Baking Disasters

"Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position...But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them." -Genesis 40:21-22

So it turns out that we all know the fate of Pharaoh's chief baker, the poor guy. I can't imagine I'd have any better a fate considering I am nowhere near a master of baked goods, despite my attempts. Since being here there have been a couple of instances where I lucked out and ended up making something that didn't taste too bad, but it seems that more often than not it turns into a huge disaster! Take today, for example. I had a couple free hours and amidst vacuuming and doing laundry I decided to immerse myself completely in domestic duties by baking. Wahoo, right? :) Well, we have finally acquired much of the hard-to-come-by ingredients (such as baking soda) and I got a great recipe from my mom that I was determined to follow perfectly. I even went as far as to make half the batter into muffins and the other half into a loaf, but 15 minutes into the 30 minute cooking period I glanced into the oven to discover, to my dismay, very dark brown colored intruders where my perfectly rising and baking goods were supposed to be-! Aah! Not cool! What went wrong! I mixed everything perfectly! Maybe it was the tiny oven? Or all the german ingredients that are just a little different? Or having pans that are too thin? Eh. I might try again in a couple weeks but for now I have 6 hockey pucks and one very flat, square, heavy frisbee. So much for me becoming a nicely domesticated girl, but if anyone is running short of sporting equipment... :)

I really can't complain though, at least I'm not about to get hanged.

No More Sugar Thanks, I'm Sweet Enough

Last night we gathered at Marion's home for our weekly Monday night English Bible study. As usual there was a whole table full of food for us to munch on, as well as what has become my favorite kind of tea here, green tea with lemon and ginger. I poured myself a cup and reached over for the sugar, as usual. Marion has this cool container for her sugar that pours it out one teaspoon at a time. So I casually tipped it over above my cup, as I had done so many times before and much to my surprise the lid came off and approximately one cup of sugar landed in my cup and on the surrounding area, including my feet (my cup was at the edge of the table). It was like that trick when you unscrew the lid of the salt shaker and then watch as the next unsuspecting diner ends up with a little lunch with their salt instead of the other way around. But this time nobody had rigged the sugar "shaker"! It was my own doing and all that could be done was to laugh and get out the vacuum, while apologizing profusely to Marion for wasting all her precious sugar...Germans hate wasting things! Yikes... I was sure not to waste the "tea" (or liquid sugar) and drank it down as best I could. It reminded me of some of that "sweet tea" I had while living in Oklahoma ...they say it's not sweet enough if you can't actually SEE the sugar through the glass. Oh I could see it last night...and I was really alert for that study (I've never thought so clearly-!).

Wrong Number?

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes..." -Proverbs 26:4-5

Ok so yesterday as Amy and I were walking to catch the tram I received a rather unusual phone call on my cell phone. A number showed up that I did not recognize, but as I am still adjusting to life here I just figured it was someone I probably knew and pressed the green button, confidently saying, "Hallo!". I then heard an animated voice on the other end, with which I had a conversation that went something like this: (phone ringing to a quite lovely classical ring tone...)

Me: Hallo?
Unknown Caller: Hallo...[indistinguishable German]
Me: Uhh...hallo?
UC: Hallo?
Me: Hallo!
UC: [more indistinguishable German]
Me: uhh...bitte? (the word used here to imply you didn't hear/understand and the other person should repeat or reword what they said...I've been saying it a lot since moving here)
UC: Oscar?
Me: haha...umm...no...this is not Oscar's phone.
UC: Wo ist Oscar? (where is Oscar)
Me: I don't know...he is not here...this is my phone (thinking: do Germans say, "You've got the wrong number" in situations like this? I have no idea)
UC: [even more indistinguishable German]...Oscar?
Me: No...Oscar ist...nicht...hier...? (Oscar isn't here)
UC: haha...wo ist Oscar! (where is Oscar)
Me: Uhh...(I give up!) ich spreche kein Deutsch. (I don't speak German)
UC: Warum nicht? (why not)
Me: (what! why not?!) haha I don't know...err...ich weiss nicht...? (I don't know)
UC: uhh...English?
Me: Yes! (since I've been speaking it all along)
UC: Where is Oscar?
Me: This is my phone and there is no Oscar here (umm, I really feel like I'm repeating myself)
UC: no Oscar?
Me: ...You have the wrong number...? ...Sorry...
UC: Wrong number? Oh.
Me: Ok bye...
UC: uhh...ok. [click]

So if anyone knows where Oscar is please contact me. Then next time I'll be so ready to tell Mr. "Unknown Caller" where to find his missing compadre...ha!

