Daily Java:

Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife. Later she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, for he explained, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.” (Exodus 2:21-23)

Today I said something in German. I know very little German, but there are things I can say. Numbers, some colors, various phrases, general stuff.

But in general, I don't know enough to say much. But what I did learn in my time in Germany was enough to shatter my world view.

I spent a year and a half in Darmstadt, Germany. I came back to America in January of 1971 and married my love, whom I took back to spend six months with me on a European honeymoon.

I know a lot of people who have spent more time in foreign countries as tourists, but we lived there. We had an apartment and a red Volkswagen with a sunroof and had a great time. We were newly married and in a phenomenally different place and we had fun.

It was not all peaches and cream, as the saying goes. One month we had our rent money stolen from our apartment and we had a lot of trouble getting enough money to pay rent. I was gone for 24 hours at a time so Ella was forced to be by herself in the apartment. She knew no German and was a fearful 19 year old girl so she tended to stay hidden.

The apartment itself was smaller than our living room now. There was no living room but it had a banquette with two chairs that we sat in. The bedroom was just big enough for a double bed against the wall on one side and a chifferobe (a schrunk)on the other. The kitchen was in a small cabinet and consisted of a small sink, two hot plates and a camp sized refrigerator. Two shelves were above the sink. No oven.

However, the bathroom was huge. Everybody else on our floor had to use the bathroom at the end of the hall, but we had a large bathtub in our bathroom. Ella washed our clothes in it with the toilet plunger and dried them on the radiator.

Down the cobblestone street was a Russian Orthodox Cathedral built by Czar Nicholas when he married Alexandria, who was of the Darmstadt royal family. It had gold spires with a mosaic reflecting pool in front and a Russian University next to it with spires that looked like five fingers, all pointing to the sky. Across the street was a park where many of the students hung out. Down the street were massive flower beds with steps leading to the street. People walked a lot on the sidewalk.

We went a lot of places. There were a places that were free and we just explored. Six months of exploration, both of each other and our temporary home.

We drove places in our VW, we walked places, went on the electric train or the electric bus system, visited castles, museums, had soft drinks at outdoor cafes (they served them with a glass and with a lemon wedge – it made us feel so cosmopolitan).

And we walked. Miles and miles we walked. We walked all over Darmstadt and all over any of the other cities we visited. We went to Trier and Zurich and Heidelberg and a few other places.

But what we did was to alter our worldview. No longer were we just Americans, but we realized that there is a totally different world out there. And we lived in it as participants, not as tourists.

And it altered us both individually and as a couple. We were 5500 miles from home and were forced to depend on each other. It was $40 for a phone call so contact with home was prohibitive. There was no running home to Mom or interference in any way by parents.

We had to depend totally on ourselves. And it cemented our relationship in a way that was different than any of our other friends. There was no way that we could have done this if we had lived in the States.

We were strangers in a strange land. And in many ways, it is like it was yesterday.

I am grateful for that time together in a foreign land. I got to know my wife there and grew to love her. We had friends in the church in Darmstadt and had a good time.

Thank you Lord for that time. It was a great blessing in my life.