Hot Job Search!

Greetings from the Berlin tropics! Just kidding, but lately it's been getting pretty hot in the north of Germany...  Today it's about 90 (32C) and on Sunday it's supposed to get to 100....  Gratefully it shouldn't be quite so humid, but either way, I'm not looking forward to it.  I wonder if I could just ride one of the air-conditioned buses or underground trains all day...  Well, maybe not....

I had mentioned before that I can prove the theory of good vs evil.  Do you remember?  Well, it goes something like this:  Let's say you want to lose some weight and you've decided to start to eat better and go to the gym.  Then comes your best friend's birthday party, complete with cake and ice cream, etc.  Then you get to bed too late, and forget to set the alarm clock (or phone, etc).  Then there is this distraction and that event (or holiday) and that craving... you get the idea.  It's not easy to make changes in your life or to push yourself to be better than you are today.  In fact, it can be extremely difficult at times.

Before I go off on how "difficult" (I use that term loosely) my life is, let me just say how grateful I am for my life.  Even though I have very little in personal property with me here in Germany, I feel so rich.  The people in Germany have welcomed me with open arms, have offered their friendship to me, their time, money and even their property. They have invited me into their homes, shared their lives and families with me and I could not be happier to be here.  I feel blessed beyond words.  Eph. 3:20-21 comes to my mind:

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever, Amen! (NIV)

Two years ago I could not have even imagined that I would be living in Germany, even though I have dreamed of returning here for years. I prayed before I came to Germany to be accepted by the church here and God has blessed that in spades! I have food to eat, have met with numerous friends in the church this week, including two new friends.  One is an American brother and one is a German that lived in the same area of Rhineland Pfalz where I went to high school!  I absolutely couldn't be happier to be around such great people.  If I found a job, that would be cool, but my life is pretty awesome right now even without!

Anyway, I have definitely seen this week how it's so easy to be distracted from what is really important right now, my job search.  I spent Monday trying to figure out how to get my internet problems fixed, needed a haircut (didn't have money and with the weather getting hot, longer hair was just not an option), etc, etc. etc. So what I have learned from all of this, is to do what I have to do, but to trust God's timing in everything. God is not blind to what I'm going through, but I have to decide if the challenges in my life are a punishment from God, or a test whether I will trust Him, or if I will just get frustrated.  I'll give you a hint, the way we respond to the challenges of our life show us who we really are.  We can get stressed out, which is us trying to be in control of our lives/destinies/whatever; or, we can realize that these are just the things that God is using to help us rely on him more, to be patient so that when the blessing does come, it will knock our socks off!  Since I have been on this journey, God has done this dozens and dozens and dozens of times.  I think I'm getting better at my responses, but that's really up to God to decide. Either way, it keeps my life interesting and hopefully is helping me to be patient.

So I was very encouraged this morning, first of all I got a call from Christoph who leads the Singles and Campus ministries here.  He asked me if I would be willing to help plan and lead the devotional next week while he is at the campus conference in Paris.  I agreed.  I'm very excited to have the opportunity to be able to say a few words (other people will be doing most of the talking), but I'm happy to have the chance to serve in this way.  After I got off the phone with Christoph, I went to the bakery to get brötchen for my breakfast, and the lady there actually asked me if I would be getting my usual 3 of them?  I laughed and said yes.  She actually knew what I wanted already!  I'm starting to feel like a regular there now. That's pretty cool!

Also, I have been spending a good amount of time at Connections Library doing my job searching stuff and even last Friday, opened up in the morning, and closed at night.  Our house church was having a meeting there, and one of the brothers and his wife led a presentation on what they learned on a trip to Israel a couple months back.  They brought a huge amount of food with them, and it was really amazing, including hummus, olives, breads, salads and a ton more.  It was really excellent and the presentation was very interesting.  They really went all out on it! Anyway, I arrived at 9:15am that morning and locked up about 10:30 that night.  13 hours at Connections was no joke!  I was exhausted, but happy!!

On the housing front, still looking into some options.  May opt to stay a couple more weeks where I'm at, but will have to see.  I really like the area I live in, but it is kind of far from where everyone else lives, Connections, etc. I'm sure I would like it somewhere else, too, if I do end up moving.  Please pray for God to make it obvious where I should go.  Either way, I need to start saving money...

Also, on another note, I'm a bit sad.  I gave my bike back to the brother I borrowed it from so now I am trying to get a hold of another.  I really miss doing my long bike rides exploring the city. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot of my dog, Wolfi.  I miss that little guy so much.  I know he's doing well with his new family, but I still miss him.  I love dogs in general and whenever I see one here, I just want to start playing with it.  The dogs here are pretty well trained, I think Wolfi would hate it here because he would be stuck indoors all day long and wouldn't have any place to really run and play.  It was definitely the best decision for him, but it was very hard for me to let my little buddy go.  I spoke with someone who knows his new family and he was up camping with them a while back and seemed happy.  It puts my heart at ease but it's still hard.  I don't regret the sacrifice, but I do miss the little guy.  

As I was coming home last night, I had taken a bus I don't usually ride.  The nearest stop from my house on that line is about 6 blocks from my house.  I had seen signs of a circus coming to that area (it's a pretty big empty lot right next to where the Berlin Wall used to be. As I began to walk home, I walked by a few miniature horses that followed me along the fence, but I didn't have anything to give them.  Another lady was there feeding carrots to some of them, but didn't have enough for all of them.  The horses looked pretty hungry and since I was planning to head to the grocery store anyway, I decided to get some carrots and go back to feed them. 

When I got back, the horses were in a place where I couldn't get to them, so I went to the other end of the field and fed them to an alpaca and a young 2-hump camel.  The animals seemed really hungry and I felt bad for the camel because he didn't seem to have any upper teeth.  Not sure if they hadn't grown in yet or what, be he wanted to eat the carrot, but just couldn't bite into it.  So the alpaca got his.  Anyway, you could see the adult camels about 100 yards away, but they didn't come over to the fence.  The little camel sure was cute, I might try to go back and get some pictures later on.  I think the circus starts tonight, so not sure if I can get any....  It was interesting and a bit weird to see camels, alpacas, cows and miniature horses right down the street from my house.

I'm very excited about my job search.  I have been able to find a number of jobs that I am well qualified for and believe that my English skills would be an additional advantage.  I have applied for jobs in the insurance industry, hotel industry and today I even applied for a job receiving people at the Berlin Fernsehturm (the tall TV tower I have mentioned previously in this blog)!  Very cool.  Also applying with a car rental company and I'm sure there will be other places as well.  Either way, I believe God will give me something.  

Well, sorry nothing too terribly earth-shaking today, just some thoughts from my time over the past week or so.  So grateful to be in Germany!  Even in the heat, it's an amazing place.  No place that I'd rather be right now.  Thanks, God. :)  Until next time!