God the Romantic

"GOD told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!" -Jeremiah 31:3 (MSG)"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." -Proverbs 4:23

Do we realize how much God loves us?

And I don't mean love only in the unconditional, fatherly love that we hear so much of. Don't get me wrong, it is a powerful love still, but if we focus merely on that we miss so much. I have been reading the book The Sacred Romance and at first was very skeptical about the ideas proposed by the authors about God wanting to romance our soul. But as I have continued to read it is starting to make sense that God not only has my best interests at heart and has looked after my eternal well-being by sending Jesus, but he also longs for a deep relationship with me, as complex as what married people share with each other. He is impacted by my actions and I have the choice to return his love and bring him joy or ignore that wonderful reality and try to earn my way into his favor. Or worse yet, ignore it altogether and get caught up in the daily busy-ness of life and pursuing my own happiness. How sad that so many people don't grasp the intense love that God longs for us to bask in.

What happens when you love someone and are loved in return? You are not scared to be yourself, right? And who cares what others think of you, you are loved and that's all that matters. Someone wants to know you for YOU, quirks and all. When you are seperated from that person you think of them often and can't wait to be with them again. They brighten your day. They make your heart sing.

Does God have this place in our lives? Do we get excited when we think of him and blush when we tell of the way he loves us to our friends, not quite believing that he picked us? Why don't we? Satan is all too good at seperating us from our hearts and deadening our senses, constantly sending us messages that it is all too good to be true. We rarely if ever experience this love in our human relationships, and it usually comes with hiding the ugly, undesirable parts of ourselves. Noone could love those.

Aah but God does! That's what makes it so wonderful. He loves us where we're at. He loves us INTENSELY, despite our flaws and sins. We are unfaithful lovers, constantly doing our own thing without the slightest concern for how it affects our Love. Our "Love". We must start treating him with the respect and faithfulness, for of anyone he is the one who will NEVER leave, NEVER disappoint, and NEVER EVER act out of selfishness. He loves us perfectly.

What is keeping us from doing our absolute best to make him the center of our lives? He will never break our hearts. Stop with comparing to others and let go of your insecurity. Somebody loves you! Oh and not just somebody, THE One and Only.

Let's throw off all doubt and lavish our love back on him!

Singles Retreat

"When you're unmarried, you're free to concentrate on simply pleasing the Master. Marriage involves you in all the nuts and bolts of domestic life and in wanting to please your spouse, leading to so many more demands on your attention. The time and energy that married people spend on caring for and nurturing each other, the unmarried can spend in becoming whole and holy instruments of God." -1 Corinthians 7:32-34 (MSG)

Retreat. Relax. Rest. When I think of these words from my North American perspective, I generally think of a fairly spontaneous activity. Like leisure. There's another word that to me implies an "activity" (if you can call it that) that is done on a whim, whenever I feel like it. Well not in Germany. It is a land of rules, and as such there is a specific time for everything. If it's not in the schedule don't even think about it!

So! Lucky for Amy and me we experienced a truly German "Freizeit" (or Retreat, in English). It was a wonderful weekend scheduled for leisure and relaxation (is that an oxymoron to anyone else?) and proved very spiritually refreshing. It was quite the trek to get there though, let me tell you.

We were out of the apartment by 815am and on a train to Leipzig by 915. We arrived there at 11 and met up with the missionary there, with whom we rode the rest of the way. We left Leipzig at 1 (or 1300 in Europe) in a spacious euro-style "mini van" that comfortably seated the 5 of us that went together, but that doesn't change the fact that 5 hours later we arrived...10 hours after Amy and I had began our journey. It was time for some hard-core relaxation.
The first person I met was Ruba, originally from Syria but who now goes to school in Frankfurt. She is studying to be a doctor, and turned out to be an avid foosball player. Why she wanted me on her team I have no clue! (since I am generally known to be the WORST foosball player of all time...unless you're on the other team...just ask Amy about it.)

