From Amsterdam with love

Isn't it supposed to be summer in August?

Biking through the city on a rainy day can be depressing, but if you start looking around it can also become very amusing. You see people passing by soaking wet, tanden op elkaar en blik op oneindig, guys wearing their work clothes and raincoats with shorts (I even saw a businessman wearing slippers under his fancy clothes), people struggling to keep their umbrella from being blown away, some very unhappy faces, but also some smiles.


This week my rain pants let me down. It was a very heavy day of rain and I already noticed that the water was coming through my rain  pants 5 minutes after I started biking, but then I still had 35 more minutes to go. While biking I was trying to decide if I would leave my bike somewhere and take a tram, or if I would just continue. I choose the last and at the time a reached my work my pants, shoes and socks were completely wet. I was lucky I could borrow socks from one of the lady’s at the shelter were I work, pantoffels/slippers from my boss, and a linen paints from a friend who lives close to my work. I looked a little funny at my work though because the pantoffels were deep red with white spots, but I was happy I was dry again.

Adam, where are you?

A while ago I was at my parents place and I had a conversation with my mother about “quiet time”. We talked about how quiet time is not just a discipline you need to do in order to learn and grow, but that it is enjoying spending time with somebody you love. The God who made the universe loves us and wants to spend time with us. If we don’t spend time with him He will miss us.


There are many things that try to get our attention and sometimes we are not even aware of God’s presence. I noticed that God doesn’t push for our attention; He is just a quiet voice which we can ignore if we want too. We can stand with our back towards him, not even noticing him. It must make him sad that we sometimes struggle even to have just a little bit of time to speak with him or listen to him. After talking about this my mother showed me a song on you tube which she had recently seen. The song is called “Adam, where are you”. It is an old simple song with drawings in the background, but still it really spoke to me, especially the emotion in this one sentence “Adam where are you” stood out to me. All the next day I kept hearing this line in my head: “Adam, where are you”, “Adam, where are you”.

The next evening before I went to bed I opened a book that was lying next to my bed, and this is how the chapter I opened started: “After Adam and Eve had sinned, they heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. They hid from Him because of their fear and shame. Try to sense the heart of a loving Father when He asked that wonderful love question, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9). God knew that something had happened to the love relationship. When your relationship is as it ought to be, you will always be in fellowship with the Father. You will be there in His presence expecting and anticipating the relationship of love. When Adam and Eve were not there, something had gone wrong….I hear many persons say, “I really struggle trying to have that time alone with God. “If that is a problem you face, let me suggest something to you. Make the priority in your life to come to love Him with all your heart. That will solve most of your problem with your quiet time. Your quiet time is because you know Him and, therefore, love Him, not only in order to learn about Him…Suppose you were dating a person you loved and intended to marry. What is the primary reason you date (spend time with) that person? Is it because you want to find out about his likes and dislikes or family background? Is it because you want to find out about her knowledge and education? Or is it because you love him and enjoy being with him? (Experiencing God, Henry T Blackaby)

So, maybe God is trying to tell me something...

Song “Adam where are you”:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZM1mmcis-s

Walking on water or staying in the boat?

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
Matthew 14:30,31

When God invites you to join Him in His work, He presents a God-sized assignment for you to accomplish. You will realize that you cannot accomplish it on your own. If God doesn’t help you, you will fail. This is the crisis point where many decide not to follow what they sense God is leading them to do … The crisis of belief is a turning point or a fork in the road that demands that you make a decision. You must decide what you believe about God. How you respond when you reach this turning point will determine whether you go on to be involved with God in something God-sized that only He can do or whether you will continue to go your own way … This not a one time experience. It is a daily experience. How you live your life is a testimony of what you believe about God. (Henry T. Blackaby, Experiencing God)

"There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction."
-John F. Kennedy-

Strange fears

I have these strange fears, one fear for example is a fear of dogs. This fear has been put to a test recently, because the closest place where I can go running in the morning is also the place where people can take their dogs for a walk without a line. So while I’m running I keep having to pass these dogs and every time I see a dog I get this feeling that maybe this dog will come run towards me and bite me. Today I passed two people who had three dogs walking with them and one of these dogs was very big. I almost couldn’t pass them because together they took all the space in the path. I looked at the big dog and then I saw he had a little toy with him. The toy he was carrying along was a small fat baby pig. This funny sight made me realize that maybe this dog didn’t have any intention of attacking me. Along the way I met another dog. From a distance I could hear him barking very loud, but when I came closer I saw it was just a small dog together with an old man who smiled very friendly at me. Maybe again I was wrong in being afraid. The next dog I met was very angry, because his boss had just thrown away a piece of old bread that he had been playing with. He barked loudly, jumped around angry and then came running my direction... I was afraid that maybe this dog would take out his anger on me, but luckily he just ran past me and he didn’t even look at me…Reflecting on this, I come to the conclusion that maybe these dogs aren’t really that interested in me and that probably they have no intention of biting me, and that maybe I shouldn’t take my fear all that seriously, but still my morning running remains a challenge…:-)

