Monday, November 04, 2024

Maintenance

This past weekend was the end of our Fall camps, a special religious holiday in Belgium and a day to get things ready at camp for the coming winter. Although Halloween is not really a holiday here, All Saints Day is. This is the day that many visit the graves of their loved ones. It is one of the biggest days for florists as everyone is getting flowers (mostly chrysanthemums) to put on the graves. It is a time to remember, to put family first, sewn into society and the social calendar of the year.

Down at camp it is a time for maintenance. We have to get the buildings ready to go into the winter, never knowing how bitter the winter might be. It is time to clean off the leaves from the roofs, clear off the driveway, and prep the buildings inside. This weekend we also had a hill of dirt to move from one place to another. The field had begun to settle after the flooding a few years back, so it was time to set things to rights again. This was especially important around some metal lids in the field which give us access to our septic system. We do not want any kids falling in or hitting their heads on these metal lids. 

More importantly, a day like this down at camp is a time to talk during the coffee breaks and lunch breaks. There were only 6 of us down there, but it was a good group that worked hard. Two of the 6 men were the young sons of one of our camp leaders. They did quite a bit of the work digging out the dirt, shoveling it into wheelbarrows and letting the wheelbarrows be wheeled to where they were to be dumped. In the end we all went home satisfied and dirty, knowing that camp was ready for the coming months. 

Back in Maastricht yesterday was the first Sunday of the month and was a good day to be back together with Christian family. Some have been off on holiday (it was a school holiday break in Belgium) and others were finally back after a short period of typical Fall colds. One of our Ukrainians heard this past weekend that his father was killed in a battle in the East. This young man has been with us for the last two years and so has not seen his father for the last three years. Death never seems to be expected, even in war. 

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Wild Wonderful Wednesday: Hunting in the Ardennes

Hundreds of years ago the forests around where we now have our Bible camp would have been full of wildlife. The few people who lived in the area would have hunted all sorts of animals, including wild pigs and deer. The wolf would have roamed in the area, hunting as well. In the past century hunting of a different sort took place in these woods as soldiers of conflicting countries hunted one another during two world wars. Then the wars stopped, tourists started visiting the area and Bible camp was built (first just tents) in 1965. 

Throughout the years that we have attended and helped with Ardennes Bible Camp (ABK) we have experienced a little bit of this wild life that slumbers still in the woods around camp. Young campers love to run through the grass in our field looking for grasshoppers, butterflies, frogs and maybe even little grass snakes. In the creek babbling along the field they look for frogs and fish (although there are no fish). Periodically they cry out in astonishment as the cows on the other side of the creek come down into the water to drink. 

If you get up early enough in the morning to see the mist rising across the field, you might also surprise a family of deer munching on the tall grass just past the fence marking our land. In recent years we have been able to acquire that land, so the grass is not as high, but we still find signs of the deer visiting this area. But the land that is our camp is just a small postage stamp. Camp is still surrounded by forests full of wildlife. 

Stepping up the steep driveway leading down to our camp we regularly take the kids from a week of Bible camp on a walk through the woods. There is a short walk along the street that passes our camp. This is the most dangerous section as it is in a bend and the cars and motorcycles like to speed along this twisty road. So we make sure that the kids pay attention and walk 2x2 until we can leave the main road after about 100 meters. 

Turning left off the road we can ascend on a rough road between fields where the cows most often range peacefully. The bushhes along the road are full of blackberries and stinging nettle - a delicious risk of thorn and sting to get to sweet reward while climbing higher into the woods. The view back over the village below and into the next valley always elicits cries of awe. 

As we reach the beginning of the woods we have to chose at a typical crossroads: right, straight, or left. Going right looks like it goes downhill. It does just this for a time, again splitting with one section returning to the village. But another section continues higher up the hill. Going straight is clearly a climb and most do not want to go that way after having already climbed a bit to get to this crossroads. It is however the best place to gather blueberries. 

It is the path going left that we usually take. This is a level path running along the field we passed coming up, but just inside the trees of the forest. It follows a narrow, well-worn but muddy path. These days you can see that bikes come this way as well as horses. But if you look closely in the mud, you will also see that the wild pigs know their way through these woods and along this path. 

Each year we have to warn the kids not to pick blueberries too close to the ground. The fox and stone marten roam freely in these woods and like to mark their territory on the low-hanging bushes. So blueberries hanging low may have received a “blessing” that we do not want to share. These stone Martens, something like a weasel, have through the years also made their nests in the nooks and crannies between our building walls and roofs. One might also catch a glimpse of one of these elusive creatures if one is awake and about in the early morning. 

It is during our Fall Camp that we have to take special precautions at camp. This is hunting season. We are not allowed in the woods past sunset and there are areas where we are not allowed at all. Hunters are out hunting the wild boar. More recently we have also learned from the news that the wolf has once again made its way into these areas. 

This past week was our Fall Camp and we had a great group of young people learning about Joseph and how to deal with adversity. This week the younger kids are down at what has become our newest addition of camp Vacation Bible Camp (VBK). The Belgian schools all have a Fall vacation, so this is a good time to be down at camp with friends learning about God. 

The trees are all turning glorious colors, painting the forest in multiple shades of red and yellow and orange. The mist rises in the morning and sets into the field again in the evenings as the various wildlife steps quietly through the forest and fields, wondering who these loud kids are and what they are doing. The kids are simply hunting for a wonderful time and full life in God’s glory. 


Monday, October 28, 2024

Taking every opportunity

For the last while we as a congregation in Maastricht have been working through the Psalms. What a blessing to see how God listens, hears, responds and helps. It was so good to see how many of the writers obviously have the same emotions as we all do and that God allows these emotions in the right place. When we trust Him with our thoughts and desires, then things work much better for all.

As we have finished the psalms we are looking at a new set of lessons where we touch on the fundamentals of our faith and how they help us with the difficult questions presented us in our society. Last Wednesday evening we looked at the foundational truths that make up the truly good news of the gospel. One of the things we hope to be able to (re)emphasize is how we can speak with those around us. And as we were looking at these fundamentals we have been praying for the conversations that God presents us with each day. 

As usual, I was not prepared for how wonderfully God surprises. He loves to do what we do not expect or even think of. So the days after our study I had several good opportunities to talk about this very good news. One conversation was with someone who specifically asked what we believe, as he was not religious and wondered what kind of faith this could be. Another was with believers about the struggles we have in life. That same evening a dinner with friends brought conversation about God’s faithfulness and how we struggle to trust, but how good it is. 

This is the reality of every day. We try to keep our eyes open for every opportunity that God presents us to talk about His wonderful love and grace. Sometimes we do not really recognize these moments as opportunities until we are in the middle of a conversation. It is not that we are manipulating conversations. We are simply speaking of the One we love and the good that He has brought us. 

We are thankful that God wants to and can use us in every situation to bring His grace into the world. We pray that we are allowing Him to work through our conversation in all of our daily activities - as parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, shoppers in a store, drivers on the road or wherever else we may find ourselves. 


Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:5-6