A lake, a museum, and a sermon

Last night Heather and I decided it was a lake night again, and we took the kids to another nearby lake for an evening splash and then dinner ("hot dogs" -- wurst, eaten with a knife and fork and a slice of bread) at an outdoor restaurant on the lake. It's nice to have a break from feeling sticky and sweaty, and the kids love getting wet and dirty.

























Today Heather was hosting a play group at our house, and she suggested that I take the morning off and maybe head downtown. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so after we were through our morning routine of trading off running, showering, and getting the kids up, fed, and dressed, I set out towards the train station. It's a little cooler today, so I enjoyed the walk to the station and the ride into the city. I came up from the underground station to rain falling! It was still very warm, and refreshing to have the rain coming down. My destination was the Pergamon Museum, perhaps Berlin's most famous. Its two standout pieces are the Pergamon altar (no, I'm not in the picture, but do you see all those people who look like tourists? I looked like them)

and the Ishtar Gate (Babylonian structure -- perhaps Daniel walked through here).

I spent about an hour and a half in the museum and enjoyed taking my time looking at Assyrian, Hellenistic, and Islamic artifacts and art. One of my other favorites was Islamic calligraphy -- beautiful, and it made me think about the beauty and value of words. (Also fascinating to study the different letter forms!)

Then I enjoyed lunch in a sunny square (yes, the sun came back out while I was in the museum -- they day ended up in the low 80s, I think) while I read my book, a walk through part of the city, and a slice of kasekuchen (I really need umlauts to write that word! -- cheesecake, by the way) at another cafe. This one had an outdoor seating area in a courtyard off the main street, which I found charming. I listened to the sermon from Covenant Pres while sat in the courtyard -- Heidi and I chatted about it last night and she made me want to listen to it. She's right -- it was convicting. The topic was the last part of Matthew 28. It would be easy for me to say that I could work on going and making disciples after these months in Berlin, to say that I already have a job and a mission for this season, to say that I don't know the German language and my time here is choppy because of the six week trip to the States in the middle. But Heidi reminded me that we always want to put off challenging tasks till the next season. I am also reminded of a wise word from Mark while I was visiting him in Stehekin in May: "I am sure that God is sending you to Germany for a purpose. I will look forward to hearing what He has for you there." At the time, I thought, "I know why I'm going to Germany -- to live with and help this family." And yes, that is certainly a large part of my "mission" for this time. But my heart should never be closed to other needs that God wants to show me. Bill Price's charge at the end of his sermon: "Find a wall and get on the other side of it. Open your eyes and see the need there. Pray that the Lord would send laborers to that field." There are lots of walls here, starting with a rather large one between me and almost everyone because of the language barrier. Instead of being scared of summiting the walls, I want to tackle them with courage and Pray.