Whatsit Wednesday: Wildlife bridge (ecoduct)

Every time we drive West from our home (which is pretty much every time) we pass under a special bridge. So on our way to singing or a camp meeting in Antwerp, on the way to our Bible studies on Mondays and Thursdays, on the way to the airport in Brussels, we pass under this bridge. And every homecoming from these events is met by this bridge just outside Maasmechelen. 

The highway enters the 60 meter long tunnel through gracious curves, the bushes and even small trees gracefully growing above as the river of traffic passes underneath. This ecoduct was built around 2005 and has proven to be a real help for the wildlife in the area. We live in Limburg, a province that has a lot of woods and natural elements (and a smaller population). But highways can cut up areas like this, leaving wildlife stranded or worse killed by trying to cross the highway. This ecoduct helps. 

In 2021 a 4th check was made on how well the ecoduct has been working and it became clear that it is doing even more than was thought possible. Reptiles and amphibians, like frogs, were some of the wildlife that was supposed to be helped by this massive project bridging the highway. But it is also used regularly by deer, fox and wild pigs as well as ermine, stone marten, and smaller mammals such as the shrew. Crickets, grasshoppers and beetles enjoy the crossing, making some very specific habitat come back to life. 

In the meantime this whole area has turned a few other bridges into ecoducts (though not as spectacularly as Kikbeek) and the province has become known for the various amazing ways to travel by bike among and through the beautiful nature present all around. There are bike paths winding through the trees, stretching over lakes and running along old train tracks. We are reminded of the beauty around us every time we return to the area and drive under this ecoduct. 

Sharing wisdom

Last Friday and the past Sunday we were thrilled to be together with several members of the congregation, but for different activities. On Friday evening we held our monthly First Friday singing. We learned some new songs, practiced some we had learned before, sang some songs we just love and had some good fellowship time afterwards. Sunday was our 2nd Sunday Games day and some of the same people were able to stay and just have fun together after our worship time. 

It has been exciting to see how God uses us and those around us to help in growth and wisdom. Sometimes I feel like an old guy, but when I mention that to Andrey, he always laughs and tells me not to say that. He and his wife are learning some things from us. They are two of the 5 or 6 who meet weekly for the English language Bible study. It is a time that God allows us (Shirley and me) to share some insight into God’s word and wisdom that we have garnered through life. But it is also a time to learn fro these young people and how they are growing in faith. 

There are two married couples where the wife is a Christian and the husband is not. The other young married couple are both Christians, helping one another grow. So we talk about how to be a good example, how to deal with stress in the relationship, how to apply God’s truths to our daily struggles and how to look ahead. We are thankful that God can use us to help these couples in any way. And it is thrilling to also learn fro them and their passion for Christ in their lives. 

In other ways we are trying to be good examples to brothers and sisters around us. I am trying to be a good example for our youngest brother in Christ, Jef. He is youngest in the sense that he was born into Christ just last year. But he is actually my age. I try to be an example as a brother so that he can see what it means to be a brother in Christ. We study God’s word together once a week and share our lives together. Shirley tries to do the same with our young sister in Christ, Gaiane. She is like our daughter and we want to be there for her. 

This is the beauty of how God created the body of Christ. We are truly to be a body, working together, learning from each other, depending o one another. We all have different experiences that we can learn from, passing that wisdom on to our brothers and sisters. Praise God for his design of church family and how we can share wisdom together. 

(Photo from 2025 with some of the young people we mentor)

Whodunit Wednesday: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

Everyone is looking at the thermometer lately. Freezing temperatures in places that haven’t seen it that cold in quite a while. But which thermometer do you consult? How cold is it really? When I hear that it is 10 degrees, my first reaction is: “Oh, that’s quite nice for this time of year. I will not need my warm hat or scarf.” But others are saying that it is freezing. That is because some of us are using the Celsius scale and others the Fahrenheit scale. 

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, for whom the scale is named, was a Polish German (born in Poland to a German family) who lived and worked in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries. He is credited with improving thermometers, with making the first mercury-in-glass thermometers (which were much more reliable) and getting everyone to adopt his scale of measurement. And this all so long ago. So how is it that people in the US use Fahrenheit, but people in the Netherlands use Celsius? 

Fahrenheit was born in Danzig (Gdansk) Poland to a German Hanseatic trading family. He was just about 15 when his parents died from eating poisonous mushrooms and he was placed under guardianship. In this way he ended up doing an apprenticeship in Amsterdam. He ran away when this was completed and traveled around what was then the Holy Roman Empire while his guardians issued an arrest warrant. But it was in this time that he also was manufacturing thermometers and researching the various scales and methods used. By 1721 he was already perfecting his thermometers while in the Netherlands.

At the same time, others were still using another scale. “Centigrade” was used by the Swedes and French and much of the world. This is how I remember learning the “other” scale. But it was changed to “Celsius” in 1948. However you measure, cold remains cold. Listen to the weather man or woman and decide then if you need to put on your scarf or not before going outside.