Jim Daly

Supreme Court Reaffirms Founders’ Commitment to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion

Advocates of religious freedom and conscience exhaled this week as a majority of justices affirmed the constitutional rights of every American to practice and preserve their faith beyond the doors of a traditional church.

Friday’s 6-3 decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis, authored by Justice Gorsuch, wasn’t just a win for Lorie Smith, it was also a victory for anyone who supports free speech protected by the First Amendment.

On Thursday, a unanimous court held that Gerald Groff, a former United States postal worker and an evangelical Christian, who had been told he needed to work on Sundays, was entitled to religious accommodations.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: faith

Creating Mayberry

At some point, we’ve all wished that we could live in a place like Mayberry, the small North Carolina town from the Andy Griffith Show. And why not? We’d have neighbors like Barney Fife, Floyd the Barber, and Aunt Bea. Imagine waking up every day in a community where everyone was sweet and thoughtful to each other and where things rarely got out of hand. Even Otis*, Mayberry’s town drunk, was entrusted with his own key to the jail so he could let himself in and out every night.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: faith, family

To Flourish and Thrive

The sexual revolution that began in the 1960s has taught us more about the need for good boundaries than any other time in history.

When the birth control pill first became available, the response was a cultural pendulum swing labelled “free love” where men and women were encouraged to cast off all moral restraint. Boundaries that once governed sexual promiscuity essentially vanished.

The sexual revolution assured us that we could do whatever we wanted with whomever we wanted whenever we wanted with no consequences.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family

Cultivating a Healthy Life as a Single

If you thread two keys onto a single key ring, is either key more complete after it is joined with the other?

No.

And neither will you be if you’re single and hoping to be married one day.

“Singlehood” is often synonymous with “incomplete.” But Adam and Eve weren’t created as a couple. God created Adam first, as a single, an individual. He was given a purpose in God’s creation prior to Eve becoming his wife.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family

Moms Are Human, Too: Why Self-Care is a Good Thing

I can’t say it enough. Moms have on of the hardest jobs in the world!

I think the Lord created women with maternal instincts that drive them to serve and sacrifice everything they have for the sake of their families. My own mom cared for five children, worked two jobs, and tried to meet everybody’s needs the best way she knew how. We didn’t have much, but we were happy.

Unfortunately, it’s easy for moms to take on too many responsibilities – and neglect themselves in the process.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting

Growing Your Marriage in Times of Stress

Does your marriage stress you out?

Are you bringing stress into your marriage?

Either way, how do you handle it?

Many couples seek stress relief in non-relational ways that enable them to hide from each other. Drugs and alcohol. Shopping. Gambling. Excessive cleaning. Binge-watching television or social media.

We retreat.

We shut down.

We become silent and non-communicative.

Jesus faced stress. Luke 22:44 says, “Being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Matthew 26:37 says Jesus was “sorrowful and troubled.”

Jesus modeled how to seek stress relief through relationship.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, marriage

Helping Kids See God’s Glory in Nature

Nature has incredible influence over us.

Studies show that plants and flowers help post-surgery patients raise their spirits, experience shorter hospital stays, require less medicine, and recover faster.

An article from the Yale School of Environment reports that spending a cumulative time of two hours in nature each week has significant health benefits.

Nature is also an incredible classroom for teaching children about God’s character. Even young children can perceive God’s hidden attributes through creation (Romans 1:20), connect God’s Word to the natural world, and develop a deep understanding of the rich nature narratives strung throughout Scripture that point to the Creator.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting

Talking to Your Daughter About Puberty

Do you feel like your daughter is growing up too fast?

Believe it or not, it may be true. In fact, that conversation about puberty you assumed was still a few years off may be needed sooner than you think.

There’s some debate about why it’s happening, but there’s no question that puberty is occurring earlier and earlier in girls. For some, it could be as young as seven or eight! Puberty brings about big changes in a girl’s physical development and body image, and that can be scary if she isn’t prepared for what’s coming.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting

“Abortion Cake” Heart Wrenching Evidence of a Blind and Broken Culture

The social media site TikTok boasts over 1 billion monthly active users, placing it in the top five of all such outlets being frequented today.

The platform is known for all kinds of crazy, but a recent post has left even some of its most hardened users shaking their heads in disgust – and others cheering.

Such is the nature of social media, which for good or bad, the medium provides a real-time snapshot of what people believe – and what they’re thinking – or not.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: pro-life

Disillusionment

As I witness the chaos that so often erupts in our culture, there’s one word I don’t usually hear people use to describe what’s happening: disillusionment.

I believe disillusionment is at the heart of much of the problems plaguing our country: from mass shootings to drug and alcohol abuse to losing hope so completely that suicide seems the only option.

America was once a nation of rugged pioneers. Now, we seem to struggle to handle life’s harsh realities.

Continue ReadingTopics: Current Events Tags: culture