Find Balance, Regain Focus

When it comes to screen time are you finding that your life is out of balance and you're losing focus? If you need help, then this new online course, Screen Time 101, is for you. Okay, you may be thinking to yourself, “Ha-ha, an online course about screen time?...

5 Alternatives to Using a Screen as a Babysitter

For most parents, the struggle is real. My wife and I have often found ourselves needing to be free from the kids to get some things done around the house, have a conversation on the phone, or just get a break – and putting them in front of screen will do the trick. My kids turn into instant zombies when we put any kind of screen in front of them, so it’s a tempting solution. And what’s the harm really? It’s not like we’re letting them watch a scary movie or something with questionable morals. Yet, every time we’ve done this, we haven’t felt good about it.

5 Alternatives to Using a Screen as a Babysitter image

Musing Over the Fire

As a Texan, I just spent my first winter in Northwest Illinois where temperatures drop well below zero. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the cold knows the comfort that a warm crackling fire can bring to the soul. One must admit how captivating it can be. Whether it be a bonfire after cleaning up trees in the fall, sitting around a fire pit with friends, or at your own wood stove that must continually be stoked, it has a way of holding your attention.

The Two Engines

Putting diesel fuel into a gasoline engine could cause extensive damage. You would have to empty and clean the tank, flush the fuel system and hope for the best. Those who own both diesel and gasoline vehicles know this danger well. This analogy plays very well with the two engines that occupy our being, that is of the flesh and the spirit.

The Best Media Filter

Most of you wouldn’t drink water from a stream without first running it through a filter to prevent impurities from making it into your cup. These unfiltered impurities could cause severe sickness or even death. In the same way, have you considered your unfiltered media choices as toxic to your relationship with God?

A Couples Daily Media Free Challenge

In this day and age, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a growing relationship with your spouse due to busyness of life, raising children, etc. But progressively more, due to social and electronic media, we are creating isolation for ourselves and distance from our spouses.
What are some ideas and action steps that we can practice in our marriages to draw us closer to one another, rather than closer to the television? How can we spend quality time together without the use of electronic media? Here are some ideas.

T.H.I.N.K. Before You Post

We’ve all been in situations where we’ve spoken without wisdom and later regretted it. In Luke 6:45, Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Whether we like it or not, our words express who we are, and how we represent Jesus Christ. This also applies to our online presence where social media and broadcast platforms lend themselves to rapid and often unthoughtful reactions. I would encourage you to consider the T.H.I.N.K. acronym before your next post or comment on your online platforms.