i made it

one year ago, i made a commitment. i asked a few people o help me stay accountable. i decided to read the Bible in a year. in chronological order. in german.

i started december 1, 2008. it is now november 30, 2009. it is 22:21.. thus a mere hour and a half until that year is over. and i have just read, "Die Gnade des Herrn Jesus sei mit allen!" (Rev 22;21) thus ends my year commitment.

so what will the new year challenge be? i am thinking of trying to memorize a chapter of the Bible a month (in german). that's 12 chapters by next thanksgiving, basically. anyone want to join me on this challenge? any suggestions for chapters? my first three, i think, will be obadja (the book is a chapter), 2 john (ditto), and psalm 91. i am disqualifying anything i already learned (like psalm 103) or know most of (like romans 8) and will instead review next december all 12 plus my previous memory work. am open for suggestions and others to challenge themselves to this as well (its easier in groups..)

for gram

some of you may already have seen this and know.. but i thought gram should, too:

thanksgiving came early

wow! this is a real thanksgiving week.. quite cool.

a while back i met some girls from "gospel tribe" here in karlsruhe (similar to steiger), and they invited me to stop by sometime. so yesterday i went or coffee. in our conversation birgit told me about their outreaches to the alcoholics at werder platz (around the corner from them) every wednesday and asked if i would like to come. sooo....

today i went to join them. it turned out to be cool on several levels.. first, one of the students there is the sister of jenny who i knew in bremen (she often visited the hope house and was in the impro group and street group i led).. she had prayed the night before for God to send her "people" to be friends with- a prayer i have been saying a lot lately.

then we went out to werder platz (a square where a lot of homeless hang out) and passed out coffee and tea and talked to people. it was great to be back in my element a little. i got into a conversation right away with a 39 year old man from kasakastan. he'd just been released from prison, where he had read the Bible.. he had a lot of questions and we had a very interesting conversation. it led me to give him the little Bible i had with me, since he left his with a friend in jail. he took it like a little kid getting a birthday present. it was so cool! and he askd for prayer that he get an apartment when he goes to the state offices tomorro. there were several others too, a guy that reminded me of dirk in bremen, and a girl who was full of life and quite honest and blunt.

i am looking forward to joining their team every week from now on! and i met christine from the salvation army, who several people told me i should meet... i am going their tomoro....

pig flu at steiger

the first officially diagnosed case of pig flu just turned up in my immediate area: the young daughter, malia, of the steiger leaders was diagnosed today. please be praying for her and that the visur doesn't spread- they live in the steiger house with everyone (including a pregnant woman).

monsters

taken from a blog i love.. "experimental theology" (from a psych and theology proff)

There are not a whole lot of other options in this broken world. Evil to fight evil. The best you can do is fight mightily within yourself so as not to become a monster in the process. But on this side of heaven we are all monsters. Struggling to hold on to our humanity.

rediscovering passion

ok, i know i have been a sloppy blogger.. i'm sorry. i should personal apoloize to all 9 of you readers.. it has been an intense time of adjustment to the new ministry and location. i am still trying to find exactly where i fit in. these past few weeks though, my heart has really started to come alive again and begin pounding out it's dreams. i have been doing a lot towards that.. although some of it might seem hard to follow.

first off, i got into some conversations with a few future ex-smokers about substance abuse. it really reminded me why i got into drug counselling in the first place, and that i really have a heart for helping people overcome their addictions (and the various things that cause or are caused by them). i still don't think i will be going back into full time street work in karlsruhe, but i want to get involved a little. the next few weeks i will be checking out where the homeless, junkies and punks are hanging out and start making connections to the local help organizations that are already in place. (my first contact was made sunday... but more on that later) then i want to do the december 6th gifts and feast for them.. (dec 6 is in germany the day nikolaus comes) like the last years, i hope to be able to cook something warm and bake cookies for people, and take gifts of warm things (hats, shawls, gloves, blankets..) and Bibles for anyone in need.. focusing on the homeless, but with open eyes for others who we might meet.

the other thing i really noticed is that i need a creative outlet. i want.. no.. need... to get back into art.. making films and such. my flat mates have really infected me- they are all sculpture students. so i am trying to ebay a final cut studio (1/2/3..i dont care) and start creating again. i have a few old ideas i would like to get around to (like the gang film on the 10 commandments) and a few new ones as well.

and a third thing has come up which i am surprised by a bit.. i have been involved with a LOT of foreigners living in Germany, and have been building more and more connections to them.. it's a group i never thought about reaching out to before, even though i belong to it.. so we'll see..