Africa (Media)

Yes, there are actually giraffes in Africa.


Camels, too.


At the meat market. Hungry?


With our policeman-guard.


The university.


Couldn't resist.


Waiting in line for a snack!


At a playground with kids from an orphanage!


The disparity of wealth: note the shack beside the large house.


Thumbs up!


A Brief Video Summary of my trip!

Africa (Update)

By the glorious grace of our Heavenly Father, I have returned from Africa! Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers- I am grateful. The main purpose of my trip was to seek Him for direction about my future in East Africa and the Lord was faithful in that and in many other ways, as well. I’m excited to share some of the insights along with some funny and exciting stories!

Camel Milk: there is a plethora of camels in this part of the world and this is a favored beverage. I had the unique opportunity to try camel milk and, to summarize my experience: it smelled like burnt tires and tasted how I would imagine they taste. Not good.

Visa: I had some difficult issues getting in and out of countries over in East Africa due to my own negligence and the local governments, and although I had to make four trips to the local embassy, the Lord was faithful and provided me access into the last country!

Speaking of Travel: the day before I traveled to my second-to-last destination, I found out that the worker I was planning to visit was not going to be ‘home’ when I was planning to visit him. Oh my. Still, after nine hours of travel across East African deserts (including various stops and check points along the way), I was dropped off at a gas station on the outskirts of his city because I knew that there were other workers that I might be able to visit. After two quick phone calls on a random taxi driver’s cell phone (my international SIM card declined to work in that country), I got into contact with a missionary couple in the city and discovered that not only were they excited to host me for the night, but they only lived one block away from the gas station! Glory to God for His provision!

Difficulty: because the nature of the trip was a “vision trip” to seek the Lord’s guidance for my future, I intentionally didn’t try to plan many ‘things’ to do while I was over there. Because I am an “doer” and like accomplishing things, not doing very many tangible significant things during my four weeks was tough for me. But the Lord taught me how to rest not only in the busyness of life (in which I am accustomed to being) but also in the slowness of life.

Lessons Learned: during my restful time the last few days of my trip, the Lord taught me two great lessons:

1) Oftentimes I try to measure the ‘success’ of a service trip by how many lives I believe were changed because of my presence in the country. The Lord humbled me by showing me that there are times when He will ask me to do things where the result is the only life changed is my own... and that’s what He wants.

2) I’ve grown accustomed to seeing “immediate change” having grown up in an age of immediate gratification, so because I’m not significantly different now because of my four weeks overseas, it would be easy for me to ‘write off’ any impact the trip had on my life. But in the same way that a fruit tree does not yield immediate results, after years of watering and pruning the tree much fruit is produced. So while I may not see any immediate changes in my life, the Lord gave me a peace that one day I will look back on this trip and see that He used the trip in my life in a big way.

Future: one of the main reasons for my trip was to seek the Lord’s will and gain experiential knowledge of the people and terrain over in East Africa. Honestly, the experiential knowledge that I gained made the trip worth it, and in the few weeks since I have returned I have already been in touch with one of the teams that I met and we are are talking about me joining their team later this year for long-term work in that part of the world!

So my tentative schedule over the next few months is:

I go to the West Coast to do some training for two weeks in June. I will return and hit the ground running raising monthly support, and then I hope to head back out to East Africa by the beginning of the fall to serve long-term!

Again- I am eternally grateful for your prayer-partnership in my ministry as I continue seeking to reveal His glory to the ends of the earth. Please continue to keep me in your prayers and I will try to keep you updated...

By His grace...

Luke Sjogren

Coming Home

Hello friends!

Don't let the title mislead you- I AM back in Mechanicsville. It was a tremendous trip- all glory to God- and I look forward to writing another post dedicated to my trip with pictures, etc., in the future. But this post is about something that's been on my mind and heart the past day or so...

First of all- Exodus 34:6 says (and it's repeated in Psalm 103)

"The LORD, The LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness..."

Just take a moment and worship God for how amazing He truly is. Isn't this description of Him SO wonderful? And it struck me, also, how we are called to live like this as well- to be merciful and gracious to each other (forgiving each other- Matthew 6:13-14), to be slow to become angry with each other (James 1:19) and to abound in steadfast love and faithfulness towards God and our neighbor (the greatest commandments- Mark 12:30-31). Truly- if we live out this description of God in our lives, we will be obeying His commandments and living a life "pleasing to Him"... Let's do it in His strength!

