U Go B4 Me

There is a song, called Signature of the Divine by Need to Breathe and tonight I just realized anew the beauty of the words I’ve been singing for months now.

“Great is Your Glory when You go before me.”

Isn’t that exactly what God promised to Moses as He guided the Israelites through the desert?  He would lead the way.  All they had to do was follow the Leader.  

Exodus 13:21-22

By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

I wander, but He hasn’t.  I forget, but He is still there.  I get busy and yet, He remains waiting for me.  I stagnate.  He calls to me ready to get going and guide me again.  He gives exactly what I need by day or light by night.

“Take me, and pull me through.  Cause I can't move without you.”

Isn’t that the truth?  When I boil it down to the bottom-line, I really have no direction without him.  My desires aren’t all worth pursuing.

So, I’m submitting to His Leadership again.  I have to renew this commitment a lot.  Over and over I have to come to the place where I acknowledge who is Lord and my desire to follow the Leader.

Life on a Military Base

So, at the start of school this year I asked how many of my students had a parent deployed.  It turns out that that 15 of 24 had a parent in Afghanistan and they've been gone for a little over a year.  Over the past 2 weeks they have been arriving home, with the final troops coming home this week.  Needless to say, my kids are pretty excited.
We have some fences that are just covered with "Welcome Home" signs.  I thought I'd show you a few.

Zwiebelfest, Sept 19, 2010

Onion Fest!  This festival was right in the center of Bamberg in a secret location. There really wasn't a lot to it. Just a cute fest with music and one of our four local breweries: Mahrs Brau.

 What the pictures sort-of show you is that there is this

gigantic field right in the middle of downtown 

and you would never even know it's there!

 Here are some shots of the neighborhood

right outside of the entrance

 That's the entrance to the left

Korb (Basket) Fest in Lichtenfels, Sept 18, 2010

 We were some of the first there on a Saturday morning and we had a great time looking around in a charming town.

 Korb kaffebecher

(coffee mug)

 Caning

 We watched several artists at work that day.

 What German brats look like.  They're not fat.

They sort-of look like foot-long hot dogs.

You get 2 on a small, crusty roll with Dijon.

(this roll is a little larger than usual)

 And my personal fav:

The basket top hat.

 Purchase #1:

I know it's not a basket,

but we used to have
a really large macrame owl when I was little,
so I couldn't pass it up!

 Purchase #2

It was a wooden bottom which I really like

Dresden Sept 11, 2010

This was my second trip to Dresden on a beautiful fall day.  We came out into a platz with a huge fall market going on and had a good time shopping around before viewing the rest of the city.

 Brats & Bier

Deutschland Staples

 Apfel Krappfla

My new favorite dessert:

Fried apple slices and topped with

cinnamon sugar and vanilla eis!

 Polish Pottery Stand

 Apfel Saft (Juice) Press

 I like this as much as I do cider!

Ampelmännchen:

 Little Traffic Light Man

These pedestrian crossing street lights are left over

from the days of former East Germany

 Part of the original wall of the Frauenkirche

 Dresdener Frauenkirche:

Church of our Lady

It was basically leveled
during the firebombing of Dresden.

The black stones are original and they can be seen throughout the building.

 Fürstenzug 

Procession of the Princes of Saxony

The Next 3 pictures are of Zwinger Palace:

Rampart Pavillion

built for Augutus' (16th/17th century)

fruit trees & parties

 Glockenspiel pavillon

 Crown Gate

 Theater Platz

 Hofkirche

Church of the Royal Household