Counseling is a great tool that many of us use to help out our fellow man with finances, marriage, sex, guilt, etc. Through it we have been able to break communication barriers and free people into exuberant lives.

Take care that you aren't simply diagnosing people. Sometimes it may be more beneficial to treat a person and keep the diagnosis to yourself. Sometimes it is good to tell people a diagnosis, so long as they don't wear it as an excuse or a victim badge. Words are very powerful, so when we who are trained in psychology explain to the uninitiated that the present condition they are suffering from stems back to how badly their father treated them, some people will simply accept it and never move on from there.

Naming people is a powerful tool. Be careful. When someone named me by saying I had a rough relationship with my father, I used it as excuse to manipulate people close to me. When people diagnosed my grandmother with an addiction disorder, she used it to justify her ways. I can go on and on.

Which brings me to my next point. I have a hard time as a Christian accepting pathological psychology. Pathological psychology is psychology that is always trying to diagnose and find out what is wrong with a person. Once, a professor of psychology challenged his bright students to find the perfect family according to the rules of pathological psychology. They couldn't do it. Not one of them found a perfect model. (I think I pulled that out of the book "How to Grow") All families dysfunctional. None were found right. All were found wrong. Too connected is codependency. Too independent is aggression.

Sound familiar? It should if you've read Paul. It's the Law. The law of moses finds no one perfect. Everyone is too this or that. All are found dysfunctional.

I suppose I say this, not to condemn psychology, but to open your eyes that you need to evaluate science through spiritual lenses. Psychology is not an ace in the hole. It can be a giant guilt trip, a barrier to the faith, a barrier to the growth of an individual, a condemnation to hell. Talk to God about how you should use it with others.

We all are imperfect, so help us move on from that point.

(by the way, i'm also codependent with my wife and she with me. they have condemned me for loving to be with my wife too much. ridiculous, isn't it?)

No, not a Christian cafe.

I want to be with my wife during the day. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm sick of being without her because I have to go to work during the day. So, we have a goal of becoming financially independent within the next 1 3/4 years (it was a two year goal, but 3 months have passed).

Now we are planning to start this business within 6 months. Pray for us, because we are hoping to be able to do this through buying auctioned computers for dirt cheap and through doing a month to month lease until the business gets settled and functioning. Karen and I are both IT geeks, able to build and repair our own networks and machines. I really hope this is the idea God wants to use to bring us together.

Obviously we are going to do mission here, but that goes without saying - even though I feel like I have to say it.

Pray, please pray.

I love it. Paul goes over to Lycaonia to plant churches. He speaks during the open discussion time at the synagogues boldly, basically telling them their religion is incomplete without Jesus. The hard-hearted ones plot to kill him, catch up to him in different town, stone him and leave him for dead, only to have Paul come right back through the same exact towns after shortly after being presumed dead and to have him continue planting churches in the exact place where he wasn't wanted.

What is with this guy? Doesn't he understand that he's supposed to shake the dust of the towns off his feet? He didn't.. because some actually accepted the message and followed the Lord, regardless of how violent their opposition was. I wouldn't have had that suffering mercy if I were Him.

Then Paul goes back home to the big Antioch after this initial phase of church planting. Ah, it's great to be home. Telling the brothers what happened, sharing the joy of the mission with those who supported it. Rest. Peace. Brotherhood. Then suddenly, heresy. Paul can't get any rest, I swear. The Judaizers from the Jerusalem church come saying that the Antioch Gentile brothers aren't "cut out" for the kingdom until they "cut off" something very valuable to them.

Paul doesn't budge an inch. He writes to the brothers all over where he's planted churches to warn them not to accept this as gospel. Then he goes down to Jerusalem to take care of the problem from whence it came. The Jerusalem church brings it up in their ekklesia time and the Judaizer brothers start in on their schpeil about circumcision being necessary after Paul testifies of how God is saving the Gentiles in amazing ways. How disrespectful is that? Right after giving a missions report, Paul is called out as a failure for missing the "snip snip" in his message. Peter is there to back him up, testifying of how God made Him go (reluctantly) to the Gentiles and the amazing giving of the Spirit among them. You know what's crazy? The church submits to God, and the Judaizers shut up. How amazing is that?

Then the church in Jerusalem sends a formal letter to rebutt all the stuff the Judaizers said and give them 4 laws instead of the Moses code to follow.

Isn't it amazing? This church was crazy about relationships. They apologized for the mistakes of others in their church. They clarified. They went through the trouble of settling it in church. They heard each other out, but yet had more respect for God Almighty than for personal beliefs. They recognized the leadership of Paul and Barnabas based on their sufferings for the name of Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? Leadership is proven by suffering, not on schooling or success?

It's all a breath of fresh air for me. The church is so beautiful. She's not perfect, no, but she is a miracle. Conflict turns into closer relationships between the two principal Christian cities. I love seeing how the church was intently listening to mission reports; they were actually interested in it. Sigh. Wow.

So, Karen and I went to the "wrong" part of town last night to scout out the geographical area that Latinos cover. I love scouting; it means I get to eat out! Last night I ate at a true Mexican place. My burrito was the size of my head. The meat was awesome. The avocado was so so fresh. After we gorged ourselves on that, we headed to the Hispanic bakery. They had churros with dulce de leche. AHHHH! so so gooooood.

Anyways, I think we've found out where most Latinos live here, so we're excited. All we have to do is start making those awkward calls to meet and eat on their turf.

I tell you one thing though, it's been freaking hard to find this place. I've been praying to find the "third place" (see Hirsch and Frost) of Latinos and asking a lot of people where they think that would be. Well, I think I finally found it. God is awesome! Tons of Hispanics were at their markets, restaurants, bakeries and soccer fields. Just amazing. A huge step forward.

So, I think I've been reading way too many books lately. The reason it's too many is because they are starting to influence my life more than Holy God.

But, I have to admit, I feel a little naked and aimless without a book to read right now. This detox is helping me see that I base too many of my ideas on someone else's work. I can hardly function w/o my book crutch.

Anyways, it's hard, and I'm feeling dry. Hope this is a useful exercise.