth a Read: “A Guide to Saving Marriage”

There’s an important article over at National Review Online that I wanted to highlight for you. “A Guide to Saving Marriage” is an interview with Hilary Towers, a developmental psychologist who has some insightful things to say about marriage, the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex unions, and cohabitation.

I’ll leave you with this gem of wisdom gleaned from the interview:

Young people, in particular, deserve to hear the truth about what to expect from a vocation to married life at this time in history.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, wife September 12, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Hookup Culture Also Hurts Our Boys

When we discuss the growing trends of young people engaging in the “hookup culture” – casual sex and sexual acts outside of marriage – we often speak of the damage it does to girls. There’s good reason for that, obviously – young women often feel great pressure to go along with certain behaviors and later pay a high price for it in terms of sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and emotional wounds.

But what about the young men?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, kids September 10, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What to Do if You Know a Millennial Apathetic Towards Faith

There’s a lot of discussion online lately about young people and the Church – their role in it, why they are (or aren’t) leaving the faith and what Church and ministry leaders should do about it.

You may have seen the articles – CNN’s “Belief Blog” ran a guest post titled “Why millennials are leaving the church.” The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog featured rebuttals, including “The new religious fundamentalists? Millennial Christians.”

First, some perspective.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, kids September 9, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Make Someone Smile this Weekend

I wanted to share with you a heartwarming news story this Friday in hopes that it would inspire you to think creatively in how you can bless others.

Just reading the article’s headline, “Superhero Window Washers Assemble at Children’s Hospital” is enough to make you smile. A hospital staffer at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, where the event took place, described the reactions of the young patients to the sight of Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Captain America outside their hospital rooms’ windows: “It was incredible… There were screams of joy and amazement.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids September 6, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

It Starts and Stops with Me

Here in Colorado, we’re looking forward to the promise of fall – yet I’m still thinking back on our family’s vacation this past summer to South Dakota. Our trips to the Black Hills have become an annual tradition.

Just a few miles south of Mount Rushmore is another memorial. It’s not as well-known or as acclaimed as the four presidents carved in stone, but it has a similarly fascinating history.

About 65 years ago, sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski accepted Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear’s proposal to build a monument honoring the heritage of Native Americans.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith September 5, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

“We Serve a Remarkable God”

I want to share a personal email I received last week from Tim Goeglein, our vice president of external relations. Tim helps spread the word about what Focus does in and around our nation’s capital. I’ll share some thoughts after the email.

When you were last in Washington, I took you to Anacostia — the most disadvantaged part of our city.

I wanted you to go there because, so often, the image projected to our nation and the world about Washington is the power, glitz, schmooze part of it.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, faith September 3, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What Every Marriage Needs

We’re rolling out a new marriage program here at Focus on the Family designed to help newlyweds as well as couples married for years. It’ll speak to new moms and dads just starting their family, as well as seasoned parents preparing to send their kids off to college. It has the potential to give hope and help to husbands and wives facing bankruptcy, infertility or even adultery.

Does this sound too good to be true? How can one program do so much?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, marriage, wife August 28, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Answer the Tough Questions Kids Have About Christianity

A recent study found that children ask about 300 questions a day. Often they’re easy ones. But as our children grow and mature, the questions often get tougher.

And then there are times when the questions our kids ask have eternal significance.

“Are there other ways to get to heaven?”

“How can Jesus be God?”

“If God loves us, why are some people going to bed hungry tonight?”

Have you ever had your child ask one of those questions?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting August 23, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Finding Good in Adversity

Recently I blogged about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a serious condition that someone who has experienced any sort of life trauma may experience.

While PTSD may most commonly be associated with war veterans, people with any sort of trauma, including childhood disturbances, are vulnerable.

As some of you may know, my childhood included a lot of trauma. I spent the first part of my years in violence-riddled Compton, Calif. I witnessed a gang-related murder outside of my bedroom window when I was 8.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith August 20, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Is Intentional Childlessness Biblical?

Time magazine’s provocative cover story last week, “The Childfree Life,” explores why some couples are choosing to deliberately not have children and taps into a larger, worldwide trend towards smaller families.

A good portion of the piece is rooted in cultural observation and fact.

Not surprisingly, some of the causes are found in modern life. Young couples are marrying later, if at all, and instead of having children, they’re increasingly choosing to pursue college and advanced degrees and becoming more active in the work force.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, kids, parenting August 19, 2013 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura