Tears on Sundays....

Okay, I just want to say that I was a rock until August of 2005. I hadn't cried in probably 10 years until my grandma died that August. That's when the floodgates opened. And now I'm a flipping emotional basket case. But I just wanted to clarify that it was not always that way.

Now, with that said, if I have Sunday nights off of work there is probably a 99% chance that you will see me cry if you are in my apartment between 7 and 8 pm. Why? you ask. That's easy. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I don't know what it is about this show, but it never fails to make me cry. This Sunday's episode was the 100th family, and boy was it a whopper. The family actually had a nice house to begin with, so they were able to donate the windows and trim and appliances and a lot of other things to other families in need. It didn't seem like this family needed to be chosen, but it turns out that four of the 7 (soon to be 8) children were actually the mom's sister's kids. These kids lost their dad 6 years ago in a car accident, and their mom had a hard time dealing with it. She began to get past it when she started to date a guy and then broke it off. He did not take it well and went to her house and attacked her with butcher knives. She survived this attack, but the lunatic did not spend much time in jail. The mom began to date another guy and the first guy came to her house again and shot both the mom and the boyfriend, killing them both. So these four kids, the oldest of whom is now 13, lost both of their parents in 6 years and were taken in by their mom's sister. Their aunt/new mom has devoted much of the past year to serving as an advocate for women and children effected by domestic abuse. That's why this family was chosen.

If that wasn't bad enough, other families from previous episodes came and helped this family's build. They gave updates on these families, and their stories were so powerful I cried every time they showed clips of past episodes. Like I said, emotional basket case.

All this to say that Dr. Kreider was right. The secular world gets it when the church may not. The church has been called to be the body of Christ, sharing His love to the nations. The problem is we are really good at sharing His love with ourselves and not reaching out to those outside our comfort zone. But we can see evidence of God's love outside the church. I realize I haven't articulated it very well, but it is deeply convicting to realize that others are stepping out to love the hurting when the church has failed. As the Casting Crowns song says, if we are the body, why aren't His arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching? ... Why aren't his feet going? Why is His loving not showing them there is a way?

Allergies

I wish I knew what I am actually allergic to. Most people I know that have weird food allergies know what they can't have. Take my brother. He knows that if he drinks milk or has any sort of milk product, he'll have a nasty case of projectile vomiting. Though we thought it was funny when we were growing up, I don't think it's as funny seeing a 16-year-old vomit all over. It's a lot more nast to clean up. Then there are the people who can't have peanuts because it makes their throat close up. And the people who can't have gluten because it does something bad. But me...we don't know what I'm allergic to. But whatever it is, man does my face get swollen when I eat it. I've had this "problem" since I was a teenager, but we have never been able to figure out what causes it. Granted I've never had formal tests done, largely because the swelling happens so infrequently, but lately it seems to be happening a lot more often. On Thanksgiving of all days my mouth got HUGE.




I wish I had the picture Dan took....he's holding the camera I'm looking at in this picture. I'm sure you can see the grotesque-ness of it better from his angle. But, if you look at the left side of my mouth, it's noticeably larger than the right side. It doesn't hurt, but it's really annoying and it makes it difficult to drink. They took a picture of me drinking because I had to drink out of the right side of my mouth because my lip on the left side wouldn't go around the cup. Then we thought that maybe it would be a good idea to ice it. I mean, when you hurt your ankle and it gets all swollen, you ice it. Naturally, it would make sense to add ice to the swollen lip as well. That's the reason behind the other picture. It kind of looks like I got into a fight or something. Or maybe I lost a tooth in the food. Or the cat bit me. Or something. SO, we have decided to come up with a story as to why my lip was swollen on Thanksgiving and necessitated a large pack of ice being placed on my face at dinner. The story is we got a little carried away when we were passing the food around the table. I was the "end" of the table and got the job of putting the excess food on the secondary table (that part is actually true). Apparently I was going to slow and Tiffany actually tossed the casserole dish of yams at me. I turned around from nicely placing the mashed potatoes on the secondary table to see a big dish of orange flying at my face. I got my hands up in time to catch it and prevent any mess from occurring, but not in time to prevent a generous blow to the face. Lucky for me, the teeth that the dish hit are fake and so no dental damage was done, only extreme swelling in the maxilofacial region. That's my story. So much better than allergies.



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Reading Week is GONE!

So, I realize that this post is similar to the last couple...or, rather, it's almost a combination of the two-ish. Reading Week is already over, and man it went FAST! It's now fall break, which means another week without class. Supposedly I'm working on all the homework I didn't do last week. I don't necessarily think that I'm being unproductive, considering we are almost done with a huge group project that we had barely talked about before break started. And I've read most of the articles for theology. So I've done stuff....but I have a lot more stuff to do and the time that I need to do it is basically not there. Oh well....I know that it will get done. And relationships are more important than book smarts anyway.

