31 July 2007

Oh, the times....

Not that the title makes any sense...

During a brief stop at DTS today I met up with my good friend Carol, who I haven't seen since school let out in April. She was studying for an exam - well, a "celebration," as it was for Dr. Young - and I played the role of distraction. We were able to catch up a little, and I got to tell her about my trip and the way God used the team in Cameroon. It's always great to see friends.

In addition to getting to catch up with Carol, our talk was extremely encouraging to me. I left campus looking forward to starting class again in a few weeks, and my passion to enter the mission field was renewed again. All in all, I would say it was a good morning.

On another note, there is slight freak-outage in Luke world right now. We are moving to the new apartment in just under two weeks, which is more than enough time, but the impending move is beginning to wear on me. I just wish we could do it and be done with it right now. This waiting is killing me. But, I guess I am due to re-learn patience. As always.

And then there's school. I can't wait for classes to start up again, as I enjoy the whole learning process and being in seminary has been an amazing experience. But at the same time I am really good at telling myself how inadequate I am. So, I'm looking forward to going back to school but I am not looking forward to feeling like an idiot. Although, I think I feel more like an idiot now after reading this post....my brain is still in bed, I guess....

20 July 2007

Fleas and ants...

So, we've gotten rid of most of the fleas in the apartment (finally), though there are still some that pop up here and there. I still have some little red spots that are most likely flea bites, but for the most part I'm flea-free.

On another note, apparently we have a fire ant nest (mound?) right outside our apartment. Tiffany and I went to get the mail the other day, and I felt something on my toe. I looked down, and there was this little red ant on my toe. I flicked it off, but it had already done it's work. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday, my big toe was red and puffy and sore, and then yesterday it was really stiff and started to itch. We looked at it last night, and there were two little puncture marks on the side of the toe. I popped 'em, and squeezed out as much of the puss and nast as I could. My toe is still kinda sore, but it's not as stiff and red and puffy as it was before. Stupid little ant that causes so many issues...

But, I will say, I did not kill that ant. I saw it run away after I flicked it off.

16 July 2007

Moving...again

So, in sticking with the tradition I established in college, Tiffany and I will be moving from our current apartment in the next few weeks. This will be the seventh year in a row where I will have lived somewhere different than the year before. I guess this is just getting us ready for a life on the road...

We are moving out of our "summer camp" apartment on or about August 15, so we still have some time to pack and stuff. We decided not to renew our lease here in order to have better access to good deals, avoid congestion with everybody trying to move out of here at the same time, and to be done with the whole process before school starts up again. We'll be moving a little bit north and a little bit east of where we are, but we will remain in Dallas proper. We'll be living in the Lake Highlands area, which is a good location considering our involvement with the FCA at Lake Highlands High School, and it is a little closer to church. The layout of the apartment will be completely different from the place we live now, and we'll have a second full bathroom, which I have never had in my life. Growing up, we had seven people sharing one bathroom, so two bathrooms for two people is amazing to me. Yoda, I guess, will get her own bathroom...finally.

13 July 2007

Bah to cats!

I just want to say that Yoda is rather ungrateful. She managed to get all flea-infested, so Tiffany and I have rearranged our lives to take care of this issue (not to mention suffer along side her--flea bites are no bueno!). Tiff took her to the vet last week to get their special treatment, and we arranged for our apartment to get sprayed last week. Well, they never came, so we made a new appointment for today. And they came. Early, even. But when they come, you and your loved ones - and yes, Yoda is included here - are essentially kicked out of your apartment for half the day. So I spent my afternoon driving Yoda around the Metroplex. She's an indoor cat, so when I strapped her in her harness and took her outside at White Rock Lake, she freaked out and hid under my car for ten minutes. She lightened up, but then it started to rain, so we drove around some more.

Now, I decided to be nice when we were driving around. I got her new toys, and I let her run around free in my Saturn Ion. She enjoyed it, for about 15 minutes. But then she willingly climbed back into the carrier for the rest of the afternoon. I have now been home (breathing flea-killing air, mind you) for about half an hour, and the first thing Yoda did when I let her out in our apartment was bite me. That's right. Full-fledged, sink your teeth into Luke's arm and pull, probably drew blood in the process bite. After all we did for her.

