He's got the whole world in His hands

We are running around our house at the moment trying to get everything cleaned and ready to be left alone for two months. We want to be able to come home to a clean house. We are also making sure that we have all the “things” that we need. These days there are many more electronic things. But mostly we don’t want to forget anything that is necessary. 

We are traveling with only carry-on, so having already made the decisions about clothes, we are settling our minds about those choices. Once we get in the air, it will be easier. Then there is truly no going back. And since we are moving forward, we also want to make sure that we have all the contact information we need for each stop along the way. We have it digital, but it is also always good to have a printed copy handy. 

And while this is happening, we are rejoicing with the good news we received and saw yesterday afternoon. We gained a new brother in the Lord as Daniel gave his life to Christ I baptism and rose to new life in the strength of his Lord. Daniel has been thinking of this for some time and decided he wasn’t going to sit any longer. We were blessed to be invited to come to his family’s house to see him die and be born again. 

Seeing new life takes away any concerns there might be for anything. God is wonderfully mighty and caring and has our loves in His caring hands. We look forward to each new day as we get to walk with Him. 

Keep an eye on this space, although we may not be posting at our usual times. We will try to keep you up to date on our travels as we go. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. 

Where oh where Wednesday: Borders

Crossing borders in Europe used to be quite difficult. But ever since the Schengen Accord, borders have become more like a thought than a real border. Although recently Germany has gone to checking people at the border. In our area it is simple, but not as simple (or complicated) as in some other places.

We live about 500 meters from the border (it is the river behind our house. It only takes us 15 minutes to drive to the church building in Maastricht, which is in the Netherlands. When I used to take our sister’s dog out for a walk, I could easily cross in to Belgium walking to the Albert canal. So we are used to recognizing borders, but we don’t usually have to deal with them much. 

Then there are places like Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog. In this little town the border runs through the middle of the town. During the corona rules, the Netherlands had different rules than Belgium. So people could go into a store which is split down the middle of the store. They could shop in the one section, but not in the other section. 

A few years ago we took our teens from Bible camp to a rail-bike  excursion. These are cars on an old train track which you move by bicycling. The interesting thing is that the track is all Belgium. But the land on either side of the track could be Germany or Belgium. There are little “islands” of country as you travel along the tracks. At the end of the track is a station which is also part Germany. Plus it is in the German-speaking area of Belgium. Imagine what it must have been like when the borders needed to be policed. 

(The picture above is the store. The Belgian side was closed. The Dutch side was open for business)

Singing, fellowship and flowers

This has been a week and a half of singing and fellowship. On April 10 we held our first Friday singing - on the 2nd Friday. This was because the first Friday was Easter weekend and most people could not be there. This made it possible for more people to come. And we were especially thankful that we finally saw our brothers and sisters from Liege again. It has been maybe 2 or 3 years since they have been able to attend this, although we saw them last year at camp for a day. 

The Wednesday after we were in Eindhoven for the 3rd Wednesday of the month and our singing with the church in Eindhoven. We had quite a group their meeting as well. It is always so encouraging to be able to share time singing together of God’s love and faithfulness. Our singings are always a balance of learning new things and singing songs to encourage one another. This time we even were able to find helpers for the camp we will be leading in the summer. 

On the Saturday (just past) we headed to Haarlem in the north to help them with their singing. We haven’t been able to be with them since February. This time we took the train up, which was restful. We ended up with a group of about 16 from all around the area. We were especially thankful that we were able to see a young man and his family that we grew up with and had not seen in perhaps 15 years. He now has three kids. We also saw a couple we love from the Den Haag area. 

Following the singing we spent some time with our Russian brother and sister and his visiting mother and went to look at flowers in the area. This is the tie of Keukenhof and the tulips and the flowers were amazing. It is beauty like this that makes you sing of the wondrous love of Jesus. But it is also the beauty that we see in our brothers and sisters at such times. We are so thankful that God gives us the opportunity to meet with so many congregations from around Belgium and the Netherlands. 

Soon we will be leaving for our Home Assignment (April 28) and we are looking forward to all the singing and visiting we will be able to do with brothers and sisters from around the US. We hope to see some of you soon and join in singing the grace of God together.