Unexpected Blessings

Out of the blue some friends from home Facebooked me on their drive from Switzerland to Frankfurt.  They drove out of their way to Landstuhl, and we were able to spend some time together.  Juli's ancestors are from nearby Otterberg, so we spent most of the evening there.  We found the Cathedral that was originally Catholic but turned Lutheran with the Reformation.  Eventually, the Catholics and Lutherans agreed to share the building.  It took many years to iron out the details, but in time they found harmony and it is still shared to this day.  That kind of cooperation is virtually unheard of in our age, let alone ca. 18th century when the preferred method of theological compromise involved the wrack.

If you know me, you know that I firmly believe in theological conviction.  I hope you also know that I firmly believe in civil conversation, even constructive debate.  The differences between theological camps are significant enough they should not be overlooked in the name of unity.  We need to wrestle through the tough issues of justification, election, communion, and so on.  If the Reformation taught us anything, it is that Truth is worth dying for.  But, we need to hold these convictions with the Spirit of Christ seeking harmony when unified melody is simply not possible.  If you know the Jarvis family, you know that this ancestral spirit of peaceful cooperation has survived the generations and geography separating them from this Cathedral where it all began.  If you know them, you'll also know that Chris had equipment suitable for photographing Otterberg in the low light, so check out his Facebook page, or Juli's blog for more pictures and stories coming soon (I'm pretty sure).

Dinner, where Juli strategically positioned herself in view of the Cathedral.

Juli and Chris in my office at 2:00 AM.  Never a dull moment around here!

Saarburg

We took some of the guys to Saarbug today, located close to the French border.  We started with a tour of a castle followed by another fabulous meal.  The restaurant was part of what I called a European food court.  A small river runs through the center and tumbles over small waterfall.  Both sides are lined with restaurants and tables and awnings outside.  It was so cool to watch these guys, some limping, some with an arm in a sling, some with invisible wounds, but everyone of them looked like kids in a candy store.  OK, maybe I did too.

The view of Saarbug from the castle tower.

After some free time we headed over to a stainless steel tobogan run.  The first time down the guys were pretty macho and played along just because it was expected.  The second time down they were giddy.  Check out these battle hardened soldiers pushing past the little kids waiting for the same ride.  No, I'm not kidding.

Today I went to Kirche...

This morning I walked down to the Protestant Church (Kirche) in Landstuhl.  The steeple in the picture below adorns the beautiful building.

 I got there at 10:00, and saw that the service started at 9:30.  Given my Baptist heritage I assumed I missed the hymns and got there in time for the preaching.  Not that it mattered, the whole service was in German anyway.  I went on in and slipped quietly into the back pew.

 This sanctuary could easily seat 200+.  To my left were two young ladies and a group of elderly folks numbering roughly what you see in the picture above.  They sang a hymn, the pastor stood and I assume prayed (again, it's all in German), and then walked out.  It was now 10:05 and church was over.  So...

I walked down a block to the cafe and enjoyed this cup of coffee.  I wish the picture did justice to the setting.  It was a beautiful sunny morning, about 70 degrees.  At 10:20 the bells from both the Protestant and Catholic church started ringing.  Apparently the Ecumenical movement has brought some harmony to the German churches, because the bells were tuned to each other.  The tones resonated through the streets, bouncing off the stone buildings.  I posted a video below, but in person it was much easier on the ears.

I did some reading, thinking, and relaxing.  Not a typical Sunday morning for a preacher, but I'll take it.

Landstuhl Castle

This evening I had the opportunity to see the Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.

You can see the town of Landstuhl in the background.

This was the enlisted soldiers' baracks.

Another view of the enlisted baracks... as compared to...

The Officers' Quarters.

The Officers' Quarters from another view.

More than just a decorative fountain, the basen was used to collect rain water.

I didn't see it in the tour guide, but I'm almost certain the blue trashcan liner is an authentic, 12th century piece.

Kind of like a duck blind, arrows could be fired out through the openings on either side of the gate, but virtually impossible for an enemy to fire into the castle. 

The Treck to Germany

Rebekah, Lucas, and I had a great time in Cheyenne taking care of the last minute details for my deployment.  A highlight of the trip was when the TAG (The Adjutant General) stopped by Sunday afternoon to see me off and offer his encouragement to Rebekah.  It is a great privilege to serve in a State where our highest ranking military member makes the effort to personally thank deploying personelle.

After a rousing game of ball...

Lucas was a ready for a scrub.

Once he realized what all the attention was actually about, he took it kind of hard.  He'll miss his dad.

We woke up Monday ready for a leisure morning of packing and organizing since my flight didn't leave until evening.  One look out the window and all leisure departed.  It looked like this.















Get it?

After two and half hours of stop and go traffic on I85 with about 50 yard visibility, we made it to DIA. An awaiting passenger was kind enough to snap a picture.

We flew over Canada and off the Southern tip of Greenland.  At this point I couldn't help but imagine the fishing villages that dot the coast.  That's a place I'd love to visit one day.

Pictures of where I am now will have to wait for another day.  But, before I go, I'm going to tell you about some of the interesting people with whom I shared a very large, double-decker airplane.

