“Mein Zahn tut weh” is a phrase I’ve had to use far too much recently. It started a couple of weeks back with the worst toothache I’ve ever had and developed into me needing a root canal last week. Using this phrase over and over got me thinking however. When I learned this phrase at school I remember people making fun of it; saying that it sounded stupid and wondering when they would ever need it in their life. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been glad that I knew that phrase! I think life can be like this sometimes. We can be in situations that feel pointless and we’re left thinking, “What am I doing here? What’s the point of all this?” But time passes and we encounter similar situations and are much better at handling them. We look back on our “pointless” circumstances and are thankful for them because although they seemed meaningless at the time, we actually learned a lot through them.
August has been fairly quiet here at the church, a lot of people have been away. Despite that, we’ve kept on and we’ve actually had fairly encouraging numbers for this time of year. We’re aiming to take the momentum we’ve kept going over the summer into the new term, ready to hit the ground running for when the students come back.
I’ve been continuing in my “Bible in a year” reading plan and I’m currently in Job. At first it was pretty much just depressing but as I’ve continued to read, I’ve come across some absolute gems. I haven’t even come to where God starts speaking but even early on in the book you see something of the might of God which is not something we often hear about.
I like what it says in Job 26:9-14:
He makes the moon wax and wane,
putting it through its phases.
He draws the horizon out over the ocean,
sets a boundary between light and darkness.
Thunder crashes and rumbles in the skies.
Listen! It’s God raising his voice!
By his power he stills sea storms,
by his wisdom he tames sea monsters.
With one breath he clears the sky,
with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.
And this is only the beginning,
a mere whisper of his rule.
Whatever would we do if he REALLY raised his voice!”
God is absolutely massive, all-powerful; there is nothing weak about him.
Recently my love for German has really increased. I’ve just been loving learning, reading (I’ve started reading Harry Potter in German) and studying it. I’ve even had a few dreams in German; which was actually kind of freaky. I’ve actually had quite a few compliments on my German recently…..althought it’s often phrased as, “Your German is really good; for an Englishman.” It’s also becoming increasingly easier to have conversations with my housemates and they enjoy teaching me all sorts of phrases. My current favourite is, “Brot kann schimmeln, was kannst du?” which means, “Bread can go moldy, what can you do?” It’s a phrase one of them uses whenever they’re watching sport and a player is performing…less than well. It basically means: even bread can do something.
I’d also really appreciate your prayers for opportunites to share my faith with my housemates and to be able to invite them to the church, I believe God has put me in this apartment for a reason.
Thanks for reading!
