A Mouth Full

Monday was a day that I had been looking forward to for quite a while- the day my braces would be removed! I have been a good patient- no chewing gum for over three years and today was my day of freedom. As I sat in the chair while the orthodontist literally took a pair of pliers and just yanked brackets off my teeth, I thought to myself- why did I never anticipate the pain that would go with this process? Not only did they yank, pull, and scrape they sandblasted my teeth...seriously! After they went through the process of scraping cement off and polishing my teeth, the assistant put a piece of paper towel over my face. She explained that the paper towel had a little hole in the middle where they would be applying what would feel like a fresh day at the beach. I'm sure something is lost in the translation from German to English, but I think what she meant to say was "Your mouth will feel like you just had the ocean breeze blow a bucket of sand into your mouth. Oh, and could you hold your mouth open wide and not gag while it does that? Thanks." All in all, even despite the sand taste that lingered for a couple of days, I am regaining familiarity with what it feels like to have smooth teeth again...it's fantastic!

Thanks to the many of you who listened to my teeth woes and who sympathized with my plight. Once again, life is always better after the fact. So, the next time you see me, we should share a piece of chewing gum or maybe even get real crazy and have a carmel apple! :)

Remember

If you are old enough to remember 9-11, you remember where you were that day. I remember the shock and disbelief of watching the planes and the towers. I remember the chaos at school where everyone wondered if life would ever be normal again. I remember.

The thing I'm learning about history is that we often forget. That is one of the reasons we build memorials: to remind us of events and people. As I stood on Omaha beach in Normandy and as I read the Bible, I am reminded that we need to remember.

Today, I remember.

Follow Me!

There are so many events and moments from our weekend in Normandy that I could blog about, but I will tell you about one of moments that I hope I will never forget...

I've never been much of a history buff. I grew up watching war movies with my Dad, but I had no real scope of what World War II was about. I understood Hitler was in Germany and America decided to intervene. This weekend I began to grasp a little more about the war, the people involved and the deep respect that is due the brave men and women who fight for our freedom.

Bruce Dower, a Cadence Hospitality House Director, served as our historian on our trip to Normandy, France. At key locations, he would show us a map of our location, tell us of the battle plan and stories of people who were involved in that section of the war. The talk that I found most moving was the attack on Omaha Beach.

If you have any knowledge of the war, you know that Omaha Beach was one of the bloodiest sections of the D-Day invasion. Almost every part of the invasion went wrong and many lives were lost on that beach. As Bruce tells the story, you can visualize the dead men littering the beach and how awful it must have been to be one of the living men on that frightful day. As men to make it to the sea wall, they began to cluster, not wanting to move from wherever they were for fear of being shot. They were pinned down and there was not much hope of survival or accomplishing the mission. Bruce let that realization sink in and they he said, "How did they get off the beach? It began with one Sergeant who would find another soldier and start yelling, 'Get your "butt" off of this beach!'. Another soldier found a group and starts barking 'Finish the mission. Take that hill.' 'Follow me!'" You cannot help but be moved by their bravery and leadership in such dire circumstances.

As my mind began to wander, picturing these pockets of men being led off the beach, I thought about the words, "Follow me". I have always associated those words with Matthew 4:19 where Jesus Christ is calling to Peter and his brother Andrew to follow him and he will make them fishers of men. I admit that I had always imagined those words to be a rather mellow calling, more of a "Hey guys, when you're done catching fish, come join me for a cool adventure." After hearing these words echoed on Omaha Beach, while imagining such a hopeless situation, I began to picture Jesus Christ calling to all of us during our own times of crises. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF WAR, and He is calling us to follow Him! It's not a wimpy invitation to come and join His cool adventure called Christianity- it is a command to "Get off our butts and finish the mission!" He is urging us to follow Him and get off that beach of despair!

I know I will never read that passage in Matthew the same again, and I will never watch a World War II Movie or documentary without that renewed respect for our military and the Allies.