29 April - The day I was in the White House and saw Obama

This was my first visit to Washington, D.C. and it was an unforgetable experience. And yes, I actually got to go inside the White House and see President Obama - no kidding! Although maybe not quite the way you think, so let me start from the beginning of my Washington adventure...

I arrived in D.C. just after 12 pm and found plenty of free parking close to the Jefferson Memorial.



As I had never been to Washington, D.C. before, I didn't really know where I was and how I would get to the places I wanted to see, but I knew that the Washington Monument was one of those places, and thankfully, that can be seen pretty much from anywhere.



After I got there, I made my way to the the War Memorial which is between the Washington Monnument and the Lincoln Memorial.







Then, on to the Lincoln Memorial...









From there, I made my way to the White House and passed the U.S. Federal Reserve.



Since I work for the German counterpart of the Federal Reserve (the Deutsche Bundesbank), I thought I might try to get a look inside. So I started making my way towards the steps. But I didn't get too far before a security guard stopped me. I told her that I work for the German central bank and was just wondering if it was possible for me to take a look inside the Federal Reserve building. The security guard said that, yes, if I had my Bundesbank ID card with me, someone might be able to show me around. But unfortunately, I had left my ID at home and so I couldn't get in. :-(

But not to worry, the real highlight was yet to come - the White House. This is the first glimpse I got of it:



I walked up closer to the White House and passed by the White House Visitor Center where I asked if it was possible to get inside the White House, but I was told that U.S. citizens would need to contact their senator first and would probably have to wait for at least two months, and foreign nationals would have to contact their embassy to get permission. So I pretty much gave up on the idea...

Then, as I walked towards the White House, I noticed some helicopters landing and a dad saying to his kids: "Do you see the three helicopters? The President is in only one of them..." (Oh, really? Not in all three of them?) As the helicopters disappeared from sight, I went as close as possible to the White House to take some more pictures:





I thought this was the front of the White House, but soon found out that it was actually the back of it.

Just a few minutes after taking these photos, I was taken by surprise... There was the sound of motorbikes and before I knew what was happening, there was a motorcade with the "Beast" passing right by that road where I stood to have my picture taken! "How crazy is that?", I thought. "I just arrive at the White House during my first time in Washington, D.C. and President Obama passes right by where I am standing!!" I quickly took out my camera to get video footage of the Beast. "Perfect!", I thought. Only once I was sure that it was all over did I press the button to stop the video recording. However, in all my excitement I had not pushed the button properly the first time, and so I only started recording once it was all over!! As I was to find out later, it wasn't President Obama but Vice President Biden who was inside the Beast.


After all the excitement and disappointment with my recoding skills, I went around to the front side of the White House, where I met up with a friend from college who works there for the Secret Service.



And thanks to him, I was even able to go inside the White House! That was so cool because I thought there would be no way of me getting to have a look inside! Here's a photo of me in one of the rooms inside the White House. (I can't remember the name of the room, but it's on the ground floor facing the U.S. Treasury.)



I thought I'd better not post the photo of me sitting at the desk in the Oval Office or I might get in trouble... ;-)

After that, we went up the old post office tower from where you can get a good view of the city. On this photo, you can see the distance I walked from the Washington Monument to the War Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial:



Down the tower and towards the White House again, near to the spot where I first saw the helicopters and the motorcade, and guess what I got to see next... The President's helicopter "Marine One" bringing him back to the White House from an appointment in another state!



So I did get to see the President after all! Although it was a bit difficult to make him out through the tainted windows... ;-)

I was also able to see other places, including the Capitol, but they were no longer a big deal anymore after my White House experience...



So that was Washington, D.C. in about five hours. This may be something I will be talking to my grandchildren about... =)

25 April - Pretty Place

On 25 April, my friend Olaf and I drove up into the mountains, along the South Carolina-North Carolina border, to the "Fred W. Symmes Chapel" which belongs to the YMCA in Greenville, SC. It is better known as "Pretty Place" and below you will see why...





There is an inscription on the beam that can be seen at the top of the above picture, but even with the use of flash, it's not possible to see it on the photo. But it reads as follows: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills". These are the beginning words of Psalm 121:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

What a wonderful Psalm to remind us that God is bigger than all our problems! And what a perfect place to illustrate this truth. We may see mountains of problems all around us, but the cross stands above them all. With Jesus as our Saviour, we can know that we are secure in the almighty hands of God, no matter what happens.

16 April - Bellevue Baptist Church

The day after visiting the Gideon headquarters, I had the chance of visiting Bellevue Baptist Church in the Memphis area of Tennessee.





