More than 80% of abortion vulnerable women choose life after seeing ultrasound at a PreBorn Network clinic

Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com/AFR friend we're living in a defining moment. Today a woman facing an unexpected pregnancy can order the abortion pill online, often before anyone has the chance to tell her she is loved, that she's not alone, or that there is hope. That's why you are needed right now. You were made for this moment. At, PreBorn Network clinics, mothers are welcomed with compassion, practical support and a free ultrasound. And when she sees her baby and hears that tiny heartbeat for the very first time, fear often gives way to hope. In fact, more than 80% of abortion vulnerable women choose life after seeing their baby on an ultrasound at a PreBorn Network clinic. That one moment can save a baby's life and open a mother's heart to the hope of Jesus Christ. This is our moment to stand. For those who cannot speak for themselves, just $28 provides one life saving ultrasound. $140 helps rescue five babies. Please don't wait. Dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 baby. If you're a business owner, would you consider a larger donation to claim a write off? Your best gift would be appreciated. A stand alone gift of 15,000 dollars will sponsor an ultrasound machine for a needy clinic helping to save countless babies lives for years to come. All gifts are tax- deductible. Together we can save, lives one heartbeat at a time.

The Dr. Nurse Mama show focuses on healthy habits for healthy families

preborn.com/AFR hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing hope for

Dr. Jessica Peck: healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner

Dr. Jessica Peck: and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck. Well, hey there friends and welcome, welcome, welcome to my favorite time of day, and my favorite day of the week. It is fry. Yay. I hope you're having a good Friday, a good weekend, whatever you have planned, whether you're working or not. I'm so glad that you are here and that you have joined us on this healthy habits journey. We started this back in January where we talked about four core spiritual disciplines. Then we talked about six rhythms that your family needs to thrive. We talked about communication skills that was Particularly convicting and still continues to be. We spent all summer talking about tech and now we're right in the middle of safety. This world is very unsafe and we cannot make the world safe, but we can create safe spaces in an unsafe world. And so we've talked about keeping our kids safe in tech. We talked about tech stuff, safety, and last week we talked about body safety, which is a newer term that we're using for child abuse prevention and being your child's best protector. Now the good news is it doesn't matter where you are in the healthy habits journey. You can join us at any time. You can go back and listen to any Friday show where we talk about these habits or you can look for the one minute version on the doctor, nurse, mama, coaching minutes. But today we're talking about safety. That's a, a little, last week was a little tough. Today is not quite as tough, but it's something that's really important.

Sun safety is something that our families navigate 

We're going to talk about keeping our family safe in the sun. Now, hopefully everybody sees the sun every day and this is something that our families navigate. And I've been hearing so many questions with conflicting advice about sunscreen and sun safety and UV factors and sports and all the things. So I'm going to talk about all the things. I'm going to take those questions and hopefully answer some of them that you have just generally talking about just some general guidance about sun safety. Now, we look forward to summer. We're still in those last days of summer. It's a season we all look forward to. It's longer days and family vacations and pool parties and time outside and hopefully going to the beach or the great outdoors. And a lot of our best memories, I think are made outdoors in God's creation. And we look at a lot of elements of safety. We want to keep our family safe. But one of the safety risks that can be there for our family is sun safety. And we tend to minimize it. We talk about other things like the current railing of our, the current debate, I guess that's going on on social media. What I'm seeing is things like e bikes and golf carts and don't worry, I'm going to talk about those before we finish this series on safety. But we tend to just say, oh yeah, let's just not talk about sun safety until maybe your family has experienced a skin cancer diagnosis. And then all of a sudden like we take it more seriously. It can be really, make us a lot more aware and sometimes it's hard because sun damage is invisible. A sunburn will fade and you can probably remember back to your childhood a big sunburn that you got, which actually each big sunburn increases the risk of skin cancer later on. But unlike a scraped knee, a broken arm, we just don't see those cumulative effects often until years when we're all wrinkled and telling our kids and grandkids, hey, maybe baby oil. And laying out to fry yourself like a lobster was not the greatest idea. And the reality is sobering though. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Now that can be interpreted differently how you look at it, but it is very common. And exposure to UV radiation during childhood and adolescence, it does play a role in lifelong skin cancer risks. And research estimates that five blistering sunburns over a lifetime can double your risk of developing skin cancer, particularly melanoma, which is the deadliest form of skin cancer. And even one severe sunburn during childhood can increase future risk. Now we're talking about very minute increases, but over time and compiled altogether that can add up. And here's what's especially important for parents. Most sun damage occurs before age 20. Now children's skin is thinner, it's more vulnerable and the habits that they have now for being in the sun are going to shape their, their health for decades. And it can be really hard because culture can give competing messages. And saying that a tan is still marketed as looking healthy, but tan is actually tanning is actually. If you, if you didn't know, I, I remember the first time I learned this that it's actually evidence the skin has already been injured by UV radiation. But we see on social media tanning challenges and UV inde apps that are used not to avoid the UV index but in fact to pursue it. So today let's just separate some myth from fact. Let's talk about some practical evidence based ways to enjoy God's creation while protecting the skin that he gave us and how we enjoy the sunshine.

