Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
a great read – and it was voted "book of the year", to boot.
A quote from Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace? in which Yancey illustrates why living a life apart from sin is worthwhile when grace has already been given us – but that lends itself to describing our motivation to learn the language (86 the romantic side of the metaphor).
One summer I had to learn basic German in order to finish a graduate degree. What a wretched summer! [...] I endured such torture for one purpose only: to pass the test and get my degree.
Why learn German? There are noble reasons, to be sure – languages broaden the mind and expand the range of communication – but these had never motivated me to study German before. I studied for selfish reasons, to finish a degree, and only the threat of consequences hanging over me caused me to reorder my summer priorities…
What would inspire me to learn German? I can think of one powerful incentive. If my wife, the woman I fell in love with, spoke only German, I would have learned the language in record time. Why? I would have a desperate desire to communicate mit einer schoenen Frau. I would have stayed up late at night parsing verbs and placing them properly at the ends of my love-letter sentences, treasuring each addition to my vocabulary as a new way of expressing myself to the one I loved. I would have learned German unbegrudgingly, with the relationship itself as my reward.
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Better mileage than a Prius, smaller chance of malfunctioning accelerator pedal.
Allow me, if you will, to fawn for a minute, if you will, over my bicycle. If you will.
My carbon footprint has become something of a small marvel in my time here in Germany. My electric bill at the apartment runs 15 bucks a month. I recycle like you wouldn’t believe. I hang my clothes to dry after a run through the eco-friendly wash cycle. Also, I ride a bike – everywhere.
When I first got to Germany and was handed a freebie, off-brand, second-hand bicycle, riding the thing felt downright childish. Years of driving a car had jaded me and relegated the riding of bicycles to something I did from the ages of 6-15, and then only when the weather was optimal. Well, such is no longer the case.
A bicycle, as I have come to realize, is your passport to a larger, more wonderful world of transportation. Forget waiting on the bus for 8 minutes (which is still pretty darn convenient) – you can hop on your Huffy now and be there in 8 minutes! You can pedal right past the Jet gas station and laugh at the people paying 1.20 Euro per liter to fill up their tiny cars (although your max speed on the Autobahn may not earn you the envy of your friends – probably better to avoid major highways on your bike altogether). Insurance is not required. In fact, accidents in general are much easier on your budget with a bike. A slip on the ice in your car, for example, may run you $600 for a new bumper and the cost of a new mailbox (hypothetically), while a slip on the ice on your bike will cost you no more than a cold butt until you get back on and pedal it off.
On top of all that, I have developed these incredible quadriceps whose form would – if weather here allowed for shorts – inspire drivers and pedestrians to greater levels of leg-based fitness. I’m the muscular envy of my teenage self.
I never thought I would be riding my bicycle in sub-freezing temperatures as an adult, but here we are. My bike is good stewardship – it allows me to do my campus minister job with less money – and that’s something worth supporting.
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Two weeks between talks - just enough time, in my opinion.
Last Thursday was the high point of our existence as a ministry that puts on events with a featured program.
- The upstairs room – the program room – was transformed (thanks to the second-hand tables and cheap lamps I got my hands on) into a cafe atmosphere.
- In what timing can only be labeled as serendipitous, the sound equipment we ordered arrived on the day of the event, and a student showed up almost simultaneously to help set it all up.
- With a professional tech and comfortable seating setup, we put up decorations related to the night’s topic: the houses and a mural of the photos we had collected from all the students – and all the internet submissions.
- Students speaking comprised 50% of the night’s program – talking about our successful bake sale for Haiti relief (we raised 250 Euros) and what the idea of “home” means.
- After the program, the evening went into full swing as an impromptu dance party started downstairs and a singing circle – complete with instruments students brought from home – started upstairs.
It was comfortable but mind-opening; engaging and thoughtful without being insistent upon itself or trying to sell any message; creative but accessible to everybody; and personally meaningful to people who have never had a place to connect in such a way. We are somewhere in the void between art show and worship service, and it’s not such a bad place to be.
Jesus was never mentioned, nor was God, but “love” was the focus of everybody who shared on Thursday – students and staff, Christian and non.
And now that we’ve got momentum, it’s time to ironically celebrate the end of the semester.