I had actually never heard about that church before, but once I heard that it was the church of well-known preacher Adrian Rogers, I was interested in taking a look. (I had heard him on the radio a few times and found him to be a very good preacher.) Bellevue Baptist Church is located just across the road from Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary in Cordova, TN, and it is the biggest church I have ever seen. The auditorium seats over 7,500 people and the church membership exceeds 20,000.





Since there is not enough room for all members to attend a service at the same time, there are three identical services at different times every Sunday.

But there is so much more to the church building than just the big auditorium. There are many different Sunday school rooms for different age groups. Below are some photos I took just of the rooms for the youngest age groups (in fact, these are not the actual rooms, just the entrances that lead to the rooms).





Then there is a welcome centre, a library, a bookstore and giftshop, a collection of historical items of the church and probably several other rooms that escaped my notice.



Outside the church, there is a lake, a massive parking lot, sports and athletic fields and a beautiful garden.



And then there is one more thing that Bellevue Baptist Church has become known for - three huge crosses that can be seen from miles away. The centre cross is 150 feet tall.



And this shows what is most important about the church and about any Bible-believing church - the message of the cross. It is here where justice, mercy and grace meet.

Adrian Rogers is also the founder of Love Worth Finding Ministries.

15 April - The Gideons International

Nashville, Tennessee is the home of country and gospel music. What I did not know until recently was that it is also the location for the headquarters of The Gideons International. For more than 100 years, the Gideons have been placing and distributing God's Word all over the world. My father was a Gideon and I have also been one since 2006. So, when I found out that I would be travelling by Nashville on my road trip, I just had to stop by the headquarters of the Gideons!





The plaques outside the main entrance display three different Bible verses:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Holding forth the word of life. (Philippians 2:16)

Christ died for our sins. (1 Corinthians 15:3)

The first verse from the Gospel of John are probably the most translated words in the world.

On the other side of the Gideon headquarters, there is an "International Court" with a wall bearing plaques of this verse in all of the languages that the Gideons distribute their Bibles in.







It is not a coincidence that this verse is the most translated piece of Scripture - it contains the most important truth people need to know. That God loves everybody. That He gave His only Son to die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins which we could not pay for ourselves. That, by placing our trust in Christ, we can have our sins forgiven, our relationship with God restored and the assurance of eternal life with God in heaven. Martin Luther called this verse "the Bible in a nutshell".

This verse is the reason why the Gideons exist and distribute Scriptures - so that people can find salvation and new life in Jesus Christ. And in doing their work, the Gideons believe the following promise of God which is also displayed in the entrance inside the headquarters:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Today, there are some 280,000 Gideons in 185 countries. And God's Word is going out in the world. On average, more than two Bibles are distributed by the Gideons around the world every second of every minute of every hour of every day! And, as God promised, His Word does not return void. The Gideons have witnessed in their ministry that God's Word has had the power of changing countless lives, giving people hope and a future through Jesus Christ. You can listen to just a few testimonies from such people here. It can change your life, too!

14 April - Creation Museum

On 14 April, I had the chance of visiting the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky.



This museum offers a refreshing alternative to most other museums which attempt to make their exhibits fit into the theory of evolution, also known as Darwinism. This approach looks at the wonders and the findings of biology, physics, astronomy and geology and claims that everything, including life, just happened by chance without the involvement of God or a higher power.





However, the very first verse of the Bible state very clearly: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) The Creation Museum shows the differences of the theory of evolution and the biblical account of creation and demonstrates how creation does not contradict science, but rather how science confirms the truth of God's Word.

Visitors in the Museum are taken through the "Seven C's of history" - creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, consummation.



A more detailed explanation of these points can be found here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2004/0519_7CsBooklet.asp

If you come to visit the Creation Museum, be prepared to have your traditional views challenged and/or get a better understanding of the history of the world we live in from the teaching of the Bible. Prepare to believe.



I also absolutely recommend visiting the planetarium and being amazed at the vastness of the universe and the greatness of God who created it all and is still interested in us humans on our tiny little planet earth.

For more information about the Creation Museum, visit http://www.creationmuseum.org/. The Creation Museum is part of Answers in Genesis, a Christian ministry of scientists who believe in the truth of God's Word. Answers in Genesis provides many excellent resources on its website: http://www.answersingenesis.org/

11 April - The Bean

I just got back from a one-month road trip in the USA where I visited friends in 15 states and spent at least some time in 22 states plus Washington, DC. Starting with this blog post, I want to publish some photos from some of the places I visited.

On 11 April, I visited Chicago for the first time with my friend Andy. We went to the Sears Tower, Navy Pier and the Moody Church among other places, but the most interesting object to photograph in Chicago is definitely the "Bean". There's not much more I can say about it really except that it is probably the most fun place to hang around in Chicago! See for yourselves!