The sun does cause invisible damage to our skin and that damage accumulates

But don't underestimate it. So as I told you, the sun matters because it does cause invisible damage to our skin. UV radiation damages DNA in your skin cells and that damage accumulates over time. Even you don't have a visible burn. And skin is program. It's amazing way that God designed us but it remembers that every significant UV exposure to speak kind of generally about it. But sunburn isn't the only indicator of damage. There is there are other things that can happen. So there is a difference. People often ask what's the difference between UVA and UVB rays? So let's talk about that for a second. You these are ultraviolet rays. The UVA rays go deeper into the skin. These are the rays that make our skin age prematurely, that contribute to skin cancer and they're present year round. Now UVB rays are those rays that cause a sunburn. They are also a major contributor to skin cancer and they're usually strongest during the midday. Now we hear a lot of times minimization of burning or taking care of our skin. We'll talk about base tans or it's cloudy or only, only outside for a little bit or I'm the water or those kinds of things. But the truth is that we need to be conscious of UV rays and there's some things that we can do.

Gen Z is very, very invested in skin care

Now before I get into that, let me talk a little bit more about culture and especially teen culture. What I'm seeing right now in this UV index trend, and this is one of the interesting contradictions to me in today's teen culture is that Gen Z is very, very invested in skin care. I mean we see it's very popular for kids to buy a refrigerator to keep in their room just for their skin care Like I can't even imagine, I didn't even have a landline in my room when I was a teenager. But now we have teens who, it's popular, we have to have this because they may know the difference between hyaluronic acid and niacinamide. They have very elaborate morning and nighttime skin care routines which are not always a bad thing, but they can spend a lot of money too. There's a lot of marketing here on things like serums and moisturizers and anti aging products. Whereas before generations focused on cosmetics to make you look good, makeup to make you look good. This, this generation is into skin care and that means both boys, girls, males, females, and in many ways they're, they're really shifting what their, their standard of beauty is. And it's great to take care of the skin that God gave us, but it makes a perfect opportunity for us to reframe a conversation. And the irony is that the single most effective anti aging project product isn't a luxury serum. It's actually get sun protection. And that is important. So we know that we, that there's growing awareness to take care of your skin skin. But many teens still want that tan because they associate that with looking healthier, more attractive. Or you may see on social media they call it vacation Glow or Golden hour or tan line Trends is something that I see trending on social media. And so teens are looking at that UV index to find out when are the UV rays high? And let's run outside when they are. Now, this really hasn't changed very much. This has been popular. It's some kind of tanning trend in all generation. But a tan is really your skin's emergency response to that DNA damage that's happening from the ultraviolet radiation. And it's really funny to me because I can always tell when I'm at a dermatology conference, if I'm traveling and there happens to be a dermatology conference, because I'm going to go out to the pool and you're going to see people decked out from head to toe with hats and long sleeves and wetsuits or whatever. Their skin is protected. And that's what happens when you diagnose skin cancer for a living. That can happen. But really what we see in tanning is that, that the, the skin produces something called melanin. And I know I'm being really specific in health today, but this is something that we, we all have skin. We all got to take care of it. And that melanin production increases because the skin cells have been injured and they're attempting to protect themselves from further damage. That's what's happened. A tan is evidence that your skin is trying to recover. It's not that it's thriving. So when we see this UV index, what it does is it measures the strength of ultraviolet radiation on a scale. And the typically ranges from about 0 to 11. And so when we see the index get high, like 6, 7. I know, right there. Just brought back the trend. Right? I'm sorry. For everyone who's listening and who goes, oh, six, seven. She said it. Six, seven. It's an easy way to remember that the UV index rate can be high. And, eight to ten is very high. And so what I see, instead of saying, oh, it's high, let's stay inside, let's do some sun protection, like, let's run outside. While this is high. And that UV index isn't like the air quality index, where lower numbers mean it's safer. It's more like a heat advisory. So the higher the number, the more respect it deserves. So a UV index of 9 is not a great day to go get a tan. It's a great day to wear a hat and stay in the shade and to protect your skin. And so that takeaway is simple here. When you're talking to kids, we don't use the UV index to decide when to tan. You Use it when to decide to decide when to protect your skin. And that is important. Another teen trend that I'm seeing, that has been pretty stable and that's still there is indoor tanning beds. And many teens assume that tanning beds are controlled. They're a safer version because it's not the real sun, but it's, it's not safe. Indoor tanning devices expose users to some concentrated UV radiation. And research shows that if you use those beds, the younger you are, especially before the age of 35, it can increase your risk of skin cancer. And the younger that someone begins indoor tanning, the greater their lifetime risks. It also can make your skin age faster, including wrinkles and age spots and uneven pigmentation. So ironically, the very behavior that is intended to improve your appearance, in fact might cause cosmetic things that are undesirable that you were trying to prevent. So that this is really hard. But we can't come in teens with lecturing instead of leading with, oh, you'll get skin cancer someday. Start with what they care about. Hey, you're spending a lot of time taking care of your skin and I admire that. I think that's great. And let's talk about protecting it from the sun. And the glow you're after is healthy skin, not damaged skin. And the best skin care routine in the world, it cannot undo repeated UV damage. And so this generation, Gen Z, is really good at understanding prevention and other areas of wellness. So that is something that you can really find common ground and talk about. I know your goal is, is to have healthy looking skin. Let's talk about how that can do so. That is important to do so. Rather than criticizing their appearance, just, find common ground with a message that you are joining them and helping them to protect their skin. That can be really important. So when we talk about what is that. Sun safety is really layered protection. So seek the shade between those hours of 10 and 4. If you can be outside before 10 or after 4, when your shadow is shorter, that means the UV is higher. So look for that long shadow. It gives you better protection. And so try to plan that outdoor play, swimming in the early morning or evening if you can, and dress for the sun. There's all kinds of clothes now that you can get UPF clothing, you can get lightweight long sleeves or hats or sunglasses.

We can get confused about what kind of sunscreen to use

And then we'll talk about sunscreen. This is one of the most common questions I get. And we can get really confused about what kind of sunscreen to use. And now we think, oh, maybe sunscreen is really bad I really encourage you to talk to your primary care provider about the sunscreen that is going to be best for you. But generally speaking, those mineral based or physical sunscreens that have zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the active ingredients, those are the ones that are going to provide broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection and generally you can use most of them for kids kids 6 months and up and again, read the label and talk with your primary healthcare provider. But that broad spectrum protection is really important and it I'm not a fan of the spray. I just have to say I'm not a fan of the spray because it's uneven and it chokes the person next to you and it takes a whole bot. Let me tell you, it takes a bottle to cover a family and that can be really expensive. So cream based ones are generally best. When we come back, I'll talk to you a little bit more about SPF and how do we what is that and how do we pick it? I'll also tell you about some home front headlines and we'll tell you about what's going on in the world and what is what's going on and why it's important for your family and how you can respond to it. I hope that this weekend you do something fun with your family, whether that's outside or not, and that you protect your skin from the sun. We'll have a lot more right after this break. I'll see you in a minute.

Without people like you, this podcast would not exist

Hello, I'm Jessica peck, host of Dr. Nursemama.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. And that's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American Family Radio and specifically this podcast. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today by visiting afr.net/give that's afr.net/give I'm So Blessed by Aaron Cole and CAIN whether it's your best day, your worst day, some Tuesday or your birthday, every day's a good day. Now let me tell you why. If you got air in your love, you got blood in your body. You are a child of God. Come on and sing it somebody day I'm a child of God on my worst day I'm a child of God. I got this M Doesn't matter if I got you. Welcome back friends. That is I'm so blessed by Aaron Cole and Cain and isn't that a great Friday song? That is a. I just love that. I love that song so much. When I am thinking about the things that are overwhelming, all the things that have happened in the week. Reminding myself of the blessings that God has given me is a sure way to turn my Friday around. And this Friday, we're talking about healthy habits. We're right in the middle of a safety series, and today I'm talking about sun safety and trying to answer some of those questions you have about how do we keep our family safe from the sun. And to recap, some of the things we've talked about are connecting with teens and finding common ground and not letting them use indoor tanning beds or chase the high UV rates. We've talked about what UV is, the UVA and UB UVB range rays are. And we talked about sunscreen. And the best news in all of the confusing words about sunscreen. And again, the best recommendation is probably going to come from your primary care provider. But the best sunscreen is one that is recommended by them and that's going to be used consistently. That is going to be your best protection.

Let's talk a little bit about SPF before I tell you about Homefront headlines

Let's talk a little bit about SPF before I tell you about Homefront headlines, because this is a question that I get a lot. What is spf? How does it work? Why does it matter? And so let's break it down. Spf. SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor spf. And it basically is telling you how well a sunscreen is supposed to protect your skin from the UVB rays, particularly those rays that are primarily responsible for sunburn and that are a, contributor to skin cancer. So the, think of SPF as giving you a stronger shield from the sun doesn't longer protection. It's not the higher the spf, the longer it's going to last. It's the stronger that shield is from the UV rays. And so sometimes people think, well, if you have SPF 100, that means you can stay out all day. That's not how it works. So here, here's an easy comparison. SPF 15 is going to filter about 93% of those UV rays. SPF 30 is 97%, 50 is 98%. So you can see the difference between 30 and 50 is actually only about 1% stronger, which is why most dermatolog and, and care providers are going to generally recommend a sun protection factor, an SPF of 30 or higher, again of that physical barrier looking for something that has zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. And so when you look at that SPF number, you have to remember that the testing is done based on ideal laboratory conditions, like using enough sunscreen, not sweating, not swimming, not rubbing it off, like, you know, in perfect conditions. And so in real, most people use too little sunscreen because, you know, heaven forbid you be the you that you have your kid. I know there are parents who have been there who are putting sunscreen on their kid and they do not want any of it to show because they don't want to be made fun of. So we tend to use too little or you miss spots. You all know when that's happened to you, or you just don't reapply it because you think, oh, I've used SPF longer or I didn't sweat it off. But you if. But it's better to think of SPF as a measure of protection. It's not a time measure. So no matter what SPF you choose, which again, you should choose probably 30 or greater in most cases, apply it very generously, put it on about 15 to 30 minutes before you go outside, and reapply it every two hours. You also want to reapply it maybe more often. Again, thinking of those ideal laboratory conditions, if you have a kiddo, who is just really aggressive in the water or is doing competitive swimming, or they're sweating a lot or they're towel drying in between, maybe even put it on more often so you don't put it in once you're already at the pool, because that's hard to do. Do it before you leave and before you go out. And for adults, the amount is about one ounce. Now, don't come at me here, but the what the recommendation is is about a shot glass. I'm not saying anything about using that, but everybody knows about how much that is, right? So that' about how much you're going to use. And for children, you need to use enough to fully cover their exposed skin. And research is interesting. It shows that most people actually only use about 1/4 to 1 half of the amount. Places that are often forgotten and burned. And you've probably experienced this at some point in your life. The tops of your ears, the tops of your feet, the back of your neck, your scalp, your lips, your hands behind your knees and shoulders. Those are among the most frequently burned areas because those are just areas that we forget to do. Now, for babies younger than six months, there really is. Sunscreen is generally not recommended. The primary protection should be shade and protective clothing and hats. But for older kids, one of the biggest questions that I get is sunscreen and bug spray. Like, can you use both? Again, get guidance from your primary care provider for specific instruction. But generally speaking, you're going to apply the sunscreen first, allow it to Absorb and then apply the bug spray because that sunscreen is absorbed into your skin. And then the repellent, that insect repellent, repellent, forms a protective barrier on top. And it really is best in general to avoid the combination products because you're supposed to put the sunscreen on, you're supposed to reapply the sunscreen, but not reapply the bug spray. And so that can lead to under application of sunscreen or over application of insect spray. So that's a question that I get. So it is important just to make this part of the culture of your family. Just know that you can get sunburned even in the shade. Shade you still need to put sunscreen on even though it's cloudy. A tan does not protect your skin. And those things are important myths that we know are not true. And so that is important. And Psalm 121 reminds us, the Lord is your keeper. And this verse makes me laugh because I think of it as, through the eyes of being a pediatric nurse, the sun shall not strike you by day. I think of that because I think of sun protection. But the truth is, God created the beauty of the outdoors for us to enjoy. And caring for our skin is one way that we can honor that gift that he has given us. And so before your family heads out in the sun, just remember those sun safety tips and remember to prevent skin cancer, because I have been at the presence of many diagnoses and that that can be a really hard and a scary thing. So we want to protect the skin that God has given us.

We see social media messages conflicting what we know about skin health

Now when, we look at Homefront headlines, I see actually a lot of headlines related to this. So let me share with you some of those things. These are stories that I follow in the news and to tell you what happened, why it matters for your family, and how you should respond. Now we, I'm seeing a lot of headlines about the perfect tantra. It is summertime, and we're seeing things on social media really explode. And that is happening. And so some of these trends, again, are that intentional tanning culture or vacation glow, or even showing tan lines to show, like, this is my evidence of I had a great vacation, I'm sun soaked, those kinds of things. And you can see a lot of those trending on social media. So if you have teens or you're discipling teens, you're leading a teen group, ask them about their attitudes towards skin care and ask them about their skincare regime and then ask them what they're doing to protect their skin from the sun. And many times you'll see a disconnect there. And that may be a place you can get in the conversation because we see these social media messages conflicting what we know about skin health. And so that is important. So teach them all the things that we have talked about that is important. And, and I've already reviewed that, but just know that that is definitely going around.

There is an increase in cleaning product injuries among young children

Now, in another, another thought about protecting our skin, one headline that caught my eye this week was an increase in cleaning product injuries. Now this can cause skin burns and also ingestion. I saw a new analysis of some national data from emergency departments across the country, and it found that about 200 kids, age 5 and younger, this study was done over a, 15 year period, but that's about a quarter of a million kids who got emergency care who had to go to the emergency room for injuries related to household cleaning products. Now that is really important. Now children around age one are the most vulnerable and they counted for about 43%, just under half of those injuries. And one of the things that we are seeing increasing injury that I want to bring to your attention for safety is laundry and dish, dishwasher detergent packets or pods that you might see. Those accounted for more than one third of the injuries. So if you look at those highly concentrated pods, they're often really colorful. If you're looking at them through a child's eyes, you could see how they look like candy and how they're just about the size of a kid's mouth and they seem like something to ingest. So this is really important for households who have little ones around. Maybe you have grandkids who are visiting or maybe you have neighbors who are coming over. Make sure that those things are, all of those household cleaners and chemicals are up and away and out of reach for kids. Now in this study that I looked at, the, bleach was actually the most common chemical involved. And most injuries were poisonings followed by chemical burns or eye or skin irritation. And the highest risk, again, it's going to occur around that first birthday when kids are more mobile, they're more curious, they can climb. And so that matters because especially younger kids, they learn through touching things, through tasting things. And that is important to look at. So what can you do again? Store all of those cleaning products out of sight and out of reach? We know that, when I was growing up, we used to have those Mr. Yuck stickers that you would put on everything. I'm sure that you can relate to those. That's a good thing in telling adults this is a chemical. But kids just see that as a cartoon character and it doesn't deter them one bit. What does deter them is keeping those products up and away and out of reach and using a locked cabinet whenever possible, keeping products in their original containers so that you know what it is and what happens. A lot of times for me as a healthcare provider I'll have you know we put a cleaning solution in this, you know, really, this bottle that you know marketing told me that I needed because my, the regular bottles are ugly and I wanted to keep them organized and, and then we don't know what chemical it is and that can impact the medical treatment. So it's important to know what it is. Put the products away immediately after you use them and consider avoiding detergent pods, especially in homes with young kids. Keep those up and away and out of reach or use the liquid based detergent that's not concentrated in the pod. The safest cleaner is one that kids cannot access. And there is no childproof container. There are child, there's child resistant packaging. But I, I think you all know that kid. Maybe you were that kid who can break through any, any container there. Don't wait for symptoms. If there is an exposure that happens. If your child is exposed to a chemical and you're really, especially if you're not sure about if how much they ate or got in their eyes or on their skin, just call the poison control line. They are so great in helping it. Their knowledge is so extensive. We call them all the care all the time in primary care. So just put that number in your phone. I'll give you the number here. It's 1-800-222-1222. I'll give it to you again, 800-222-1222. Put it in your phone, label it poison control. Don't wait for it to happen. And then you're trying to look it up and call, just have it right there, call. They'll be able to tell you exactly what to do. And this is important not just for cleaning materials but also also for medications. There are a lot of medications that can be accessible to kids. Make sure that those are not accessible, that they are up and away and out of reach, that you are disposing of expired medication. Most pharmacies have a take back day so you can ask your pharmacy when's your next take back day? And just store those in a locked cabinet if you can. Don't flush them down the toilet that can actually contaminate the. The water supply that is the there. And sometimes throwing them away is not the safest option either, although that could be an option. You can also ask your local pharmacy what's the safest way to dispose of this medication? And you can help dispose of that safely because if you. The less medication that you have lying around, the less chance of accidental ingestion or exposure. That is really important.

I want to talk to you about some AI safety issues

And continuing talking about safety, we. I want to talk to you about some AI safety. I've been talking about this all year and I will continue to talk about this. And we are seeing AI. I just continue to evolve in dog years. I, mean, what used to tap it happen in one year? It feels like it's seven years of advancement that's happening. And even the AI that I was looking at last month, this month, is already so outdated, it is happening so fast. And we are seeing AI integrated into every way of family life. It's often we think, oh, I'm not using AI because I don't use chat gbt. But AI is integrated pretty much in any software that is trying to give you an algorithm for your preference so many ways. And this is important to continue to pay attention to these headlines because kids are growing up in a world where technology is increasingly woven into the fabric of their everyday life. And while it can have benefits and improve safety, it helps us and communities to respond faster. It helps with problem solving. There are a lot of conversations, conversations still going on about privacy and responsible use and digital citizenship. And basically what we're talking about here is balancing security with personal freedoms. AI is not a safe experimentation ground for kids. And recently I had a show where we talked with an AI expert about how AI is being used and what are responsible ways we can teach our kids to interact safely with AI. This is important for us to not have a fearful spirit, but to have a faithful spirit and to teach our kids how to do that. So make sure we're continuing to have that ongoing conversation talking about technology as a tool, not a substitute for responsibility. Protect your kids privacy. A lot of times when we scroll through all that legalese and we check the box because we just want to get to the platform and stream whatever we're trying to stream. We don't realize how much privacy, how much private data we're giving away. And one of the things that was really intriguing to me in the conversation that I had was talking about how kids will give away their private data in chats with AI chatbots. And we've given them data about when they've been anxious or stressed or depressed or upset about something or their best friend's name and, where they want to go to college and all of this personal data. And she had some really good advice and talk. This is Sarah Dooley talking about, not about having some boundaries and not sharing that information with AI. When we come back, I'll have some more home front headlines and talk about social media safety features. Are they really protecting our kids? I'll tell you when we come back.

Dr. Michael Kruger says early Christian books had authority from the start

Here's Dr. Michael Kruger from the American Family Studios documentary the God who Speaks.

Dr. Michael Kruger: From the very start, it seems that these books had a level of authority. And a good example of this is Paul's own letters. When Paul wrote, he wrote with the authority of an apostle. An authority of an apostle is one who speaks for Jesus. And so he spoke in his writings with the highest possible authority you could speak with. He was speaking, in one sense, the words of God to people. And people received it as so. They were to obey Paul's letters. They were to follow Paul's letters as the words of Christ. They were to read Paul's letters publicly. So the idea that these books started off just as, occasional letters or historical documents, and that only slowly, gradually, over time, did they gain authority of scripture, I don't think is borne out by the historical evidence. The evidence indicates that the authors knew they were writing scripture and the early church received the description from a very early time.

This Is My Father's World by The Worship Initiative: Visit thegodwhospeaks.org. This is my father's world and to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my father's world I rest me in the farm of rocks and trees, of skies and seas is in the wonders. Welcome back, friends. That is this is my father's World by the worship initiative. And if you're like me, you on a daily basis think, oh, my goodness, is the world just losing its mind? Can the world get any more hectic, chaotic and scary than it is now? And it's a good reminder that this world does belong to God. And God is sovereign. He is in control. He is on his throne. And he cares about the big things and the little things. And he cares about keeping our families safe. He cares very much about our safety. And it breaks God's heart when we see the consequences of living in an unsafe world. It is Friday. I'm talking about Home Front headlines. These are news stories that I follow and help you to be aware of what's happening, what matters for your family and how your family should respond.