Also- I just returned home from a few days at the beach with students from the ministry in which I had the privilege of serving this past year and it was a lot of fun! There were some good conversations, great times with the Lord (finishing up this go-round of studying Ecclesiastes) and great friends. But there was something about setting foot back into my house here in Mechanicsville that was really special. Yes- having my whole family at the house (not-so-common for our family) is a beautiful thing, but it's more than that. It has to do with the place.

It sparked some thoughts about "home" and the significance of it. To put it plainly: I don't believe that we're Home yet. Don't ever be fooled- Home is eternity with the Father and Jesus, not this crazy place called earth. Scripture:

John 14:1-3
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."

1 Peter 2:11-12
"Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."

Philippians 3:20-21
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself."

We are "sojourners and exiles" in this place- for our "citizenship is in heaven". The NIV calls us "aliens and strangers", and I love this picture because it shows that we really don't belong here. Do things ever feel not right about the way things are currently? Like we were created for something more?

CS Lewis had some magnificent thoughts (like usual) on this. He once wrote in a letter responding to the comment 'Nor does being hungry prove that we have bread'.

"But surely tho' it doesn't prove that one particular man will get food, it does prove that there is such a thing as food! i.e. if we were a species that didn't normally eat, weren't designed to eat, wd. we feel hungry?"

In the same way, we were created for a Home in which we do not currently reside. Although we may not see or fully know it now, the fact that we long for something more proves that there is something greater than this life. Our spirits and souls were not created just for this earth. I believe that we were created to worship the God of the Universe- the only One worthy of all worship, praise, honor, and power- and we worship Him most fully when we are in His presence. While here on earth, we only have glimpses or 'tastes' of His goodness.

1 Peter 2:2-3
"Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."

I feel like Peter is saying that the greatest "good" we experience or see here on earth is just a taste of the true goodness of God. The full goodness of God will not be realized while we are 'at home in the body' (2 Cor. 5). If the greatest 'good' we experience here on earth is but a TASTE of the goodness of God, can you imagine how Amazing He truly is?! It's like we are fascinated by a puddle God created and have yet to see and experience the ocean!

I love this house and, in many ways, while I'm away I look forward to coming home- not because I'm dissatisfied with my current location, but because I know how great home and family are. I am SO thankful for how God has revealed His goodness to me in this life in so many different ways, but I also recognize that these are just tastes of His true goodness- and for that, I cannot WAIT to get to our true, eternal Home with Him.

Don't live for the temporal, transient "seen"... live this life as an "alien and stranger" with an eternal perspective, looking to the things "unseen" (2 Cor. 4:18), so that all people will glorify God in the day of visitation.

One day, we're coming Home...

Luke

Grace and peace... part 2

The Lord has been putting grace on my heart a bunch recently and then last night I had the privilege of leading a small group on the topic of "peace". So I figured "Hey, I'm going to write a blog post on 'grace and peace'" only to remember that I JUST wrote one a few weeks ago. Well I have more thoughts on these two loaded words.

First of all- the Lord has been putting grace on my heart a lot the last few days. Do you ever just stop and consider the significance of grace in our lives? And how without it... we wouldn't be here? "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith..." (Eph 2:8-9) The Grace of God is ridiculous. Ludicrous. It doesn't make sense. It isn't fair. We will never do anything to deserve it. And yet it saves us. Makes us whole again. Redeems us. Reconciles us.

If we take a few minutes to consider the effect of grace in our lives, I am 100% confident that we will live out the Greatest Commandments infinitely better. How so?

If someone were to make an amazing sacrifice for you (say, giving His only Son to take your place so that He might reveal His beauty and glory to the world and allow us to know Him), would you not love Him and devote your life to Him? Would you not be beside yourself with seeking ways to please Him out of love? I'm not talking about trying to repay a debt- I'm talking about loving them because their sacrifice revealed something about their character that you can't get over. Have you ever met someone and then left feeling like "WOW. That person is unbelievable." and then you can't sit still (internally) until you just tell someone/everyone about them?! Maybe it was their generosity, or their humility, or their "sweetness" or their genuineness. Multiply all of those things times 1,000,000 and you'll *begin* to approach how awesome God is.

Grace also will cause us to "love our neighbors as ourselves" much better because, the more we consider how glorious and abundant the grace of God is in our lives, the less and less we will find the sins of others to be, especially the sins against us. When we consider the glory that we are rejecting on a daily basis, we will recognize that the faint reflection that our friends are rejecting in us (when they trespass against us) doesn't even come close to comparing to our rejection of the Lord. Then grace will abound in our lives to the world around us and people will see Jesus in us and yearn for Him. Isn't THIS what we want? To point all people to the Awesome Creator?