Okay, enough procrastinating. Off to read Humanity and Sin, by Bob Pyne.

Your one life...

There are days where you are really productive, and everything that needs to get done gets done.

There are days where you just have a lot scheduled, so you're busy all day and all of a sudden the day is over.

There are days where you set out to be lazy and you succeed...by playing endless hours of Zelda (or something like that).

And then there are days that just happen. You planned to get a lot done, but the next thing you know it's 7:00 at night and you have done a whole lot of nothing. You know that there are assignments to do and people to contact and things need cleaned, but you waste the day on the couch. Today was one of those days...

I was really productive this morning working on the group project for Dr. Young's class. Who would have thought that studying persecution in the book of Acts could be so interesting? The problem is, once I got done with that and went home, I wasted the entire rest of the day. I talk about how important it is to be a good steward of our time, yet I can't even practice what I preach. There is so much I could have done today, yet I chose to ignore all that and do nothing. I honestly don't know where my time went....but I do know that I feel guilty about not spending it wisely.

CAM International has a slogan that says "What are you going to do with your one life?" (Or something like that) I guess my answer to that question on a day like today is "nothing." I know that's not true, because I know that God has amazing plans for me and He is the reason I'm in Dallas to begin with.

So, as I ponder my day and what I've done with my time, I pray that you too ask yourself, "What am I going to do with my one life?" May you seek to use your time here to glorify God as you passionately serve Him.

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Reading Week, Here I Come!

Praise God! Reading week is just days away, I have officially finished one class, I finished my two exams for this week, and the group project that is due the day we get back from two weeks off is just about finished! I don't know how it all fell together, but it did. WOOHOO!

On another note, I would like to apologize to everybody who was in chapel today. If you were there, you heard a message that had some quality material in it and I believe that if you were able to pay attention much could be learned about the current state of Christianity in the world. There is a lot of potential for this lectureship to be very informative. That's not why I'm apologizing. My apology is for the presentation of it. As great of a scholar as Dr. Netland is, it seems he is not much of an orator. In fact, that could have been the most boring chapel presentation I have seen since being at DTS. I have never experienced somebody reading a paper for 40+ minutes and calling it a "message." So, I am sorry. Not all of the missions lectures are like that, I promise.

Speaking of missions, sometimes I think of how great it would be to be in Mozambique already. It seems the trip next summer just is not coming fast enough...but then again, we haven't started raising support yet, so I guess it can't come too quickly.

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Almost November

So, I realize that Tiffany is the only one who ever reads this blog anyway, and since I haven't written anything in almost a month, I figure I should amuse my wife while she is at work. So, I'm writing on my blog...

It's almost November. One class is done (except for the final). Another class ends next Saturday (except for the final and a big paper), and then another one ends the following Thursday (except a major paper). That leaves just two classes for the rest of the semester, but about 6 major projects due in four weeks. I have managed to do basically no work for any of the group projects I'm working on, but it seems I'm not the only one, which makes it look not too promising for any of the groups. I know I have learned something this semester, but if asked to articulate it on the spot I can't. I know God has done amazing things in my life since August, but again, if you ask me to list them I probably will struggle to get anything off. I am blessed in more ways than I can count, and I have a wife that loves me and a God who has saved me for eternity. I have so much to be happy about....but sometimes I'm just so tired. So....tired. But, I am blessed, and I praise God for the air in my lungs. Even if I feel stagnant, I know God will get me through this all, and that He has amazing plans for me.

Where has the time gone?

What? It's October!?!? When did that happen?

I guess things have just gone crazy since the semester started a month and a half ago. I don't really know what I've learned, but I'm pretty sure that my brain is permanently spilled on the table in CAC 208. Between Dr. Young's vocab, Dr. Bramer's accent, and Dr. Horrell's exorcisms and stuff, I can honestly say that this has been the most informative and challenging semester so far. I'm much more comfortable on campus, but I still feel like a lost puppy half the time.

New things this year--I have joined the choir (with Josh's encouragement), I usually eat in the cafeteria (which a. exists and b. serves food), and I sleep about once in a blue moon (okay, so that third one isn't really new). Anyway, I figured I should at least say something on here so that the world (and by "the world" I really mean Tiffany and myself) will realize that I am not dead.

On another note, I have realized that I have not done anything to follow up for my trip to Cameroon that happened about 4 months ago. I don't know where the time went, but it's gone. I should probably get on that. And the three group projects that I'm supposedly working on, but only one of the three groups has met, and that only once. And the project that is due Thursday that I haven't even looked at. And the upcoming final exam at the end of October for BE 103. Okay, enough on here...I've gotta get to work!

Everything's different

Up in Peoria for Cathy's wedding tomorrow, and let me tell you, it's all so different.

