Lohr a.Main
Lohr a.Main (or translated, Lohr upon Main) is the small town in which we’ve been residing for the last four weeks. (“Main,” for those interested, is a river.) As I’ve mentioned previously, Lohr is a nice place; and while there have been sunny days during our time here, until recently they have been the exception to the norm. As the weather cleared up for a few days we had a great opportunity to take a walk through the old town.
Before I go into details though, it’s important to explain the moments leading to this old town expedition. See, in Lohr there are no laundry-mats. Dry cleaners, yes; laundry-mats, no. In fact, the closest one we found was in a neighbouring city some 35-minutes away. Like most neighbouring places, there are several ways to reach said laundry-mat–all of which are confusing to the foreigner. Modern technology–and €5.31/day–graced us with a very reliable navigation system; thus easing the burden of navigating seemingly identical roads. This was our regular, uneventful, weekend excursion. Until this weekend.
Workplace Safety
Part of Sophia’s training during our travels in April has included an element of hydraulic press safety. Below is a clip from a safety video. This illustrates what I can only assume is a typical factory in China (note the lack of hardhats). These individuals are positioning and removing metal parts as the hydraulic press forms each piece. After seeing this, I think we can all have an appreciation for robots.
My personal favourite element is the individual in the centre (in the white shirt): I love how he has to really duck each time the press comes down.
Tour de Paris
Imagine two people, two days, one car, and more than 1200 kilometres and you have the Tour de Paris. Running from April 19 till April 20.
This weekend we made the moderately-lengthy drive to and from Paris, France. It was a whirlwind tour: getting up early Saturday and arriving back at our apartment late Sunday (early Monday, really). While we didn’t have the time to look at all of the city’s highlights, we saw quite a bit with the time we had.
We arrived in the early afternoon. Parking on the second level of a five-level underground parking lot, we opted to take the stairs to the ground floor since the elevators did not seem to be functioning at that moment (although they did work later). If odour could somehow be encapsulated in words you would certainly stop reading at this point. Regrettably the walk up the stairwell lasted longer than the oxygen supply in our lungs. Still, we survived the walk and headed down the street to check-in to our hotel.
Update aus Deutschland
Once again the weather held up its end of the bargain: raining consistently for days on end. I’m not sure if this type of weather is normal for Germany at this time of year (as it is in Canada). Some locals say it is; while other’s, it’s not. But as such, attempts to venture out during the week were mostly thwarted. I’m sure we’ll get at least few good days so we can take some nice photos of the town we’re in.
Most of our “adventures” this week revolve around the weekend. We travelled to Horb which allowed us to open up the Mercedes on the autobahn. The speedometer on the poor thing is only clocked to 240 km/h–what a shame. So far I can’t say we like Mercedes. I’ve never liked the look of them but always assumed they were nice cars. My hopes have been dashed as the one we have needs a bit of work. At 140 km/h it shakes so much you would think the panels are about to fly off. We pushed past that to 180 km/h–it’s quite nice not having speed limits on most of the highways–and the car rides bit smoother, but not much.
Money doesn’t buy easy choices
17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18″Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good-except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
20″Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
–Mark 10:17-22 (NIV)
In a recent post I talked about the challenges some choices we have to make can present. It’s interesting that, much like the adulterous woman, Jesus also brought this individual to a place of immediate decision–and no easy decision at that. Jesus was asking the rich young man to give up his very lifestyle.
It’s not clear whether this man was weathly from his own business practices, because he inherited the money, or a combination of both. Regardless, Jesus was asking him to take everything he had invested his life into, “throw it away,” then make a career change.
God doesn’t always ask people to make such radical changes, but there’s an interesting illustration here. The rich young man and the adulterous woman were at opposite ends of the social and economical spectrum. (It is interesting to note that while the people were ready to stone the woman for her failure, they were not ready to stone the man for his–some things never change.)
