Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written to you all 
I could think of a thousand excuses but none of which I think you’d buy. I thought the most convincing one would be “my dog ate my laptop” but then I thought, “hmm.. they might not go for that one.” It appears that my last post was written on April 1st of this year which was about 6 months ago. WOW! I just read that post and I can’t believe 6 months have already passed! I really am getting old. Last week a teenager told me that 30 is the new 20 which actually puts me at about 18 years old. That’s gotta make you parents feel comfortable, me being 18 and all 
Right when I start to feel good about my youthfulness I usually play a game of basketball outside with the FlipSide guys. It keeps me humble.
This month has been an intense month at FlipSide during our series titled ‘Blunt.’ I figured since the world doesn’t beat around the bush with what they tell our teens, the church shouldn’t either. So Week 1’s message was titled “Who do you dress to impress?” We addressed the ever growing trend of wearing less and less clothes. At the rate society is going we should begin to see dental floss in the clothing section at Target in no time. I spoke very candidly about the responsibility of women, in how they dress, to not create a stumbling block for men who are trying to live a righteous life. I also spoke with the men about not believing the lie that “it’s okay to look because I’m a guy.”
Week 2 was titled “Draw the line.” By dumping a bunch of sand on the floor and drawing a line in it, I illustrated the importance of making a distinction between our stance and the worlds. I demonstrated how easy it is to compromise that line by flirting with the world. I mentioned several areas where the world says YES but God says NO. The main area I mentioned is the recent trend of Hookah Bars. This is a dangerous trend I believe every parent should be “in the know” about.
Last week I spoke about “Sexual Sin.” If you ever want to get your teens attention just mention the word ‘Sex.’ I didn’t see a single person dosing off in last weeks message I spoke about what sexual sin is, it’s ability to destroy your life, and how to find forgiveness and freedom from it. Nothing sells in the world today like sex does. I mentioned a staggering statistic that the Porn industry makes more money every year than the NFL, NBA & MLB combined. Parents please make yourself aware of what the world is calling acceptable and don’t let them have the final word in your child.
Matthew