First of all, there are parts of 74 that are 4 lanes each way. It flows. It's nice. The lanes are actually big enough. We need to send the civil engineers that figured this one out down to Dallas to fix that whole issue.

On another note, Grandma and Grandpa's house is now a hole in the ground. Literally. If it got filled with water, it would be a swimming pool deep enough for a diving tower. As is the rest of that entire block. It's all fenced off and they're building something...or, they will be. I'm assuming that's why there's a hole.

Bradley's torn down other houses around the campus, too, and it looks like they have all pretty much been turned into parking lots. That is, all except the TEP and Hillel houses, which were torn down so that Sigma Chi could build that monstrosity of a building they call a house. There are only a handful of houses in Highland Park that are actually bigger than this one, though the Sigma Chi house is "home" for way more than just a couple of people.

With all these changes around the perimeter of the campus, it's nice to know that the quads are all still intact and the interior still looks like the Bradley I remember. At least for now...

It's....so....hot.....

I just want to say, I am totally not cut out to live in Texas my whole life. I don't know about the rest of the state, but Dallas is crazy hot right now (though today we're only supposed to get up to 97....woohoo!). Hopefully that tropical depression down in Galveston sends some love our way and we cool off before school starts.

On another note, we have no fans in our new apartment. Zero. None. Coming from our old place where we had a ceiling fan in every room, this is quite a shock to the system. I can't count the number of times I woke up last night drenched in sweat. I easily drank three large cups worth of water over night, and I still woke up parched. I probably lost 10 pounds in water weight just by sleeping. And that's with the air conditioning on. I guess we're just used to having moving air, not just cooler air, throughout the apartment.

But, we love the new place. It's HUGE - or at least it feels that way. The other Luke commented that any apartment feels bigger when you have to walk from place to place. And that is definitely true here. Plus, Tiffany and I keep trying to leave the apartment by walking through the study, which is a dead end. Can't really figure out why, but whatever. Hopefully we'll get over that wasted motion soon.

Thinking of next summer

Is it bad to be looking forward to next summer when we're still in the middle of this one? I mean, I still have to survive the next school year, which will be a feat in and of itself. But, if I do survive, I think Tiffany and I have a lot to look forward to. Granted, it's still 11 months away, but we've already gotten in touch with Children's Relief International about going to Mozambique next July. So, I've spent about the last hour thinking about how cool that trip is going to be, and how awesome it'll be to go on a mission trip with Tiffany, possibly to the place where we can serve full time. And that's all I have to say for today.

I threw in a map of Mozambique for those that don't know where it is (just north of South Africa), and also because I wanted to put a picture on the blog somewhere.

Infuego!

So, there wasn't much to see, but at about 5 this morning there was a frantic knock on our door. I had been in bed maybe 3 1/2 hours (I had gone in to work later Tuesday night), and was pretty slow realizing what was going on. Tiffany said "Do you hear that? I'm not getting it...I'm in my nightgown." I proceeded to blindly reach in my pile of clothing next to the bed and found a pair of shorts. As I go to open the door, the knocking continues and is accompanied by more knocking on the window. "Fire!" they yell as I open the door. "You need to get out." I looked out the window and saw fire trucks everywhere. I wonder why I never heard any sirens...I must have been sleeping pretty well...

Anyway, Tiffany at this point had realized that she wasn't in her nightgown, but was wearing shorts and a tank top. She put a t-shirt on over the tank top as I grabbed the cat carrier. "Grab the cat," I called to her. We proceeded to struggle to get Yoda into her carrier, but eventually we got her in (and I got a healthy 6 inch scratch across my abdomen) and we went outside to stand around with our neighbors.

Wondering what exactly was going on, we walked far enough away from the building to see where the fire was. We could smell the smoke, but we couldn't see anything. There was a fireman down at the electrical boxes looking at something, and another handful of firemen on the top floor ripping a wall apart, but no flames anywhere. We saw some flashlights inside the apartment on the third floor right by where the firemen were ripping out the wall, so we assume that there were more firemen inside checking stuff out. At one point they got out the hose and sprayed into the hole in the wall they had created, so maybe they saw something we didn't. After about an hour of this excitement, the firemen began to pack up and told us it was safe to go back inside.

We still don't know what caused the fire, or whether there was even much of a fire at all. But, we praise God that we were kept safe, along with all of our neighbors. We are also thrilled to know that the neighbors we have care enough about us and each other to make sure that everybody got out of the building safely. And the response of the Dallas Fire Department was phenomenal - we had around 10 trucks there, though most of the firemen sat around looking upset that they were there. But still, we felt very safe and very well taken care of. And from what we can tell, nobody lost anything and none of the apartments suffered any severe damage. My guess is the severe damage will come in a few months when this whole complex gets torn down, but that's another story....

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....

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.

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.

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...

"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.

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.

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...