Jim Daly began his life in Yucca Valley, California. As the youngest of five children, his earliest memories are good compared to those that would soon follow. He talks of waking up to eggs and bacon almost daily, giving the dad hugs, and going to the store with his mom. Things were good, at least from his perspective. Unbeknownst to him, his family had been struggling financially for some time. The result was a move to a lower standard of living in an area that was supposedly less financially draining - otherwise known as Compton. At the early age of eight, Jim and his family packed up and moved to the rough and wild streets of south Los Angeles. Things seemed normal at first. Dad continued to wake up and make breakfast, and mom continued to go to the store and drag me along. Maybe it was a little harder to sleep with the new and unending noises of the slums, but all in all things were ok, the family was still together. However, Jim's life was about to change quickly and drastically.
As is the case sometimes, when the snowball begins to roll, an avalanche may be around the corner. So was the case in Jim's life. He recalls an event one day while he was playing baseball in the courtyard of the apartment complex his family was residing in. He and his friends were having fun running the bases when a large man covered in tattoos asked if he could play. They thought nothing of it and actually decided it would be cool to have an adult join their team. The game continued, but soon afterward the manager of the complex came out to keep his eye on everything. He soon felt it necessary to stop us from playing in the courtyard. The tattooed giant didn't seem to like this very much, and before Jim could look the other way he was witnessing a full-out violent assault. The man had taken a wooden bat and began beating the manager with it.
Jim hadn't seen this type of rage before, but it would not be the last. A short period after this, Jim was woken in the middle of the night by gun shots. He was, of course, told to stay in his room. Soon the police arrived on the scene. Unable to sleep, Jim laid in his bed all night, but the next morning he saw something he would never forget yet again. As he walked outside to go to school, there it was, the chalk outline of where a dead body lay just a few hours before. He didn't understand exactly what death was at the time, but he knew it wasn't good. Soon enough though, the sting of death would have its toll on little Jim Daly.
The stresses on Jim's parents didn't subside with the move to Compton. His dad soon began to resort to old habits, habits that Jim's siblings remembered all too well, but habits that Jim had not ever really known. His dad began drinking heavily again, after he hadn't for many years. During this period of Jim's life, he compared his dad to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. With diminishing quantity and quality his dad would be who he was the first eight years of Jim's life, but with a steady increase his dad would be a selfish tyrant and angry abuser.
As a recovering alcoholic, Jim's mom knew what had to be done, so she told her husband that if he didn't change quickly, she and the kids would be gone. And that's exactly what happened. Jim and his mother and siblings moved a few miles away. Meanwhile, Jim's dad searched for his family, and it was weeks before he found them. Unfortunately when he did, he decided that he would let his wife know of his dissatisfaction with the whole situation with the swing of a steel hammer. Jim knew after this episode that his family would never be the same again. Soon his mom and dad would be divorced, and he and his siblings would be under the rule of a different kind of tyrant.
"Hank the Tank," as Jim called him, became the children's step-father, and he ran a tight ship. He was a military man, who would make the children do push-ups as punishment. Also, Jim remembers sometimes having to hang up his jacket a few hundred times if he ever left it lying around on the ground. Jim knew that this man didn't care for him or his siblings. It was obvious though that "Hank the Tank" did love his mom. Through all of these hardships, the move, the divorce, and Hank, Jim was comforted by the love and his mother and siblings showed for him daily. He constantly mentioned his strong relationship with his mom, as a source of inspiration and hope. Sadly, this too would soon change.
First, Jim's oldest brother Mike left home because he and "Hank the Tank" just couldn't see eye to eye. Then shortly after, when Jim was almost nine years of age, things got much worse. His mom was diagnosed with cancer and suddenly locked away in her room. Hank said that she needed her rest and couldn't be dealing with us anymore. Jim and the kids could hardly ever see her, until it was too late. Within several months of fighting this terrible illness, Jim's mother passed away. He recalls it as one of the worst days of his life, but with it also came great hope. A close couple to the family, whom Jim called Grandpa and Grandma Hope, told Jim that his mom was in heaven because she had just given her life to Christ shortly before she died. Jim didn't know what any of this meant, but it would start him on a heavenly journey toward home.