And "peace". Matthew 5:9 says "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." What is super-cool about this verse is that, while on the surface it looks like just a call to put out 'fires' in relationships and ensure that people around you aren't fighting, Jesus is (according to the ESV Study Bible) actually referencing the Hebrew word "Shalom", which means "total well-being both personally and communally". So when He is calling us to be "peacemakers", I believe it's also (more) along the lines of us encouraging and inspiring others into that "shalom" peace- the wholeness we can have through the redemption of Christ. And if everyone is experiencing that "shalom" with God, with themselves, and with others, there won't be any fights or 'fires' to put out!

On top of that, Paul writes that if we "present our requests before God" by "prayer and thanksgiving", the "peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7) Francis Chan writes about this in his book Forgotten God. He says that too many Christians today want 'just enough peace' to make it through the day- just enough peace to get to that deadline at work, to get through this stressful situation. But God promises that we'll have peace that "surpasses all understanding". Notice he didn't write "your understanding" or "some understanding" but "all understanding"- a peace that is so insane and extraordinary that people will look at our lives and say 'your God, He is Lord.' Is this peace being exhibited in your life? If it's not, ever stop and wonder why that is the case?

Let's live out and radiate grace and peace to the world, so that all will see that "Jesus our God is great and mighty to be praised"- 'With Everything', Hillsong United.

Truly, His glory is my reward.

Luke

Adoption

What a past few weeks it has been! Lots of lessons learned and many things that make God famous.

One of the lessons learned: eating penne covered in Alfredo sauce and then trying to work out within a few hours afterwards does not usually turn out too well. By the grace of God, the penne stayed in my stomach, but while jogging on the treadmill I felt like death. People might wonder what Ephesians 2 means when it says we were "dead in our trespasses" (2:5)... I think I experienced a literal feeling of that last night.

On a different note, I have been loving two songs lately: "I Need a Doctor" by Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey and "Your Great Name" by Natalie Grant. Two phenomenally different songs, yes. But check out these words:

"All I know is you came to me when I was at my lowest

You picked me up, breathed new life in me. I owe my life to you...

But I can never repay you, what you did for me was way more."

Can you tell which song that comes from? It comes from Eminem rapping about Dr. Dre, but (to me, at least) it can easily be taken as us crying out to God. The Psalms have similar verses to this- "He picked me up out of the miry pit... set my feet upon a rock. He put a new song in my lips, a song of praise to our God." (Psalm 40:2-3) Do I agree with everything that Eminem says in the song? Of course not. But I love Skylar Grey's voice, I'm a big fan of Eminem and I hope that we can all see that there is some Truth in his songs. God has gifted Eminem in a way that very few others have been gifted and I pray that one day He would see the Truth and start laying tracks with more of a focus on the true King and hope he can have in Jesus.

As far as Natalie Grant's song goes, the chorus says "Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and man You are high and lifted up, that all the world will praise Your great Name"! When I hear this song, the Lord burdens my heart for the cause of the Name of Christ and I pray that God would empower me to inspire and encourage others to revere and treasure this precious and powerful Name. Read Philippians 2:5-11 for a glimpse of what this Name really means.

I was studying Galatians 4 this morning and the Lord really stirred my heart about the concept of us being "adopted as sons (and daughters)". Check out verses 1-7:

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

So the passage starts out by talking about being "heirs" (continuing from chapter 3, which says that if we are children of Abraham through the blessed Offspring- faith in Jesus- we are also "heirs"). In the ancient times, apparently, until you obtained your inheritance, you were "no different than a slave"- still under the instruction of "guardians and managers" until Daddy said it was time. You didn't have too much freedom to do what you wanted to- maybe even less than a slave! But the difference is that you were destined to inherit, whereas the slave was not.

We were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. Consider this word, for Paul chose it wisely: "enslaved". This doesn't just mean "commanded by" or "influenced by". It means we were OWNED by these principles, with no hope for freedom unless someone purchased our freedom from our master. Now comes the good news: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

God's timing is perfect. This is a phrase that often gives me hope and is also full of truth- God could have sent His Son to rescue the Israelites from exile, or from the reign of any of their terrible kings, or during the '400 years of silence', but the fullness of time had not yet come. God was preparing the world to receive His Son and He sent Him at the perfect time.

