Conference Thoughts

We enjoyed our time in Philadelphia last week, despite some sickness and Wesley's first time being afraid of new surroundings. We think that up until now he hasn't been aware of the spaces around him and, now that he is, he was a little freaked out to be in a totally unknown location. In addition his teeth were bothering him, so it was difficult for him to sleep well.

I wasn't sure what the conference (2009 Christian Counseling and Education Foundation) would be like, but ended up getting a lot out of it. For a conference on Sex the plenary sessions talked about sex less than I expected, but were thought provoking. The main thing that I got out of the conference is that whatever is happening with you sexually is often a picture of what is happening in your relational world and your relaionship with God. As a general theme, this is harder to get but when you talk about the particulars it really comes out. Say, you are having all these lustful thoughts and it is this constant flow of images in the back of your mind. As you go about your day, it will be easier to objectify people - responding to them solely on whether they please or displease you. Lust is about using someone as an object for your please and that sort of thinking is hard to segment into one area of life. Similarly if we see all the people around us as means to our own ends, it is easy to relate to God in the same way. Another example from the opposite of the spectrum is someone grossed out by sex and completely disinterested. This person is ignoring a part of who he or she is and will tend to do the same in others. It will be easy for this person to distance himself or herself from his or her own body and to do the same with others. Ultimately this person will also disregard what God has to say about the body. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this larger concept but it was helpful and challenges me to think about my life.