Daly Focus Blog
More than 70,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2019. According to The Wall Street Journal, that number was 30% higher in 2020.
Numbers like that are the latest sad statistic from a culture of drug abuse that broke into the open in the 1960s and 1970s. The cost of illegal drugs in terms of crime, lost work productivity, and the impact on the health care system is estimated at $200 billion a year. To that figure, you can add another $80 billion from prescription drugs.
Several years ago, wildfires swept through an area not far from the Daly home. We were forced to evacuate.
Emergencies can strike any of us at any time. We’re never promised an easy life without worries. Where you live might be susceptible to wildfires, hurricanes, or tornadoes. And we all face the risk of job loss, chronic or terminal illness, or the death of a loved one. How we react to these situations is what’s important.
We sat around the living room, trying to be productive while facing death. The date was Wednesday, October 28, 2020, and tomorrow would be my Mother’s long-awaited funeral. Her cousin, Andy Cook, a highly respected minister, was asking me and my family rapid fire questions about her life as he prepared to deliver the eulogy.
The conversation was like reopening an old wound. Mom had died six months earlier on April 19th, after a battle with cancer.
Author Lee Strobel believes that family is the answer for today’s children to become “the greatest generation that has ever lived for Jesus Christ.”
He has strong evidence to back up that claim. Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara conducted a landmark multigenerational study concluding that parents are fundamental in passing down religious beliefs to their children.
In addition, the study affirmed that having a close bond with one’s father is the single biggest influence in a child’s life.
Kyle Poulson was eight years old when he was told that he was adopted – a moment that became an anchor in his life. He felt blessed to grow up in a loving family with faithful Christian parents who wanted him.
Kyle’s adoptive father died in 1995. Before his adoptive mother passed away in 2016, she encouraged Kyle to find his birth mother, a process he began in February of 2017. Because the records were closed, he ran into dead end after dead end and thought he might never find his birth mother.
Strong-willed women, on the other hand, are often characterized as “bossy” or “controlling.”
Author Cynthia Tobias says that strong-willed women are trail blazers. Strong-willed women:
God doesn’t want to rid women of their personalities. He wants to direct their strong wills and use them for His purposes. When women submit themselves to the Lord, He can channel their strength into transforming their marriages, influencing their children in the right direction, and seeing God’s kingdom advanced in whatever other ways the Lord chooses to use them.
What kind of tools are in your parenting toolbox?
In a regular toolbox, like the one in your garage, you’ll find hammers, screwdrivers, and different sized wrenches – tools with very particular uses for specific problems around the house. There’s an old saying: if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything will look like a nail after a while.
There isn’t one tool to rule them all.
It’s the same with parenting. Some moms and dads only have one tool in their parenting toolbox that they use in every situation – like anger, overly strict rules, or permissiveness.
One of your most important responsibilities as a parent is to pass your faith and values on to your children. It may also be one of your most challenging tasks. A shocking turn of events at the 2008 Summer Olympics illustrates why.
Both the U.S. men’s and women’s 4 x 100 relay teams were expected to compete for the gold medal. Instead, neither team made it to the finals. Their exit from competition wasn’t because another country outran them.
Bill Butterworth had something of an awakening when his father died.
At the funeral, Bill stood behind the lectern and spoke as the family representative. As important as what he shared about his father is what he didn’t share about his father.
Bill didn’t mention his father’s career or his real estate holdings. He didn’t talk about his father’s bank account or his stock portfolio. Instead, he shared about what his father believed and valued, and recounted some of the meaningful life lessons his father had taught him.
On Good Friday, April 9, 2004, tragedy struck the Bainter family. Brett was mowing the lawn on his riding mower, while his three-year-old son, Jake, played in the driveway.
At one point, Brett backed up, not realizing that Jake had run up behind him. A baby-sitter who was supervising Jake tried to stop the impending accident, but it was too late. Brett ran over Jake, and the young boy would end up losing his right leg.
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.
