Joel's team won the National Championship Basketball today. Their team (age bracket under 14) is now officially the best in all of Holland!!!!!
A web gallery with really cool images from the game, before, during and after) can be found here: http://www.rogierbos.com/galleries/NKOnder14/
As of today I am on Sabbatical. I know: that sounds sudden. Sorry about that. I started discussing this with Rob Fairbanks, CA's President, when he visited The Netherlands in March. I had a couple of really good conversations with him.
What did we talk about?
First, I've been with CA for 14 years and have been involved in church planting for 21 years. I have been on CA's European Leadership Team for 3 years and have led the work in Europe for three (co-leading first with Phil Graf and next with Kevin Johnson). Truth is: I am tired. I am tired and I feel empty. I feel I cannot go on as is. There is no crisis now — but if a change is not made, a crisis will happen.
Second, I cannot sustain my way of life. I make my living as a photographer and I am grateful that I have been allowed to build up a growing business in spite of the economic situation in Europe. At the same time I have a serious responsibility with regards to CA's work in Europe. Doing both is challenging, very challenging. In fact: as both are growing it is becoming obvious this is not sustainable.
When Rob heard this he recommended I'd take a Sabbatical. We discussed this with the other leaders and, as of May 1st, I am officially on leave.
I'd never thought I'd take a Sabbatical. I thought Sabbaticals were for pussies... :-) But here we are and I can already sense this is probably a really good thing.
Not that I am going to be sitting on a beach somewhere, sipping Martini's. Well, not the whole time at least. Over the course of the last month me and some of the people around me have made a 'Sabbatical Plan.' It involves reading, resting, thinking, talking, doing some things I like, prayer and reflection and stuff like that. Roughly speaking there are three phases to this Sabbatical: Resting, Reflection and Reorientation. I like those three R's...
Current thinking is this Sabbatical will end on Dec 31st. What happens then is uncertain. That's what the next few months are about... I need to do (want to do) lots of good thinking. I've got lots of questions milling through my mind!
My intention is to journal some of my questions here on this blog and to see what response I get. You're thoughts are invited!
My family came over for Christmas. Took these photo's with my iPhone.
This year we vacationed in Munich for a weekend (lovely penthouse on the 19th floor near the Olympic Stadium) and Porec, Croatia. Here are some shots of the family...
Judah will never miss an opportunity to pose!
We stayed in this amazing apartment thanks to our friends Martin and Debora. We had no idea what the place was like until we arrived — such a fantastic surprise.
Pula, Croatia. Picturesque, no?
Eating out in Croatia is very affordable — so we did it a bunch. This is Joshua and Judah enjoying the dinner we had in honor or Sophie's and mine 20th anniversary!
The oldest building I have ever seen (except for Stonehenge, but hey, is that a building?). This was built as a temple by the Romans for the worship of the emperor. It then became a church (!). Pula, Croatia.
Beautiful amphitheater/circus in Pula, Croatia. Just down the road from the temple for the imperial worship. Wonder how many christians refused to worship at the temple and were led straight down the road to the circus?
OK, you have to understand: our boys aren't trying to be cool — they just are that cool. This, by the way, is Budapest, Hungary.
The sign said 'do not climb on the statue. Probably not in Dutch, so our boys didn't understand it...
Last lunch of the holiday... pizza's and a gorgeous view.
OK, one picture with Dad...
Joshua, our oldest, is growing up quickly! He is now 16, and will hopefully graduate this summer. Next year he hopes to start an education that hopefully finally result in him being a Sports of Physical Education Teacher. Josh is all about sports. He has recently taken up freerunning; he's played basketball for many years and now plays soccer.
For his new course he needs to make a 'Sportfolio' - a portfolio of all the sports he's done. The college welcomes this sportfolio coming with a 'personal touch', so last night we went out and took some pictures of him doing his 'freerunning.' Thought I'd share them with you... Click to on the image to see them a little larger.
Spent the weekend in Muenster with the family. We were invited by the leadership of EPIC, CA’s church plant there. Actually, Epic is really not a church plant anymore. It was great to meet their three elders, Daniel, Esther and Jenny (1 guy and 2 girls, I like that!) and they asked great questions.
I spoke at their Sunday service, or Fiesta as they call it. It is held in a Mexican restaurant. We walked there as a family. Said Joshua: “so let me get this straight: we are going to a church-service in a Mexican restaurant owned by an Egyptian guy to listen to a Dutch guy give a message in English which will be translated into German… yeah – that makes sense!”
Took the watertaxi across the river today. Always a fun thing to do. The guy asked Sophie if she wanted to drive the boat. Maybe because he didn't want us to cuddle up on his back-seat? I don't know. But she looked and handled the boat like a Pro!
My dad turned 70 today! Hard to believe: he is so fit and strong and full of energy. Doesn't match my sense of what a 70-year-old should look like. Anyway, later this year we will celebrate it with the whole family, but tonight we celebrated it with just the family. I just came from a photo project and was carrying the equipment anyway, so I asked if he minded me snapping a couple pictures of him. I've learned the hard way there are only so many opportunities you have to do something like this, you know? Bottom one is my personal favorite.
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...
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