A couple of weeks ago on a TV Show I was watching the topic of church came up. It really started me thinking...What are churches for? A question that was broached on the show was, "Is church a place where questions are to be asked or is it just a place where people go to get answers?" I think that if we only have churches to get answers... how can we get answers if we can't ask the questions? It seems to me that in some churches people only go to make sure that they are putting in their weekly attendance and then they are good. No one goes beyond the surface of finding out how people really are. We do our church thing and say, "Hi, how are you?", "I'm fine Thanks", and "I'll be praying for you". But are we really praying for those people or are we just putting in the lip service because that's what Christians do? Church should be a safe place where questions can be asked, where we can learn more about God and grow in our personal relationship with him. If we can't ask our questions at church where can we go or more importantly what happens to those searching for God if we can't give them a place to learn about God at church of all places. I believe that we are called to be vulnerable with those around us who are fellow believers. We as Christians are called to go beyond the surface questions and find out how people really are doing, what amazing things God is doing in their lives and find out what trials and tribulations they are suffering so we can be their prayer warriors and encourage them in ways we only can if we really know how someone is doing.
So are we "playing" church and putting in our time, or is church just another thing to cross off our weekly to do lists?
We had a guest preacher last Sunday that preached from the passage in Matthew 16:13-20 where it talks about Peter's confession of Christ. Jesus asked his diciples "Who do you say the Son of man is?" Peter answered "You are the Christ, the son of the living God" Do we truly believe this statement as well? I hope so! But the other quetion is do we act like we know that answer, in not only our every days lives, but especially at church? The pastor also talked about masks we wear in our daily lives. Do we act like one person at work, a different person at home, and a totally different person at church? We need to get rid of our masks, and act like the people that God created us to be. Yes, we are not without sin, because we live in a sinful world, but we were also made in the image of God, so we should behave as though we are images of him.
At the end of Matthew in the great commission, Matthew 28: 18-20- it says- "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This is what Jesus asks of us, but how can we accomplish this if we keep all of our different masks for all the different parts of our life. We will be sending people the wrong message about what it means to be a follower of Christ.
So, my challenge to you, let's throw away those masks, let's stop "playing" church (if that's what we are doing) and let's change what Church is for. Let's make it a place to learn about God, to ask those questions we are wanting to know, and let's truly become brothers and sisters in Christ by dropping the act of pretending that everything is fine and dandy, when we all know that is not always true. There are hurting people everywhere, even in our churches. Let's make church a place where it is okay to hurt and bring that hurt to God, so he can help those in need of his tender loving care. You don't to be perfect to be a Christian, and it's a good thing, because we'd all be in trouble. So, let's change what Church is really for and get beyond sitting through a church service (No offense to anyone who is a Pastor, including you Dad!) and delve into meaningful relationships and ask those questions you've always wanted to ask!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
A Weekend in Normandy, France
The last weekend of April I once again got to travel and see more of Europe! I've been here two months and I have been blessed with the opportunity to see quite a bit in that amount of time. We left on Friday afternoon for Normandy, France. I learned something new on this trip. I learned that Normandy is not a city in France (which is what I had always thought) but rather it is a state of France. It covers a whole big region. Boy scouts from all over Europe were coming to camp for the weekend and learn about WWII, and so we drove down as well, since Collin is in Boy scouts and stayed in a Bed & Breakfast. Collin and Richard stayed at the campground with the rest of the Boy Scouts.
Our first challenge of the trip was that we had to drive a very tiny car to Normandy. Richard had taken the mini van the day before down to Normandy, and his car was in the shop getting fixed. We had a rental car to drive but it was super small, and we had to fit two car seats, plus all our luggage in the very minimal storage space this car had to offer. We had to bring Emarie in the car as well to Shape where we were meeting Kym's Friend Michelle and her kids. We had such minimal space that Emarie had to sit in Jackson's seat with Jackson on her lap.
