A day out in Frankfurt

This weekend, I had some visitors from America - Dan, John and Andrew who I all got to know at BJU. Dan and John were together with me in the awesomest society on campus: the Phi Beta Chi Bulldogs. I think what they enjoyed most in Germany was driving on the autobahn! =) They rented a nice BMW and we went into 6th gear and up to 217 km/h (135 mph) - a new record for me, too! We drove to Frankfurt and had a beautiful day out there, seeing the banking district, city centre, river Main and getting a view of the whole city from the top of the Main Tower, before going to see the football match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VFL Bochum later in the afternoon.

European Central Bank and Commerzbank

With Dan and John on the "Eiserner Steg" bridge

At the Römer (city hall) with Andrew

Lunch on the rooftops

View from Main Tower

With Stefan and Max in the Commerzbank Arena

View of Frankfurt skyline from stadium

Top of the stadium!

Eintracht Frankfurt v. VFL Bochum

Eintracht on the move

Still reason for optimism - only trailing 0-1 at half-time...

A fantastic day in Frankfurt overall, except for Eintracht who lost the game 0-3. How did that happen?!?

John Piper is bad

Ok, this is my 4th post on this blog and the 3rd one with something about John Piper. You get the picture - he's my favourite contemporary author and I have learnt a lot from his ministry. So you can imagine my shock when I saw the headline "John Piper is bad" for a little music video on Youtube. But the words you hear are from his own mouth: "John Piper is bad." Check out the extended video which includes a short interview with Piper about the song:



So, yes, John Piper is bad. But so are all of us. This afternoon, I was teaching the children in church from the book of Romans. One of the verses we looked at was the following:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

According to the Bible, all people are bad. All have sinned. That includes, for example, the first man Adam, the Buddha, Mary the mother of Jesus, the apostle Paul, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Bob Jones, Mother Teresa, John Piper, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the pope, you and me. There was only one Man who ever lived without sin - Jesus Christ. And this Man took upon Himself the sins of the world and God's just punishment on it when He bled and died on the cross, so that we would not have to pay the penalty but could have our sins forgiven.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

This is what Good Friday is all about.