More.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” -2 Corinthians 12:9


The mission field is more than you expect. More everything. No matter how many classes you take, books you read or people you talk to, things will be more in a sometimes overwhelming way. There are more people around. More German words that I don’t understand. More awkward social moments, more to keep clean in my apartment, more cheese to choose from in the grocery store—just more foreign things than familiar. No matter how much I assure myself it’s all under control, there’s always a little more than I can handle and I find myself feeling defeat. Not admitting it, no way! But something’s lurking under the surface, some sensitive, frustrated inkling that seems to spring up at the littlest thing. Where is God in all of this?


But somehow under the canopy of doubt I notice a smile from someone on the tram. A smile! Germans aren’t known for their friendliness. And then by the grace of God I notice more sun and blue sky today, drink more delicious tea, find more opportunities to sing out loud, marvel at more beautiful architecture, and see how a recent friend encourages me more than I ever thought. Aren’t I the one who is supposed to do the encouraging?


And quietly and gently, never barging His way in, God speaks, not to my ears but straight to my heart. Regardless of how I feel, it is when I am weak that I am strong. More everything is on the way and I am powerless until I seek more of Him in me.


“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” -2 Corinthians 9:15

Let’s…Go…Fly…a Kite…

Quote of the day: “That guy must be a professional flite kyer!” -Amy

Summer days have at times seemed too few and far between here in Dresden and now that fall is only a few weeks away and the days are getting noticeably shorter any chance to be outside and enjoy a nice day has become a priority. The past week has been absolutely gorgeous weather and today I felt inspired as I walked by the kite section in our local supermarket and decided to invest a little cash for an amazing potential of fun and enjoyment. I bought one of these fancy two-stringed kites, with one handle for each hand, which advertises many super sly turns and high flying action (by the picture on the front). I was way pumped about my new purchase and easily convinced Amy to be my “launcher” on this fairly breezy afternoon. We headed out to the beautiful open meadow along the Elbe river where I quickly assembled the flying contraption and read up briefly on the unique flying techniques of this previously unfamiliar two-handed model. I mean, the small pamphlet included in the package only had three pictures to describe the simple act of launching so I knew it must be a piece of cake. Well needless to say, after over an hour which included walking further into the middle of the field to maybe access more smooth winds, meticulous synchronizing of Amy’s throw motion and my pulling-while-walking-backwards action, changing directions after realizing we weren’t angled into the wind correctly, almost twisting our ankles from the random holes hidden beneath the ground shrubbery, practically taking out a few people innocently walking their dogs on a nearby path with the uncontrollable swooping…not to mention another boy with a much larger and fancier kite only 100 meters away and seemingly intentionally perfectly landing and launching it numerous times while we struggled to even just launch it upwards and maintain any kind of controlled flight for more than three seconds. In the end we figured there just wasn’t enough consistent wind today, not that it was anyhow related to our lack of kite-flying ability.

Good thing our enjoyment of this wonderful summer day isn’t somehow hinged on our ability to accurately participate in this summer activity. :)

"Euro-English"

proof that some forwards are still worth reading!

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in zeh forst plas.


If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.