Helping Families Thrive

I thought you’d find this note encouraging. These kind words are reflective of what many have felt about Focus on the Family over the years:

“I am at a loss for words to adequately express how much it means to my husband and me to know that there is an organization like Focus that is rooting for us.  Just today I was reading Psalm 37 and thinking about how your ministry provides ways to ‘dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.’  We have two teenagers and an 8-year-old in our household.  Adventures in Odyssey got us through the grade school years, but now our adolescents’ faith is being tested by all the entertainment options that the world offers.  Plugged In Online has become a significant compass for our family.  All three of our kids are dedicated to their walk with Christ but they still encounter challenges.  Thanks for all of your research and persistence in helping us navigate through stormy waters.”

This is exactly what we’re about: coming alongside and helping families thrive. It’s a privilege to be part of what our heavenly is doing at and through Focus on the Family. If you have a story, let us know, please. All to the glory of God!

One Flesh, But Two Beds?

A number of things popped into my mind as I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how couples share – or don’t share – the bed. Excerpt:

Bedroom bickering goes beyond sex and snoring. Couples argue about everything from what time to turn out the lights to who hogs the covers. Should you keep the window open or closed? Watch TV while your partner sleeps? Let the kids climb into bed with you when they’re scared? It’s a wonder anyone gets any shut-eye at all.

Reactions: Been there, done that. While true for Dena and me, this has been especially when our children were younger.

Despite feeling like we’re the only ones with these struggles, our different sleep needs and cycles seem pretty pretty common. I need 7 hours, she needs 9 hours. I’m an early riser, she’s not. She sleeps soundly in second half of the night, I sleep better during the first hours.

For years I would say goodnight to Dena around 9, then stay up another couple of hours. I just wasn’t ready for shut-eye at 9 p.m. The next morning, I’d be up and at ‘em an hour or two before her. Not a big deal, but it did take some adjusting. Conversations at night didn’t work, and I’d be in the hurry-get-to-work rush in the mornings. We had to work at making some time for good talks.We had to learn when we could have that casual time couples need to keep close.

Lately, we’ve been on a more compatible schedule. She often gets up before me, but still crashes around 9-9:30. I am often staying up past that. So while we’ve not had big conflicts over sleep, over the years we’ve had some…”learning opportunities.”

I also thought about Dr. Arch Hart, whose book about sleep has influenced our family. What a challenging resource! Here’s a conversation we had with Dr. Hart, in which he suggested that some couples might even consider having two beds – to avoid those sleep issues and to get some good, consistent sleep.

How about you? Have you had any sleep differences, or bedtime problems – like cover hogging – that have needed solutions?

Faith, Community and Young Evangelicals

My two oldest boys are 22 and 19 years of age. While my wife and I trained them for many years with passion and intentionality about Christ, their walk with God is now their own. They are “working out their faith” in different ways, with different perspectives on several aspects of the Christian walk, particularly when it comes to “community” (aka “local church”).

In some ways, my sons’ views on church are reflective of a growing challenge in the Christian community: How to reach out, engage and retain 20-somethings as active members/participants?

Recent statistics have shown an increasing exodus of young people from churches, especially after they leave home and live on their own. In a 2007 study, Lifeway Research determined that 70% of young Protestant adults between 18-22 stop attending church regularly.

So what are we to do?

I posted the above factoid on Facebook the other day, and here are some of the comments in reply:

Here’s an article in the Wall Street Journal about the dilemma that faces today’s churches: How to attract younger believers without losing the heart of the Gospel message? By the way, the author is 27 years old – which gives him some “street cred,” in my book.

Parents and church advocates/critics: Any thoughts?

Focus in the News

Focus on the Family is in the news as we deal with a budget that isn’t quite adding up. Many of our friends have been affected by the recession – so has this organization. While there have been a number of stories in the press, here are Jim Daly’s thoughts about the steps taken to make sure we’re making sure we’re “living within our means.”

On a lighter note, we’re finding a lot of folks connecting with us through our new Facebook page.You can listen to programs there, and leave comments, too.

Pride Addiction

Our theme on a recent Focus on the Family broadcast centered on the ways we tend to shield ourselves in different relationships by hiding behind emotional masks.  During that conversation, guests Julie Barnhill and Shaunti Feldhahn talked about being addicted to pride.  This link will take you to a small quiz to help you identify whether you are operating either from a position of pride or brokenness in your relationships.

(Note, link fixed, sorry for the inconvenience!)

Parenting Dos and Don’ts

A recent post about “helicopter parenting” was pretty eye-opening for many readers – in the post I included a poll, and most respondents admitted they hover over their kids way too much. How about you?

If you’d like to be a better parent, give a listen to this excellent conversation with Chip Ingram about how to approach the joyful task – he offers some great insights and wisdom.

Also, if you haven’t done so, take a few minutes to give your input at our broadcast survey here.

Survey: Focus on the Family Broadcast

Would you take a few minutes to give us feedback on Focus on the Family radio broadcast? Your answers to eight quick questions will help us evaluate and improve our programming. Here’s the link.

Advice For Moms

It’s my observation that moms like to share thoughts, perspectives and suggestions about parenting. If you have kids, you’ve undoubtedly been helped by advice from other moms. This radio series, featuring Shelly Radic from MOPS, is full of great ideas for Moms – especially those of younger children.

I’d enjoy hearing from listeners who benefited from our conversation with Shelly. Leave a comment mentioning something specific that you appreciated – or even something with which you disagreed – and maybe you’ll receive a copy of Shelly’s book, Momology. I’ll select a couple of winners on Friday.

Take Our Survey

Brother, can you spare some time? Really, only a few minutes would be very helpful.

Take a few minutes to answer our broadcast survey. Your answers to eight quick questions will help us evaluate and improve our programming. Here’s the link to that survey.

There’s no incentive – beyond the knowledge that you’ll be helping us fine-tune our radio programming. And that your input can help millions of listeners worldwide.

Thanks much!

Away With Family

John Fuller is away at a camp with his family, and his access to the Internet isn’t reliable.

While he’s sorry to be away from the blog, he’s having a great time. He will post again when he returns.

Thank you for reading, and for your prayers!

Next Page →