Travel Diaries #1: Of First Impressions and History

I am now sitting on a train that is going west along the southern countryside of Germany. There are tiny villages scattered across the hills, each clearly visible because the steeples of their churches stand higher than any of the surroundings. I have just spent two days with a German family that reminds me very much of my own. He is the director of a Bible school and she is his ever supportive wife who puts a smile on the face of every student when she walks in the room. Their kids are my age, love music and sports, and are friends with each other. The only difference between this family and my own? One less daughter. Oh yes, they also live in a city on the Bodensee called Friedrichshaffen.

I love the culture of Germany. Everywhere I have turned, the people are so kind. Meals go on forever and conversations even longer. These conversations range from family to Christ to past and to present. Before I left, Gaby and I walked along the shore of the Bodensee. She told me that the city is so different now from what it used to be. When she told me that, I began to view it all with a different eye. Just seventy years ago, the very shores that I walked were torn by war. The walls I see have been destroyed and mended. The hearts of the people here have faced much more than the people at home.

Now, as I sit on the train, my curiosity aches for stories. That old woman sitting across from me...was her husband in the war? That city right on the Rhein...was it always so picturesque, or did boats once bombard its colorful walls? It's amazing how fast it all can change.

Gaby told me that as wealth has become more prominent in Germany, she is losing the Germany she loves. The traditions and culture of her old Germany are disappearing as modernity approaches. It seems from here statement that wealth is not always the solution. It is not in wealth that we band together. We don't grow stronger by living in a perfect, rich world. It is in our weaknesses that we learn to truly live.