“I think I have a problem.  There’s a monster in our den.  It wraps it’s tentacles around me, grips me like a vice, and sucks me in.  Once in it’s grasp I lose the will to fight.  Before I know it, another evening has been lost.  I did not engage. I did not get my workout in.  My wife has gone to bed and I’ve missed another opportunity for quality time with  the kids.”

The above admission came from a TV addict.  Paul kinda talked like this in his letter to the Romans:  ¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  ²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.  – Romans 7.15-21
The only thing is, Greg tells me they did not have cable back in the day when Paul was hanging out.  Paul must not have been fighting the urge to watch TV.  Maybe he was Facebook addict. 

So, according to the A.C.Neilson Co., here’s what we’re up against when it comes to TV use and the Family:

• The average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.
• Percentage of households that possess at least one television: 99%
• Number of TV sets in the average U.S. household: 2.24
• Percentage of U.S. homes with three or more TV sets: 66%
• Number of hours per day that TV is on in an average U.S. home: 6 hours, 47 minutes
• Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66%
• Number of hours of TV watched annually by Americans: 250 billion
• Value of that time assuming an average wage of $10/hour: $2.5 trillion
• Percentage of Americans who pay for cable TV: 56%
• Number of videos rented daily in the U.S.: 6 million
• Number of public library items checked out daily: 3 million
  Percentage of Americans who say they watch too much TV: 49%

I’m looking at these numbers, and remembering back to my adolescent days when we actually had a portable TV sitting on the dinner table while we ate together!   Now the true confession – That poor slob who confessed to that TV addiction earlier – that was/is me!  (you probably knew that already, didn’t you?). 

When I’m in front of the TV at night, it mesmerizes me.   As I listen to others of my generation share about their own evening struggles, I find I’m not alone.  We have a hard time braking away from the glowing screen.  Now that it’s in High Def, we’re toast!

It is in my nature to selectively follow biblical principles like –  If your eye offends you, pluck it out.-  and go cut it out entirely.  (No, not my eye, Greg!)  I’m so all or nothing that I feel like I need to dump cable, put the TVs in storage, and just remove the temptation altogether.  Paul’s wisdom again tells me - All things are lawful, but all things are not profitable.  All things are lawful, but I will not be mastered by anything.  So, I believe I need to get some accountability; set a timer when I watch; get rid of the remote and limit myself to one show per sitting.  Someone suggested that I try only watching TV when I’m on the treadmill.  Unfortunatley that wouldn’t get me through viewing only one commercial!  I’d just know I’d wind up yanking the plug on the treadmill, and putting the LazyBoy on it!!

How ’bout you – got any struggles with cable?  Got any secrets you’ve discovered to overcome your TV compulsions?  Let’s talk!

On Saving Face with Bob and Greg today, we talked about an article hot off the press from Barna Research exploring how different generations view and use the Bible. CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE  We had A real live expert in the house to give us some  perspective. Doug Coons, the Director of Youth Ministries at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church hung out with us in the studio for a couple segments. Listen in. Then tell us what you think…

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Eastside Grace Bretheren Church in Reynoldsburg is hosting a Family Conference on Saturday October 3 from 8a.m. to 3p.m. and yours truly (Greg) will be one of several presenters who will will be speaking on great and relevant topics! CHECK IT OUT (click)!

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Last Saturday, Greg and I has an opportunity to chat with Starr Hoyte, an ATM -Abstinence ‘Til Marriage – teacher.  Starr had some helpful hints for parents to make them more effective in helping their teens deal with adolescent sexuality. After all, she also told us that we parents are the #1 influence in our kids’ lives!

Starr recommended that parents avoid lecturing as much as possible.  They can do this by using humor, and by asking just a few questions, and then just drop it for a while.  Since Greg has such a disturbed sense of humor, I think he might actually do better if he lectured his kids into numbness.  Starr also suggested that we parents understand about STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases) so we can offer a little information to our kids and let the facts do the talking.  By the time we got done covering some of this, I realized that, though I’ve talked with my kid about some of this, I need to do it again, this time with a plan on how to be effective in mind!

Greg and I also think we should make sure our kids know how God feels about sex before marriage.  It’s not so much about preaching at them as it is helping them understand we find our source of fulfillment in life by following God.  1 Corinthians 6 offers some wonderful reminders of how to hanlde sexual intimacy in ways that please God.

For more information for parents, or for info on ATM, check out www.missthemess.com.

Our Man Up takeaways included:

1. The more you need for them to know, make sure you LISTEN! – know their world, their friends, their interests.
2. Before you  seek to be understood, make sure you seek first to understand… their thoughts and feelings.  Don’t discount these, even when you disagree with them.
3. Despite how awkward it can feel for both you and for them, make sure you go and really have ‘The Talk’.  And remember that, as they grow, it’s ok to keep checking in with them on this topic.

Okay guys, now it’s up to us to go do it- that is, to talk to our kids!