chris and becka warner

I haven’t had much motivation for the blog lately, but here are some random thoughts:

- It’s been great to be with family. My parents moved into a beautiful new house; there’s lots of space for the grandkids to run around! (Or in Aidan’s case, crawl around). It took him a few days, but Aidan seems to have settled right in. As usual, he’s enjoying all the attention, and he seems to really enjoy his cousins (and so do we!).

-The physical jet lag is gone, but the mental jet lag persists. My mind is at least partially still in Amsterdam. It was such a bizarre, rushed, exit. Reverse culture shock and all that. I’m excited to go to California, but it’s hard to think much beyond that.

-The economy is seemingly doing much worse here than in Europe, at least based on the media coverage here. It’s sad to hear about so many people losing jobs, and the predictions I’ve read seem to be saying that things are going to be difficult for a while yet to come. I’m wondering how much this should factor into our decisions about the future.

-My wireless stopped working (another reason for the lack of posts). I think I narrowed it down to a problem with Microsoft Vista; apparently there are some compatibility issues with certain wireless routers. I haven’t been one to jump on the “I hate Vista” bus, but this may push me over the edge. We’ve had so many wireless/connectivity issues since we got our current laptop-I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to fix something that shouldn’t be broken in the first place. Granted, I’m not an expert in these things, but I’m starting to wonder if Vista really is the culprit behind it all. I never had that these problems with XP. (But that’s what they all say.)

-It’s been amusing to be in Illinois while the Hot Rod crashed. There’s not much sympathy for the guy in our house. It will be interesting to see how many people the Gov. takes down with him.

-We are looking forward to Aidan’s first birthday! He was born on Christmas Eve, which I think makes it trickier to celebrate (but Becka disagrees). Thankfully, we have at least this year to figure it out before he starts remembering his birthdays. Mostly I’m looking forward to seeing his face when he tastes cake for the first time.

-If this is true, then all I can say to Rick Warren is, “How could you?” I really like the guy; I watched a great video of him from TED a few days ago. It’s worth your time. He is a world class communicator. He’s also done a reasonable job thus far of staying neutral and has therefore avoided being used by either political party, much like Billy Graham. But the pacifist (albeit an uncertain and confused one) within me cringes when people like him say stuff like this. Its one thing to suggest it might be in the United States’ best interest to assassinate someone, but suggesting that God approves of it and condones it!? Seriously, where in the NT is there evidence that 1.) Jesus/God favors one government over another or 2.) Jesus defeats evil or evil people by KILLING them. I kind of thought it was the other way around: evil is defeated by the cross, which stands for something altogether different than the sword. What happened to PEACE? It comes down to how we read the bible. Do we give more authority to the life of David, or the life of Christ?

-I just finished a great book on depression. Here is one of many thought-provoking passages; about travel and choice anxiety:

In political terms, freedom is often burdensome, which is why transitions out of dictatorship often cause depression. In personal terms, slavery and excessive freedom are both oppressive realities, and while some part of the world is paralyzed by the narrow despair of inescapable poverty, the more developed nations are paralyzed by the very mobility of their populations, by the twenty-first-century nomadism of constantly pulling up roots and resettling to accommodate jobs and relationships and fancy. A writer addressing this problem tells the story of a boy whose family had moved five times in a short period, who hanged himself from an oak in the backyard, leaving a note pinned to the tree that said, “This is the only thing around here that has any roots.” The feeling of perpetual disruption holds for the jetting executive who visits thirty countries in an average year, and the middle-class city dweller whose job keeps getting redescribed as his company is bought out time and again and who does not know from year to year who will work for him or for whom he will work, or for the person living alone and encounters different checkout staff every time he goes grocery shopping. In 1957, the average American supermarket had sixty-five items in the produce section: shoppers knew and had had each of them before. In 1997, an average American supermarket had over three hundred items in the produce section, with many markets pushing a thousand. You are in the realm of uncertainty even when you select your own dinner. This kind of escalation of choices is not convienent; it is dizzying. When similar choices present themselves in every area-where you live, what you do, what you buy, whom you marry-the result is a collective uneasiness that explains much, in my view, about the rising rates of depression in the industrialized world. (The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon, p.408-409)