Our second challenge of the trip was that when we got to Post at Shape they wouldn't let us in because the rental car did no have the right stickers and plates on it, and they wouldn't let us just turn around so we had to sit right inside the gate (in the car) while Kym had to go to the office to get a pass, but the funny part about the whole thing is that they didn't even check to see if I had a current pass (which I didn't) and they didn't pay any attention that we had kids sitting illegally in the back. So, for all they knew we could have been smuggling illegal things in but the car was marked properly! Once on Post we met up with the Zorns and Emarie went in their car. We finally hit the road around 2 o'clock. Within the first 15 minutes we lost our music because the battery for the I-Pod thing ran out and we didn't have any AAA Batteries.
A little ways into France we stopped at a gas station and we got out and stretched, changed diapers, got food, and took bathroom breaks. We were there for a good long while. Michelle gave us apples to eat and when we got back on the road Michelle texted us on the cell phone and said that her apple was gross and asked us how ours were. I wrote back Mine was home instead of Good!!! I tried to delete home but hit send instead. It was funny! We texted back and forth all day. I'm really slow at it though!
The interstate on the way there was much like American ones, maybe a little narrower. We had lots of tolls to pay on the roads that we were taking. Sometimes it felt like we were driving down the highway in Iowa or Michigan because much of the scenery was countryside, but then all of sudden we would come upon sights that were very much European. It was kind of cool! The closer we got to Normandy the hillier it got. We had these two Crazy/ Amazing bridges to cross. If you hate bridges you would have dreaded going over them! Before the first one, Kym was trying to comfort me about crossing it, and I said to her I'm not scared, I like bridges. She said to me, "Well, I hate them." So I replied back, "Well then I should be the one comforting you!" Right after the first bridge Jackson threw up just a little, but we had to quick find a spot to pull over because the next bridge was coming up fast.
This is the First bridge we crossed
The second bridge we crossed
The scenery on our drive was absolutely amazing. There were lots of cool cliffs, valleys, and many cool churches. A couple of the churches we saw had hollow steeples, with intricately cut designs in the steeple. We saw a hot air balloon after we stopped the second time. At the second stop Jackson dumped a whole bucket of popcorn on the floor of the car. That made a nice little mess. When we got closer to the bed and breakfast we had to get off the beaten path and onto country roads that had very narrow roads. We drove through a little village comparable to Brugge, and through the French countryside, where we saw lots of cows. When our GPS said we had reached our fnal destination we couldn't find it, so we had to turn around and we found it then. It was a cute little French cottage/ Farmhouse in the middle of nowhere in the French countryside. It was SO cool! The sun was setting when we arrived. We stayed outside just a little while and enjoyed the wonderful view and that gave the kids a chance to run around in the yard. Since we had 5 kids, plus a little baby that was a good thing to do!
Lily Zorn, Brady, Kathryn Zorn, and Jackson
Beautiful Sunset in the French Countryside
The View from the front yard of the Bed & Breakfast
Once inside the Bed & Breakfast we saw the rooms we were staying in and decided which rooms everyone was each going to have. I had my own room with my own bathroom right off it. The inside was really cool! Very quaint and cozy. A very inviting and homey place. Francis the lady that runs the place was very nice. She was oringally from the UK. The bed & Breakfast is called the Haven. Once we figured out where everyone was going to stay we got the kids settled for bed and Francis made Michelle, Kym, me & Emarie soup, salad and had bread & brie cheese for us at like 10 o'clock at night. It was so good! The place we stayed at was over 400 years old. That is pretty amazing! We had a wonderful time of eating and fellowshipping and then off to bed we went with more adventure awaiting us the next day!
Saturday morning Francis had breakfast ready for us at 8:00. She had gone to the bakery that morning and gotten fresh croissants and bread. Some of the croissants had chocolate inside them. After we got everyone all ready to get out the door and buckeled in the cars we headed for the camps where the boys of our two families were at for the weekend. We left the bed and breakfast just after 9 A.M. We were following Michelle and she kept turning the opposite way that our GPS was telling us to go. I think we took a really round about way to get there. But we did get to see lots of the beautiful countryside of Normandy. There were amazing houses, churches, and chateaus all around. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the cool buildings we saw but we were just driving past and didn't have time to stop.
We finally got to the campground at 11:00. I stayed at the camp with Michelle, her kids, Emarie and Jackson, while Kym took one of the guys to get bread for the campers. We hung out for a good while and then we took a walk with the kids to the camp playground so that the kids could play. We hung out for another long while and then finally they had lunch so we ate with the campers on site.
