Welcome to Hamburg!

I'm currently blogging through my summer mission trip to Germany! If you haven't yet, read this!

After a brief "early life crisis," as I deemed it, involving the usefulness of my degree in Entrepreneurship if I ever actually decide to open a ministry/outreach coffee shop, the Lord gave me a renewed spirit of diligence and productivity. I'm hoping for continued strength in that through tomorrow, since I have quite a bit to accomplish. The Lord is good, and I want to be faithful in living completely for him in whatever I do.

I'm also having some serious travel lust right now--looking at pictures (mine & others) of Germany, Austria, etc. while enjoying a nice beverage and some delicious jazz. My heart is so full of joy at recently hearing about the salvation of a teen of mine from this summer (a former atheist), Praise the Lord! However, at the same time I find my soul aching in a way I can't truly describe, though if you've had similar experiences you surely know what I mean, to return to this land where I feel so "at home."
Amongst the mixed-up mash of feelings, I am also trying to be steadfast in keeping Jim Elliot's words in mind, "Wherever you are, be all there." Here's an awesome video that helps remind me God has called me to this awesome city of Denton, for now. (My roommate and I had a discussion earlier this evening about reaching out more and ministering to our neighbors in the apartment building. We've both been feeling the Lord prompt us in this lately, but only discovered the mutual desire this evening. God's cool like that.)

 I'm trying to determine how to begin posting excerpts from my journal / online updates from this summer. I'm not sure if I should go the verbatim route, or choose pieces to elaborate on. Which stories do I tell you more about? Which do I leave as a list? So much uncertainty. 

For tonight, here are my list-like, word-for-word experiences from the first couple days in Hamburg. Pardon the awful writing and random German words. I was excited to be there! If you want to hear more about something I briefly mention, just tell me and I'll happily elaborate in my next post :) This is one of the only listy entries, so better recollections to come! Promise. Italicized words are added after-the-fact (now) for clarity.

"6/28/12
   29
I scratched out the date in my journal--I originally had my days incorrect for awhile because I was a little confused by losing a day in the 7-hour time difference. ;) 
Hamburg Day 1 with Katie
Yesterday was my day to arrive in Hamburg and be met by Katie, Andrea and Scott. Andrea and Scott were the couple that graciously hosted me for a week so that I could visit Katie while she was doing her internship in Hamburg! Blessed by wonderful travel mercies and incredible hosts! Spent a lovely evening at their adorable home soaking in the German weather, eating Turkish pizza and enjoying my feet on the ground. 
Today- SUCH A FULL AMAZING DAY. 
Jotting down notes to remember--too exhausted for much else. Though I didn't experience much jet lag at all, we started our day at 6:00 a.m. and didn't return home until midnight. Caught train, grabbed a breakfast pastry (ordered auf Deutsch!), saw the world's most amazing park in Hamburg, went to the HB Rathaus, walked around the mall, ate lunch at an outdoor Weinfest (ordered again!), took the train & bus to Stadtpark with the help of a wonderful girl named Vanessa, enjoyed park and napped. I did a lot of park-napping. It was incredible. Rode the bus & train back with the help of a nice man, it rained, met Andrea's colleague Svenia--SO SWEET! We had Eiss, Italien dinner, saw Repperbahn (Red light district), took the boat tour of Hamburg -- all auf Deutsch but very cool! Katie and I barely caught our train back, made the connection, and I talked to a jolly fellow in German. Scott picked us up from the Kaltenkirchen station and I'm pooped! Tomorrow-- Lübeck!" 


Okay, sorry if that was painful! Here are pictures of things I mentioned :) 

In the greenroom at the Holts' home! 

Holt House from the front!

Backyard view!

Holt House

Above 4 photos are all from the park!

Inside of the Rathaus (City hall)

Rathaus from the outside

Lunch at the wine festival

A very happy Katie at lunch

Chillin' with Katie on some steps overlooking the river (above)

With Svenia (who took us to the Reeperbahn & the Harbor tour)

Reeperbahn -- Prostitution is legal there, so it was very different
to see a police station on one corner with women lined up on the next

I am thankful for. . .