Hank quickly left after the death of his late wife, and the children found themselves alone. Jim's older brother took charge, claiming he knew a family that would take them in. Jim and his siblings moved in with the Reil family, which would grow to be a big mistake. The Reil's took the kids in, but from the start didn't treat them like their own children. Actually, they didn't even treat them as good as their pets. There was food and shelter and that was about it. The Reil's children would make up lies about Jim and his siblings, and little Jimmy would often get in trouble for things he never did. He learned to cope by just staying out of their way. He would try to be out of the house as much as possible. He would go to school as early as possible and stay there as long as he could. During this difficult period, which lasted several years, Jim remembered being so distraught with his situation that he would sometimes just leave in the middle of class and go out to a dirt hill and just cry.
There he would also remember what Grandpa and Grandma Hope had said about God. He would cry out to God and wonder why everything in his life had occurred the way it had. He would think back on the time when his mother gave him some money to buy some flower seeds just before she died. He recalled how he planted them and took good care of them. Through this, his mom created a great picture of life and death for young Jimmy. He would also bring up the memory of when he got hit by a baseball in the face causing partial paralysis, and that if the ball had of hit him an inch more to the left, he probably would have died. He also would think about the time that Mr. Reil's friend almost shot him, thinking he was a prowler, but at the exact moment when the man pulled the trigger, Jim's brother Dave grabbed the rifle and the shot went a few feet to the left of little Jim.
Somehow, while thinking of all these things in Jim's past, he would feel that God had not abandoned him. This sense of God watching over him and that there was truly more to life, kept Jim going and gave him hope, even when all hope was lost. He believed life was more than coincidence. Something in him testified to the hope offered by Grandpa and Grandma Hope about God and his mother being in a better place. Jim held on to this hope with all he had, and finally, it wouldn't be too long that things would change for the better.
Soon Jim would be going into sixth grade and attending a new school. An even greater change was right around the corner though. One day Mike, Jim's oldest brother, showed up at the Reil's with their dad. Jim couldn't believe his eyes. He hugged him so tight until he had no strength left to hug him any longer. It wasn't too long after this that Jim got to move in with his father. This was one of the greatest days of Jim's young life. Although this situation didn't last long, it was good while it lasted. Unfortunately, Mr. Daly was drinking heavily and Jim's siblings knew it wasn't a good idea for Jim to be around his dad. After a little while Jim had to leave, so he moved in with his brother Dave who had recently married. Then the final blow came to Jim's life.
He was about to become a teenage and many things were naturally beginning to change. Then what was left of the Daly family got the news. Their dad had been living in a cold run down and dirty corner office. He died alone and probably drunk. One piece of good news was that the children learned that their father had been volunteering at a church down the street from where he was living. In the end, their father's death was completely opposite from their mom's. There was no talk of the good things he did in his life, there was no mention of him being in a better place, and there was hardly anyone there at his burial. It was a sad time, but Jim learned from it. Of his parents, he knew who he wanted to be more like.
When Jim got to high school he joined the football team and became one of the best quarterbacks around. His entire life would soon change forever. He was at a football retreat headed up by Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). One day at a devotion, Jim was engaged with a man talking about how Jesus Christ had changed his life. At that moment, Jim decided to give his life to the Lord. He walked up in front of all his peers and accepted Jesus into his heart. Jim looked back in his past, and now he truly believed that God had been with him through all the sad, crazy, and hard times.
Jim Daly's life began to change drastically after this moment. At the end of his high school career, he decided to give up football for the Lord. Then he went to college, got his degree, and met his wife, Jean. Many years later, when Jim and Jean were in their late thirties they had their first child, Trent. Then a few years later they had their second, Troy. Not too long after this, Jim was asked to come and work for Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson. He was offered a salary of approximately one-third less than another job offer he had at the same time. By God's grace he ended up taking it and began serving the Lord at Focus on the Family. The rest of course is history. In 2005, Jim Daly became the president of Focus on the Family. How unbelievable it is that a man with a disastrous up bringing and childhood, a man with practically no family tree, would become the president of the largest family oriented ministry in the world. To God be the glory! Looking back on his life, Jim Daly has come to one conclusion for sure, that "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalms 34:18). (pp. 217)
References
Daly, Jim. Finding Home: An Imperfect Path to Faith and Family. David C. Cook Publishing (2007).
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