Impact

We have often wondered how much impact are we having on our German neighbors...can they see the love of Jesus inside of us...do they see our desire to serve in our


community? We had an interesting event happen last week that helped answer our question. It was around 7:30 pm, we had just finished dinner and were playing in the kellar (basement) as a family. Suddenly, a sound like a tornado began, and seemed as if it were directly over our house. Living near a military post, these sounds are quite frequent, but never with such intensity. Chris, unshaken stayed to play with Hunter, and I quickly ran upstairs to see what could cause such a loud noise. As I looked out the window across the street an ambulance was at Hunter's buddy's (Lukas') house. I then looked out the back door to see a medi-vac helicopter landing in the field just beyond our fence (about 15 yards from our door). I called Chris and Hunter up to see all of the excitement; Germans were beginning to gather in the wet street. Hunter sat and watched with amazement, a helicopter landing in his yard. The crew rushed into Lukas's house, and later emerged with his father on the cart; and off they went.

As I stared out the window to make sure our neighbors wife was ok, she motioned for me to come over. Other neighbors were already standing in her doorway. I heard each of them offer to help in some way. As she politely said no to each of their offers, she turned to me and asked if I might come and watch Lukas for the remainder of the evening so she could run to the hospital. Of course, I said yes! At this point it was Hunter's bedtime, so I ran home for 10 min to help tuck him in and grab some things for the evening. As I sat in our new friends home and saw family pictures and watched German TV, I prayed for them. I was reminded how remarkable this was...here she had turned down other neighbors, whom she has known for years, and instead asked me, whom she has only know a little over a year, to be there for her family in this emergency. A sense of honor and humility came over me.

Just after midnight, she arrived home WITH her husband. We sat and talked (in German) as she tried to explain so I could understand what had just transpired that evening. It turns out it was a precautionary measure, as he was suffering from complications from a previous head injury. I have been so blessed to get to know her and appreciate our growing friendship. She expressed so much thanks and let me know she appreciated our family.