. . . this beautiful weather!
Praise the Lord for such glorious rays of sunshine, the perfect temperature, and the best shades of green around. I even got to read articles for my research paper by pool yesterday for two hours and am developing a nice crisp.
. . . my stressful German exam on Friday  
being changed to a take-home exam on Wednesday and not due until Monday! 
. . . tidiness! 
Our apartment has been quite clean for a few days, and has stayed that way, as has my bedroom. It's amazing how much more driven I can be in a clutter-free environment! Speaking of: 
. . . motivation!  
We are at that point in the semester where everything is converging at once!  Way too many projects, exams, research papers and the like to even discuss, but I'm nearing the point of stress-overload (which leads to crawling under the covers and refusing to come out). However, this weekend I have gotten quite a bit done, and with the exception of this blog to sing praises to Him who brings life, I am still motivated to be productive today! I prayed last night as I was falling asleep to have a desire and spirit of productivity today, and the Lord has provided. Why I am I still surprised when that happens? Oh....
. . . someone to take my lease! 
I will be out of the country for several weeks this summer, and I have found a wonderful new friend named Bonnie to live in my apartment and pay my lease for the months of June, July and August! What a blessing not to pay rent for an empty room :) And we got along so wonderfully, I cannot wait to get to know her better and hangout more! She found out about my apartment through The City, a social networking tool my church utilizes. 
. . . prayers and funds :) 
I have sent out the majority of my support letters for my Germany trip, and funds and feedback have already begun to drift in. Praise the Lord! 
. . . my cats

I love them a lot. I have two (my sister has one as well), but they live all the way in Justin :( Woody has been my baby since I was in Kindergarten! And I'm pretty sure Tanner has brain damage because he's so weird, but so funny. Above is Tanner, expressing his affection to my shoe. He was loving and kissing and hugging it for a solid ten minutes. I have a video. Below is Woody, telling me I'm not allowed to leave for school since he took my backpack hostage. 

. . . my appointment with the neurologist in May. 
I would really love not having a headache daily, and migraine weekly (at least), when I live in Germany for seven weeks. It would be so wonderful to feel healthy!!!! I recently got some new medication, which is actually anti-seizure medication, to help with migraines. I haven't had one, but my headaches seem to be more frequent and stubborn. hmph.  
. . . being single. . . 
though I do sometimes (okay, okay, often) complain about how everyone (but really, everyone) is engaged, married, or headed in that direction, I really am thankful and blessed for the place God has me in my singleness. I am so busy and thinly spread as it is with school, work and extra-curriculars through church, I would hardly have time for a companion! And as I am preparing to relocate to Germany as a mission-school student/missionary, my singleness is truly an advantage gifted from the Lord. Praises to Him! 
(I do, however, reserve the right to say that if the Lord were to bring a man into my life whose life-purpose, goals, and visions align with mine, I might find some time for him;).
. . . the church. 
not necessarily, the Village Church, though I am incredibly thankful for the growth, teaching and community I have found there. I am referring to the body of Christ, the family of brothers and sisters who I can lean on and love on, grow with and grow through, struggle with and help through struggle. Recently, I have received several emails from brothers across the globe in Germany and Switzerland in regards to my upcoming trip to Germany, or in regards to my potential relocation after graduation. They are so open, loving, and desiring of missionaries to come to Europe--I already feel so welcome and loved, and I haven't even met them yet! 
. . . the cheeseburger I just ate. 
awful for me, but it tasted so good! 
. . . home

I'll be moving home for a few weeks in June, and commuting to work & church in Denton, until I leave for Germany on the 27th. I'll also be living there when I return on August 13th until I move back into my apartment on September 1st. I love that small town, out in the middle of nowhere, see the stars at night, relish the smell of manure, remember the sound of crickets and coyotes place. It feels like home (well, it is), and I love all of the memories that live there.

 Seriously, how can you look at these pictures and not see how beautiful God's creation is!? Lovely :) Favorite parts of the drive home.










. . . Family 
I love my family very much, and I love how honest and open we can be with one another. It is always many laughs when we are together (many, many laughs), and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them when I move home for a few weeks in June & August. Below is a picture with my Meme & Papa (dad's parents) on Easter Sunday when we met for brunch. 

Covered in Righteousness!

Happy Easter!
Christ has come as a covering sacrifice, dying in our place to exchange God's wrath on our sinful lives for a righteousness we could never earn. He didn't stay dead, though! If He had, everything we (as followers of Christ) believe is meaningless, He'd be nothing but a martyr. Instead, He rose from the dead!

