Brian McLaren: Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope
Andrew Perriman: Otherways
Very helpful and inspirational articles from Andrew Perriman
Sophie, the boys and I have been working with Serve The City Amsterdam for the past three days. Today will be the last day. Yesterday the boys were part of the basketball clinic; Sophie cooked all day and I shot video all day. Today is the last day: Serve The City is participating in a large festival with live music, lots of fun and free food and games. Sorry, I’ve been shooting video and that will appear on Youtube no doubt in the future. For right now, no media…
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].
Lots of people are asking us what we are going to do now. After our exit from Crossroads in February we have taken the last few months to learn what we can, and to heal from the pain of the experience.
But summer is here – and almost over, and it is time we develop a bit of a plan. We have been thinking and praying about it. We have also received good input from a number of different directions.
So here is our plan...
We vacationed the second week in Wagrain.
‘Where?’ you ask.
‘Wagrain,’ I say again.
‘Never heard of it,’ you say.
Really? Well, neither had we… Wagrain is a little village about 100 km below Salzburg in Austria. The area is called Salzburger land – and it is beautiful. I think we need to come back here! Austria is not very expensive (good for my Dutch soul), athe people are kind, the landscape beautiful and the walks are terrific.
Here is the farm we stayed at. It was a very comfortable, modern, clean and large apartment that we found through belvilla.com (Sophie and I recommend that site!).
One thing we liked about Austria were ‘the alms’: farms that serve traditional Austrian food and drinks to passing visitors. These farms are manned by families, often dressed in traditional clothes. It's like being in 'The Sound of Music.'
Here are some more pictures of the week… We took this great walk up the Hochkoenig (english: The High King). At a certain point we were envelopped in the mist. It was another adventure: three times we thought we should turn around because we had missed the Alm we were looking for. We ended up finding it and it was a great place.
Sophie and I celebrated our 16th anniversary on August 3rd! We went to Riederalp as a family where we met up with Mike and Susan Gray and their two kids. Mike and I studied at Tyndale together from ‘94 – ’96. We don’t have a lot of contact, but we have kept in touch. I always really enjoy the contact when we have it. Mike has gone on to Seminary in Switzerland and is now pursuing a Theological Doctorate.
Riederalp is a beautiful place. Some pictures!
On the way back to Nendaz, where we stayed for the week Sophie spotted a Mongolian BBQ restaurant. I love that food (but can hardly find it in Europe!). So we pulled over. It was a great experience. Mongolian BBQ is typically all-you-can eat. You select the food from a buffet, put sauces on top, then bring it to a chef who cooks it in a heartbeat.
I wasn’t sure what Joshua and Judah would think. But they loved it so much! It was a sign of how they are growing up. They kept going back to the buffet and picking strange things like Kangaroo meat! All in all a terrific day!
Recent Comments