Some folks have asked why I pursue international missions work. Isn’t there enough to do here at home?

​Do you remember the scene in the old version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas where the Grinch’s poor dog Max pulls a sleigh full of toys from Whoville to the top of Mt. Crumpet … to dump it?

It’s the climax of the story, and as the sleigh hangs impossibly over the edge, slipping bit by bit, the Whos begin to sing their strange and winsome Christmas song. This music transforms the Grinch as he realizes that Christmas is not just about the gifts, but “a little bit more.”

In fact, the Grinch’s heart is changed. Geisel writes that “the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.” At this point in the animated story, a little x-ray screen appears over the Grinch’s heart, and we see the heart expand until it pops the frame of the x-ray screen apart. The Grinch is imbued with superhuman strength, and picks up the sleigh, turns it around, and rushes back down the mountain to deliver the stolen toys to their owners.

This is what happens to me every time I travel to other countries to share my story and message of purity and the Five Doors of the Heart, to drop off children’s books or do parent conferences or attend rite-of-passage ceremonies.

Entering another culture is a great privilege. As the Grinch found out, it’s transformative. When he tried to force the Whos to operate his way, he was a mean one. But the Whos helped him see something important very differently.

Our last week was spent with the Herrera family (above) in Jinotepe and Granada, Nicaragua. The Herreras are like family to me after three visits and being offered hospitality in their home. I have learned more about what a healthy family looks like from them than any other family I know.

I’ve also been able to encourage them and help with connections to strengthen their wonderful efforts to care for the hungry and care for glue addicts and others without purpose in a country most people don’t even know exists.

This week we are in Managua with girls rescued from garbage dumps at Villa Esperanza, and then we drive to El Salvador’s capitol to attend a rite-of-passage ceremony with 50 girls there. Their church put on a play of The Princess and the Kiss and had a crowd of 800 attend (they expected 200). Then the church leaders decided to pursue doing the Life Lessons follow-up to the children’s story with the girls.

It will be my great honor to attend this event and to speak to the youth and church in San Salvador. My heart will grow another size.

There is no doubt that there is plenty to do at home when it comes to helping people. Unfortunately, America doesn’t have all the answers. Sometimes the greatest wisdom and even help for getting a message across in the States comes from getting OUT of the States for awhile and opening our hearts.

That’s why I keep answering the call to international work. No matter where the good is done, it makes a difference, as we share our own strange, sweet songs that echo across culture. These notes of service and connection strengthen me and my friends in other countries to lift the heavy load of the work we do “at home.”

My heart still has room for lots of sizes. I’m looking forward to snapping the frame of the x-ray screen in San Salvador—again. If your frame has never been broken, I’d strongly suggest the same for you. Getting outside your box may put you in a place you never dreamed of, as you carry burdens you thought you could not, and feel the wind in your hair as you rush down the mountainside, bearing gifts.

A little girl goes to a friend’s home to play. Instead of playing with dolls, the two girls hide away in the closet and watch hard-core porn on the family’s iPad.

Is the fact that the iPad was not password-protected the biggest mistake her parents made?

No.

Smart parents understand that the Internet is a dangerous place for kids. To protect their children’s developing minds, they install filters on their computers and password protect mobile devices.

They may even reach out to other parents to make sure they are doing the same.

Their biggest mistake? To think they’ve done enough.

So if a parent has already installed Internet filters, what else can they do to protect their kids? The answer: Teach them to install their own internal filter.

With more and more kids getting exposed on school computers, an internal filter is crucial.

What's an Internal Filter?

It’s the understanding of what pornography is, how it affects the brain, and an action plan to use when kids are innocently exposed to it.
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Here are three steps to help your kids install their own filter.

1. Define the word pornography.
2. Explain that viewing pornography can hurt their brain (just like drugs).
3. Give them an action plan to use when they see sexually explicit media.​​​

Define Pornography

​​Some parents shy away from even saying the word pornography, but that just gives it more power. 

