From a Mom to Her Boys. . . Powerful. . . .
Thanks to social media, this little letter from blogger Renee Robinson to her boys went viral. It’s powerful. . . and awesome. . . and spot on. Yes, she’s writing about screens and electronics. But this letter should force us…
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A Prayer For Our Children
On several occasions in the past, I’ve mentioned how my prayer life has been deepened through the use of a variety of printed prayer books. One of these resources that I treasure the most is Scotty Smith’s Everyday Prayers: 365 Days…
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Transgender Issues and Kids. . . The Whittington Family
A few weeks ago a friend sent me a link to the video embedded below. The video is titled “The Whittington Family: Ryland’s Story.” Their request was simple: “Would you watch the video and tell me what you think?” I…
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Kids Snorting Smarties. . . Not Too Smart. . . .
Like most kids at the time, I spent my early-1960s elementary school years “smoking” candy cigarettes, el bubble brand bubblegum cigars, and foil-filled look-alike cigarettes that emitted a chalk-dust haze when you’d blow through one end and out the other.…
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Changing Times. . . Wow! . . .
Have you ever heard of Moore’s law? Named after Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, Moore’s law was originally proposed by Moore in a paper he wrote way back in 1965. Moore speculated that computer technology would develop…
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Pursuing God. . . Do I? . . .
Every now and then a little bit of self-evaluation is necessary if you want to find and correct anything that’s gotten off track in your life. In my case, a lot more than “a little bit” is in order. Funny…
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Self-Injury. . . The Voice On The Skin. . .
As a culture-watcher, I sometimes like to “rewind” as a way to gain perspective on just how much and how fast youth culture has changed. The practice serves to wake me up at times when familiarity with what was once…
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Digital Media: Screwing Up or Strengthening Adolescent Spirituality?
“First we shape our tools. . . and then our tools shape us.” That’s a quote from media critic Marshall McCluhan that I’ve been passing on for years, especially since we launched our Digital Kids Initiative here at CPYU over…
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Take a Tour With Me Tomorrow! . . .
In case you haven’t yet noticed. . . we’ve got a brand new website here at CPYU! A big thanks goes out to Chris Wagner and his team of subcontractors for pulling this off. Chris, you have some great work…
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Pay Attention! . . .
Last Friday I spent the day with some Master’s students talking about social media. It was a good discussion regarding the immediate and long-term fall-out of our obsession with social media. As always, I need to say that technology is…
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Bully. . . Wow!
This morning our class here at APU went through the “Walk Through Athens” cultural exegesis paradigm. For those unfamiliar, it’s a process we use to evaluate culture that’s based on the Apostle Paul’s interaction with the culture of Athens (Acts…
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The Youth Worker As Student. . . Never Stop Learning!
When I was a kid, school was a pain. . . really. In many ways, I saw it as a legally required interruption to the more important childhood pursuits, including things like play, television, and more play. It fell into…
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