Germany: December 2006, Day 2
Let’s just say the drive to the little hotel where I’m staying took nearly two hours, so I managed to conk out just before 2:00 am. Patric, a 28-yr. old man studying theology, was my hearty driver, and I told him over and over how grateful I was for him to be up so late talking care of me. We had a good talk, but a couple of times I think I fell asleep; how glad I am that I was not the driver, or we would have ended up in a ditch. The fog made driving a bit more risky than normal, but Patric was a good sport.
The hotel itself is more like a bare-fare B&B (without the “&B”). I did not realize that many German establishments like this one do NOT provide soap or shampoo in the rooms. When I got up to take my shower, I discovered that fact and blessed the Lord I had been able to take a shower in London. I was so desperate to shave and shower, however, that I examined the room-freshener bottle next to the toilet. The label was German, and the wick-in-the-bottle convinced me it was NOT soap left out by a previous guest. Given a couple more days without soap, and I might try the wick-in-the-bottle, but I was concerned it might clean my hair so well that it would fall out! So, I refrained from using it. On top of that, the “hot”water was’t, and in the end I elected merely to wet my hair while leaning over in the shower. At least a fresh application of gel could mask the showerless condition of my body.
Hoping for a hot cup of coffee to stir the barely-glowing embers in my inner-furnace, I prepared to put the paper filter in the coffee-maker when I noticed that some previous occupant had made coffee without a filter and left some of the grounds in the plastic filter-holder. They had crusted and grown quite an interesting crop of mold. I opted out of a cup of coffee, glad, at least, that I had discovered the coffee farm before I had a cup, as opposed to after!
Was it really morning? My jetlag and late night said, “No”. The lack of soap and coffee likewise argued against the possibility that this was morning. Only a knock on my door at 8:45 am and the ride to the conference center where we had breakfast answered the question conclusively. I had a couple of big cups of coffee, some good German rolls, cheese, salami, butter and an apple. I was feeling almost human again.
Lest any of this sound as though I’m complaining, I made the point in my teaching session that the kind of ministry people see on the platform isn’t usually an accurate picture of ministry. Just as I had several mishaps along the way from California to Hamburg and the conference, so will they have a mixed-bag of experiences in ministry. I tied that fact in with the huge truth that God calls all of us–not just a few–to significance and high purpose. We looked at the stories of Jesus’ ministry when he called Peter, healed the leper, cured the paralytic and enlisted Matthew from his tax-collecting (Luke 5).
After a lunch of potatoes, sauerkraut, ham and roll, Patric and his sister (and her girlfriend) drove me to a store where Patric went in to get me some shower gel and shampoo while I stayed in the car and had a delightful chat with the teenage girls. Then, I went back to my room where I tried to sleep. The bed has a big, thick comforter–the kind you want to lie on, as opposed to under–and though it’s quite cold outside, the room itself is warm–almost too warm for a comforter. Between the delightful torture of wanting to lie on, under and in the softness all at the same time (know what I mean?) and my discombobulated body, I slept only fitfully. That can be a nice way to sleep if you get to wake up to something delightful like the aroma of a meal or something you really want to devour, but alone in a strange city, it was miserable enough to get me up to do some work on my laptop.
Worship is being led by a band from Alabama, “The Selah Project”, and I enjoy their different-than-us style of music–a bit country sounding and songs that are more akin to concert music than worship choruses. But several of the choruses within those longer songs were easy to worship-along-with. Nate Marialke, a young worship pastor from Michigan, is doing most of the evening sessions (except New Year’s) and I’m doing the mornings. He taught on the need for the Holy Spirit, and when he asked these young people to come up front if they wanted to be filled or refreshed with the Holy Spirit, nearly 50 came forward.
I was so happy to see a young minister teach about and emphasize the Holy Spirit. Too many of the GenXers I know tend to back away from such a challenge…
