Writing Your Four Lines: Examples of a Weekly Self-Report

Chapter 8 gives a simple shape for walking in the light every week. Four questions, answered in a few minutes, read aloud before anyone asks:

1. What happened this week?
2. Where was I tempted?
3. What did I actually do?
4. What do I need?

The questions are easy to understand. Writing good answers takes practice. Below are examples across several areas of life, each with a weak version and a strong one. They are illustrations, not scripts. Your four lines should sound like you.

You can print a blank copy of the Weekly Self-Report to use each week.

Anger

Weak: "Short fuse with the kids. Work has been crazy."

Strong:

1. I yelled at my son on Tuesday and called him lazy.
2. Tempted almost every evening between 5 and 7, when I get home tired.
3. I chose to keep going after I saw he was scared. I didn't apologize until Thursday.
4. Ask me next week whether I apologized the same night.

Money

Weak: "Some spending I'm not proud of."

Strong:

1. I bought a $600 tool and hid the receipt from my wife.
2. I'm tempted any time I'm on that site after a bad day.
3. I decided before I clicked that I wouldn't tell her.
4. I need to tell her this week. Pray for Thursday night, when I'm going to do it.

Drinking

Weak: "Had a few too many once or twice."

Strong:

1. I drank five beers alone on Saturday night.
2. I was tempted Friday too, but I went to bed.
3. On Saturday I bought the second six-pack on the way home knowing why I was buying it.
4. Can someone text me Saturday afternoon?

Honesty

Weak: "Probably shaded the truth a little at work."

Strong:

1. I told my boss the report was done when it wasn't.
2. I'm tempted to lie every time I'm behind and someone asks for status.
3. I said "it's done" instead of "it'll be done tomorrow" because I didn't want to look bad.
4. I need to correct it with him Monday morning. Ask me.

Lust

Weak: "Struggled online a bit this week."

Strong:

1. I looked at pornography twice, Tuesday and Friday.
2. Both times it was after 11 p.m., in bed, with my phone.
3. Both times I picked up the phone already knowing where I was going.
4. I need to charge my phone in the kitchen. Ask me next week if I did.

A clean week is still a report

Some weeks, line 1 will be "Nothing I need to confess." That is fine, if it is true. Lines 2 through 4 still matter. Reporting where you were tempted, even when you didn't fall, is how your brothers learn the map before you walk off the edge of it.

What the strong versions have in common

• One actor. Every sentence has I as the subject.
• Real verbs. Yelled, bought, drank, told, looked. Not struggled or slipped.
• Times and places. Specific enough that a brother can ask a good follow-up.
• A concrete need. Something a brother can actually do this week.

Notice what is missing: explanations, feelings, and the backstory. Those can come later, when your brothers ask. The report comes first, and it is short. As Chapter 8 puts it, the goal is not to process. The goal is to step into the light. Processing can happen once everyone can see.