Being Vulnerable About Videos

    My heart faints within as I write this post. I am afraid the parents of children I have taught will imagine I am pointing fingers, but I assure you that is not the case. I suppose some of my peers will think I am being legalistic and pious. That is certainly far from fact. Perhaps others will be horrified by what you read here, shocked that a teacher would do something like this. My intent is only to share what God has lain on my heart and what He has had for me to see.

    We had a service one Wednesday evening not long ago on "Cell Phone Use: Establishing Healthy Boundaries." The moderators encouraged everyone to bring real-life experiences, victories as well as how-not-to-do's. "Be vulnerable," they said.
    I was unable to attend, and it's doubtful I would have actually spoken up much if I had been there, but there was an experience that came to rest with sudden clarity on my heart. You all have faced struggles the same as I have, so I am going to do the unthinkable and be very open here where far more people have access to my failures than would have at a simple church service. 
    As time and technology have progressed in a mad rush and we all struggle to stay abreast, there has been an alarming pattern that has emerged. I've heard other teachers mention it, too. Our students come to school day after day with stories they want to share. There is nothing wrong with stories! I love to hear them tell about the important things in their lives. But the stories, more and more often, have a common denominator. Students mention videos they have seen. Sometimes they say they saw it on their dad's phone, or a sibling showed it to them. Perhaps it was a cousin or someone that works for their dad. Occasionally they even admit to sneaking around behind their parents' backs. "It was so funny!" they"ll say. "Did you see that one?" Thankfully, I usually hadn't.
    We teachers, some time in the past, began to become uncomfortable with so much talk about videos, knowing the historic stand our church has taken on television. "What should we do?" we asked the schoolboard. We finally received direction to have them write sentences to take home and get signed by the parents if they spoke too much about things they had watched. It was a very good plan.
    But somehow I just couldn't do it. Not because I was too soft. Oh, no. It was because I, too, was guilty. I didn't talk about watching videos at school, but watch them I certainly did. I comforted myself because they weren't bad videos. Besides, some of them were even educational. Yet I knew, deep inside that I was just making excuses for myself. I couldn't punish my students. I couldn't send sentences home that might be a reproof to their parents. I couldn't make them stop talking about watching videos without condemning myself.
    Slowly, with prayer and searching, I began to gain victories. They were not victories won overnight, neither were they won without some defeats, but with God's help, I found more conviction and grace to overcome. At last I found myself in a place where I could get onto my students with a free conscience because I was living what I preached. No longer did I try to tell them that "We don't watch videos," then go home and find the most fascinating documentary I could. 
    Is my victory perfect? No, of course not, but God is still working on me and I desire ever to stay open to His work. 
    Teachers, parents, youth, fellow Christians, we've got to live what we say we believe. If we are to have any hope of meeting our friends, our children, the prodigals we love in Heaven, we must find the power through Christ to witness to them not only with our words but with our lives.
    It's not just videos. There are many attributes we want those around us to possess. Sometimes we find ourselves shying away from pointing someone to the right path because we know our words don't line up with our actions. Sometimes it frustrates us that we can't get through to our children on a certain issue, when what we really should be looking at is dealing with ourselves first. Has anyone had trouble with a child that loses things because he or she is messy? What about self-denial? Perhaps a few of you understand what it's like to hear critical comments coming from the lips of someone you love and realizing they learned it from you.
    Don't wait until it is too late to make changes! Today we have forgiveness. We have hope. It is painful to admit the failures we see in ourselves. Uprooting old habits isn't any fun, but we can no longer afford to stay neutral and let things slide. The time is over for fun and games, for passing fancies. This is Heaven and Hell. The Bible says, "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life."
    That is my desire. To grasp my decision firmly, to take up the cross with gladness, and carry forever in my heart a longing to please God until the day He calls me Home.