So Prague was so new and different. Then I got used to some things and the people are the best. Now, a few days in Berlin and it is so new and different. I will get used to some things but long for familiar things. The one thing God did right is people are people no matter where we are. We are made in His image. As in Prague, I watch people on the buses and trains and try to pray for their day, their worries, and their hope in Jesus. Sometimes I become lost in my thoughts and find myself looking at the ground and catching a glimpse of what hopeless feeling post-communism is like. I’ve had a couple of days where I wonder why I think I can do anything useful when so many people look at the ground. I would not say that Berlin is unfriendly but reserved and Americans are viewed as smiling too much because they want something. The library missions people have connected here for about 13 years and that demonstrates steadfast dedication. I wonder how that wears on people when the job is so big? My short-ish trips need recovery time! I listened to a devotional today and the punch line was, “My emergency is in God’s hands”, might I edit “capable hands”. When you travel and meet people or don’t actually meet them but see their life, you are changed. Some of the people I have seen since in Berlin… first a woman who had wrapped her hijab so that it would hold her cellphone and she could talk hands-free. A mailman (handsome) who rides a giant yellow tricycle to deliver mail (I see him each day on my walk to the bus, onto the train, and to the library). By the way, mailboxes in Prague (if you can find them) are orange but city trash cans in Berlin are, guess what, orange. A well-suited small man whose pop of color was yellow socks with happy faces. They made me happy. A family with four girls (two are identical twins) and the youngest, a boy, who all come into the library each day for a sweet cake. The youngest girl joined me in the children’s library and drew a chalk heart. I showed her how to shade her heart by using the chalk lying on its side. She was done. Sometimes I don’t need to teach but just ‘be with’. I also met two jolly Italians who cook a great Bolognese sauce. Newborn beautiful baby – oh my. Can I do more? Can I solve someone’s challenge in some small way or are all of our emergencies in the hands of our capable God? Maybe both. The only BIG challenge is Heaven or hell. Here are more pictures of the urban area where I stay and the way to the library. An urban park, my reflection waiting across the street from the library, my first steps of the day, and my last train of the day.
