Excommunication and Membership

“We excommunicated TWO members this week!” Bob told the Pastor.

                “Two members?” His left eyebrow rose in curiosity as he paused to listen.

                “Yeah, two church mice are history! One was kicked out of the building from a garbage can and one was found dead on the kitchen floor. I guess the rat poison worked.”

                The Pastor’s frown turned to a smile. “Good, good!” He chuckled.

Yesterday was a great day in the House of the Lord with us joining the church as new members.

Bob also shook the Pastor’s hand and said: “Well, you have gotten four new members this week!”

“How’s that?” he asked.

“We joined and two new baby girls were born too!”

He laughed at that one because it was true. It was a very fruitful week for the little mission church.

Now it’s Monday night. Tomorrow I start my new job and today every painful memory seemed to kick in of all the jobs that I didn’t like and that didn’t like me. I hope that my new job will not be too disappointing. I also hope that I will be fruitful there and like it to a certain degree. My fears and doubts I am sure are all unfounded.

Still, the devil knows my weak points and he attacks me there.

Did I mention our car was in the shop too with a mysterious leak in the suspension somewhere? Bob heard a hissing sound when he filled it up with gas and now it lists to the right side and is so low you feel every bump as you go down the road. So it was dropped off today and we have to borrow a car tomorrow for my first day.

All this has gotten me in a little bit of a blue mood. Our house is being short-sold. The German government wants to speak to us about our intentions of staying here. I need SOFA status and a new ID or we go back. I should get it this week with my new job. Then, should I cancel our return tickets? Yes, because we are living by faith and that means not looking back or at the circumstances but looking to God for help and salvation. He is our rock and our defense no matter how dark the storm…

I guess our backs are against the wall. But like the old hymn says: “Oh for grace to trust Him more…” And another more contemporary song that says: “If we never had a problem, we wouldn’t go to Him to solve ‘em. We wouldn’t know what faith in God can do.”

So, I will “trust in the Lord with all my might and lean not on my own understanding” and believe he is going to see us through…like He always has!

“Lord, help us to trust in You completely no matter what! We know your timetable is perfect and your way is perfect. Help us to walk humbly with You and wait patiently for your help! Thank, you Lord Jesus, for the answer and we love and worship you. Amen.”

And you can’t be negative or have self-pity when you’re living in a church…

 

Another Little Mouse

One day, Bob walked into the house and announced: “We found a place that will fix the car!”

We went down to ACE glass and got the back windshield fixed. Next, I had to drive it for the first time and follow Bob back to Bobby’s place where we have been staying for a while. You see, I was hired for my job but the paper work takes about two months. And without “SOFA” status, the special ID you get, we would not be able to stay in Germany. So we were still waiting.

I had just read in a book about the need for married couples to get away occasionally. I realized  we needed a break and so did Bobby and Maria.

Bob came to me soon after I read this with the solution:

“How ‘bout living for a few weeks in the Church before you get “SOFA’d”? That way, we can sort through our stuff at the Church and at the same time, have some peace and quiet?”

So we moved into an apartment consisting of two rooms and a bathroom. It was quiet at first. However, Bob thought he heard the squeak of a mouse in the ceiling.

Meanwhile, for meals, we had to use the kitchen downstairs. On the first day, I was getting our meal ready when I heard a yell from Bob. I turned just in time to see this mouse scamper across the auditorium just outside the door of the kitchen. It ran into the other side of it where the dishwasher and the large pantry was.

Of course, I screamed now, too.  But that was the last time we saw it that night.

The next morning, I turned into that room to get some dishes and it was quiet at first. All of a sudden, I heard scratching noises coming from the wastebasket. A good sized mouse with no tail was trying to hop out of it! I quickly threw a serving tray on top of it and yelled for Bob. He came running and brought it outside and let it go free.

Right after breakfast, I heard a squeak and another mouse ran out of the cupboard and when it saw me it panicked and ran right into a dark corner and disappeared.

“Church mouse!” I called out. “Be respectful in God’s house!”

We went and told Bro. Mike. He gave us two mousetraps. One was a new-fangled one that when Bob tried to set it, snapped right on his finger. The other one was an old-fashioned one that we put some peanut butter on for bait.

So now it's war! While I’m sitting here in the apartment, I can hear one of them running around in the ceiling over our heads. There must be a whole family of ‘em.

We have plenty of “food and raiment” and I am trying to be content. We don’t know where we will live next. But I’m trusting God to supply our need.

If He provides for the lilies and the sparrows He will provide for us. Even us church mice.

And we whisper to the ceiling: “Go to sleep, Mickey!” and “Be quiet, naughty mouse!” And hope those mouse traps work.

 

A Trip to Globus

“Are we going out, Pappa?” Robert, the ever-precocious 8 year old, looked up at us and smiled.

“Yes, we’re going to visit Globus. Do you want to come? You can be our human GPS.”

“Yeah, Pappa, of course!”

We said good-byes to the rest of the family and headed out to the car.

“Isn’t Globus like a Super Wal-Mart?” I asked.

“The German equivalent of one,” Bob said as we drove up the hill. The street looked icy and snowy. Suddenly, our car was sliding backward instead of forwards!

“Looks like this isn’t going to work!”

Bob began to back up the car and turned downhill instead.

“Slippery out here today,” he mumbled.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized we wouldn’t hit a wall or a gate.

“Well, Bobby, show us where to go.” Bob said as he glanced in the rearview mirror.

“Turn left.”

“No, that’s the wrong way! We should turn right here.”

“But we should go to the Globus that has the Saturn in it!”

“What?” I thought. “The one with a car in it?”

“No,” Bob repeated firmly. “That one is too far away. We are going to the one just before Kaiserslautern.”

Next thing we knew, we had made several wrong turns thanks to Robert. We soon had whizzed past Globus, after going through a military base and had to make a U-turn. A light flashed in our faces.

“We just got our pictures taken!”

“What?” I asked.

“We’ll be getting a ticket in the mail! I’m going too fast for the speed limit. Even if you’re one or two kilometers above you’ll get one. But we won’t pay it and neither will Bobby. We’re not the owner of the car.”

We were silent the rest of the way trying not to lose it with our little guide in the back seat.

Finally we arrived at our destination and we were awed by a humongous store that had at least three restaurants, hair and nail salons, an eye glass place, a large cheese bar and a giant bakery. The rest of the place was filled with all kinds of consumer goods of every type and description. They even had an American aisle with a red, white and blue banner on it that had all our favorite foods: boxed mac and cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, peanut butter, taco kits etc. We bought a few groceries as we walked down the aisles.

Bob grabbed a bratwurst on brochen which is their equivalent to a hot dog for one euro and I took a sample bite. He then bought a hot pretzel for 50 cents euro for Robert.

Then we left to go home.

“Did you have fun?” I asked Robert.

“Yes, but I’ll pay you 12 dollars to take me to Saturn right now!”

“What is Saturn?” I finally asked.

Bob sounded irritated. “It’s an electronics store. No, son, and you can’t bribe us! Your dad can take you there.”

He kept pleading with us and we both had a good laugh saying no.

We enjoyed our trip but were glad to get back home again.

Who ever said Europe only had sidewalk cafes and small storefronts?

And there’s one in France, too. It’s only a 45 minute drive. We’ll have to go there next time…