A number of times throughout the years I've talked about how Kelly and I worked through some hard stuff in the first five years or so of our marriage. And I've also mentioned that we were in and out of counseling.
The counselor who walked alongside us during those years was Joe Bauserman. He died this past weekend after a battle with cancer.
A couple of days ago I mentioned that I enjoy living the life of a contemplative--prayer, study, retreat. This can be directly attributed to Joe. We were there for an appointment early in our marriage and my staff career. It was approaching summer time and I was telling him how much I disliked the summer--my extroverted self shriveled up in the face of so little contact with students.
Joe was normally very calm and patient and process-oriented, but I remember what he said to me that day: "If you don't learn some disciplines of study and silence and rest then you'll die in your job." So I learned them.
Joe was a gifted counselor and at one point it seemed that everyone we knew had spent some time with him, was meeting with him regularly, or was planning on meeting with him soon. He was a gift to so many people in the Richmond community.
I do plenty of what I call "light counseling" in my job. What I want to do is what Joe did for us: listen well, look for root causes and not get distracted by surface issues, be patient with the process of discovery and repentance.
Joe will be dearly missed. He apparently started a blog to capture his journey as he battled against cancer but I can't find it at the moment. I'll link to it soon.
Good-bye, Joe. My wife and three kids and I all owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. Thank you.
1 comment:
He did wonderful work with Mike and I as well. I'm so sorry to hear that he is gone.
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