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Brian McLaren: Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope
Andrew Perriman: Otherways
Very helpful and inspirational articles from Andrew Perriman
As the saying goes 'the cobbler's kids have no shoes' — or whatever the saying is. I discovered recently that I have way too few pictures of my boys. Joshua and Joel don't really like to pose. So during a recent walk in the woods near Driebergen I brought a camera and flash. Here are my favourite shots...
After the summer Sophie began working in her favorite restaurant in Rotterdam. This small place called 'Proef' (english: 'taste') had a reall original style. Sophie quickly bonded with two of the main driving forces, and together they ran the restaurant.
Until today. Unfortunately Proef will close its doors today. A new restaurant will open their supposedly in the near future - and supposedly Sophie can keep working. But things are a little shaky...
Anyways, thought you'd like to see some pictures...
Yesterday I turned 40! Sophie threw two great parties: on Saturday about 40 friends came over in the late afternoon and evening for dinner, desserts, snacks and drinks. Here are some pictures — with some of my favorite people in the world!
Then on Sunday my parents and brothers and sister came - with partners and kids. Lots of fun and great food again. Here's a picture of my parents: I told them they were getting really old as they now have a 40-year old son :-)!
My brother Douwe made a pinata: a camera. We all went out and I was blind-folded. I think this is a really good photo of me: that's what life of 40 can feel like :-).So here I am trying to smash a huge camera to bits. Sophie blind-folded me and then handed me an old golf-club — which broke after two blows. Then I was handed a shovel, but my brother had made the pinata out of cemented paper with wireframe and ducktape: he should go work for Canon or Nikon because that puppy refused to come apart!
But finally it did come apart and there was candy for the kids.
Thanks to all who came and for the many well-wishes on facebook and by email!
Well, we are back from 10 days of holiday in England. After the week we spent together in Porlock on Exmoor as a family we all went to Exeter, where Sophie’s mom and sister live. From there we went to Crackington — the place on the northern Cornish coast where Sophie spent all her summers growing up. It is a tiny beach place, absolutely beautiful that never seems to change. The weather was amazing; the boys had a great time climbing rocks, building fortresses and fishing for crabs. I did some really wonderful photography and finally managed to empty my head of all my worries and fears. Here are some pictures.
We drove back to Holland on Thursday. The next project evening for the Utrecht project was that evening and I was really scared I would miss the boat again (as we did on the way to England due to traffic). So we left really early and I drove very fast (Exeter-Dover: departure 5:11 AM; arrival in Dover 9:34 AM!). We did not miss the ferry: in fact, we caught an earlier ferry (the 10 AM instead of the 12 AM).
We are on holiday in England right now. Sophie's mother turned 60 recently and the whole family has come from all over the world for a week of holiday and family time in this nice house on the edge between Somerset and Dorset. It's beautiful here. Our house overlooks the ocean. There is masses of space for the kids to run around.
Here is a picture of Sophie wither her mum, sisters Abigail and Martha and her grandmother.
I am doing a lot of photography which is fun and relaxing. You can see some of my images on my photo website. I am also doing quite a bit of thinking and praying. I have been working so hard in the recent months (it's hard to do the Utrecht church planting project, CA and my business all at the same time!). How can I find more of a balance in my life? This is one of my main questions. Another question I am thinking about a lot is 'what is next for Sophie and myself?' So far no deep answers, but lots of good rest, great conversations, lots of laughs, deep silence and beautiful scenery.
And now for something completely different: I sat with a professional race-car driver in a super-charged sports car and drove on a race-track today. It was a boyhood dream come true!
How come? I am doing some work for a client who manages a website with sports-clips. The website needs an overhaul. I have been asked to create a new design and to create some video clips. So today I went to Zandvoort Racing Circuit and spent some time shooting race-cars. At the end of the day I was to go around the track in a race-car.
I had no idea in what car I’d go, but then the driver directed me to his own car, a Lotus Elise, I knew I was in for a wild ride! He floored the gas and I was pressed into the seat by the unleashed G-forces. There was no way I could keep the camera still. We went around the race-track a number of laps — at times going 250 km per hour.
It was over way too soon! On the way home my body was flooded with adrenalin – which took all evening to wear off. Now I want to be a race-car driver (not really).
Link to the video (8.7 Mb).
Sophie has just left to cater a party. She's been cooking for a couple of hours. It's a small party, only eight people, but Sophie gives it her very best. Earlier this week she and Idelet catered a corporate dinner for 30 people. It was a huge success! I took some pictures today for the Simply Delish website (Sophie's cateriing website, in terrible need of an overhaul). Thought I'd share them with you!
Sophie and I are making an important decision this week. We would appreciate your prayers! We are deciding if we should move to Brussels. It's a big decision!
Carlton and Shannon, who lead the CA church plant The Well, have invited us to come join them. The Well is growing, and it is also becoming the home-base of Serve The City. It would also seem that a part of CA's European Strategy Centre is moving to Brussels. These are three very attractive things to us.
Why the hesitation? Well, we are just trying to make a good decision. We have made international movies before, but now are boys are a little older, and moves are a little more costly. Questions that we are dealing with particularly are: what schools can Joshua, Judah and Joel go to? How can this move also be an investment in their future? How will things work financially? Working with CA means we raise financial support: can we raise the necessary monthly amounts? And: can we seel our house and get enough money to pay of the mortgage?
Two things are in my mind lately: One, Sophie and I desire 'to give ourselves away.' In this world, where the story we find ourselves in is the story of Jesus redeeming the world to himself through people who are willing to not live for themselves, but for others, we want to give ourselves away. Here's the thing we are learning right now: you can only give yourself away in community. When we were released from Crossroads Rotterdam we lost our community. Since then, we have searched for how we can give ourselves away elsewhere - but aside from some small things here and there, we have really not had that possibility. This frustrates us.
Secondly, I feel I am learning a lot about fear, and so is Sophie. Fear is a strong force - and it keeps us from doing good things. We often fear what others might think, or the financial pressures, or the work and responsibility that can come with a decision to do something. Yet over and over in scripture Jesus tells us 'do not fear.' Sophie and I talked about this yesterday, and while we do want to make a good decision, we do not want to make a fear-based decision.
Basically, what it all comes down to, is this: is God calling us, leading us to Brussels? We suspect the answer is yes - but we are taking this time to really find certainty. Of course, in all important matters there is no such thing as certainty; there is only faith...
I write about this here because I want to invite you to pray for us - but if you have any input, I also want to invite that! If you have any thoughts, drop us a line, or add a comment!
To all our friends - and other readers of this blog: We wish you splendid holidays, and a terrific new year! We appreciate your friendship, your interest in this blog, your live, support, prayers, more than words can say!
We sent out a newsletter and Christmas card last week with some of our latest news. You can download a pdf here [Download christmas_newsletter.pdf].
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