Lily Zorn at the camp site
Jackson at the camp site
It was 3 o'clock before we even started to do any sight-seeing. We first drove to Omaha Beach which is one of the D-day beaches for WWII to see the memorial there. We just walked down there for a moment to take a look. Then we went to a WWII museum that was just down the road. By the time we got done at the museum it was 5 o'clock but we still wanted to see Pointe du Hoc, another place along the ocean side that they invaded on D-Day. But this place was up on cliffs above the ocean. All the bombs and explosions from the invasion made huge craters and there are still some old ruins left from what was there previous to D-Day. The view was amazing and the craters were very cool. The 4 older kids of our two families loved running around and checking everything out. It was well worth going to.
The Memorial at Omaha Beach for D-Day
These sculptures were at Omaha Beach
The Ocean from the European side - Omaha Beach
The 3 boys sleeping in the back seat while we went and saw Omaha Beach
Collin down in some old ruins at Pointe du Hoc
The 4 big kids traipsing through the craters
Me & Kathryn Zorn at the bottom of a crater
Looking out over the ocean
Me at Pointe Du Hoc
Will & Kathryn Zorn and Emarie and Collin
Me on top of a lookout spot
By the time we got back to the Boy Scout camp it was about 7 o'clock and all the scouts were heading out to a bon fire. We pulled up to a gate near where our group was camping and were trying to figure out what to do when all these big busses and cars were leaving and trying to get past us. Kym ended up parking our car in a one way street the wrong way, because we thought it looked like no one would be coming down the road, but cars kept coming right at us and thankfully had enough space to get passed us. By the this time everyone was really hungry, so we decided to get some food at the camp restaurant. We waited an hour for our food. While we were waiting Emarie and I took the kids outside to the playground to play. We finally left to go back to our Bed & Breakfast at like 9 o'clock. We got back just fine but Michelle didn't follow us and left after we did and she ended up getting lost. What a day! I got sunburned, but not too badly. It was a beauiful day! We couldn't have asked for better weather.
The next morning we got everything packed back up and ate breakfast and then we headed back towards Omaha beach and we met up with our guys at the American Cemetary for WWII. We took our time walking around there and seeing the sights. We did get a little bit of a downpour, but the rain stopped as quickly as it began. After checking out the American Cemetary we headed back on the road and began the trek towards home. It was a good weekend! I was excited to see another part of Europe and learn more about our history at the same time.
The view from the window of the room I slept in
The Bed & Breakfast we Stayed in
Jackson in the car with his buddy on his head
Brady in his car seat
Me at the American Cemetary
The American Cemetary
Our first challenge of the trip was that we had to drive a very tiny car to Normandy. Richard had taken the mini van the day before down to Normandy, and his car was in the shop getting fixed. We had a rental car to drive but it was super small, and we had to fit two car seats, plus all our luggage in the very minimal storage space this car had to offer. We had to bring Emarie in the car as well to Shape where we were meeting Kym's Friend Michelle and her kids. We had such minimal space that Emarie had to sit in Jackson's seat with Jackson on her lap.
Our second challenge of the trip was that when we got to Post at Shape they wouldn't let us in because the rental car did no have the right stickers and plates on it, and they wouldn't let us just turn around so we had to sit right inside the gate (in the car) while Kym had to go to the office to get a pass, but the funny part about the whole thing is that they didn't even check to see if I had a current pass (which I didn't) and they didn't pay any attention that we had kids sitting illegally in the back. So, for all they knew we could have been smuggling illegal things in but the car was marked properly! Once on Post we met up with the Zorns and Emarie went in their car. We finally hit the road around 2 o'clock. Within the first 15 minutes we lost our music because the battery for the I-Pod thing ran out and we didn't have any AAA Batteries.
A little ways into France we stopped at a gas station and we got out and stretched, changed diapers, got food, and took bathroom breaks. We were there for a good long while. Michelle gave us apples to eat and when we got back on the road Michelle texted us on the cell phone and said that her apple was gross and asked us how ours were. I wrote back Mine was home instead of Good!!! I tried to delete home but hit send instead. It was funny! We texted back and forth all day. I'm really slow at it though!
