Kama Sutra...for children!

I remember when I was a young kid and I saw my first Playboy magazine. I was at the airport with my family. I had heard of the magazine and, of course, the pictures on the monthly covers were always provocative. I stole guilty glances whenever they came into view. This was before stores thought to put the black covers in front of the magazines and before they put all the magazines in sealed plastic sleeves. I waited for my parents and twin sister to leave the store and said I would be right with them. When they were just out of sight, I grabbed the Playboy and flipped through the pages as fast as possible. My only thought was, "How are her nipples so pink?!?" I am not happy to have that memory etched in my brain, though it is not nearly so bad as much of the sludge I desensitized it with later in life when I became addicted to pornography.

All of this flashed through my mind today while I was at Barnes & Noble. I've spent the better part of 17 years battling the images I have sealed in my mind. I was looking at board games when I took a casual glance to my side and saw the "adult" section. There were incredibly lustful pictures of outwardly gorgeous women on the covers that staggered me in my steps. One of the books in particular was about 4 feet off the ground and stuck out into the aisle. On its cover were a completely nude woman and man engaged in a sexual acts (Kama Sutra) and my only thought was of myself when I was a kid and how such images hijacked my brain for the better part of half my life.

I approached one of the store clerks and asked if he could find a more "proper" place to position the book. All he said to me was, "Yeah, we tried to move those books as far away from the kid's section as possible but YOU can put it on its side since it's bothering you." Goodness, in my flesh I would have rather bought the book instead of bringing it up to him! Still, I found it annoying that he turned the situation around on me as if I was the problem. His eyes seemed to scream out accusingly, "Of course it's completely natural to put sexual books at eyesight near the board games where kids, before their time, will seek to know just what the hell they're looking at!"

Many people like this man have decided that it is perfectly acceptable for kids to get an "education" in sexuality. I am here to emphatically say that it wrecked my sexuality and view of women and I have only just begun to recover. I wish I had never been given the opportunity as a child to sexualize women and see them as objects of my pleasure. I'm still not even sure I know what it means to be attracted to a woman apart from her looks. I've never been in love and I'm afraid of intimacy. I've cheapened sex as if it's only something that I can get as opposed to what I can give and I'm so sad and weary in my heart because of it. It's sickening.

But God, who is rich in mercy, has renewed me by the washing of His Holy Spirit. He has given me new eyes to look on women as creatures who are deeply loved in spite of their flaws. He has greatly healed my heart after I went hiding from love through deeply perverted actions and thoughts related to voyeurism, exhibitionism, homosexuality and pornography. I can't wait to get married someday and experience sex as God planned for me to: In a safe, caring and committed relationship with the love of my life. I deeply desire the opportunity to raise our kids and provide for them a spiritual shelter where they can take refuge in Jesus from the evils of this world. One of my most joyful thoughts is of my children loving Christ as their Savior.

So I am pleased to say that God has brought my experience full circle, from a lonely and wounded child furtively looking at a Playboy, to a sex addict, to a recovered addict and excited potential father. By God's grace, my struggle will not be that of my children. In spite of my sin, God has redeemed me and can do the same for you.

Protection of money or life?

I found the picture for my blog here: http://mediocracy.us/category/hypocrisy/

In a macabre display of worldly hypocrisy I watched the Brinks armored car pull up to the school today. Out came an armed security guard carrying his money bag inside while the armed driver kept a close watch. Apparently, they weren't told that our school is a "gun-free zone" as are all public school in California.

There I was in the front of the school with a badge clearly stating "security" on it and a small self-defense pepper sprayer on my hip. My jaw went slack for a moment as I realized the implications of what I was seeing. Here I was as a security guard at a school in charge of protecting hundreds of students and, though I am qualified to own a gun, I was not allowed, by law, to keep it on my person outside of the home. So why can someone in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars in actual money pack heat to protect the greenbacks in his possession?

This small act proved to me that society, as a whole, believes that money is worth more than the people who eventually produce the capital to make it. We potentially sacrifice our future growth and prosperity by not adequately defending our children while we simultaneously protect something that is worth far less. Money's worth is found only in the strength of the government promise that backs it. A person has worth invested in them by others who sacrifice of themselves to build them up.

We should not have the expectation of making a sacrifice of death to uphold life especially when it is within our ability to provide safety. A few people wanting to burying their heads in the sand and calling a place "gun-free" does not a "gun-free" place make. It just means that those who have the guns and the desire to use them nefariously will detect no threat in bringing them into the gun-free zone. At that point, the badge on my arm will no longer mean "security" but instead "shoot me first." It is a sacrifice I will hopefully be willing to make if I am called to do so and, by God's grace, I will be allowed to defend the lives of those students who have been entrusted into my care.

I am grateful that at the end of the day I do not have to worry about such things as death. My God invested me with great worth that will never perish. It was granted to me by the incorruptible blood of Christ that washed away my sins. I have gained worth from the sacrifice of Christ and if I am able to sacrifice of myself to prove to others that they too have worth then I will be thankful for the opportunity. My hope is found in these words and I encourage you to read them carefully and meditate upon them:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls."