I’ve started this post three times already, but I’m not really sure what to focus on since so much has happened in the last week. Wednesday I successfully finished classes with my precious students, and they have scattered to different corners of the globe for the next three weeks. (I’m still a little jealous of the one spending the break in Colorado Springs.) Thursday I went out to dinner with the rest of the Bible department to enjoy time with my great coworkers. Friday I spent time with my physio again working to loosen my ankles. Anja moved the feet and instructed me to think about the motion and try to help. I’m still a long way away from moving my ankles on my own, but it was months of practice before I had any real control over the flexing in my butt.
Saturday was special. I had the joy of participating in the local choir concert for the second time. My first year here, I joined the choir and had no idea what was going on most of the time. I’m still pretty clueless with my German, but I’ve been richly blessed by the women in the choir who make sure I’m able to participate. My neighbor from before my accident is also in the choir and though she doesn’t speak a word of English, she makes sure I know what’s going on and get where I’m supposed to be if there’s not an English speaker around. I was really so blessed to be included in this event as they adjusted the standing and seating arrangements based on my wheelchair.
Sunday was special too. I’m really fortunate to be in this unique position as a foreigner living in Germany in 2015. There are thousands of displaced people coming into this country, and the town I live in has made it clear they would like to welcome these refugees with open arms. Some people in Germany are less excited, and there was a demonstration in town yesterday where 60 of these people showed up. Police were on sight as demonstrations from this group have gotten violent in other cities. However, 200 peaceful Germans of Kandern turned up to make some noise to drown out the 60 hateful protesters. I stayed home while that was happening, but shortly after, I rode with friends to a nearby town to help again with a church service for refugees living close to us.
You all come here to read about my recovery, so I’m going to get real with you for a paragraph. I love my family group. They have found a way for me to still participate in service projects with them even though I have mobility struggles. That said, it’s a huge emotional struggle for me to sit in a room full of active children and not be able to run and play with them. To the people here, it’s not a loss to look at what I can contribute because they didn’t know me as the rock star Port Kids leader I was back in America. I pulled off amazing children’s worship services – we had loads of fun dancing and singing and telling Bible stories with amazing video and slide show presentations all perfectly coordinated by me and executed with the help of my well trained youth volunteers. I was good at that, but I’m not any more. There are some things I can’t do any more, and it’s sad. Please understand, those Port Sundays weren’t all about me, but I was using my skills effectively, and it’s hard to see that those gifts I loved using so much aren’t accessible to me now. I want to do all those things again.
I’ll never stop wanting that. I’ll hopefully never stop being grateful for what I have each day right now though. I don’t want to lose a moment of the present so stuck in what I used to do in the past. I’ve got great gifts I can use now, and one of them is sharing with people about the amazing Jesus who has given me this incredible life. This week, people all over the world are celebrating the birth of this Jesus – the God/man who didn’t consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage, but instead he humbled himself taking on the very nature of a servant (Philippians 2:6-7 NIV). He put on human skin and moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14 MSG).
He came so that I could have life – life to the full (John 10:10).
He came so that you could have life too.
Merry Christmas.
