I met for the first time with John Williams, a man who is Roman Catholic, used to be a priest, and used to be my marriage and family therapy professor back when I first moved to this area. At the time I was just beginning a counseling program and he taught introduction to marriage and family therapy. I became a therapist in 1996 and learned EMDR. In these last several years, John Williams has attended to the local EMDR therapists group and I became reacquainted with him. At the last meeting, as previously noted, I had a strong prompt to ask him about spiritual direction. We arranged a first meeting, and it happened.
It's a strange thing to be just starting with a new spiritual director, but it seems right. I trust John as a person of integrity and intelligence. He is Roman Catholic, and I am (right now) a member of the United Church of Christ - descendent of the Pilgrims and Puritans, as well as the German Reformed tradition. About as protestant as it gets.
My assignment for now is to read Romans chapter 8, noticing where I become confused, where there is illumination, and where I am prompted to pray. Since meeting with John on Tuesday, I've been a little obsessed with chapter 8 and just ordered a book by N T Wright on the first half of Romans, which includes chapter 8. Having read through chapter 8 a couple of times in the last few days, I'm feeling in need of some more information. So far, I've got that there are two spirits in the human being, the natural human (sinful, weak, broken), which is revealed by the law, and the Spirit of God, which brings transformed life.
