Little did I know..

After reading the first Chapter I'm blown away by how little I actually knew about pornography. I'm going to start out by saying that yes I've struggled with porn. This past semester I came clean to Heather after years of hiding and isolating my sin. I wish I could tell you that I'm over it...That my struggle is gone, but I'm still working through it with The Lord. Before I would try to carry it myself, leaving the guilt buried on top of me until I found an outlet of release. I'm not just excited to read this book, I'm relieved. Although it targets men specifically, I know this book is for me.

I was intrigued most by the authors view on porn. He demonstrated it as anything that defiles God's original creation.. In His image. I did not realize how much porn I looked at before even opening myself up to what we would call explicit porn. Whether it was images in a magazine, CD covers, television ads etc. We are exposed to porn at a very early age. Like at least 5 years old for me. No wonder over half of our ATeam including myself have struggled with sexual sin.. It's everywhere.

So how do we combat it? Juicy is a great start, but for students to have breakthrough we need consistency. Maybe after Juicy we have private forums (guys and girls separated) for just our students to talk about these things on a more intimate small group level. Knowing someone who you are friends with struggles or has struggled with the same
sin you are dealing with creates a safe environment for you to be vulnerable.

The author talked about the three C engine. I was most interested in the Community aspect of pornography. He talks about it in a negative light ( those who delve into porn have a common bond) I can see this in my own life and in students' lives of friendships being built on struggle rather than breakthrough. Here's how it goes " I struggle with this" "Oh I do too let's sit and talk about how we struggle with it together" There isn't victory in that. Our students (including us) need to know and feel comfortable reaching out to people who can help us.

That's all.. I wrote a lot. Or at least that's what it looks like on my phone :)