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. 

Kids

Being the person that I am, I laughed in my three year old's face tonight.  He was playing with his legos on top of one of my tac boxes.  Claire would pick up a couple of legos.  Isaac would grab them.  She would pick up a lego and drop it on the floor.  Isaac would yell at her and grab the lego.  I made Isaac to leave her alone and share.  His response was to wait a couple of minutes.  He then began crying that Claire was making a mess.  He'd stomp and cry and start to grab the lego before pausing.  All I could do was laugh, loudly.  This is the same child that has no problem laying in dirt for hours.  He has no problem leaving his toys spread over the entire house.  Yet, Claire dropping a couple of legos is the downfall of western civilization.  Eventually, he realized I wasn't going to say anything to Claire and dropped the issue entirely.

Otherwise, I've met with a group of guys to pray and discuss a book (Crazy Love) with a group of for the last couple of weeks.  That group has already been a great encouragement.  It's amazing how much joy and strength comes from sharing the struggles of being fathers, husbands, and men.  Its been one of the things I've missed since I moved to Belgium. 

Winter Arrives

Winter seems to have arrived in this part of Belgium.  Its been a very mild winter, but temperatures have not gotten to 30 F in around a week.  Last night, we got about an inch of snow.  I hit an ice patch coming home from work last night, and managed to get  a sideways before sliding onto the sidewalk.  Thankfully, I got stopped before hitting anything. 

This morning, we went for a walk in the snow.  The trail to the left is about a half mile from our house.  Emily and Claire walked to the trail and got back out of the cold.  Isaac and I walked down the trail for another 20 minutes or so.  He kept insisting we go forward.  Of course, he also insisted on getting a running start and sliding into the snow every 20 yards.  Eventually, this left him soaking wet with the temperature somewhere in the teens.  His response....lots of crying and repeatedly telling me his hands hurt.  I called Emily to pick us up at the trailhead.  (Isaac is fine)