“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Lula and I are currently in Gothenburg, Sweden, attending the faculty meeting of Riga Luther Academy’s “English stream,” in which we form our international students to become future pastors. We are meeting at The Lutheran School of Theology (Församlingsfakulteten), located in a gorgeous 19th century villa—complete with wood paneling, floor-to-ceiling theological libraries, leather couches, and a fireplace. The school offers a Master of Sacred Theology degree program in collaboration with our very own Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana. Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet the Gothenburg faculty. Afterwards we took a coffee break and were standing around in the seminary’s cozy kitchen and snack bar area. I noticed a hulking white safe underneath the kitchen counter and asked one of the students what was up with that. “Oh, that’s a refrigerator,” he said. “A fridge that looks like a safe?” I asked incredulously. “No, it’s a safe that is really a fridge,” he explained with a grin. “Years ago, the owner of this villa had placed that safe right there and bolted it to the floor. When this villa became a seminary, they couldn’t move the safe. So, they just repurposed it and placed a small refrigerator inside. It works great, except that you need to know the safe’s combination to open the door and grab a Coke,” he added with a twinkle in his eye. Hmmm…That reminded me of how God very often uses our past that can’t be changed—“warts” and all. In fact, sometimes the warts can even be helpful as we share Jesus Christ with others—especially with people who have “warts” themselves. This morning, I asked a professor about their safe-fridge set-up. It turned out that the student yesterday was pulling my leg. “That safe is simply a safe,” the professor pointed out with a smile. Oh well, a late April Fool’s joke and I fell for it. But God still reuses our warts for His purposes—working all things together for good—even if that’s not true for the hulking safe in Gothenburg’s Lutheran School of Theology.
The Tiews in Germany 