Jill Manning, PhD, author of What's the Big Deal About Pornography? A Guide for the Internet Generation and an expert who has testified before Congress on the dangers of pornography, advises parents to define the term so kids are clear about what we want them to avoid.

“Being clear on what pornography is and how to recognize it is the first step to protecting ourselves.”

​Let’s bring this darkness out into the light without apology or shame. For some great tips, check out How to Define Pornography for a 7-Year Old.

​Pornography Can Hurt the Brain

More and more brain research is demonstrating what mental health practitioners already know: viewing pornography can lead to a lifelong addiction that can be more difficult to overcome than addictions to drugs, alcohol or tobacco. And because kids have easy access to the internet, these addictions are beginning younger and younger.

​Recently, Valerie Voon from Cambridge University published the results of a study which showed that pornography addiction leads to the same brain activity as alcoholism or drug abuse. Another study done in Germany documented brain shrinkage in people addicted to pornography. These and many others studies are beginning to show that pornography can damage the brain just like drugs do.

What do your young kids need to know? That just like other drugs, viewing pornography can lead to brain damage and addiction. For more kid-friendly information about how pornography affects the brain (and a child’s freedom), read Hey Kids! Freedom Begins in Your Brain.

Give Your Kids an Action Plan!

This is where you get to help your kids with some specific strategies. Answer these questions to help you devise your family’s porn exposure action plan:

1. When they see it, what should they do immediately? (Shut down the device—it’s good idea to practice this drill.)
2. Who should they tell if they are ever exposed to pornography? (Kids often keep exposure to pornography a secret for a variety of reasons—encourage them to tell you and assure them that they won’t get in trouble.)
3. How can they deal with the memories of the porn exposure that keep popping up? (This is a cognitive skill—for some helpful tips, read Teach Kids Two Ways to “Forget” Porn.)

​If you’d like more ideas to help your kids proactively defend themselves against pornography, check out the best-selling read-aloud book Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids about a mom and dad who teach their child what pornography is, why it’s dangerous, and specifically how to reject it.

​I am convinced of this truth: As we face the dangers of pornography head-on, our kids won’t have to face them alone.

Please share this article with anyone you know who has young children or grandchildren. Thank you!

Sitting in a gazebo all weekend at a local family event, I got to do a lot of people-watching. The most enjoyable part was seeing people use our standees for pictures (above). An old-fashioned carnival kind of attraction, these forms where kids (and adults) could stick their faces in and get a picture were an irresistible draw to our booth.

Since we had The Princess and the Kiss, The Squire and the Scroll and The Three Gifts of Christmas available for kids, we also had a table of toys – a plastic sword, a tiara, a dragon and a mirror with a crown built in to make the viewer an instant princess.

It’s always fun to take on an imaginary identity – we love masquerade parties and dressing up like superheroes. But when PurityWorks hosts a Planned Purity event, even our simple interactive play is designed to draw participants back to their TRUE identity.

We are royalty.

We were made for honor, nobility, service, goodness, truth and beauty, nothing less. Boys and men are meant to be protectors. That’s why the Squire sets out to conquer a dragon and free a kingdom.

​Girls and women are meant to be treasures. That’s why the Princess courageously saves her kiss for a Prince and no less.

We were made to care for others more than ourselves. That’s why the little princess in The Three Gifts ends up giving her Christmas gifts away.

Unfortunately, our dangerous world coaxes boys into being predators and girls into being willing targets. It teaches us that we should selfishly pursue everything and enjoy instant gratification without self-control. This foolishness must stop immediately, and we must fight
​our own personal battles with all our hearts to change it, checking ourselves and putting others first.

Nonetheless, this weekend I saw many people step into their true identities and smile – even one older lady and her husband. She knew she was a princess, and so did he. What a gift!

​When we walk like royalty, talk like royalty, and act like royalty and set our hearts to serve as humble benefactors, fighting for the good, defending the weak and needy, we find who we were truly made to be. Our virtue is restored. We can put the past behind us and operate more like human beings and less like animals.

​In fact, when we see ourselves truly, our world can be restored as we regain a culture of honor. That is what PurityWorks fights for, and always will.