Boy Get Your Records On

As I was growing up, my parents taught me many things. How to use the tiolet, how to eat properly, how to act in public and how to behave. I was raised in a Christian home and my parents showed me through example the importance of filtering the media that I consume on a daily basis. When I was young, my parents took to me to the movies quite often. We'd watch all kinds of films; action , romance, and comedy movies.Most especially Disney movies. When a particularly racy scene would appear, my mom gently tell me to avert my eyes and cover my ears. She told me, "Anak, close your eyes ha. I'll tell you when it's finished." I didn't really understand it because I was young, but I appreciate the way my parents protected my innocence.

When I grew older, my taste in music developed, and I began learning how to play the violin. After a few years, I learned the guitar. Of course, with learning music comes listening to it and I dove into all kinds of  genres. Now music is a very powerful influence in the world of youth today. If it weren't for my dad, I don't know what would have happened to me if I had listened to the wrong kind of music. Lyrics are powerful they can really affect your view on life and how you live. My dad was wise enough to make it a rule that every single song I listened to had to pass through his standards. He'd ask me 3 questions whenever I'd bring a new song up to him.

1. What do the lyrics say? Is the message negative or positive? (if there was cursing in the song, it was immediately "banned." Haha)

2. Is the song too heavy? (My parents were very particular about this, they didn't really like me listening to rock music back then)

3. Is there screaming? (metal and hardcore were definitely part of my playlist back in high school)

4. Would Jesus listen to that kind of song? (as a result of this, most of the music I listened to was Christian. I was into bands like Swtichfoot, Relient K, Jars of Clay, and of course Hillsong )

As I grew older, my parents grew more relaxed because they trusted me enough to have the discernment to choose my own tunes. Right now, I still enjoy Switchfoot and Hillsong, but I'm into bands like A Day To Remember, Four Year Strong, Foster The People, Saosin (I LOVE SAOSIN), and Run Kid Run.