- This passage resonated with me because I’ve experienced what he describes; the uneasiness; many times as we’ve moved from place to place. For example, when we first arrived in the States I went to Meijer and was nearly crippled by the hundreds of choices for any given item. I had to get a toothbrush and I just stood there for five minutes staring at all the options. But the strange thing was that I actually felt anxiety. I heard of a missionary (of a nationality other than American) who refuses to go into Walmart when he is teaching here because the last time he went in it nearly caused a nervous breakdown! I love crossing borders and boundaries, but it requires grace. (Although my conclusion after finishing this book is that life in general requires grace.)

I mentioned earlier that this was my main interest in the elections.

Here’s a study by Barna that has a lot of stats-I thought it was interesting. A few surprises.

And here’s some more research that asked some slightly different questions. Again, very interesting.

Here’s a BBC article on the future of the religious right. One of many that I’ve come across.

I don’t know.

But it will be interesting to see how evangelicals vote. I can’t wait to see how it breaks down. If McCain wins (not likely), it will be because evangelicals turned up in big numbers and voted for him. This will say a lot about what issues matter most to evangelicals of the conservative persuasion. If Obama wins, and a sizable number of evangelicals vote for him, it will say a lot about what Christianity in America will look like in the coming years.

My prediction: Obama will win, and will get most of the younger evangelical vote (if they show up). Older evangelicals will stick with their conservative roots and vote for McCain.

We shall see…

Life will go on, either way.

This is kind of random, but some of you might find it interesting.

I’ve been thinking a lot about self-awareness; specifically about how self-awareness is such an important factor in intercultural relationships. A lot of the conflict/stress originates from not being aware of your own culture, and therefore you are unable to identify what you find stressful about interacting with another culture. But this raises an interesting question: How do we become aware of our own culture? One way, of course, is through experience and reflection. This is probably the most effective method; i.e. actually building relationships within another culture, but usually this involves a lot of trial and error. Often it can be a painful process. There’s no formula to it, but I think the more we are aware of our own culture, the easier our intercultural relationships will be. Something I’ve been thinking about/researching lately is, “what kind of tools are out there that are helpful in making a person more culturally self-aware?”

The same principle applies not only to culture, but to personality as well. As the ancient Greeks said, “Know thyself.” Because if you don’t, you can expect to live with a lot of stress and probably conflict.

So how do we become aware of our own personality? Again, I think time+experience+reflection is a major factor. But there are a lot of other resources out there. One such resource is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Now, I’m not the type (no pun intended) to put much stock in a personality test, and I doubt I would have explored this on my own. But some of our staff development during our time in Australia involved personality testing, so Becka and I both took the Meyers-Briggs. I tested as an INTJ, she as an ISFP (although I think she’s more of an ESFP). I read a profile of an INTJ, and my doubt turned into surprise: it was eerily accurate. In fact, I actually learned a lot about myself; it put into words what I had experienced, but up until that point had never been able to articulate. For the first time, I felt a bit relieved about my obsession with research and strategy, my perfectionism, and my tendency to think so differently than everyone around me. Then I read Becka’s profile, and she read mine, and we both agreed it was reasonably accurate. Not perfect, but still close enough to make it useful.

I’ve found it to be occasionally useful in helping me to relate to other people, but I’m weary of using it for this purpose because at best it gives a rough portrait, and it’s too tempting to put people into a box before really getting to know them. Besides, it’s not like people walk around with thier four letters displayed, so unless you ask, it’s not much use for casual relationships. But in certain environments, especially where interpersonal relationships are key to seeing a certain objective achieved, it can be an invaluable resource.

But mostly I think it’s useful for gaining some self-awareness.

If you’re interested, you can take the test here. Then you can google your results; read a few of the different profiles that come up and you’ll have a good idea of what your type is. Leave a comment if you want and tell us what you are (if you think it’s accurate-I’ve met a few people who think it’s total nonsense)!