28 September 2008

the velveteen rabbit theology

today i preached on the classic children's book, "the velveteen rabbit." if you don't know it, i would recommend checking out the video on youtube that i linked (it's the first third or so). [that means click the title of this post] it's about becoming real.

don't worry.. i used a lot of bible verses. anyone interested in my notes on the subject can feel free to ask.. they are in german, so i am not going to bother translating them unless there is an interest. it was about a 25 minute sermon, counting the video. afterwards i gave out coloring pages of a rabbit and colored pencils, and invited everyone to seek God and make their own creative notes about the sermon and what He wants to show them.

after church i met up with the american hillary and her boyfriend and two of her university friends from different countries. they came to the hope house and had coffee and talked. i was able to bless peter with two badly needed white dress shirts in exactly his size! (which is odd because he is very tall and thin, so standard clothes don't fit, he has to buy from special stores... i just happened to have gotten a donation from another guy exactly his size!) as a thank you, he bought us pizza. :-D

now i am alone in the vastness of the hope house, and it's rather odd. hannah has been gone all summer and won't be back for a few weeks, matze rarely is here since getting back together with his first love, and moerssl is spending the night at friends who live closer to his work. anyone want to come visit?!

22 September 2008

realizing your possibilities

this weekend was the annual staff retreat from neues land (the christian drug counseling group that runs cafe chance). we headed off to a small retreat farm an hour away from town run by two protestant nuns with an increadible gifting in hospitality.




the subject was "realizing your possibilities" and was.. well, nothing new. i guess the main idea was that each of us see different things in the people we minister to, and have different views of how to help them. this is good (to a point). we did alot of group excersizes, and somehow everytime i ended up with the two bosses, marianne and andrea in a group. it was a good chance to see each other outside of our ministry.

15 September 2008

garden eden..erm, ettlingen..

this post is primarily for gram.. a look at a certain family and their garden




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01 September 2008

endgame stuttgart

my time in stuttgart is in the final round. two weeks are over and sunday i go back to bremen. and i must say, as nice as the time here has been, i am glad to get back to my own turf and home and work. uh oh.. that doesn't sound very cate-like.. am i getting older?
the time here hasn't been as productive as i hoped.. my meetings went well with the help-organizations, but no chances sprung up to help out so far. i have had a chance to go to the jesus freaks here, and to meet with some during the week. but mostly, this time has been more laid back. i have caught up on my written work and some sermons i have been working on. (speaking of whitch.. any of you listen to the dallas theological society podcast? i heard a great series on it last week about globalisation and faith.. maybe we could share thoughts) (for mom and gram: a "podcast" is a free download via iTunes with regular segments for your listening enjoyment.. like a regular talk radio program, but at your schedule)
this weekend i met the mans parents.. and lived to tell. :-)