Going...

Going.....

 ....Going.....

....Gone.




It was unintentional, but oh so funny.  The fact that she immediately got back into the wagon (while still crying) doesn't bode well for her future judgment.

Family Time

This weekend, we had absolutely nothing required of us.  On Friday, Em & I went on a date.  We tried a Greek restaurant some friends had recommended.  It was amazing.

On Saturday, Mons had its annual Chocolate Festival.  Chocolatiers set up on one of the shopping streets in Mons.  We tried a few things.  The better part of the day is just that the weather was amazing.  The kids both played in the fountain on the Grand Place in Mons.  On Sunday, we had an Easter Egg Hunt with our FRG. 

A Protestant Pilgrimage...sort of

This is the room in Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther
spent ten months working on his translation of the New
Testament.

Since Em & I got to Europe I've talked about doing a tour of of Martin Luther's life.  Somewhere along the way, the plan shifted to a personal retreat weekend for me.  (I think Emily realized I was going to bore her to death talking about Reformation history and theology).  Anyway, I spent the last three days in Wittenberg, Erfurt, and Eisenoch hitting some of the high points of Luther's life.

I learned a few things about planning a personal retreat as well.  I've tried to do this several times since I first read Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster 13 years ago.  The first is having more of a plan.  Previously, my plan was just to pray, journal, and read scripture.  This time, I focused on the book of Romans and a biography of Luther.  Surprisingly, I spent less time thinking about humanities' depravity and more time thinking about God's love and ecclesiology.  Luther got sloppy with his theology of Church polity and I noticed how much of Romans is dedicated to addressing divisions between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the church of Rome.

I probably had too much windshield time, but I used the drives to listen to a sermon series on Romans from Andy Davis, my pastor when I lived in Texas.  The weekend was a great opportunity to rest mentally, physically, and spiritually.  I would have backed out of going last week, but Emily insisted that I go.  I'm greatful that she pushed me into keeping my plans.

Back Home Again

 This evening, I got back from Germany (again).  The past three days, I was in Willengin, Germany with 23 single soldiers from my battalion (and a few other units).  The village you see is the view from my balcony this morning.

I think the retreat went well.  The focus was on making good decisions on choosing a spouse.  Several soldiers seemed to begin thinking about a few of the issues as the impact of family background and prior relationships on marriage.  I'll begin looking at the participant feedback on Monday.  Logistically, my assistants did a great job.  (Yes, for any chaplain friends reading this, I have two assistants for the moment).

Personally, I got to take a long run on some of the mountain roads.  It amazes me how quickly you can reach a point where the only things you hear are the wind in the trees and a few birds.  Germans seem to have figured out how to be close to civilization while you still feel like you're away from everything.  I definitely need to go backpacking after a couple of hours in the woods.

Field Training Exercise

I spent the last two weeks in Schwienfort (sp?), Germany doing field training with my brigade.  The picture to the left is from the worship service on the first Sunday of the training exercise.  I do love getting to lead worship.  I had the opportunity to get to know some of the other chaplains from the brigade.  I've only met most of them once since I've been in Europe because we're a signficant distance from everyone else.

The training itself was ok.  It was probably some of the better training I've received as a chaplain..  A little over half of the week had no training for chaplains, but it did give an opportunity to hang out with my soldiers.  I just hate being away from the family for more than a few days.