In these two stories one person devoted their life to something that, overall, society deems worthless. The other was probably considered a productive member of that same society. Nevertheless, face-to-face with Jesus they were asked to do the very same thing: change their lifestyle. Both individuals had a fundamental issue with how they were living their lives. Regardless of the right or wrong of their day-to-day decisions or the fact that perhaps on some level an element of their life was good, they were living lives that were not beneficial. Jesus was asking these two to take a step back and evaluate what they were investing their time (and thereby life) into.
“Everything is permissible for me”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”–but I will not be mastered by anything.
–1 Corinthians 6:12 (NIV)
God was trying to tell these two, “Look, I’m trying to help you understand that what you have may be good, but I have something even better if you’ll listen.” The idea behind what the apostle Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 6:12 is that while anything is possible, not everything is going to be advantageous–especially when viewed in the scope of eternity.
The amazing truth in all of this is that God calls each person to something unique. Notice in the first story that Jesus told the woman to leave her life of sin; in the second story Jesus told the man to follow Him. While the journey that God has planned for everyone is different, the choice to step into that is the same. It comes with the same level of sacrifice and the same apprehension and uncertainty. But the resulting life is incredibly rewarding.
29″I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields-and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
–Mark 10:29-30 (NIV)
ynamreG
No, that’s not a fancy new German word I learned. It’s just Germany backwards.
After one week we’re starting to become somewhat accustom to our surroundings. We had the opportunity on the weekend to travel to some neighbouring cities. Our journey confirmed earlier suspicions we had: our apartment is an Ikea apartment. Everything from the bedding, to the furniture, to the glasses we drink from, and the little lamp that’s situated behind me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s all very nice, but at the same time, it’s somewhat humourous to walk through a single store knowing you can replace everything in about 15-minutes.
We’ve started to get into a routine for some day-to-day chores. Grocery shopping is an almost daily event because, in Germany, space is a premium. Fridges are smaller, cupboards are scarce, and owning a freezer is something special. Having to grocery shop every other day isn’t all bad, but it took us a week to find the stores we could frequent. All the grocery stores we’ve found so far could be defined as glorified 7-Eleven’s. I’m not exaggerating when I say that most of these have chocolate and candy sections that rival Wal-Mart on Halloween. (Again, not complaining about that.)
Difficult choices
3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11″No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
–John 8:3-11 (NIV)
I’m sure everyone has a particular point of view about the woman in this story. This woman didn’t lead the most moral life, not by today’s standards and certainly not by the standards of her day. Nevertheless, think about what Jesus is asking of her. He was asking her to give up her life as she knew it; everything she had poured herself into. I can’t imagine what would have caused more trepidation for her: getting “caught in the act” or being asked to completely change her lifestyle. And the thing is: Jesus wasn’t asking her to start to change, He was asking her to change.
Sometimes there are things that God wants us to work at. Things that are a process, a journey. Other times we need to make an immediate decision to turn around and head in the other direction. Regardless of which it is, much like this woman would have had no easy task before her–think about it, where would she go? What would she do? Especially in that culture–it’s not always easy for us to make tough decisions about changing our lifestyle. Yet the reality is clear in Philippians 4:13 (NIV):
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Regardless of the level of difficulty or the challenges that may ensue, God is able to provide us with all that we need to walk the journey He’s laid before us. While the immediate repercussions may seem insurmountable, it’s often these things that prepare for what’s really ahead. And look at the promise Jesus made in the very next verse:
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
–John 8:12 (NIV)
Trip to Germany
Over the next few weeks my wife and I are travelling in Germany. She’s travelling on business while I simply enjoy ride.
As is customary when we travel anywhere outside of our city, we experienced the usual challenges (I say usual because it happens all too often): our credit card was cancelled, and the airplane was overbooked and my wife barely got a seat (she was the last person to check in and we arrived quite early). Nevertheless, the flight was trouble-free and we arrived in Germany ahead of schedule.