Living Out Community in Germany
We have been living in Germany now for a little more than three months and in that time we have been blessed to get plugged in a number of ways. The reality that I hope to impart in this blog post is that there is so much more to living overseas than simply traveling. While most of our blog posts have centered around our outings since we arrived, I would like to take this opportunity to briefly digress.
Tonight we had the opportunity to have some friends over for dinner and it is hard not to be awestruck by the many ways that God continues to bless us. We literally arrived knowing no-one three months and a couple weeks ago, but shortly thereafter got plugged into our church (Trinity Reformed) as well as the Kaiserslautern Hospitality House (KHH; a ministry of Cadence International).
Trinity was an easy choice for our regular church attendance and membership since it is a member of our denomination (Presbyterian Church in America). Prior to our arrive, we had friends from our home church in Colorado Springs attending and were looking forward to reconnecting with them upon our arrival. Unfortunately, they were reassigned to Hawai'i a few months prior to our arrival, yet that connection and relationship has opened numerous doors and relationships with Trinity' current members. Trinity has been a welcome home on Sunday mornings where we have been consistently fed from the Word as well as been able to serve our fellow congregants.
On the hospitality house front, we were connected to it through acquaintances at our church in Northern Virginia. Our acquaintances were preparing for an overseas tour in Europe themselves and connected Janet with the missionaries running the KHH. The Scott's have a humble heart to serve those of us who are fortunate to have been assigned to Germany and our entire family looks forward to attending each Sunday evening. Through the hospitality house, we have been able to initiate several relationships.
While the course of tonights conversation started with a trip to another country and concluded with a fire parade by our combined kiddos, the key enabler is the willingness to dive in and live life with one another from the start. This is something that Janet and I have a wealth of experience with stemming from our home church. Community is everything. It is living the good, the bad, the mundane, and everything in-between with one another. Absent it, life will be significantly more difficult.
However, community in our case is much more than our American counterparts living overseas with us. We have been blessed to have the kindest neighbors across the street from us here in Homburg. Theirs is a relationship that we are actively pursuing and one that we are looking forward to seeing where God will take.
