So we had the first night of our two week small group series on purity last night.  It was a great night - lots of students there and it seemed like the groups had great discussions.

I was struck by a thought at some point last night or this morning - purity is kind of like rock climbing.  For one thing, being pure in our hypersexual society is definitely an uphill climb.  But mostly I was thinking of the bolts used in rock climbing.  I'm not a rock climber so I'm only speaking from the "I read this" or "I saw someone do this" perspective.  As climbers move up the rock face, they pause every so often and set an anchor bolt before moving higher.  This anchor bolt is there to catch them if they should begin to fall.  They will only fall as far as the last anchor bolt they set.  We should transfer this principle to the idea of purity with our students.  Having the students make one commitment (setting an anchor bolt) at a conference or in their small group is not enough to carry them all the way.  If a climber sets only one anchor bolt at the beginning of the climb, that anchor is of no use when he begins to fall another 100 feet up.  He needed a series of anchors all the way up.  Likewise, our students need a series of purity anchors as they make the uphill climb of purity in their lives.  The early anchors are good and necessary, but they become useless as the students move higher up.  Keep talking with your student about purity issues and taking time (a fishing trip or shopping day or weekend trip) to help them set purity anchors to renew their commitment to be pure. 

Feel free to post a comment and share your ideas for helping students set purity anchors along the way.

Dave