"How do I help my son get through this ordeal?" he must have been thinking when my dad sat me down and shared what he knew. With confidence he explained that each of the four ghosts in Pac-Man behaved differently; Pinky, Inky and Clyde were easily outmaneuvered. The key to safety was avoiding Blinky's relentless pursuit. Helping kids navigate technology looked very different when I was in second grade. Looking back, the Nintendo Entertainment System was just that: entertainment.
How I wish the biggest threat to my son was four pixelated ghosts and a blue maze! My three year old is growing up in a world immersed in touchscreen technology with unlimited access. Unlike my eight bit Nintendo, mobile devices are capable of far more than just entertainment: access to the internet is just one tap away. Access to the internet means access to everything, and honestly that scares me. Frankly, it should scare you too. Here's a few perspectives to consider:
Since its inception in 2007, Apple has sold over 700 million iPhones
Nearly 40% of kids under the age of two use an iPad before they speak
The average age of first exposure to internet pornography is 11 years
I'm not suggesting that you move your family to a seaside cave in western Oregon and live out your days eating wheat grass pancakes. Avoidance is not the answer. We've seen the influence of the internet increase and become more entwined in our daily lives, it's not going away. The question is "How do I help my kids navigate the internet with integrity while protecting my family?" The answer isn't a simple quick fix, it's a discussion and we want you to be part of it.
On Saturday, September 12th South Lansing Christian Church is hosting the Reveal Seminar. Our goal is to equip parents, educators and student ministry workers to lead children and students toward integrity both online and off. We've invited Dr. Joshua Straub and Dan Lohrmann to ignite the discussion.
We hope that you'll join us as we consider how to best guide our families in this developing digital age. Tickets are available for purchase here, but space is limited.
MOVE Update, Day 4
MOVE Day Four was entitled, You Are God, and we spent our day considering pride. In his morning devo, Mark Christian told us that pride and humility are the antithesis of each other. Yet, humility is not necessarily what most of us consider it to be. Humility is not about denying who we are or what we can do. It is about giving the glory for how we have been gifted to God. Pride says "I did this myself," while humility says, "God has given me this."
Our Daniel story for the morning was from Daniel 4, when King Nebuchadnezzar claimed all the glory for himself. The moment that King Neb claimed all the glory for his accomplishments and kingdom, God reduced him to a raving madman who went out like a wild animal. He lived in this manner until he repented and glorified God.
The fourth day of most MOVE weeks is usually a bit less busy. The morning flows like normal, with breakfast, morning session, encounter devotions, and d-group time, but then the day mellows out. Day Four is "skip a meal" day, followed by extended recreation. CIY uses the money saved by the entire campus skipping lunch on Day Four to further outreach and international kingdom focus. So our group headed to Burger King for lunch, and then out to Tunnel Beach on Lake Michigan. Our students and adults all had a blast!
When we came back together for evening session, our speaker, Dusty Frizzell, turned our attention toward another pride episode in Daniel. A succeeding king of Babylon, Belshazzar, chose to defile the holy vessels of God's temple by using them as table setting at a wild party. As the party heated up, a finger appeared and wrote a message of doom for Belshazzar and the Babylonian kingdom. Dusty emphasized God's holiness. He told us that any encounter with God's holiness leave us in complete awareness of our sinful condition.
We closed out the session thinking about being aware of God's presence. When students feel distant from God – which happens far too often - it's not because he’s actually absent. Instead, the problem is that students are unaware of God's presence, and are not doing anything to actively increase that awareness. As an end to the night, students were given bags on which they would write about what God has been saying to them this week. We used these bags to build a visible reminder of the presence of God.
One final day of MOVE remains. I look forward to God moving among our students tomorrow. Please Pray for us all to be aware of his presence.
MOVE Update, Day 3
Most MOVE days are full, but Wednesday was packed out! From the moment we woke up this morning we were on the go, taking our students on a journey through today's theme: You are Near. Our study all day interacted with the continuing story of Daniel and his friends, as recounted in Daniel Chapter 3.
In this episode, King Nebuchadnezzar persists in his attempt to usurp God's authority, by setting up a golden image and demanding that all people worship it. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse, he throws them into a furnace of fire. Mark Christian opened the morning with this thought, "When the you stand while the world bows to culture, you are going to be noticed. When you are noticed, not everyone is going to cheer." For Daniel's friends, standing up meant that they were sentenced to be executed. For students, the choice to Stand Up and Speak Up can seem just as daunting as facing a furnace of fire.
After lunch, we viewed CIY's new documentary, Aullido, which recently won Best Short Film at the Justice Film Festival in Chicago. Aullido follows the story of Vincente, a student from Guatemala who was sexually abused by his soccer coach. This film sparked some intense conversations among our students as we grappled with what it means to stand up and speak up against injustice whenever we encounter it.
Later on, Frank and Tracy dropped off care packages that you, the church, crafted for our students and adults. I cannot thank you enough for your support of our students on this trip. God is changing lives here, and our students feel loved by SLCC!
The rest of the day was filled with a dune hiking adventure, supper, ultimate frisbee, an all-campus student talent show called “The Alternative,” and our final session of the night. During this session, Rachel Grindle reminded us that God has been seeking to be near us since the dawn of history. From the Garden of Eden, through the Tabernacle/Temple, to Jesus Christ, and now to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God has always wanted to be with his people. Yet we seem to so often be blind to his presence. Students had masks with tape over their eyes, representing things that keep them from seeing Jesus. As our final act of the night, they were given the option to throw those masks into the fire and to seek Jesus Christ with their whole self.
God continues to work among us, and we still have two more days to go! Thank you for your prayers, and please keep them coming. Continue to pray with me for our students and adults as we dig into Daniel’s story!