more tea?

one of my top 5 favorite seminary profs (dr millwood) made a statement that i absolutely hate... "we always hear that we need to have a servant's heart, but what does that really look like? well, here is how you know you have a servant's heart: when people treat you like a servant... and it doesn't bother you."

while in mexico this past week, i learned that i do not have a true servant's heart if this is the litmus test (which i think it is). i thoroughly enjoyed serving my teams and the people of monclova, but there were times when working with the medical teams that i really got ticked off at how i was treated. i'm not talking about all of the medical team people, but there were some who treated me like... well, a servant. it was through these experiences that i began to realize that i am selective in my service, which leads me to believe that i am very servant hearted, but in reality makes me less Christlike and more joshlike. i'm not sure how to get to the point where i am joyful no matter who i am serving, but i'm pretty sure it has something to do with matthew 25 where jesus equates serving people with serving Him. my problem is that i view serving people as serving people, instead of viewing serving people as serving Christ.

man, i hate long, serious posts... i will try to be more amusing in the future... if anyone is actually reading

flashcards...

sometimes it is good to write down the things that God just won't leave you alone about... so here it goes. i was reading Spiritual Mentoring and the authors discussed the difference between learning a language in a classroom and learning a language in its natural culture, contextualizing the differnces as related to spiritual mentoring. they point out that classroom learning only takes you so far, but immersion in a culture that speaks, loves, and fully explores the language takes you deep into the heart of the matter. this floored me, and i can't shake it. i believe that many of us... ok, i won't include others... i believe that i have learned much about Christ and Christian faith via flashcards instead of through the church (as in people). i know answers and facts, but i have not learned to love and cherish our beautiful and spacious faith they way God intends. i need to take my flashcard faith and put it into real life for all to see. i need to be taught, shaped, sharpened, challenged, broken, encouraged, and overjoyed through His church.

sorry... i had to write it down.

chicken tingles

for about a year now, any time i eat chicken, i get a strange tingling sensation in my arms 30 minutes later. it feels similar to when your foot falls asleep or you have been sleeping on your arm. they only last about 10 seconds, and then everything is back to normal. at first i was concerned b/c that is just odd. but now i have some fun with it (and by 'fun' i don't mean actual real fun, but kind of a boring fun, like scrabble). i can tell the quality of the chicken i have just consumed by the tingles produced as a result. for example: canes chicken, major tingles... almost to the point of pain; wendy's chicken strips, moderate tingles but they don't last long; mcnuggets, no tingle whatsoever.... supersize that.

does anyone know what could be happening to me?