Family and Home Archives

Five Tips from the Oldest Woman in the World

A colleague recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sidney Cooper of Monroe, Georgia. Mr. Cooper’s mother, Besse, is the oldest woman in the world.

She’s 116.

To put that number in context, at the time she was born, Grover Cleveland was President and Orville and Wilbur Wright were still seven years away from their first powered flight over Kitty Hawk. She’s now lived in three separate centuries and actually remembers the turn of the 19th to the 20th and the 20th to the 21st.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: events, news October 23, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

UPDATE: Texas Cheerleaders Granted Temporary Victory

Two weeks ago I shared with you news out of Kountze, Texas, that a group of high school cheerleaders were forced into court when their school district prohibited them from displaying banners with Bible verses at football games.

Last week, the judge in the case issued a temporary injunction, which allows the young women to continue creating and displaying the signs for the remainder of the season. A trial date was set for June 24, 2013.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, news October 22, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to Handle Any Problem

Sami Yacoub is the Regional Director of Focus on the Family in the Middle East. He’s also a friend, and those of us here at Focus US have long admired his courage and bravery. Given his location and the politics of the area in which he lives, you can appreciate just how tenuous day-to-day living is for him.

With that in mind, I want to share an excerpt of an insightful article that Sami recently wrote.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 22, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Did You See Dr. Billy Graham’s Ad?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: news October 19, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Postcard from Hawaii

I was in Hawaii last week. Hawaiian Island Ministries (HIM) graciously hosted us for several meetings and I enjoyed learning more about their outreach. HIM has been serving and showing the love of Jesus to people in the area for nearly 30 years. The Lord has clearly blessed their work and I’m proud to call them my friends.

Given where we are culturally and with the election looming just weeks away, I was struck by a few thoughts the other day.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: events, faith October 17, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Meet the Man Who Changed the World

His name was John Joseph Hughes, and he may have been one of the most important men in American history, if not the entire world.

An Irish immigrant gardener eventually ordained to the Catholic priesthood, “Dagger John,” as he was called due to the habit of punctuating his signature with a dagger-like cross and behaving with a similarly aggressive flair, became the first archbishop of the archdiocese of New York. He served between 1842 and 1864, a time of explosive Irish-Catholic growth in America.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, news, staff October 16, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Look for This at Tonight’s Debate

At the height of a close election, it is worth a reminder that civility is the essential democratic virtue. Civility is not the same thing as niceness.

The high stakes of politics can produce intense disagreements. But manners — even cold, formal ones — communicate a modicum of mutual respect and preserve the possibility of cooperation. John Stuart Mill called democracy “government by discussion.”

Michael Gerson, as quoted in The Washington Post, October 15, 2012

Topics: Family and Home Tags: events, news, policy October 16, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Five Questions and Answers About My New Book

As some of you know, I have a new book coming out tomorrow. It’s titled, ReFocus: Living a Life that Reflects God’s Heart. My colleagues at Citizenlink recently asked me five questions about the project. I’m delighted to share the exchange with you below.

CitizenLink: The title of your new book is ReFocus. Why do you believe it’s time we must begin to refocus our hearts and actions?

Jim Daly: I think that in the culture we’ve focused a lot on righteousness and living righteously.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, events, staff October 15, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Death in the Family

It’s with a heavy heart that I share the news that Barbara Hodel went to be with the Lord at 10:30 mountain time last night after battling significant health struggles following her fall and subsequent paralysis five years ago.

Barbara was the wife of Don Hodel, who served as the interim president and CEO of Focus on the Family from May 2003 until February 2005. Don also was a member of the Board for more than 10 years, beginning in 1995.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, news October 12, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

How to “Win” $250

Did the title grab you? OK, here’s the deal.

The Focus Leadership Institute, which has been operating on our campus since 1995, attracts college students from both Christian and non-religious universities all around the world. Each semester we’re thrilled to host some of the brightest young minds out there. Hundreds of these men and women are now serving the Lord in numerous professional and personal capacities – and making a difference!

I’m proud of each and every one of them.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: events, news October 11, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura