Lost

About a year ago, Mr. Right and I finally let some friends of ours talk us into watching Lost.  They've been working on us since the show began, but we just don't have the need to watch tv like most people.  After hearing all the glories of the show, we said okay and they let us borrow their Season One, and...

Oh. My. Lands!  was it good.  I think he and I watched the entire season in a few weeks, which is pretty good considering us.  The kids were too scared (as I knew they would be) to watch a show about a plane crash.  That's not really a bad thing.  I didn't want them watching it anyway.

At the beginning of summer and the kids were at Grandma and Grandpa's house, I finally got Season Two from the library.  The good side was that I waited on a very long list to get that season and finally it was in my hot little hands.  The down side:  I had a week before it was due for the next person fill their need.

Mr. Right quit at about the fourth episode, but I persevered.  That puppy was fully watched and returned on time.

Not to be too far behind, I have been watching Season Three online for a awhile now.  I watched one now and then when I awoke at the zero dark thirty hours.  I finally finished up the last episodes of that season a couple of weeks ago.   Whew. I am up to date like everyone else at the beginning of Season Four.  Woo hoo!

I actually thought I had missed the premier.  I thought it was on Wednesday, but when a friend called last night and mentioned that the two hour season opener was going to be on in 40 minutes, I quickly hustled everyone; baths, Bible reading and bedtime routines were accomplished in record time!

Oh, what a huge disappointment to find out that the first hour was just a recap.  We did other things until the "real" show began.  Which was really good because it would be bedtime for The Boy by then... or so I thought.

The Boy quickly ran to his room, only to return immediately with a "gift certificate" that I had given him for Christmas.  It was the one that said he could stay up an hour late.  He wanted to read with his daddy.  That sounded like a good reason to me, so we waited for Mr. Right to get home from work.  He got home just as Lost was about to begin.

The Boy sat with me while Mr. Right was taking a few minutes to get settled.  He saw the opening of Lost, the part where Jack looks at the dead girl while talking on the phone to be rescued and then after hanging up, Jack says, "Damn it" and then looks around like he's trying to figure out what to do. 

Before I have a chance to mute, to hustle him out or to talk about how that was bad language, The Boy innocently asks, "Mom, who's Damn it?"

And that's when it hit me that we've done such a thorough job of trying to keep only good things coming into the house that he doesn't even know what many curse words are.  He knows it's not pleasing to God when people say his name in vain and that we consider some name-calling words to be like curse words too, like stupid, idiot, moron.  And thanks to school and Ben 10, we've discussed how butt is to be used properly.  He is 8 after all.  I can't prevent him from hearing everything.

But when I heard him ask that innocent question, I realized that I was completely at fault.  We have a rule that we don't watch tv for a reason, and this was exactly why. In my excitement to watch the premier, I didn't think about what he could see or hear.  My bad.  Very much my bad.

I explained to him that Jack shouldn't have said those words because it was really a curse; then Mr. Right swooped in to save the day by taking him upstairs to read.

But I've decided one thing:  I'd rather lose Lost than to help my kids to get lost in this world.  

And I'm okay with that.  I can always watch the episodes online again if I feel the need to know, but right now, my need to know falls way short when compared to my need to be a great example to my kids.  

I find it amusing and fitting that these verses were among our reading last night.  I just didn't realize at the time that they would be appropriate in more ways than one...

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. Matt 18:1-14