The interstate on the way there was much like American ones, maybe a little narrower. We had lots of tolls to pay on the roads that we were taking. Sometimes it felt like we were driving down the highway in Iowa or Michigan because much of the scenery was countryside, but then all of sudden we would come upon sights that were very much European. It was kind of cool! The closer we got to Normandy the hillier it got. We had these two Crazy/ Amazing bridges to cross. If you hate bridges you would have dreaded going over them! Before the first one, Kym was trying to comfort me about crossing it, and I said to her I'm not scared, I like bridges. She said to me, "Well, I hate them." So I replied back, "Well then I should be the one comforting you!" Right after the first bridge Jackson threw up just a little, but we had to quick find a spot to pull over because the next bridge was coming up fast.
This is the First bridge we crossed
The second bridge we crossed
The scenery on our drive was absolutely amazing. There were lots of cool cliffs, valleys, and many cool churches. A couple of the churches we saw had hollow steeples, with intricately cut designs in the steeple. We saw a hot air balloon after we stopped the second time. At the second stop Jackson dumped a whole bucket of popcorn on the floor of the car. That made a nice little mess. When we got closer to the bed and breakfast we had to get off the beaten path and onto country roads that had very narrow roads. We drove through a little village comparable to Brugge, and through the French countryside, where we saw lots of cows. When our GPS said we had reached our fnal destination we couldn't find it, so we had to turn around and we found it then. It was a cute little French cottage/ Farmhouse in the middle of nowhere in the French countryside. It was SO cool! The sun was setting when we arrived. We stayed outside just a little while and enjoyed the wonderful view and that gave the kids a chance to run around in the yard. Since we had 5 kids, plus a little baby that was a good thing to do!
Lily Zorn, Brady, Kathryn Zorn, and Jackson
Beautiful Sunset in the French Countryside
The View from the front yard of the Bed & Breakfast
Once inside the Bed & Breakfast we saw the rooms we were staying in and decided which rooms everyone was each going to have. I had my own room with my own bathroom right off it. The inside was really cool! Very quaint and cozy. A very inviting and homey place. Francis the lady that runs the place was very nice. She was oringally from the UK. The bed & Breakfast is called the Haven. Once we figured out where everyone was going to stay we got the kids settled for bed and Francis made Michelle, Kym, me & Emarie soup, salad and had bread & brie cheese for us at like 10 o'clock at night. It was so good! The place we stayed at was over 400 years old. That is pretty amazing! We had a wonderful time of eating and fellowshipping and then off to bed we went with more adventure awaiting us the next day!
Saturday morning Francis had breakfast ready for us at 8:00. She had gone to the bakery that morning and gotten fresh croissants and bread. Some of the croissants had chocolate inside them. After we got everyone all ready to get out the door and buckeled in the cars we headed for the camps where the boys of our two families were at for the weekend. We left the bed and breakfast just after 9 A.M. We were following Michelle and she kept turning the opposite way that our GPS was telling us to go. I think we took a really round about way to get there. But we did get to see lots of the beautiful countryside of Normandy. There were amazing houses, churches, and chateaus all around. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the cool buildings we saw but we were just driving past and didn't have time to stop.
We finally got to the campground at 11:00. I stayed at the camp with Michelle, her kids, Emarie and Jackson, while Kym took one of the guys to get bread for the campers. We hung out for a good while and then we took a walk with the kids to the camp playground so that the kids could play. We hung out for another long while and then finally they had lunch so we ate with the campers on site.
Lily Zorn at the camp site
Jackson at the camp site
It was 3 o'clock before we even started to do any sight-seeing. We first drove to Omaha Beach which is one of the D-day beaches for WWII to see the memorial there. We just walked down there for a moment to take a look. Then we went to a WWII museum that was just down the road. By the time we got done at the museum it was 5 o'clock but we still wanted to see Pointe du Hoc, another place along the ocean side that they invaded on D-Day. But this place was up on cliffs above the ocean. All the bombs and explosions from the invasion made huge craters and there are still some old ruins left from what was there previous to D-Day. The view was amazing and the craters were very cool. The 4 older kids of our two families loved running around and checking everything out. It was well worth going to.
