nur eine woche!

That's right, folks. Only one week until I depart my homeland once again to the land of my sojourn for yet another five-month adventure. Practically speaking, this world is the land of my sojourn, and as such I am a stranger and a pilgrim therein. I was speaking the other day with a fellowhearted sojourner [although we'd only just been introduced] upon this very subject, and we took great joy in the fact that, at any place on this green earth, God can work in us, love through us. And so, after these eight weeks in this little bit of prairie, I'm off again to the woodland hills of Germany. I grandly anticipate these forthcoming months and the ensuing chapters of Storyland which they shall write. May I be found a willing servant, wise steward, and faithful witness.

I've been thinking today about life. It seems as though friends are being married left and right, and to all accounts my summer last year was continually ringing with wedded bliss. And yet, despite the glory of such momentous occasions, there are also funerals. Greg Laurie's son, Christopher, passed away last Thursday, and just this Sunday, the youth pastor at a local church, with whom I was acquainted and whom many of my friends knew well, was killed in a car accident. Both of these young men have so quickly [and paradoxically] passed from Death to Life and seen the face of their dear Savior, and for this we rejoice! Yet it's a vivid lesson on the brevity of life. "So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." [Psalm 90:12]

Among other sundry matters, I've lately been devouring a delicious bit of literature by L.M. Montgomery. Although the dear old films mayn't speak its name, I am greatly enjoying Anne of the Island, which, as you may well guess, is part of the well-beloved succession of Anne books, beginning with its namesake, Anne of Green Gables. I suppose this has really no impact on life or eternity whatsoever, but I'm always up for a wordy bit of fun. Many of the escapades treasured within this story are featured in the second film based on the series, Anne of Avonlea. Of course, the book remains much superior to the film and carries the theme more truly and rather differently, but both are highly recommendable and enjoyably pleasant, if for nothing more than a splendid lesson in vocabulary.