Amazing!
How some people are soooo incredibly beautiful inside! PSYC class today was really interesting. Lecturing, tiring but interesting. But I did resist buying that wonderful coffee from the Fish House tonight (Black Velvet....mmmm). We had a guest speaker for part of class, a Calvin seminarian prof/psychologist. He had some pretty good points to make. He highlighted the Western culture of what he calls the 'myth of adolecent rebellion.' Society expects that stage in life to be awful, to be characterized by rebellion, thus, some church youth ministries are created based upon this myth. Today's youth culture is characterized by emptiness and a search for significance and meaning in relationships, different from generations back that were moved by guilt (sin) and rational thought and logic. Youth today are not moved by guilt but by care, filling the void felt by working parents (or whatever the reason). Childhood has been compressed while adulthood stretched. A coupla decades back, the onset of puberty for girls was around 16, and now it's 11. Looking like adults on the outside, but unable to handle adult issues. They seek to matter. Society has sidelined youths, partly because of the rebellion myth (we'll just wait til it's over) and the feeling of not knowing how to handle it (it's not our problem, it's them that's going nuts). Fear becomes the dominant way of parenting (be back by midight or else ??!?), instead of in confidence. We bail out our youths when they get into trouble, yet given that they are already pushed to adulthood, they need to face the consequnces of their actions. We cannot baby them, and then suddenly let them go into the world, without gradual release of control, authority. Healthy child rearing leads to healthy adolecent rearing, a process that has an aim to leave the parents, not lose them.

OK, but anyhow, some people are so beautiful inside and I am blessed to come into contact with them. It does give me hope that not all that go on to seminary are not guide-less. Given the politically correct way of acting here in the US is being forever polite and concerned for the other, I find myself very cautious on who I believe to be sincere. Paul G is one of those people that I just go, wow. Gotta have lotta respect for the guy. I don't know how he can coordinate himself with so many people and so much going on, yet he does manage to approach you on a personal level. Great is the Lord!

And then there was my other PSYC class today, watch a video of Tony Campolo spaking about self-worth in relation to Cooley's looking glass concept and Jesus as the most important one in one's life. He's a real charismatic speaker, funny man.