On another note, when I was putting her in the carrier to leave for the afternoon, she actually said "NO!" No joke. The pest control guy heard it. Definitely "NO!" Not a "meow" that we thought was a "no," but a real, humanesque "NO!" I guess she warned me about her feelings...

12 July 2007

"The New Global Mission" - Review

So, I just finished reading The New Global Mission, by Samuel Escobar. I actually got this book three and a half years ago from Samuel himself. He was a plenary speaker at the 2003 Urbana missions conference, and my parents had the pleasure of driving him around during the conference. His book was the book of the day on the day he spoke, and he wrote a note and signed a copy for me. I'm ashamed that I have just now read it, but I guess it's better late than never.

Samuel's main focus is the shift of the church from the West to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The majority of Christians today no longer live in the US or Europe, but rather are found in Asia and Africa. Because of this, the church in the west must learn to separate western culture from the teachings of the church. For a long time, the modern culture of the west has impacted the teaching of the church, to the point where western concepts were taught as Bible truths. As the non-western church grows (and the western church shrinks), we are seeing Christianity practiced in ways that may seem to contradict our western perception of Christianity. We must learn from these differences, knowing that "different" does not mean "wrong" or "non-Christian."

The shift of the church from the west is accompanied by a sort of rebellion against the traditional western church by the younger generations. As the western church sees the post-modern generation grow, a new challenge is being raised. The scientific, "rational" views held by the modern generation are being challenged by this younger generation as we see the benefit of learning from other cultures, and even other religions. A friend of mine refers to his beliefs as "Zen Christianity," acknowledging the failure in the western church to evidence moral character and a holistic approach to the individual. He sees positive aspects of other religions - such as love for all, peace, and contemplation - that are lacking in the western church. We do not have to agree with other religions, but the western church can definitely learn quite a bit from the rest of the world.

In addition to addressing the modern vs. post-modern issue (with some mention of pre-modern as well), Samuel devotes several pages to charismatic and Pentecostal theology. He acknowledges that this is a touchy subject in the western church, but there are non-western churches that have developed this type of theology completely free of western Pentecostal influence. With the spiritual realm a very real part of the daily lives of those in non-western cultures, it is not surprising that there is a tendency in these cultures to embrace the Pentecostal movement. Again, you don't necessarily have to agree with them, but we can learn a lot from our brothers and sisters around the world.

I realize that this really isn't much in the way of a book review. I highly encourage you to read it if you get the chance. It's a quick read once you get into it, but it is a little slow getting started, as many scholarly books are. I think Inter-Varsity Press sells it for around $13, but you may be able to find it elsewhere for cheaper.

11 July 2007

Jet Lag

So, how long does it usually take to recover from jet lag? I mean, Sunday I didn't have any problems, Monday I slept most of the day, yesterday I was awake but dragging, and today I can't keep my eyes open.

I figure I can ride this out for the rest of the week at least. It's always nice to have an excuse for my laziness. The problem will be trying to blame it all on jet lag next week... but I guess I'll take advantage of these naps while I can.

10 July 2007

What am I doing?

I never thought it would come to this. I mean, nobody really cares what other people think, right? So why would anybody want to read about my thoughts? I know I don't. But alas, my own boredom has bested me again, so here I am sitting at Tiffany's computer filling time before we go to dinner.

On another note, I would like to emphasize that I am not a pastor, nor do I plan to become a pastor. The name for the blog comes from a combination of two stories. The first goes back a few summers to a cheerleading camp that I was staffing. The campers decided to determine what animal each staffer looked like. They got to me, and they said I looked like a llama. I don't see it (well, actually I do, sadly enough). Fast forward about three years, and you have the mission trip to Cameroon I just returned from. I told this story to Jonathan, who had said that people call him a weasel or a fox. This story then got passed to Grant, who told it to Pastor Peter, who then referred to me as Pastor Llama for the rest of the week (he had started calling me Pastor Luke first during an interview on CBC Radio--CBC standing for Cameroon Baptist Convention). So, in an effort to be creative, I've adopted the title for the time being.

Anyway, I will probably never post again, because that's just how I do. Not that anybody really cares, since I'll be the only one reading it anyway...