 Many protections that parents assume exist just don't work

I'm going to spend this last time talking some more about some online safety in this series on safety. We talked earlier in the show about sun safety, but it's still, we still need to be talking about online safety because it seems like every day there is a new threat. But remember, God has not called you to be fearful, only to be faithful. And he's not given you a spirit of fear. And there are things that we can do. We are equipped with what we need to help keep our kids safe and to help healing happen when safety breaches occur. Now, I'm continuing to watch many headlines related to social media and AI. These are the most common questions that I get. And just recently the Cyber Safety Research center, which is an organization I follow, they independently tested 86 child safety features across four of the largest platforms. And they found that those things are really not working. They are not working as well as they are supposed to be working. Now this is not a big surprise to us because we know that there is, often oversell that happens there m rather than actually protecting like they are supposed to. And so we often hear, see these warm commercials and see this reassurance and, and it's good to see those things moving in the right direction. But we also need to be very wise and wise and discerning digital consumers to know that we need to trust but verify. And when I looked at this specific report, it's really interesting, if you're really interested, you can go and look at it and see the methodology that they used. Test these platforms and the research, bottom line found that about 60% of the tested safety features either failed outright, they were difficult to find, or they didn't work as consistently as promised. Those were the themes that came out of this study. And many protections that parents assume exist just don't work. Or they require children to voluntarily activate them to opt in. And that really reduces the real world value of that. There's a gap between safety that companies are marketing and the safety that children are actually experiencing online. And that, you know, we hear like, oh, we're making social media safer for kids. But safer does not mean safe digital safeguards cannot replace active parenting. So we can't outsource our supervision to a technology, although that can be a helpful tool. Children are still increasingly vulnerable to being exposed inappropriate content, content unwant contact from strangers and algorithmic exposures to harmful content, despite what platforms may claim about it being safe. And parents who assume that these default settings are the safety they're often surprised when they find out, why wouldn't it be defaulted to safety? You have to opt into safety. And so we unintentionally sometimes leave our kids exposed because we just assume safety. We can never assume safety online. And we see technology companies continue continuing to prioritize engagement over protection because engagement is the engine that that gets money. I saw a statistic this week that estimated that the average person scrolls through content on their phone. If you were to take that content out and stretch it out physically for how long it goes on your phone, you will never guess how long it is that the average adult scrolls per day. It is the height of the Statue of Liberty. That's how much we're scrolling. The average person is scrolling through their phone. Can you imagine scrolling thumb by thumb up the Statue of Liberty? That's how much content we're ingesting every day. That is a lot of engagement. That drives ad revenue, that drives visibility, and that is difficult. And the burden of supervision really does rely on families. We can't. We cannot put that back on. The companies can have tools that are helpful. But the deeper concern here is discipleship. Every hour that children spend online is shaping their worldview. It's shaping their identity. Who am I? Shapes their values, how they engage in their relationships, and their understanding of truth. Safety settings alone are not going to provide discipleship or to guide a child's heart. So how should we respond? Well, assume that parental oversight is the primary protection, not the platform. Safeguard safeguards. Regularly review privacy settings together with your child. Make sure they know what's private and what's not. Delay social media as long as you possibly can. One of the most common questions I get is, how old should they be? I think that's different for every child. Delay it as long as you can, preferably until they're out of high school, honestly, and keep those devices in shared family spaces. Have tech transparency, tech free times, all of those things we talked about in the summer with tech habits. That is really important because we know that God has entrusted parents for the primary spiritual formation of our kids, not institutions. And that is important.

