Home Again

OK, so we learned a valuable lesson over the last two weeks.  A teenager can be a great asset in traveling with small children.  My neice has been visiting for the last couple of weeks, and we've taken a massive road trip that Em & I have talked about for a while.  We left Belgium and went to Prague, Krakow, drove through Slovakia to Budapest, and went to Salzburg and Bavaria.  For those doing a quick count, that's seven countries. 

Katie made the trip much easier.  We saw some truly amazing cities.  I want to go back to Budapest.  Most of the museums were closed the days we were there, and the weather didn't cooperate.  Em & I are talking about trying to make another trip in a few months for a long weekend. 

Today has been washing clothing, mowing, and basically trying to recover from travel.  Tomorrow, we should actually finish the unpacking process.  There are a bunch of pictures in my online photo albums if you're interested.

Another Anniversary Down

Em & I spent the last few days celebrating our eighth anniversary in Rome.  Experience has taught me that a couple of weekends away each year get me a pass from Emily on certain events (such as Valentine's Day and a few stupid comments here and there).  It was my second time to visit Rome and it's the second city I've gone to that I really thought would be fun to return to a second time.  Actually, I would still like to go back a third time.


We stayed in an apartment just off Camp di Fiori.  We could look down into the market each morning.  We walked, and walked each day.  I got to show Emily a lot of the sites i saw back in October.  We saw a couple of new things (don't worry with the Marmitime Prison).  I need another day at St Peter's Basilica.  We ate massive amounts of pasta, gelato, and cappicino.  Overall, it was a great weekend with the woman I love (and who was foolish enough to get stuck with me).

The Mystery of Preaching

Parts of ministry remain a mystery to me.  Perhaps the biggest point of confusion is a bad sermon.  This past Sunday's sermon focused on 1 Kings 21.  Basically, Jezebel was willing to use deception, manipulation, and intimidation as soon as her feelings of power and entitlement were threatened.  I compared this to our response in the "kingdoms" we set up for ourselves in churches, work, or social settings.  The basic points were legitimate.  The subpoints and explanations could have been better.  The illustrations were a complete and total failure.  My weakness in the pulpit isn't the mystery.  I'm aware of my own weaknesses.  The confusion is that the weakest sermons I preach are the ones people come to me to talk about or share stories of how it applied.  The last time I was this frustrated with a sermon, a friend who provided me constructive criticism (at my request) refered to it as the best sermon she'd heard me preach.  In the last three days, I've had four people stop me to mention something about that sermon.  While I'm grateful the Holy Spirit uses scripture to speak to people, I almost always feel like I've failed to adequately explain or illustrate the simplest points of any passage.  Please, anyone who actually reads this...indulge this public whining on my part.  I promise not to make too much of a habit of it.  I don't need any reassurance of my calling or usefulness.  I just wanted to vent.

Growing Up

Last weekend, I let a Strong Bonds Retreat.  I suppose it's supposed to be called a "Training Event" now.  Apparently, the term "retreat" has religious connotations that the chaplain corp wants to avoid using.  It is frustrating when someone asks if they should bring their Bible to the class, and I have to say it's not needed.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy teaching, so the classes are fun to lead.  The problem is how wide a berth I'm expected to make around anything that is religious.  It's frustrating talking about building stronger marriages without discussing the significance of Christ within the covenant of marriage.  I've thought a lot about this over the last few days.  On Monday, I took part in a renewal of vows ceremony with a group who have been going through a Bible study on marriage with the chapel group here on SHAPE.  It is just interesting to look at the two groups and compare their approach to marriage.

Anyway, as you can see from the picture, Claire got to go swimming for the first time.  She took to the water immediately.  I'd throw her up and let her go under.  She'd hold onto my shoulders while I swam and kick while I pulled her around.  We realized how much she's growing up.  We'll soon be done with the baby phase of parenthood.

Routine

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, so I'll try to hit the high points.  I suppose we're back in somewhat of a routine, at least for a couple of weeks.  I'm not exactly sure if that's even possible at the moment.

I've started teaching a cooking class for guys who can't cook with one of the members of the chapel service I attend.  Keith knows far more than I do about cooking, but it's really not the point of the class.  We're hoping to get a few more of the soldiers in our barracks to simply build relationships with one another.  Preparing and sharing a meal seems like as good of a way as any other.  Tomorrow is week two.

We're getting ready for a Strong Bonds event.  For those who aren't in the military, this is a weekend retreat that focuses on building strong relationships in military families.  This particualr retreat is a family event. The logistics for this particular event have been a massive difficulty.  My assistants have done a great job, but getting people to understand that Belgium doesn't work like Germany is amazingly difficult.

Friday, I took a group of 14 soldiers to visit a Waterloo battlefield and the ruins of an 8th century circtercian abbey.  It's always interesting what comparisons they draw from these events. 

I think that sums the last couple of weeks up.