Now comes the idea of adoption. I feel like many of us often look at this idea (found 5 times in the New Testament- all in Paul's letters) and just skim over it. "Adoption- that's a nice thought". Or we say a quick 'thanks' prayer to God for adoption. I believe that a main reason for this is that many of us don't really know what it means to be adopted. 'Adoption is a nice thing that some people are 'called to',' we say, but inwardly we usually think of the cost and the burdens we think it might bring.

Try asking a child who was orphaned from infancy and spent their entire youth without a family... then, at the age of 14 or 15, a very loving, caring family adopted them and brought them into their house. They received them as their own, treating them just like a biological child and loving them with the agape love of God. What do you think adoption means to that child?

I believe the child would say: "belonging", "acceptance", "hope", "love" and "joy" among other things. Guess what? This is what God does for us. We who have grown up in a family, be them very loving or not, have a tough time comprehending this idea of "adoption" because we've never had to face the realities of living without a family. But that's what we were like before Christ. Before His Spirit entered our hearts, we were enslaved to the principles of the world, without hope of a promising future. But God sent His Son to redeem us and bring us into His family to be adopted as His own. To go from a slave to the world to belonging to God is an amazing transformation that I oftentimes take for granted.

But God didn't stop there. He could have just said "adoption is enough... they're a part of the family". But He put His Spirit in our hearts that is crying "Abba! Father!" You know who else calls the Father "Abba"? Jesus Christ in Mark 14:36. Does this not blow your mind?! We are not only welcomed into His family, but we can call Him "Father". And He not only allows us to call Him by the same name Jesus calls Him (His "only begotten Son"- John 3:16), He puts His Spirit inside of us so that we are compelled to call Him by it! What love of the Father!

Take a moment today to consider this and then pray a prayer of thanks to God for His adoption and His Spirit inside of us.

"Hungry souls receive grace at the sound of Your Great Name. The fatherless they find their rest at the sound of Your Great Name." -Natalie Grant

Forgive me for taking this for granted, Father. Worthy is the Lamb.

For the sake of His Name...

Luke

Grace and Peace...

Before I write about grace and peace, please direct your thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan and everywhere else affected... an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit that triggered a tsunami just a few hours ago. Check the BBC for an unreal video of the tsunami that shows buildings, cars, trees and the like getting swept away as if they weighed nothing. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who have just lost homes, jobs and family members in the blink of an eye, and then pray for them with that heart. God- may Your Name be exalted in this situation and may all see that You are worthy to be praised...

I began studying Galatians this morning and am SO excited to see how God is going to enlighten me and teach me more about Himself through this wonderful book of the Bible. Here are the first five verses (ESV):

"Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

I love how Paul introduces himself- reassuring the Galatian church that he is an apostle appointed and sent "through Jesus Christ and God the Father", not by men (as the Paul-haters were trying to argue). If you read on in verses 6-10, Paul calls out the people who were turning to a "different gospel", and just so they didn't have to ask 'which is the real gospel?', Paul tells them in the introduction: "Jesus... gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." This is the gospel that he had preached and continued to- and the gospel that we should hold fast to for all our lives for the greatest glory of God.

What really stood out to me this morning, though, was the part of his greeting that you can find in almost every one of his letters: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ..." I once read that "grace" and "peace" were the two greatest things that Paul could wish upon the churches (for reasons that slip my memory at this time). The book What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey is a phenomenal read that changed by perspective on grace. Yancey challenges the body of Christ, essentially saying that we do a much better job at showing "ungrace" than "grace" (ungrace being the opposite of grace- shunning people, being too judgmental, etc), which is the opposite of what we're called to do.

He opens the book by telling the story of a prostitute in a major US city that a man encountered. She told the man through sobs and tears that she was looking for food so that she and her two year-old daughter could eat. She also admitted that she was renting out her daughter for prostitution to support her drug habit. The man asked her if she had gone to a church for help, and she replied "Church? Why would I go there? I already feel terrible and they would only make me feel worse."

Let's be honest here- how many of us, upon hearing how she treats her child, inwardly thought "that woman ought to be tried and sent to jail! Bring in Social Services to rescue the child! What a terrible person..." without even caring for the woman, who had sunk to such a low place that she was using her daughter in that way. No person naturally would do such a thing- they have to be in a rock-bottom place in life to even consider it.

Now think of how terrible our situation would be if God treated us like that when we are in our wretched, sinful states. I'm not trying to absolve the woman of the terrible thing she's doing, but our first instinct should not be to throw the 'dogs' at the woman, but to show grace, like God has done for us. PLEASE read the book, as I'm confident it will change your perspective on grace...