We are seeing Christians turning to AI for spiritual guidance

Another headline, we see Christians turning to AI for spiritual guidance. This was really interesting. Some of the research that's coming out says that Christians actually engage with AI AI more than people who do not profess to be believers, which is really interesting and engaging for spiritual content. And we are seeing that an increasing reliance on AI for spiritual questions. Asking a chat bot. But we have to remember that a chat bot is usually programmed to learn Your preferences not to deliver biblical truth. Now we have featured some Christian organizations that, that are really doing their best work to leverage AI that will give reliable information in a biblical worldview with a closed model that doesn't pull information in from outside unvetted sources. And it's really, one of the things that is really troubling about it is that AI can generate remarkably convincing theological responses. But AI does not have a relationship with God. AI does not have spiritual discernment. AI has no ability to hear the Holy Spirit. And one of the headlines that I saw this week was of a, Christian leader, a pastor who was having a health issue and was engaging in extended conversation with a chatbot about the health issue. Now this chat bot had already learned his preferences and knew that he was a Christian, that he was a believer and was layering in spiritual language over these health recommendations and saying things like, oh, this is a test of your faith. You need to just trust God and not get medical condition, not get medical assistance. And this, this person actually ended up having a life threatening, a medical emergency. And now that family has brought suit against the platform to say this should not have happened. And you think about it, we think about kids being vulnerable, but the truth is that we as adults are vulnerable too. So we need to remember AI should never replace scripture. You need a physical copy of a Bible. That is not going to change that. The translation is not going to change. That's reliable translation, translation. AI should not replace scripture. AI should never replace or generate prayer either. That is, that is something that we should really be talking about to our families. And AI also should never replace the local church or biblical community. When you are part of a church, you should have a pastor who's acting as a shepherd, who's looking out for threats, who's looking for wolves and sheep's closing. Who's, who's guiding you, who's giving you protection, who's saying that is true and trustworthy. That is not true, and trustworthy. AI should never be replace that, that in person discipleship that we should have. And we see many teenagers and adults already asking AI questions that they once asked their parents or their pastors or their mentors. And the risk isn't just misinformation. The risk here is bad formation, bad worldview formation. Because whoever is consistently answering our deepest questions is what is gradually shaping our worldview. And we see children asking a question, AI questions like, who am I? What's my purpose in life? What does God think about this? Should I forgive this person? Is this a sin? And if AI becomes the first voice that our children learn to consult, it quietly becomes our functional authority, even if we never intended for that to happen. So, so again, how should we respond? Teach kids to go to God before going to AI to We need wise people in our life for mentorship. Come to parents first. Don't go to AI. Use AI as a research assistant, not a spiritual authority. And read your Bible together. When difficult questions are discussed, normalize saying, let's search Scripture first. Let's see what scripture has to say about this. Go back to old school concordance skill that is really important. And James 5 reminds James 1 verses 5 reminds us if any of us lacks wisdom, we can ask God. So technology can help us to organize that information. But only the Holy Spirit is going to do the transformative work in our heart. And we need to teach our kids that wisdom comes from God. Knowledge may come from AI, but wisdom comes from God. Reading God's word, praying faithful teachers and pastors who are walking alongside us. Parents, parents, not algorithms. That is really important.

Another online risk and headline caught my eye is sports betting. This particular headline came from an Associated Press investigation

Another online risk and headline caught my eye is sports betting. I've been talking about this. I continue to see this increasing. This particular headline came from an Associated Press investigation that found that sports betting platforms and prediction markets are really getting a lot more savvy in their marketing tactics using things like meat memes and influencer culture and gaming features and avatars and leaderboards and social media marketing. The intention is to attract younger users. And I saw this recently. I was in a big city for a conference and as I was walking along the, the hotel's, you know, big conference venue, all I saw was advertisements very much geared towards young people. And it really looks like harmless gaming. It's a gamification of this. And these designs can blur the line between what's gaming and what's gambling. What what is addictive and what is not, especially for adolescents. I'm talking about teens during a critical period of brain, development because today's gambling doesn't look so much like a smoke filled casino, although there are plenty of those still. It looks like a game on social media. And teenagers may not even recognizing that they're participating in gambling because it seems like it's gaming and it may, they may not even realize it's real money. And when we see the words around this, there's a lot of different words that are being used because gambling obviously has a negative connotation, especially for young people. But we're seeing words like prediction, market, sports engagement, financial speculation, friendly Competition. These, these are, those are marketing techniques, that are advertising, that can be advertising online betting. So when we also see normalization of risk taking, instant gratification and quick wins or pathway to success. Why do I need to go to college? Because I am really into sports and I'm, I'm making a killing on sports betting. We need to respond to this. Talk openly about gambling and gaming, about sports betting wedding before kids encounter it. Talk about how apps intentionally use rewards or streaks or other reinforcement mechanisms to keep users engaged. This goes alongside with financial stewardship. What is real money and what is not. This is one of the great challenges for families because when we lived in a cash based economy, it's easy to see the value of that cold hard cash. But when it seems like it's funny money and when you look at what it, you know, you are using, using, online, it doesn't seem like it's real money, it can be really difficult for kids to discern that. So it's a great time to talk to your kids about saving and giving and tithing and you could even maybe put them on a cash based system so that they can see that kids need to see where the money is going. And this is something that's really interesting because now most people for church give online. So your family m, your kids may not even know how and when you give to the church if they don't see that offering bucket pass. So that is something that you can talk to about them to model some healthy attitudes towards money and risk. Now scripture consistently warns us against the love of money. And in Ecclesiastes 5 it says whoever loves money never has enough. We can teach our kids contentment and diligence and generosity and faithful stewardship. And we can disciple our kids in this online digital culture. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing this weekend, I pray as I always do, that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace. And I pray that he gives you safety. We'll continue on and I'll see you on Monday.

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