Globalization speech July 7, 2001 by Dennis L. Gibson, Ph.D.

Jet lag. Nothing more typifies the unique stresses of this unprecedented time in world history. We can now transport our bodies over great distances faster than our nervous systems can keep up with the changes in time zone. We arrive at our destinations in states of distress. Our bodies have to forget where they have been and embrace our new destination.

In the same way, the jarring pressures of the modern era often put people into painful states of distress. The alluring scenes in movies and television disorient viewers and induce them to imitate violent and selfish actions inconsistent with social responsibility, and with marital and family solidarity. Sometimes they, but even more often their victims, feel discouraged and hopeless that their painful situation can ever become any better than it is. Sometimes they feel desperate enough to get over the embarrassment of talking to someone else about their troubles. Generally, they speak first to friends or family members. These well-meaning persons almost always react by telling the hurting person, "You shouldn't feel that way, or "It's your own fault," or, "All you have to do is …" The hurting persons go away even more discouraged, saying to themselves, "Nobody understands me. I am all alone in the world."

These hurting persons, or clients, need someone who can converse with them more skillfully than can untrained friends or family members. They need someone who can show compassion, listen without interrupting, ask timely questions, and hold off giving advice that the hurting persons are not ready to hear. We call such skilled, trained listeners, "counselors."

Similar to the process of adjusting to jet lag, skilled counselors help people adjust to a new destination. This new destination consists of a vision that is buried somewhere within persons who are suffering. This is a thrilling vision of the future for them without their problems. Counselors do not put it there; they search for it as for buried treasure. It is a vision marked by dignity, eagerness, confidence, laughter and inner fulfillment regardless of outward circumstances. This destination goes by various names. Psychiatrists may call it "mental health." Psychologists may call it "self esteem." Jesus called it "blessedness." People who find it call it "What I was made for."

What kind of counseling brings about this desirable condition? Not all do. Some put their focus on diagnosing and labeling persons with terms that lower their dignity. They are viewed as "sick" instead of "seeking." Some keep focusing on the past in which the client seeking help already feels stuck and hopeless. Some try to place blame for the client's trouble on someone else, in the belief that the client will then feel free from guilt. But the form of counseling that I have come thousands of miles to bring to trainees here is one that focuses on the vision people have for how they wish things would be. Then it uses creative questions to increase within the discouraged persons an interest in their vision, until it becomes a passion. Furthermore, this method teaches counselors how to identify strong positive character traits within clients, which will serve as foundation stones for their new identity in the life of their vision.

Why should it be Christians who offer this type of counseling? Because they have been instructed by their Lord:

"Weep with those who weep,"
"Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry"
·"Without a vision the people perish"
·"Encourage the fainthearted, support the weak"
·"Let no worthless talk come out of your mouth; but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others."

May these coming days bring forth a core group of dedicated followers of Jesus Christ, who also have dedicated themselves to the hard work of learning how to skillfully love their neighbors as themselves, as trained Christian counselors.

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