Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Going to the Big City, Nashville, TN

I (Ben) am attending the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) World Conference this week in Nashville at the massive Opryland Hotel. Please don’t go the AACC website if you know anything about Web sites, it will make you scream. Anyway, Cali will have to take care of Monica for a few days, while I am away Thursday night through Saturday. Monica gets me back the weekend after this one, because she is going to Minneapolis for a Northwest World Vacations seminar.


This picture is of Cali sitting her whole body in a hole she dug. In fact, her new past time is digging holes. I am not sure how you teach a dog not to dig, so we do the responsible thing and do nothing and hope she grows out of it. When Cali’s friends come over, they dig and play king of the hole. We let them do it so we will be the cool parents, and other peoples’ dogs will like Cali’s house the best because they get to dig with no consequences. I guess we are nothing more than facilitators of bad behavior, or behaviour (for you Canadians that read the blog).

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Important Movie—Crash

Important movies are those in which you are entertained not in that satisfying way that Hollywood usually leaves you, but in the way that your values and convictions are challenged. Hotel Rwanda, for example, is an important movie to watch. Schindler’s List is definitely on the list as well. In fact you have a mental list of important movies in your life. Crash is an important movie.


Released just recently in the movie stores, Crash takes you on the roller coaster you weren’t sure you really wanted to go on, but you did anyway because you thought you could take it, and then afterwards you didn’t know what to think about it. It challenges your stereotypes, prejudices, sense of justice, and other parts of you that you didn’t know you had. I’ve never had my heart beat so hard in a movie.


However, I must make a disclaimer: This movie definitely has bad language in it as well as some uncomfortable sexual scenarios. Also, it might make you really mad. Please don’t channel that anger at me, I just think it is an important movie. This is also not a date movie, and you won’t feel uplifted after watching it. In fact, I don’t want to be responsible for anything, so I am not recommending this movie. . .

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Confession

Forgive us, blog readers, for it has been 12 days since our last entry. We’re still here and doing well, but the blog has not been real high on the list since school started. We promise a new blog in the near future to update you on the life and times of Benica. If you need to think of something for the next few days, think on this psychodynamic theory called projective identification—we project onto our spouses (or significant others in our lives) what we don’t like about ourselves and then get mad or disappointed at our spouses (or others) for those things we don’t like about ourselves. Hmmm. . .

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Refugees, Here?

You may have heard there are many refugees from the storm in Memphis (10,000+ actually). The church we attend is hosting meals every night for refugees and it is a humbling experience. We listened as several people expressed how they lost their homes and still haven’t heard from their family members that stayed. This is an intense time of emotional stress and anxiety. Every hotel room in Memphis is booked solid and some families that don’t even know each other are sharing rooms.


Monica and I aren’t even able to fathom what they are going through. We see a lot of branches that were blown down by the storm when it came through Memphis, but these peoples’ houses were blown down and destroyed. Keep praying for all the families here that have no idea if they have anything to go back to.