MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Surviving Freshman Year by Gregory Jones -  Sunday Lunch             Austin barely got to work on time. He had been out late the night before with Brandon and some others they met through a college-age Bible study sponsored by a local church they attended. Austin usually went to church with his family on Christmas and Easter but had never been a regular attender. Brandon had invited him, and it seemed like a good way to make new friends. Austin was enjoying the study and had made new friends, and they had enjoyed a fantastic game of capture the flag the night before. They had gathered at the church playground, which bordered an open field and a wilderness trail. The students had divided into two groups with each group choosing a base on opposite sides of the church. The object of the game was simple: The first group to get the other team’s flag and return it to the spot where their flag was located would be the winner. What made this really fun was the inclusion of wa

  Excerpt from I Love My Children, But I Don't Always Like Them Carma’s Story Every family has to figure out the expectation game and how each child may respond to surprises, frustration, disappointment and even too much excitement. As children grow up, and their behavior evolves, their capacity to handle change and respond to unwelcome triggers may also vary, depending on a number of factors. Every family must deal with this process. The Greens came to me because their daughter kept embarrassing them at family functions. Both parents had four siblings, and everyone lived nearby, so they came together to enjoy a meal at least once a week. Carma’s parents considered this a blessing, but their daughter wasn’t so appreciative. As she turned 12, she often tried to get out of family events by crying and begging to stay home alone. I facilitated a parent-child meeting with them (see Chapter 6). After some open-ended questions, Carma was able to verbalize that she felt nervous being with

  Excerpt from Harnessing the Power of Grief : What other cultures can teach us   Proximity to other cultures offers opportunities to adopt much of their wisdom into our own culture. Paul C. Rosenblatt, a psychologist, tells us that cultures are not static. They are in a state of change (some more than others) with many individual differences. [Rosenblatt] [1] A Buddhist, a Jewish person, an African American, a Protestant, will grieve in the unique ways of their cultures. Variations exist among subgroups (based on lifestyle and income, religious variations within and between denominations), intermarriage, and cross-cultural influences. Consequently, we all are bumping into one another, learning from one another, loving one another, reading about one another, and interacting with one another.   Funerals and memorial services in Western culture tend to stand alone, like shooting stars in the night. They may be memorable and beautiful, but then we are left with the rest of the ni