In Christ we are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), and that must change the way we parent our children. We must speak gently, act rightly, be generous with our time, energy, and resources, and think of our children the way God thinks of us. This is an act of the will, for sure, but it's only truly possible through the active working of God's Holy Spirit giving us the heart and will to love as he calls us.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/49fQFyl

As we look towards Christmas and the greatest gift God gave us in his Son, we need to think intentionally about how we can give our children the best gifts. Namely, we want to give the egg, not the scorpion (Luke 11:11). Today we continue our conversation about Analog Adventures this Christmas, and get into how these this Christmas can be a time to focus on fun at the pace of real life. 

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3WO7A3O

Giving good gifts is a gift and responsibility as a parent (Just see Luke 11:11). This Christmas we can give our children amazing gifts that inspire, encourage, and equip them to have fun at the pace of real life. That's right, we're talking Analog Adventures! Over the next two weeks we'll discuss Board Games, Art, Competitive Fun, Books, and STEM.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3X7gpFN

While nerds are great at lots of things, we can struggle being present, knowing our limits with tech use, and generally submitting to God's kingdom and not our own. It is easy, in Tolkien's words, to move from Escaping to a better Reality towards Deserting the call God has put on our lives. The problem, at the end of the day, isn't that we haven't made a good enough reality yet, but that our world is broken and needs the great Restorer.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/47BNX4U

Nerds are amazing at experiencing wonder, seeing past the mundane into the Reality God has made, and avoiding the typical traps that come with pursuing purpose in the daily grind. Today we'll celebrate how God has made nerds, and how you as a parents can celebrate your child, your own nerdiness, or maybe even grow in the area of faithful imagination.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4h99rJE

Sometimes the hardest part of healthy screen time is knowing what to do instead. So how do we know if our child has too much screen time, and what can we do instead? There are three questions we need to ask, and then four activities we can use to quickly point our children back to analog adventures.

  1. Are screens babysitting?
  2. Does my child content with screen time?
  3. Is tech a consistent battle for our family?

The average school-aged child has six "blocks" of discretionary time a day. We will look at four possible analog adventures: books, board games, art, and baking.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4nNUQWC

Have you quit praying? Think about the last week: What happened when you saw that last horrible news article, or video on SM, or had someone at work tell you about another heart-rending tragedy. What did you do? If you're anything like me, you didn't pray. You might've shrugged, or cried a little, or made a snarky remark (also more like me than the other two)--but if you're like me, you didn't pray. Our lack of prayer shows we are forgetting just who it is we serve. We serve a God who is:

1. A good father
2. Creator God of everything
3. Calling us to kingdom work

We pray to see His will be done and His kingdom come. Let us not give up in doing what is good, but instead to pray without ceasing, even if it means we pray about our lack of desire to pray.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4pS7m8R

There are three unique struggles on social media thanks to the advent of AI:

1. Bots and the Dead Internet
2. So much p*rn
3. Problems with Reality Retention

There are three steps we can take today:Step 1: Get internet out of the bedroom.Step 2: Get your family hedges setup — start talking about this!

• Ask your child: Have they seen AI generated content? How can they tell what is real and what is fake?
• For younger children: Let’s play a game called “real” v. “story”. .Elsa and Frozen, Vacation we went on as a family

Step 3: Get off the internet. If you’re under the age of 16 you don’t need SM. If you’re under 15, you don’t need a smartphone.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4pCrZWn

There are mean people online. Three steps to take to help ensure we handle mean people well are:

1. Assume others are intelligent
2. Attack ideas, not people
3. Remember the Gospel: We were all once sinners (Ephesians 2:4) — now we’re saints, by grace.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3JZr8ie

Few people go online looking to change their minds. Most want validation or escape. With this in mind, we must be intentional with our social media interactions. Today we'll discuss three ground rules for dealing with mean people online, and give practical examples we can look to for how to do online conversations and ministry well. 

Three ministries who use social media well as an outlet for gospel hope are:

1. Tim Barnett, Red Pen Logic
2. Brady Cone, Calibrate Ministries
3. The Bible Project

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3VcSYtT