We made it to episode 100!
We are so excited to share this episode with you, so grateful for the fact that we have the chance, and we look forward to seeing what the Lord continues to do in the future!
Today we’re going to celebrate what God has done and talk about the three tech steps every family can take to help raise healthy youth in a tech world.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode: 

How do we know if our tech use is healthy? Use a RESET 
Building a hedge around your tech at home (routers and device protection!) 
Bonus: We really like Covenant Eyes for internet accountability (adults and young people), and Bark for home computers and phones (not sponsored, just really like both products!)

The changes to daily life have impacted all of us, but how have they impacted our children with special needs? Specifically, if I have a child with developmental-behavioral complications, such as ADHD or Autism, how might the increased social isolation and technology impact their growth and health? Today get to hear from a professional in the field who speaks to the benefits and practical steps we can take as families to support and love our young people wherever they are in their journey to love God and use tech.

We've all got one resolution for this year: Win at tech. It's been two straight years of bad tech habits and feeling like we "should" do better, and now we're resolved to do it. In today's episode we'll discuss three resolutions we can implement today that will help us all live healthier tech lives.

This Christmas I (Nathan) am picking up a tradition passed along by my papa Pete: Every Christmas Eve Papa would sit us down and read the Christmas story from the Bible--he'd make sure we all heard the promises of God before we dove headlong into our presents. As I prepared to do the same thing with my own children, nieces, and nephews I was convicted that I need to tell them more than simply a baby named Jesus was born. The entire point of Advent, and the anticipation of a Messiah, was because there are really three Advents promised by God and we need to live in light of all three at the same time. This episode is a reminder that we can do that starting today, and that it will impact every area of our lives.






A short list of verses to remind ourselves, and our family, of what God has done and is doing:

Genesis 22:15-18 (after Abraham puts Isaac on the altar to sacrifice)
Isaiah 9:2-7 - The promise of the Messiah - the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…
Luke 4:16-21 - Jesus declares himself the Messiah, echoing what Isaiah
John 7:37 - rivers of living water
Revelation 22:1-3 - everything will be made right, and those rivers of living water will fill us, flow from us and from the city.

Anna's back! It has been a LONG time, 48 episodes to be exact, since we were last graced by Anna's presence on this podcast. We get an update, talk tech, kids, life, and dive into a bit of how this Advent season should be shaping the way we use our tech.

There is a lot of new tech coming out for Christmas, and the Q is asked: Should I get get my child (insert new amazing tech) device?
To help, we want reviews of new VR set, that new smartphone and smart watch. We want to know if we should get that reader, tablet, or Echo Dot. We want more info on that PS5, Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, and Steam Deck.Is it worth it? Should they have it?
But the conversation is actually much simpler than that. It's now about whether they would enjoy this new toy, but rather do they love their life.

Sometimes I feel like I need permission to parent. It's not that I feel I'm doing a bad job, but I just feel like I'm in over my head. In business, teaching, and speaking we call it the imposter syndrome. It's that feeling you get when you give a presentation, or discipline your child, that you're not nearly qualified enough to be making these decisions. Today I want to tell you that you are everything your child needs in a parent, and it isn't your confidence but your Christ-like love that's going to make a difference raising your child in a tech world.

There’s a solid book on parenting written by Ted Tripp called Shephering Your Child’s Heart. It’s worth a read. I just reread it and realized there isn’t really a book like this about tech.
So while I may never write that book, I figured this episode could be a crash course in how we can apply Biblical principles of parenting to raising healthy youth in a tech world.
Our conversation today follows three key steps we can all take to help love our children like Jesus in light of the Gospel.

We are all experts at judging ourselves. We are incredibly critical of our flaws, mistakes, and shortcomings. One reaction to these harsh critiques is to make excuses: It wasn't that bad, I couldn't done worse, it's "relatively harmless". 
Today's conversation looks at how we have a higher standard than simply explaining our mistakes away, and we must accept that hope for ourselves so that we can extend it to our children as we look to raise them well in this tech world.

I often get asked “But why is it Gospel Tech?” Why not just something like ‘Healthy Tech’ or something that focuses on making good tech decisions?
The answer is pretty simple: the Gospel is the only thing that gives us the power to make meaningful change. Yes, we could remove smartphones and that would provide a benefit. We could protect from pornography, and that would stave off some addictions and hurt. But at the end of the day we haven’t changed our character or the character of our children. At the end of the day, we still have hearts that yearn for purpose and we lack an object of our affections that can handle that kind of weight.
That’s where the Gospel comes in. In today’s conversation we’ll talk through the three reasons the Gospel is so foundation to our conversations and practices with modern technology.