Zwei...

I ended up sleeping almost 11 hours... & was woken up by a combination of Alex's knock on the door & the 47 pound rooster across the street declaring his existence. Everything in me wanted to drag out my sleep longer; it would have been 10x worse if I'd used the Euro-'blackout' blinds. I've learned my lesson on those - if I use them, my sleep/wake schedule will never get adjusted. This is a picture of my room & comfy bed.

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Gau Algesheim is a lot like Golden Valley, in that the occasional horse & poultry are ok to have, but its still not the full-fledged goat/dairy farm one might find in say... the country. (Like Smith Valley? Do they have dairy farms in Smith Valley?)

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Linda has to travel to Frankfurt every day for school & practicums, leaving the house shortly after 5 a.m., often returning about 7 - the commute (by train) is 2 hours, every day, & is a part of the price of Alex & Linda following their calling in continuing their pastoral internship, which most likely will continue for another 3-4 years.

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So today, Alex, Jonathan (the puppy,) & I hung out around the table over tea, great German bread, & plum preserves, talking about life. Conversation with Alex is always very enjoyable, & over an incredible range of topics. Today we talked the current state of American politics, what's happening in the church in Germany, the news w/in the Church at large, discipleship, grieving loss & change, moves of the Holy Spirit & the migration of people to those moves (ala Lakeland & to an extent Redding,) & the desperate need for each Christ-follower to be developing a systematic theology & understanding of God that is not theoretical but is practical, livable, & flexible. And rather than simply accepting an ill-fitting Christian label, (evangelical, charismatic, pentecostal, fundamentalist, reformed, etc.) a label that often divides & brings misunderstanding, even before a working definition is offered up, its paramount that we lead with love, acceptance, & forgiveness. I can see while the Apostle Paul led off & closed his letters with "Grace & Peace" to his readers... because he knew, by the Holy Spirit, that those two elements are vital for the long-term life & health of relationships.

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Don't have many plans today - Alex is working from home while I blog, then we make take a voyage to the village of Bingen, which is only about 5K away... see what there is to see.

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Found out last night that Johannes & Anja will be attending & participating in the Pastors' conference next Sunday-Wednesday. I'm greatly looking forward to spending time with them there.

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Last night, we got to walk the streets of Gau Algesheim, putting flyers for the church that Alex & Linda attend in mailboxes of people - at 9 p.m. I tried to be as quiet as possible, yet found several reasons why I could never go 'stealth' if I wanted to:

The dark makes it hard to see, leading to stumbling & big noise. Case in point: the garbage cans I knocked over in the dark. 2nd prize: falling off the 2nd step, thinking it was the last step.

Motion lights: nearly every house had them, except for the two I mentioned above.

My skills: subpar - long gone are the nerves of steel that allowed me to sneak up to a house & TP the trees... now, all I can think of is, "I wonder what the penalty is in Gau Algesheim for trespassing?" And, "now, where did I leave my passport again?" Good times. Made me wish for hot soup.