eMetro Times February Edition 2018 V218

WWW.EMETROTIMES.COM ~ E @EMETROTIMES ~ M @EMETRO_TIMES ~ FEBRUARY 2018 @EMETROTIMES Read eMetro Times online at emetrotimes.com A WAKE COMMUNITIES INTERNATIONAL SHARE THE LOVE WITH EMETRO EVERY STRANGER HAS A STORY A CONVERSATION WITH BEN AND KELLY SMITH Where in eMetro? H uman beings have been telling stories for thousands of years. Storytelling is an innate trait which humans have actually used to process life. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist said, “The human mind is a story processor, not a logic processor.” Our minds were clearly created to tell stories and to hear stories. We need stories. Richard Kearney, a professor of philosophy says, “Telling stories is as basic to human beings as eating. More so, in fact, for while food makes us live, stories are what make our lives worth living.” Something about stories fascinates us. This becomes evident when a new movie comes out in theaters. Right? We love the idea of the build-up, the climax, and the happy ending. Stories weave together into a giant tapestry. Our stories intertwine. I had the privilege of interviewing Ben and Kelly Smith from Bread & Wine recently and got some insight into their hearts for stories coming together, community happening and SO WILL I S Something has been stirring in my heart for a long time now, and I believe that today, I re- alized this thing is more relevant than I thought. While getting gas at my neighborhood QuikTrip this morning, I how the name of their music group says it all. There is one aspect of stories coming together that is hard to engage in, and that is vulnerability. Personally, vulnerability is a passion of mine. I love when people find connections from telling their stories. I love when people find healing by exposing the hard stuff. Kelly also has an extraordinarily high value for vulnerability. She says that the truest moments of change happen when we are honest about our feelings and experiences, with ourselves and others. She says, “It takes a tremendous amount of courage to be vulnerable, mostly because the main messages our culture celebrates are happiness, success, and temporary fulfillment.” She goes on to say that we haven’t been taught how to hold vulnerable moments well. She also says, “When we’re vulnerable, we are offering a pure/raw piece of ourselves for another person to hold for a moment.” Great trust and faith are required to let someone hold that piece of ourselves. She says that vulnerability is an act of faith that invites someone into the parts of you you’d rather keep hidden. Deep relationships can happen when two people agree to be vulnerable! heard a van pull up beside me. He got out, and I couldn’t help but listen to the podcast he was enjoying. Which was being played obnoxiously loud. I felt something inside of me urging me to ask him about what he was listening to. I was very hesitant, but I couldn’t resist the urge any longer. I blurted out, “Ex- cuse me. What are you listening to?” He proceeded to tell me that he was listening to a podcast by a man named Jordan Peterson. Peterson is a clinical psychologist who studies spirituality. He started to explain to me that he had been going through a period of study- ing different religions. He grew up as Catholic, and when he began noticing hypocrisy in the church, he walked away from Catholicism. We talked about spirituality for about 10 minutes. The critical thing to note about this conversation is not what was said but why did he feel like he needed to talk to me for that long about what he had been learning about spirituality? Why did he feel the need to get his inner- most thoughts off his chest? Why did he share with a complete stranger? Hu- man beings were obviously made for relationship. According to the self-de- termination theory, relatedness is one of the three primary psychological needs of humans. This man unloaded everything he was feeling because I But something magical happens when people are vulnerable with their stories. Relationship happens. Ben and Kelly Smith started Bread & Wine when the inspiration came to them while they were worship pastors at a local church in Atlanta. They felt a deep-rooted desire to take worship outside of the four walls. The Smiths understand that going to church can sometimes be very hard for many different reasons. Sometimes people have been wounded by people in the church. Sometimes people feel guilty for walking away from church for some amount of time. Some don’t necessarily agree with something they heard in church. They wanted to provide a place where people wouldn’t Continued on page 3... Continued on page 3... Know East Metro Atlanta like the back of your hand? Figure out the location of our photo and win! Enter online at www.eMetroTimes.com for a chance to win a FREE Oil Change at Courtesy Ford in Conyers, GA! Winners announced on eMetroTimes.com/photocontest Table of Contents Arts and Entertainment.....................6 Awake Coffee Community................2 Business and Finance......................4 Casa Fights with You........................10 Deon’s Do’s & Don’ts........................5 Devotional..........................................2 Education & Development ...............11 Government.......................................8 Health and Wellness..........................9 Pat Cavanaugh Chief Advisor..........3 Pet of the Month................................2 Self-Love Tips....................................9 Tap and Cork .....................................6 Country Home With Mountain Feel 404-630-2985 www.deoncannon.com Deon Cannon [email protected] ABR, GRI, SRES, Broker All brick ranch, with partially finished basement, located on 1.39 acres of beautiful hardwoods. Main level is 2 bedrooms/1 and 1/2 baths, basement has 3 rooms and a full bath. House features 2 fireplaces. Out Bldg. with electricity and