The Memorial at Omaha Beach for D-Day
These sculptures were at Omaha Beach
The Ocean from the European side - Omaha Beach
The 3 boys sleeping in the back seat while we went and saw Omaha Beach
Collin down in some old ruins at Pointe du Hoc
The 4 big kids traipsing through the craters
Me & Kathryn Zorn at the bottom of a crater
Looking out over the ocean
Me at Pointe Du Hoc
Will & Kathryn Zorn and Emarie and Collin
Me on top of a lookout spot
By the time we got back to the Boy Scout camp it was about 7 o'clock and all the scouts were heading out to a bon fire. We pulled up to a gate near where our group was camping and were trying to figure out what to do when all these big busses and cars were leaving and trying to get past us. Kym ended up parking our car in a one way street the wrong way, because we thought it looked like no one would be coming down the road, but cars kept coming right at us and thankfully had enough space to get passed us. By the this time everyone was really hungry, so we decided to get some food at the camp restaurant. We waited an hour for our food. While we were waiting Emarie and I took the kids outside to the playground to play. We finally left to go back to our Bed & Breakfast at like 9 o'clock. We got back just fine but Michelle didn't follow us and left after we did and she ended up getting lost. What a day! I got sunburned, but not too badly. It was a beauiful day! We couldn't have asked for better weather.
The next morning we got everything packed back up and ate breakfast and then we headed back towards Omaha beach and we met up with our guys at the American Cemetary for WWII. We took our time walking around there and seeing the sights. We did get a little bit of a downpour, but the rain stopped as quickly as it began. After checking out the American Cemetary we headed back on the road and began the trek towards home. It was a good weekend! I was excited to see another part of Europe and learn more about our history at the same time.
The view from the window of the room I slept in
The Bed & Breakfast we Stayed in
Jackson in the car with his buddy on his head
Brady in his car seat
Me at the American Cemetary
The American Cemetary
Do You Believe in Miracles??
God is the same God he was back in the time of the Bible, but do you believe he still performs miracles like Jesus did in the Gospels? There are many examples in the Bible of Jesus healing sick people, even raising people from the dead, and many more miracles. People are always praying for miracles to happen when someone they love is terminally ill or if they are in a tragic accident. Sometimes God does perform the miracle we are all wanting and other times we don't get the miracle we are looking for. But either way God is still answering our prayers, it just might not be the answer we had hoped for. I would like to share with you that I have seen with my own eyes this past month that God is still in the business of miracles.
About a month ago, on a Friday afternoon Kym was at the groccery store shopping and she gave me a call at the house saying there had been an emergency and she wasn't sure what time she would be home. Michelle (who is a very close friend of Kym's) her five year old daughter Kathryn had fallen out of the window and been taken to the hospital. At that point we didn't know many details. Later we found out, that she had fallen out of the second story window, which was about 18 ft. above ground onto cement and hit her head. Later that night we heard the amazing news that she had no broken bones. She did have a crack in her skull and some minor bleeding around the brain and she was in stable condition. God definitely spared this little girl. One week and two days later she came home from the hospital and about 1 week later she traveled with her family and the Wampler family to Normandy, France. A 5 hour drive from where we are in Belgium. She is back in school and when we were in Normandy it was so great to see her running around and playing like a 5 year old should be doing. Praise God! He does still do miracles, so just keep that in mind. I was witness to one!
About a month ago, on a Friday afternoon Kym was at the groccery store shopping and she gave me a call at the house saying there had been an emergency and she wasn't sure what time she would be home. Michelle (who is a very close friend of Kym's) her five year old daughter Kathryn had fallen out of the window and been taken to the hospital. At that point we didn't know many details. Later we found out, that she had fallen out of the second story window, which was about 18 ft. above ground onto cement and hit her head. Later that night we heard the amazing news that she had no broken bones. She did have a crack in her skull and some minor bleeding around the brain and she was in stable condition. God definitely spared this little girl. One week and two days later she came home from the hospital and about 1 week later she traveled with her family and the Wampler family to Normandy, France. A 5 hour drive from where we are in Belgium. She is back in school and when we were in Normandy it was so great to see her running around and playing like a 5 year old should be doing. Praise God! He does still do miracles, so just keep that in mind. I was witness to one!
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