More on the topic of fear soon…

Lost sheep

Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
Luke 15:3-6a

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:11

Alexandro

This little boy has stolen my heart. His name is Alexandro and we visited him and his mother during an outreach with Gypsy Children in Greece. His mother lives next to the small church belonging to the Gypsy community and he is one of her three children. I learned that he is often sick, but that his parents have no money to give him antibiotics. The days before I met him, he had just been very sick, but he was now recovering. His father is an alcoholic and this creates different problems. We took the time to pray for them in their little house. Our group leader told me that his mother mostly leaves him tied up in his stroller, because having around three children is too much for her. Alex therefore hardly gets the chance to just crawl around and play a little.
 What struck me in this little child was the joy I could see in his eyes. When I would bend over to look at him, talk to him or to touch him, he would become very happy. He would even throw around his arms in the air moving them back in forward in happiness when we would give him some attention. Despite his circumstances there was still so much trust and happiness in this child. It makes me sad to know what his future will be, knowing that they have no money for his medical care and knowing that his father is an alcoholic. I hope Alex’s joyful spirit will not be broken by his circumstances. I’m happy his house is next to the church and I hope there will be people around to love him and to tell him about God’s love for him. I pray that God will have a hold on his young life and that He will protect him and take care of him.

Building on truth? (3)

Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. (Isaiah 59:19)


“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10: 52)

Building on truth? (2)

If you shoot a ball at a slightly different angle over time this will change it’s course in a tremendous way.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23,24)

Building on truth? (1)

What we believe about ourselves, others, the world and God is the fundament on which we build our life story.


Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell down with a great crash. (Matthew 7:24-27)

Grumpy the baby sparrow

While I was looking for a picture of a sparrow, I came across this picture and it was named: "Grumpy the baby sparrow"Although this baby sparrow might be a little grumpy I still think it is very cute :-)

Sparrow

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink: or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27)

"Worry is like a rocking chair... it gives you something to do bu it doesn't get you anywhere."
Dororty Galyean

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength."
Corrie ten Boom

"You'll break the worry habit the day you decide you can meet and master the worst that can happen to you"
Arnold Glasgow

"When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened"
Wiston Churchill

"It ain't no use putting up your umbrella till it rains"
Alice Cladwell Rice

Indeed the very hairs of your head ar all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Luke 12:7

(Just a small anecdote; while writing this last verse just now I heard the noice of a bird on my balcony. Normally the only birds visiting my balcony are pigeons and they poop all over my balcony :-(, but this bird didn't sound like a pigeon, so I decided to take a look... and it was... a sparrow...)

Calm water

In the conversation in our homegroup we were also talking about the effect of all the changes in electronics on our society. We are constantly being bombarded with information, through TV, commercials, radio, internet, movies, our I-pods, our mobile phones, etc. They all fight for our attention and this can create a constant stress that is hard to escape. But what happens when we shut out all these distractions, when it becomes quiet…. What is on the other side? Maybe for many people there is emptiness, boredom, loneliness, questions, pain…. Maybe that’s why we are okay with all the distractions and even seek them out, although they create a constant feeling of restlessness. But this keeps us from hearing the voice of our soul telling us that something is wrong, that we are empty and that we are broken. Maybe we need to hear this voice because it drives us to search for an answer, to search for something that can truly fill us, something that can still the waters and give us a peace that transcends all understanding. Maybe when we find this we won’t be afraid of the silence anymore, maybe then our souls are truly at rest in the place where they belong.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gently and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

Electronics of the future

Yesterday in our homegroup we were talking about the changes in technical devices and electronics through the time. We realized that 20 years ago there was no internet, that before this there were no computers and that there was even a time without television. It seems as if there is an exponential change and we were philosophising about what the future would look like. Maybe we will have pocketsize computers which we can control with our voice and the movement of our eyes. When we open them, a three dimensional hologram will appear that we can walk and move into. Maybe we can use this to communicate with people that are on the other side of the world, having meetings in electronic rooms projected in 3D by our computers. Maybe all of this sounds a little silly, but I do wonder what our world will look like in the future. We came to the conclusion that the best solution to escape this change would be to join the Amish and especially Neil was very exited about this idea…:-)

reflection as in a mirror

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13: 12)

The heavens declare the glory of God

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19: 1-4

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1: 20

reason for blogging

When I look around me I see so much beauty. It is as if everything we see in nature is a reflection of who God is; of his beauty, his glory, his intelligence, his creativity, his love, his majesty. It also seems as if everything we see is a reflection of his Truth, his Word, as if he is speaking to us through his creation…

The Bible is full of images and parables. In this blog I would like to use images to get a deeper understanding of who God is and what he is saying through his creation. I hope that through this my eyes can be opened to the unseen and that it will help me to know and love God more.

The following link shows the trailer of the movie earth, with some beautiful images.
Earth trailer