I then met some people from Belgium and then some from the Netherlands, and plenty more from Germany. It was very surprising to me how many people had moved to Germany for school or work...all in all 11 countries were represented by the 27 people there! How's that for diversity!

We spent time in small groups discussing our thoughts on the lessons, and to me this was one of the most beneficial times of the weekend. With only 6 people in our group we were able to share stories and specific thoughts of how to keep joy in our lives. How awesome that through such cultural variation the story of Christ's love and how it impacts every life is so similar. We had so much in common because of our citizenship in heaven!

Despite the moist conditions, Saturday night we had a bonfire! It was a time of praise as we sang songs that reminded me of my college days at OC. The one common language was English, so though we were deep in Germany I found myself singing to the Lord in my native language around a bonfire amidst a large group of Christians...such a treat considering that I thought I had left experiences like that behind when I moved here. God is good.

I was glad to hear that this isn't only an annual occasion, but that there will be a similar retreat planned for the spring. Amy and I have agreed to help with this and I hope to be reunited with many again then! What a wonderful taste of what heaven will be like. (maybe without all the "scheduled leisure").

Scardey Cat

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." -Psalm 23:4

Amy and I live half a block away from a lovely park called the Waldpark (translated: forest park). Although it is called a "park" it is actually more of a forest with paths through it, and it has been fun to go exploring to see where they lead. The kicker is, when Amy and I come home from somewhere, we have to walk through the Waldpark to get from the tram stop to our apartment. It is a wonderful walk during the day, but say, for example, we get home after dark...we still have to walk through the Waldpark (which is only dimly lit...enough to make scary shadows). I have never really been afraid of the dark, I mean, I got a little anxious when my mom would ask me to take out the trash after dark (keep in mind our trash cans at home are in the dim, back alley, far enough away that noone would hear my screams)...but I'm sure that's a common fear. Anyway, last night we were returning from a weekend retreat and our train got in well past dark, so we found ourselves walking through the Waldpark...a situation we were both dreading but neither wanted to admit to.

So here's how it started: we got off the tram at Lene Glatzer Strasse, our usual stop, but because of the late hour, our exhaustion from the retreat, and the fact that we quickly realized we needed to walk through the scary forest park, things started seeming creepy. We crossed the street and were joking about a past story of one of the missionaries here who got chased by a huge dog after dark in this same park when I glanced up and actually SAW a dog in our path! Ok so it turned out to be a bench, and after mentioning my silly mistake found out that Amy had thought the same thing. We were soon engulfed by the darkness and looming shadows and I was trying to play off like it was no big deal, but secretly was completely glad that Amy was with me... she could save me from large attacking dogs. Well things were going fine until, while I was looking down to watch where I was stepping, Amy gasped sharply, put her hand on my shoulder and jumped behind me, putting me into an immediate state of panic. I quickly looked up to see what caused Amy this intense reaction and noticed the silouettes of two small cats, running across the road about 50 meters ahead of us. My panic turned to disbelief that my fairly level-headed roommate, HIM partner, and so thought "protector" was scared so easily by a pair of small, probably cute (it was dark...I couldn't tell) domestic pets! My heart was now beating 3 times it's normal rate and sheesh it turned out to not be anything worth jumping about in the first place. Man-!

Well we laughed about that, especially Amy, who totally tried to play it off like it wasn't a big deal (I'll be sure to remind her of how big a deal it "wasn't" occasionally). But not even a couple minutes later we heard this scraping sound behind us...and it was slowly getting louder, and closer...

Turning around we couldn't see anything, but we realized it was only a skateboarder. But in this case knowing didn't make it any better! Skateboards make a horrible sound when you're walking through a dark forest and already kinda freaked out, let me tell you. Needless to say, when it did FINALLY pass us it was a girl skateboarder...man did we feel stupid getting so creeped out by a harmless GIRL. I mean, if it was at least a boy we could have felt a little more at ease knowing our fear wasn't in vain. Pah.

So of course you know the end of this story, because I'm writing this now. We did eventually make it through the Waldpark despite all the odds stacked against us, and I feel like a much more rounded person after experiencing all that trauma. Oh and for the record, Amy loves cats. :)