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Football is Like Life – Only with Refs Who Enforce the Rules

The 106th NFL season kicks off on Thursday night with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Dallas Cowboys.

In the pecking order of life’s pressing personal and professional priorities, football likely ranks low, though television ratings can sometimes suggest otherwise. Last season, tens of millions of people watched professional football each week. Millions more watched college games.

I think I know why.

With all kinds of concerns swirling about, from wars and rumors of wars to political upheaval and social evils running everywhere, football is a welcome reprieve from the madness and mayhem of everyday life.

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When Change is Inevitable

Author John Maxwell says, “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” He means that we have two choices in life: embrace change and discover new potential, or avoid change and risk stagnation.

An example of the latter is the film company Kodak, once synonymous with photography. For nearly 100 years, the Eastman Kodak Company was the largest film and camera manufacturer in the world. It dominated the industry so completely that memorable snapshots were once referred to as “Kodak moments.”

But change is inevitable.

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Transform Your Parenting with These Eight Powerful Tips

What strategies are most effective for raising kids with good character?

We get that question a lot here at Focus on the Family. Our answer is that there is no one size fits all, but one thing is required: intentionality. Setting our families on “auto pilot” and hoping everything turns out okay is not a fruitful parenting approach.

Every Christian parent wants happy and healthy kids who love the Lord and who have a good relationship with their mom and dad.

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Inviting Strangers into God’s Family

Many Christians say they don’t reach out to strangers in the name of Jesus because they don’t know how to offer that kind of hospitality.

Author Annie McCune can show you how. She says, “Throughout the course of my life, I have had the privilege of loving many strangers through opening the door to my home and my heart. In return, I have been radically loved when I was a stranger in need of hospitality.”

Hospitality is about learning to love strangers with God’s love and grace.

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Identifying Harmful Patterns to Heal Your Marriage

Have you ever gotten your car stuck, in mud, or like those of us in Colorado, snow? You rock your car back and forth to get traction, but your tires spin, and you get nowhere.

Husbands and wives can get stuck like that. In anger, so you’re always battling each other. Or busyness, so you never have the time or energy to connect. Or maybe like my guests on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, Justin and Trisha Davis, you’re stuck in the saddest rut of all: apathy – you’ve given up and stopped fighting for your marriage.

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Navigate Your Differences

Dr. Gary Chapman wrote the book on love. Literally. He’s the author of the best-selling classic The Five Love Languages. But even Dr. Chapman had to learn how to love his wife well. Early on in their marriage, he and his wife Karolyn struggled to navigate their differences. They had such a tough time that at one point they both wondered if they had married the wrong person.

My wife Jean and I experienced something similar.

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Forming New Habits for Your Marriage

The stress of daily life takes a toll on even the happiest couples – which is why marriage and family counselor Dr. Randy Schroeder says seeking marital happiness is unrealistic. A better approach is to pursue consistent marital satisfaction. How? Good habits.

Dr. Schroeder offers four “daily essentials” for creating good habits in your marriage:

“Goodbye, I love you.” Whoever leaves the house first should initiate this.

“Goodnight, I love you.” Whoever goes to bed first should initiate this.

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Supporting Your Pre-Teen’s Faith Journey

A common question we get here at Focus on the Family is from parents who ask how to raise children who embrace the Christian faith. Many moms and dads feel unqualified to lead their children along their journey of faith.

The challenges are real. Many teens and preteens consume hours of digital media every day, which unwittingly shapes their view of God, the world, and themselves according to the values of people they don’t even know.

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Say This, Not That: Smart Parenting Tips for Misbehavior

Have you ever:

Regretted something you said to your child in the heat of a conflict?

Or wished you’d spoken in a different tone?

Or repeated for the hundredth time this month, “Why don’t you listen to me?” or “When will you ever learn?”

We parents are busy, stressed, and pulled in a lot of directions and don’t always handle circumstances in just the right way.

According to authors Amber Lia and Wendy Speake, these stumbles occur because we’re not intentional about how we respond in a crisis.

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Learning to Love Your Spouse Well

It’s often easier to tell your spouse, “I love you,” than to show them through your actions.

I can tell you that’s true not only from personal experience but from the sheer number of questions we get here at Focus on the Family from married couples about navigating busy schedules, financial issues, and communication and conflict. Each question represents a small everyday moment that somehow turned into a disruption to the couple’s marital unity.

Authors Matt and Lisa Jacobson are with me on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly to encourage husbands and wives to serve and love each other well.

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Daly Focus

Jim-Daly 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.

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