But back to Paul and his greeting. A thought that the Lord put on my heart is that the majority of the Church not only does a poor job of showing grace to those who don't know the Lord... we do a poor job at showing grace to each other. Unity in the Body of Christ, which Paul writes strongly about multiple times in the Bible (see 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4), is one of our greatest weaknesses, and "grace" and "peace" are two of the biggest components lacking!

Think of how split and divided the Body of Christ looks to people all around the world (with all of our sects and denominations), especially in comparison to the unity of other major religions. Now think of how different the Church worldwide would look if we prayed earnestly for God to magnify His grace in our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Think of what the Church would look like if we pursued peace in our relationships instead of treating relationships with a 'my way or the highway' mentality.

My challenge to all of us is to do just that: pray for the "glorious grace of God" (Eph. 1:6) to be displayed in the relationships of all believers worldwide, and for a "peace that transcends all understanding" (Phil. 4:7) to make Him famous in our relationships with our brothers and sisters. Paul recognized the importance of these components to the Body of Christ, which is why he began the majority of his letters with this greeting. He also understood that the utmost importance was for God to get the glory- "to whom be the glory forever and ever." Let us not pursue this for our own fame, for we won't get very far at all. Let's do it for the sake of His Name.

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...

Luke

Real Church

Remember how I talked about one of the best weekends of my life a few weeks ago? Well- last night was another one of those times...

To make a long (and wonderful) story short, I had the privilege of taking part in the International Christian Fellowship here at VCU, a God-centered Christian Fellowship with believers of all backgrounds who gathered to love Jesus and exalt Him together. There was passionate, fervent prayer, simple yet powerful times of musical worship, Spirit-led teaching, worshipful offering, and welcoming community and fellowship. I believe that last night I got a glimpse of what real church is supposed to be like- not just a once-a-week meeting, but this once-a-week meeting was a celebration of what the Church should look like all the time.

What was different about this group? These people cared for each other. They loved each other deeply but did it in a way that held each other accountable (one of the leaders was training three Freshman guys in physical fitness and, in return, they did a Bible study with him. "Good trade", he said). Were there nominal believers that came 'just because'? Of course. But the majority were people hungry for the Truth and were willing to give up their entire Friday night (and I mean entire: many came at 6:30 and probably didn't leave until after 10:30/11) to exalt Jesus together.

I am truly not the same because of participating in the Fellowship last night. Even though the first worship set lasted 35+ minutes, a part of me felt that it wasn't long enough. And the prayer time before the meeting was for 45 minutes... but many, if not all of us could have gone much, much longer. During that time of prayer, the Lord put Psalm 63 on my heart and it got me thinking...

Psalm 63

"O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You;

my soul thirsts for You;

my flesh faints for You,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary,

beholding Your power and glory.

Because Your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise You.

So I will bless You as long as I live;

in Your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips,

when I remember You upon my bed,

and meditate on You in the watches of the night;

for You have been my help,

and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy.

My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for the jackals.

But the king shall rejoice in God;

all who swear by Him shall exult,

for the mouths of liars will be stopped."

I really want to focus on the first verses, although the entire Psalm is phenomenal, which is why I posted all of it.

Just check out the first line: "O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You...." How many of us can say that with integrity? "O God, YOU are my God". If you look at it from the perspective of "well, I have no other deities that I choose to worship- not Buddha, not Allah, not Scientology... yeah- He's my God", then that would make sense. But I don't think that's what David is saying. David is saying, "God, YOU are my God- not my kingdom, not my family, not my wealth, not my fame... YOU are my God." Can we truly say that about our lives? Is God on the throne of our lives constantly, ruling and reigning, leading and guiding us? Do we plan our schedules and lives around God, or try to fit Him into them?

I'm not trying to suggest that I live this out perfectly (cause I'm very far from it), but let's shoot for this! What's a good test to see if this is our heart?

"...earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Can you say that about your life? I believe we should all pray for hearts like David, to desire God like you would desire water "in a dry and weary land where there is no water." This isn't the only way to know that God is the King of your heart and life, but it sure is a good sign to show that this is the case.

Let's agree with David that God's "steadfast love is better than life" and "remember" how amazing He is as often as possible. Make Him THE priority of Your life and let Him order the rest.

Thanks, God, for ICF and how it challenged me, encouraged me and inspired me. May we all strive for hearts like David's in Psalm 63 for the exaltation of Your Name...

Grace and peace...

Luke