Europe Saved My Life (...or why I have the best dad ever!)

This is one of those posts that I started (back at the beginning of June right after returning from Europe) but never finished. So, here it is:

I'm sitting on my parent's three-season porch in Summit, New Jersey, listening to jovial rain drops serenade the trees with a chorus of early summer melody as my body struggles to know when and where it is. I have returned from a brief holiday to Europe with my father that was exactly what I needed after this hectic semester. For those of you who may not know, I have spent the last six months working upwards of 80 hours a week and taking a full time graduate course load, trying to juggle work, school, relationships, and sanity to varying degrees of success. I spent most nights napping for a couple hours here and there, tending to Lou's needs, never really sleeping for any extended period of time and subsequently paying the price for this lifestyle in the currency of physical, emotional, and spiritual dollars; I nearly bankrupt my soul.

I tell you this, not to solicit your pity or come across as some sort of Superman, a compliment some people have falsely ascribed to me, but rather to give a frame of reference for my state when departing on this trip. I guess you could argue it was having consistent sleep, eating fresh food, or just being with my dad taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Europe, but I believe God showed up big for me to restore my soul. I felt like angels came and were ministering to me.

I know this might sound like a little thing, but we had perfect weather the entire time! We had sun in London, breezes in Bavaria, snow in Switzerland, and thin crisp air in the alps. The rain in Oberammagau, where the Passion Play took place (the climax of the trip), had been constant every day until the day we arrived (according to Gündi, our wonderful little old B&B host) and then was gorgeous while we were there.

Watching the Passion Play itself was restoring also. I've seen more Jesus films than I can count, but there is something deeply different about seeing a huge stage packed full of people waving palm branches at a German Jesus and calling desperately for peace to come.

I took a heap of video that I am working on putting together into a movie of the trip. In the meantime I have a few photos online.