Second and Third Lunch?

Despedidos have been the theme of my past few days... and it's been a blessing, but sad at the same time.

Yesterday was SMAC in the morning, buying some food with John Mark and returning home to finish my cereal for lunch. After lunch I went to the Maust house and hung out for a bit and then off to the Coupes to hang out for a bit. They're leaving tomorrow! Please keep them in prayer... TKD was next and it was just practicing some different kicks and forms. Fun, though! Wang and I had a good Chifa dinner afterwards and I had a HUGE plate of fried rice with shrimp, beef, chicken, and pork. For 3 bucks.

The best part of the day came after Chifa, when JM and I went to Paul's house and we hung out with him and his brother. We played basketball first for a good 20-30 minutes and then soccer (pretty much every man for himself) for another 30. It was great fun with great people... Paul's brother is SO cool! Paul's the man, also, so they're just a cool family. I stuffed some pizza down afterwards (even though my stomach was feeling terribly- Chifa + basketball/soccer right after is not a good combination). We just sat and talked (in Spanish) for about 2 hours about everything... it was great fun. Watching some of Return of the King and working out finished my evening...

This morning was another solid QT in Joshua (yesterday was, too), some breakfast, and then SMAC. I was planning on doing a party for the whole two hours but also having some games... but didn't plan ahead (bad Luke). The Lord was gracious, though, and allowed me to use the creative mind He's blessed me with to make a Jeopardy-type game for the first hour that didn't totally bomb. The kids had fun, and one guy even knew what Fish and Chips was, which surprised me. The second hour also was a blank slate, but turned out to be one of the best classes ever. We did improv. In English. Oh yes... from Supermodels to Cinderella to Weight Lifters to Aliens, groups of three (plus me) would act out the scene (a la Whose Line) and try to speak some English. Some people got into it, most were pretty shy, but everyone loved it. Praise the Lord for the idea at the last minute! He is truly the Great Provider, even when I don't deserve it...

Afterwards began the food-fest for me. We had snacks and just hung out and talked for about 30 minutes. I was able to hand out some Bibles, also, and they were SO thankful for them. Praise God! Then Fanny (the head lady) provided lunch for JM, me, and the two other teachers. It was great: Chicken Cordon Bleu (again made me long for my Mom's cooking). Next, I headed over to Andrea's house to celebrate her brother's birthday and say goodbye and they insisted that I eat some lunch with them (fried chicken and french fries). It was sad to leave them all but I'm thankful for how the Lord has brought Andrea along in her journey... she's going to get involved with the youth at church now! Praise Him! I taxied over to the family Wang's staying with (although both he and Diana weren't there) and had a lovely conversation with them and a missionary family that is staying with them. They, too, insisted that I eat dinner with them: llapingachos (meat, smashed and fried potatoes, and rice). It was lovely, as well, but my stomach was nearing bursting.

I went and helped Mr. Billy move the last of their stuff to his car, watched some more of LOTR ROTK, and then went to TKD. There, we stretched and worked on some kicks that I'm really not good at. But it was fun with the guys, joking around and getting more flexible (little by little... baby steps). I left a bit early, gathered my laudry, took a shower, and headed over to the Mausts for a fun night of Apples-to-Apples! Andrew is my kinda guy... we go for the best explanation/most ridiculous story. Which is how I was able to convince him that supermodels are bright. Oh yes. After that I had a absolutely fantastic conversation with my friend Brett back in VA and also good times talking with my bro and Elise.

Please keep Abby in prayer (and my parents) as they drive back to VA tomorrow, keep Hunter and Dad in prayer as they prepare to and leave for Peru on Friday, and Mom and Elise as they hold down the fort (with Abby) while the boys are gone.

I would also ask that you pray that I will use my time wisely in the last week I have in South America... wow, it's gone by fast. Pray also that I will truly apply the lessons I've learned here in my life for the rest of my time here on earth and that I don't lose the passion the Lord's blessed me with...

A few quick Joshua lessons:

-Many times God will give us a command with leeway so that we can use the creativity and intelligence He has given us to glorify Him to the max! This is especially apparent in the story of the (successful) attack on Ai. The Lord commands him to set an ambush (8:2) and Joshua goes and makes this SWEET plan of sending 30,000 men one way to hide and another 5,000 another place, showing a false front of lack of strength to the King of Ai, drawing him and all his men away from the city, and then totally destroying it (8:4-8). Hoorah for God and the creative minds He has created!

-Another thing I found ironic in the story of Ai is that the reason they were unsuccessful the first time is because Achan did not obey the Lord's command to totally destroy Jericho (everything in it... no plunder, livestock, nothing). But after purging Israel of the sin of Achan, the Lord tells Israel that they can take the plunder and livestock from Ai when they defeat it, they just need to destroy the people and city itself (8:2). So the reason they lose the battle at first is because of the sin of taking plunder, and yet after they won the second battle against Ai, they were allowed to take whatever they wanted (plunder wise). So you could say Achan was just one battle too early... but the Lord doesn't count disobedience as early obedience. Ever.

-I also love how Joshua commanded Achan to tell the truth. Joshua 7:19- ' Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give Him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."' How convicting is that!? Wow... it's no wonder Achan told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. From my understanding, this was just a regular old Israelite who chose to take plunder at the wrong time (if only he'd waited one battle...) and disobeyed the Lord. He and everything he owned was stoned and burned and this cleansed Israel.

-And finally, when Joshua was first spying out Ai, I found quite a few interesting parts to this story. First of all, the Israelites and spies don't always go all that great together (except for Jericho... that was ok, other than them choosing to stay the night at a prostitute's place... how weird is that?). Spying out the promised land?! We all remember how that went... and now with Ai. The spies came back and said "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai..." (7:3) and this shows that the Israelites had begun to rely upon the strength of men, seeing that they would not have to use their WHOLE strength, but just a part of their strength would be sufficient. God was pretty clear that they need to always be giving their best effort for Him (for He has the whole army go during the successful battle). I also find it very interesting that God isn't mentioned saying anything about this battle until AFTER they fail. Does this mean that they didn't seek His council? Or did He purposefully withhold His council in His great foreknowledge and omniscience? Probably both...

Finally, in verse 9 of chapter 7, one of Joshua's main concerns is the name of the Lord. (vs. 9) "The Canaanites and other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?" Sure, he says "our" name first, but the main question is what will God do for His own great name? I love even more God's response to Joshua (who is face down in reverence): (vs. 10-11a) The Lord said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my convenant..." Whereas Joshua's prayer seemed to be crying out to God "Why did you let this happen?!", God comes right back and says "it's not MY fault. You have sinned against Me! This is why you lost the battle..." God reaffirms that the Israelites do not control Him... He is not like a special weapon they can use to win battles. He is the God of the Universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the Israelites, but also the God of the rest of the people's as well, and if the Israelite's do not follow Him, He is under no obligation to continue giving them victory. We serve an Almighty God...

I probably won't be able to update for awhile, so all you loyal readers, go read more of your Bible instead of this blog the next few days :-).

May the Lord be glorified through all our lives as we seek to grow closer to Him and more and more like Him in all areas of life... may we deny ourselves daily and surrender all we are to Him for His greatest glory...

In His strength alone... (1 Peter 4:11)

Luke