He came willing to die a death we deserve and He came pure, holy and blameless. All our righteous acts (everything good we do on our own) are like filthy rags (literally menstrual rags, sorry for that image?). We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6). Yet through Christ's death, those who place their entire lives and being and faith in Him and Him alone, are cleansed and made righteous.

I've grown up in church. I've served in the church in some way almost my entire life, whether that be through helping at VBS, leading worship, leading bible studies. I've always tried to do the right thing, and have never been much of one to stray from the "goody two-shoes" life. But you know what? No matter how many Sundays of church I attend, or how many homeless mouths I feed, or how many good things I do, I am still a filthy, lying, thieving, murderous, idolatrous, covetous, adulterous sinner.... without Christ. And IN Christ I am covered in His righteousness, seen as Christ!

Last week, Beau Hughes, my campus pastor at The Village Church, say that "too often the gospel gets stuck between our head and our hearts, but when it finally clicks, it begins to transform your life and will produce a fruit of love for other people." Am I loving others? Yes, but not with the fervor for which Christ does.

Tonight, Matt Chandler, our head pastor, explained how the Law (known often as the 10 Commandments), which everyone is judged by, no longer has the freedom to terrorize at the point one places their faith in Christ. So I am inherently evil and disgusting and sinful, but because I have placed my faith in Christ, I am no longer bound by the law! I have freedom from sin and instead can rejoice in the Law, praising the Lord for this "diagnostic" to show me how much I need Christ. Praises!!



SO basically, this was the Easter post you were probably expecting... but really, it was more for me to be able to get these thoughts down and work them out through the written word. I'm still feeling a little dry spiritually, but it is comforting to know that the Lord loves me, regardless of how I sometimes feel. He will provide (and keeps proving that to me time and time again)!

Lent - More than a Roman Catholic Tradition?

God has brought me to a wonderful church home where the teaching is biblical, the people are real, and spiritual growth is happening. As a covenant member of the Village Church, I try to take to heart things that our church elders and pastors believe to be important...

However, a couple Sundays ago, they announced that we could pick up guides to Lent in the back and I was a little confused... Isn't Lent something that only Catholics do? Isn't that only for people who are taking religion to a moralistic legalistic extreme? The Bible doesn't tell us to abstain from something for forty days, anyways... Why are we encouraging this? (So, if I admit it, I was quite skeptical and very confused).

I picked up the Lent guide today, and though I had reservations, I am completely on board. The Village Church has been celebrating particular seasons in the life of the church. We journeyed through the anxious anticipation of Advent together, with Advent being "a season of ever-increasing light awaiting the incarnation." We prayed through the month of January together, coming together every Wednesday for campus-wide prayer meetings. And now, we are symbolically following Christ into the wilderness (the forty days He fasted and withstood temptation, found in Matthew 4:1-11, as well as in Mark and Luke) during the season of Lent.

The season of Lent is a time to approach the cross. If we skip right to Easter, we just experience the glorious resurrection---but how thoroughly can we understand the joy of the resurrection if we haven't realized the pain and suffering and angst of the cross, first?

The season is about denying myself, not for the sake of denial or for a legalistic doctrine, but to bring a greater focus to the gospel that sustains. It is emptying myself of something lesser to be greater filled with something more--Christ.

 Broken down into seven weeks of biblical reflection, the guide invites me to fast from seven different areas (one to correspond with every week).
Week 1: Food
Week 2: Television and Movies
Week 3: Social Networking and Internet
Week 4: Caffeine and Sweets
Week 5: Radio and Music
Week 6: Shopping for Non-Essentials
Week 7: Sleep

I may blog about it as I go through, or I may not... we'll see! But I wanted to put this out there for anyone to join me. This week is food, and because of my Hypoglycemia I am not partaking in a full-scale food fast. Instead I'll be partaking in a liquid fast, with one meal a day. Again, my emphasis here is that fasting, from anything, is not supposed to be about missing that substance or about bringing glory to myself, but is instead to draw nearer to the Lord!!

As far as the Sleep fast goes---they are not encouraging a week-long sleep fast, but rather to stay up an hour or two longer, or awake an hour or two earlier, in order to spend that time in prayer. They are also encouraging the devotion of one entire night or morning to prayer.


Here are some resources for you to check out if you'd like to join me! I would love to know who else is journeying through the season of Lent. :)

Q&A Video with Matt Chandler over Lent
You can download the Guide to Lent from this page!


If you read this---tell me you were here! I would love your feedback--no matter what your opinion is.