This world is shit.

There are certain situations at work in my day-to-day encounter with clients that I sometimes find overwhelming. It was difficult enough when I saw adults debilitated by depression, anxiety and psychoses amongst other ailments during training, but it is another and more difficult thing to witness children who suffer the same; what with children as young as four and five years who witness domestic violence, or who have parents who suffer with debilitating forms of depression; so much so that their children's most basic needs are neglected. Personally, what I find most difficult is working with children (who aren't that much older than my own), who have experienced physical and sexual abuse. My heart aches for these fragile and precious souls.

I try as hard as I can to protect my times for clinical supervision. I am more than aware that, being surrounded by so much evil and heinous crime and in a state of carelessness, I can spiral into what might potentially be burnout. So I try to share with my colleagues what I know I alone cannot bear.

Occasionally, and in reality, the pressures from work become too much and inevitably, something gives.

It's very easy to become depressed when all that you are surrounded with are people who have hit rock bottom. I sometimes end up ruminating about how evil this world is; and it takes a conscious effort to remind myself that the world isn't all doom and gloom, and that people do experience good times; that there are lots of children who grow up in good, wholesome and nurturing environments. For those of you who do a great job at being parents and carers: keep up the good work! May God continue to bless you as you look to Him for help...

It is my wife who I often take encouragement from when she reminds me that the world isn't as depressing as that which I experience at work. Admittedly, it is a constant mental wrestling-match where the dilemma is either:

• My wife is correct - and the world is not as depressing, which means that I have a skewed perspective of the world.
  
  OR
  
  
• The world really is that depressing and the work that I do merely reflects the very real sad state of affairs.

Paul's letter to the church at Rome and the gospel message itself hinges upon God's fundamental assessment of who we are in relation to who He is and what His Son accomplished on the cross.

And it is one thing to give an objective statement about an external evil, but it is another to internalise the objective evil and take personal responsibility for that which we are more than happy to label outside of ourselves. That is, that we too - you and I - are also fundamentally evil.

Terry Virgo, in his talk, 'An Exposé of the World: Romans 1: 18-32', expounds upon the nature of Paul's assessment of the world. Although Mr. Virgo exudes a very likeable character, the subject which he deals with makes for uncomfortable listening...