They range from the Catholic church ladies headed to a European cathedral tour, to the guy up a row and across the aisle from me who watched raunchy movies on his iPad the entire 9 hour flight, and laughed out loud with his earbuds in.  It looked more disgusting than funny from my vantage point, but he was having a great time.  Or, so it seemed.

Then there was the lady towering at about 5' 1" and boasting a frame of at least 105 lbs.  Otherwise, by both looks and demeanor she reminded me of Meg Ryan.  She was headed to Germany to compete in an international competition of... wait for it... power lifting.

We were also kept company by the eccentric cat-lady, only, it wasn't a cat.  It was a small, fluffy service-dog that was the subject of several arguments between Fluffy's owner and the otherwise accommodating flight crew.

I sat next to a book publisher from Copenhagen who specializes in Philosophy, Psychology, and pedagogy.  She was more interested in the Big Horn Mountain pictures on my iPad than she was in talking about her work.  I think the world needs more people like that.

International travel is a fascinating thing.  Just this evening over dinner I met an Army officer with an advanced degree in entomology.  Didn't see that one coming.  But, the story that reminded me why I am here - that was the young Marine who had to leave his guys in the desert to come home for a family emergency.  Those matters being cleared up, he was headed back for the remaining month of his second deployment.  Those are the guys who need support.  I'm here to serve those who serve our nation.  Thanks for making it possible for me to be here.  Pray for me: tomorrow it begins.  I'll be in touch.

A public service announcement

This is a friendly reminder that while I am out of pocket, there very well may be something in my wife's pocket.  My children are well protected.  And, she shoots with her eyes closed, so I cannot guarantee a clean kill.  That is all.  As you were.



Then again, in all seriousness, the unsung heroes of any war are those who stay behind.  Our military spouses deserve far more respect than they will ever receive.  It is the staying behind, in the mundane, continuing the routine, alone, without the grand adventure... that is the greater sacrifice.  God has blessed me with a hero for a wife.  She believes in what we are doing, which is why when I board this plane in a few minutes I can hold my head high.  My kids will be just fine - better than fine - they have a hero for a mom!  Now, that... is all.

War Stories (pt. 2)

We were drilling one hot summer day in late August of 1949 on our drill field in front of our barracks.  We were in small columns, going through all the commands.  We were doing just fine until 3 young Caucasian ladies dressed in tight t-shirts and short shorts riding bicycles right past us.  Those giving the commands were watching the girls, forgetting their columns.  So we just kept marching; of course were looking at the girls too.  There were columns all over the field – colliding into one another, rifles dropping, helmets falling off, men banging into one another; complete chaos!  It wasn’t just a few columns, it was all of them.  It was so funny, that even our officers were bending over laughing.  It looked like the Keystone Cops in the old silent movies.  Real togetherness!

This is part of our history.  I wish it never happened, but it did.  Five of us would eat out nearly every night.  We would go about five towns in the opposite direction of Tokyo, because all the other GI’s went there.  It would be nice and quiet and gave us a chance to sit back and talk.  We always left camp around 4:30.  This particular day I didn’t go because I was on prison chaser at our camp stockade and didn’t get off duty until 6:00 that evening.  The next morning I got a terrible shock.  The four men, Frank Camper, Jessie Mereman, Clarence Peters, and Sgt. Taylor had just walked through the gate into our camp.  They were in the curve of the road and being foggy, an MP jeep plowed into them.  The jeep was going too fast for conditions and was on the wrong side of the road.  It killed Frank Camper and killed Jessie Mereman.  Sgt. Taylor and Clarence Peters both got knocked down and bruised.  The army court marshaled the MP and he was sent away.  The next 2 weeks were terrible.  No matter where our Co. marched; every time we saw an MP jeep, we broke ranks and ran to the side of the road yelling, look out it’s the MP’s.  They’ll run you down!  No matter how many we saw in a day, we did the same dumb thing.  After about 2 weeks of this Col. Clainos came to our mess hall and took off his silver leaf from his collar and said he wanted to talk man to man.  He told us he had real good MP’s, but they were putting transfers to other outfits and he didn’t want to loose them because of one man’s mistake.  We all stood up and applauded him, and never again did we do it!  It did show our Co. was willing to stick together even when we were wrong.

On maneuvers at Mount Fuji, we were called out for formation.  Our Co. CO. chewed us out for not having haircuts.  He gave us 2 hrs. to get it done and have another formation to be checked out.  Back in our 9 men tents we got busy clipping hair.  Someone came up with the idea of a mohawk, so we did, all of us.  Our Captain had us uncover at the next formation.  Boy, was he made.  We had to wear steel helmets the rest of the time we were there.

We were pre-warned that by no means can anyone leave camp while on maneuvers.  If we got caught it would be 6 months at the Big Eight Stockade.  Eight weeks was the most we could handle – we still had 2 weeks to go, so we all snuck out of camp... – 5 miles to town.  The MP’s brought us back into camp by the truckload.  The next day we got chewed out for not taking the Co. flag.  Again it was 100% participation!

There was no doubt in my mind that B troop would fulfill all the duties that would be expected of them in Korea.

to be continued...