Wild Wonderful Wednesday: Cats and dogs

The last three weeks we have been cat-sitting. For those of you who know us, you are aware that this is remarkable. We love cats, but we are dog people. And cats are for petting in the street or seeing in the yard. Our neighbor cat regularly drops down next to me when I am weeding in front of the house. But this time we had our colleagues’ cat, Mocca, in our house for three weeks. 

He is an inside-outside cat, but since he was at our house and we didn’t want to lose him (he might have tried to find his way back home which is 7 kilometers away), he had to stay inside while with us. We tried at the beginning to find an option for this.We purchased a harnas for a cat and planned on taking the cat for a walk. The cat had other ideas. I did get the harness on him, but by the time we got outside he had found a way to get it off. 

This morning I brought him back to his own house. His family will be back home in two days. He was clearly glad to be back in his own place, although he had also clearly gotten used to us and our house and habits. I brought him home because today we said hello to a dog which we will be watching for two weeks. Lizzy is a little Boomer (a Lhasa Apso, Shi Tzu mix). 

When Mocca got here, he hid under our couch for a day. Lizzy is pretty-well scared of everything, so she doesn’t just allow us to pick her up. But she has allowed us to take her walking twice already today. So we will see how things work out by the end of the time together. We will first have to see how she sleeps tonight. That is always the most important test. 

So cats and dogs (although the weather has been great) have meant that our house is full of animals again. It has been almost three years since Chester left us. We were not sure how we would feel, but it has been quite nice. Mocca, more like a dog, greeted us every morning when we came downstairs. Lizzy is already used to us and sits next to us (when she is not running away in a jitters). 

Wild and wonderful this Wednesday! 

What about your tongue?

We are so thankful for the opportunities we are given to work with young people and the members of the church in Maastricht. For the last two years we have organized a youth day, putting together a team from Maastricht and inviting kids from across Belgium and the Netherlands. We organize the day in the middle of Belgium so that it is more accessible for people than going all the way down to camp (which would be easy for us). 

This past weekend we organized the day around the theme of the tongue and what we learn in James 1 and 3. We had a smaller group (Vacation Bible Camp had just taken place e the previous week and this weekend was King’s Day in the Netherlands), but it was a great day. The sun came out to play and we enjoyed working together to learn about how to use our words in a good way and not be used in a bad way. 

James 1:19 has always been a verse to challenge me: Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. In my younger years I was always quick to anger and slow to listen. But thankfully God has changed my heart and ways bit by bit as I have grown in grace as well. This is something we want all of our young people to know and experience - growth in grace. 

Thankfully we have a great team. Shirley organizes the food with Tonia. Tonia’s husband Mario takes care of the 2nd lesson for the older kids. I usually take the first lesson and welcome, which takes place outside. And Paul and Deysi come up with great visual activities for the second lesson for the young kids and a craft activity for everyone. 

Everyone works well together and the kids have enjoyed the days we have organized. Now we hope and pray they also remember the lessons we have tried to pass on. Hearing good things doesn’t help if we are not doers (James 1:22). We learned about how just as fierce and terrible things can be done with small words, so too amazingly beautiful things can be done with simple small words. How are you using your words today? 

(The picture is of how anger can boil over. Empty it out and fill it with clean water - the living water of Jesus.)

Where oh where Wednesday: Deventer

Because of a busy week, I missed Where oh where Wednesday on Wednesday, but I didn’t want to leave you without this post. So we will put this Wednesday post on a Sunday and just pretend it is still Wednesday. 

Several years ago Shirley and I were able to take a few days off in the middle of a week in the winter. This is usually when we are able to get away and celebrate our wedding anniversary and Shirley’s birthday. In those days I was still singing with Listen Up! Which meant that we were also giving Christmas concerts throughout December. So finally being able to get away for a few days was great. 

We decided to go somewhere we could reach with the car and that we had not yet visited. This included a stop in the city gf Deventer. Deventer is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. It is already mentioned in the 9th century and is mentioned in 952 as a city. It was part of the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages. It is home to the oldest stone house in the Netherlands. 

We knew of the city because of my singing with Listen Up!. Years before we had been asked to sing at a soccer match between Ajax (Amsterdam) and PSV (Eindhoven) - the two teams at the top of the league that year. The game was being played in the ArenA - the home stadium of Ajax. We were to add atmosphere by singing Christmas songs wearing Charles Dickens costumes. 

The reason we had been contacted was that someone had heard us at one of our Always CHRISTmas concerts and knew that we had a repertoire and could sing. He was part of a group that did enactments with Charles Dickens costumes. This was something that was done every year in … Deventer. Not only that, but this city also host the largest book market in Europe every year. So stopping off in the winter was a bit of a no-brainer for the two of us. 

Most recently Deventer unexpectedly became the center of an even bigger celebration as its own professional soccer team won the Dutch Cup, beating PSV on the way to the final. Deventer is a city of fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, but its Go Ahead Eagles (their stadium is the Eagle’s Nest) not only went to the final for the second time in their rich history (they lost 60 years ago), but won the cup.