A friend of mine, Luke, was getting married. I wanted to tell him to stop. Luke and I were both in grad school when we became good friends. We both were in our early thirties. I was already married and had a little son. Luke was alone. Then Luke met Allurez, a new grad student from Bangladesh. It was crazy, really. Allurez told her professor that she was lonely. The professor said, “Hey, Luke is also lonely and single. Why don’t you two meet?” And so they met. Soon they started dating, and soon they were engaged. I wanted to tell Luke not to do it. At Super Big and Famous University (SBFU), we graduate students had our own working area called the “bullpen,” where our cubicles were located. Most days it was just me. When you are the only person using a big space most of the time, your perception of the space heightens, and you can tell who else is there. A small change becomes profound and impossible to ignore. I was like that after 3 years of being the lone occupant of th...
In His final meal, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:25) What does He mean by that? “I will not eat nor drink again until …” is what people in this culture say to express their utmost determination. E.g. “I will not eat nor drink again until I get back the 20 bucks from Timmy!” So by saying what He said, Jesus basically said, “I’m never gonna give you up.” Jesus Rickrolled us.