Wild Wonderful Wednesday

Somehow, probably because of camp weeks, we have shifted our normal schedule of Wednesdays. In August we missed a Whodunit Wednesday. Rather than keep the skip in and retain the shift, I have decided to add a Wild Wonderful Wednesday here, which usually only shows up on a 5th Wednesday. 

Today we are going to take a bicycle ride. I do not take my bike as often as I could. We live on a canal with a bike path. I can bike to Veldwezelt (and do often on a Thursday morning when going to the Bible study with Ruud) in just about 25 minutes.  I barely need to ride along or cross a busy road and have bike path the whole way. I can also get into Maastricht, reaching our church building in about 35 minutes and also riding the whole way on separated bike path. But I usually only bike if the car is broken. 

If I were to bike, I would look at taking one of the many routes around our house. We are on the edge of a National Park and the bike paths crisscross our area, taking bikers through woods, along canals and rivers and into amazing areas of natural beauty. That is what I want to do today. So come along for the ride (even if it is in your imagination). 

From our house we can bike south along the canal, keeping the canal on the left. We cross left over our lock and turn right so that we can bike along “our” castle before returning to the canal, crossing over the bridge and continuing to the South. We bike past several WWII bunkers and then past the second lock on this canal which takes us to the Albert Canal. The larger boats ride this canal and we will turn right, up a hill along the side of the paper factory. 

We have a short section of busier road, but there is a separated bicycle path, so no worries. Crossing the bridge first, we ride down to the edge of the canal, now the Albert Canal, keeping it on our right. On the right the little town of Gellik rises above us, with its church pointing to the sky on top of the hill.  We pass under two bridges and follow the road up to the 3rd bridge to cross the canal.

We are now following a bicycle trail, well marked throughout this area. We can plan out the direction we wish to go by linking the connection numbers. We pass into the national park and are met by heather fields and quiet woods before passing through some little village homes on our way to more woods. Much of the bike path used to be railroad or local farm paths turned into well-maintained bicycle paths. 

Once we cross a main road we can stop at “The Four Lords” - a stone marking the point where four lordships met. This point was also used in the 15th century for judgements, so it is also known as the gallows. Just outside our house are where two of the castles, two of the lordships, were situated: Pietersheim and Rekem. 

Biking further we pass by the military domain on the left and come to “Biking through the Heather”, a special bicycle path which carries us through the outstretched fields of heather called the “Mechelse Heide”. At the right time of year the heather blooms purple and stretches out all around. You can see a bit more of what it is like with this video.

As we arrive in the town of As, we can stop for a bite to eat and something to drink at the Station in As. We can even play a short round of disc golf at one of the few courses in Belgium. The normal bike path would continue from here, making a nice loop. But we are going to head the other direction, back towards the river. As we ride we come out by the old mines and the hills made from the diggings. This has become a thrilling tourist attraction where you can ride over the water among the hills. You can see more of that here.

As we follow the bike path to the entrance of the park, we arrive at a shopping center  called Maasmechelen Village. Outlet shops, specialty stores and a cinema are all built around the former mine buildings, including several of the elevators still standing tall. Since we are on the canal here, we will follow it South. This is one of the longest straitest stretches of canal. Technically, if you had a camera good enough, you could see from near our house (at the castle in Rekem) to this point in Maasmechelen, meeting no obstructions. 

As we bike back home, we will pass an old windmill which has been turned into a restaurant and B&B before we reach the castle in Rekem. The last section takes us past a new cafe which has been built in what long ago was a bridge house - the home of the man who would open the bridge across the canal. 

And so we have see woods, fields of heather, special landmarks, lakes and hills in one bike ride. And this is just one of the many rides around where we live at the moment. This is one of the things we will miss.

Updates and upcoming dates

As August comes to a close our camp season also reaches its end. This year Shirley and I were blessed to be able to help with Benjamin Camp, not long after we returned from our Home Assignment (2 months visiting in the US). We had a good week with active Benjamins (8-11 year-olds) and a good team of helpers. We were especially thankful for the three young people who came to help and learn about helping. I have already spoken to the young men (who attend in Maastricht) about next year and they both are looking forward to it. 

Along with the young people, we were also thankful for the help we had from a Ukrainian couple who came. They also took a group of Ukrainians down to camp after the end of Family Camp. They had to wait a few days because of the huge fires that were raging not far from camp. Thankfully the fires have been brought under control, not in the least through some very heavy rain. We are thankful for the camp weeks that can be added to the schedule of camp and that camp was not affected negatively by the fires. 

It was at the end of Family Camp, where Scott taught 2 days and attended the lessons all five days, that the fires in the Fenn took off. As we were leaving on Friday we heard on the news of the fires. When we got home, we heard about flooding in Indiana (where our son and his family live). Too dry in one area and too wet in another. It is amazing how we are much more aware of everything happening around the world. 

As we finished up camp, we have moved forward into the time of singing. Our first Friday singing was in the theme of preparing for a special Gospel Workshop that would be offered in the neighborhood where we meet as a congregation. We were thankful for the visits that evening and conversations. And it was a great time of singing! 

In just a few weeks we will be singing again as the congregation from Cologne, Germany comes to visit. We hope to encourage some local visitors also to come sing with us. This coming Wednesday we will also be in Eindhoven again for the monthly singing. We have not been there since April. We are so thankful for the opportunities that we have to sing with people throughout the country. 

In September we will also visit camp again for the Family Day and will hold our yearly evaluation and planing day. This planning day is a time to plan for next year and see who can help. The congregation in Maastricht is looking at taking a more active role in planning and helping with a week of camp. In the meantime we are trying to figure out how we can transition our role with camp as we work through our plans to move back to the US. 

We are thankful for opportunities to serve, to help people grow in faith and to grow ourselves in trust. We are thankful that camp has been used well and has been kept safe from the most recent possible dangers. And we are extremely thankful for t=all the people we are able to work with. 

(Photo of the Gospel Workshop held last week)

Where oh Where Wednesday: Charleroi, Belgium, World

In 1996, 30 years ago, the world ended up watching a horror story unfold in the little country of Belgium. As the truth came out, people around the world lost their innocence and things everywhere, but especially in Belgium, changed. There is a sharp delineation of “before” and “after”. 

Our awareness of the situation came with signs that were hung from bridges across the highway on our way to camp. They mentioned Julie and Melissa, two 8 year-old girls who had gone missing. We had heard on the news about An and Eefje, teenage girls who had disappeared after a party in Blankenberge (on the coast). In the end, after everything came out, it was known that all four girls had died because of Marc Dutroux. 

Most of this all came to light after two other girls were freed alive from one of the houses that Dutroux had in an area of the city of Charleroi called Marcinelle. Dutroux had been caught after the kidnapping of Laetitia and finally agreed to show police where she could be found. He also gave the police another girl “for free”. Sabine Dardenne had been kidnapped earlier in the year and was still being held where Laetitia was being held - in a terribly small cage hidden from sight. The police had even been in the house and had not d=found the hiding place. 

Julie and Melissa died because at one point after kidnapping them Dutroux was in jail and couldn’t get out for several months. His partner, Michelle Martin, was supposed to care for them. She didn’t. They died of hunger and were buried in his garden. She had fed the dogs, but not the children. The horror story caused many things to change in the country of Belgium and around the world. 

In Belgium the police set up a unit specifically focused on finding missing persons. Child Focus was established, which helps in looking for missing children. The police themselves were reorganized, combining the federal police with the normal police so that there could not be any more miscommunication or turf wars among them, causing kidnapped children to be left to die. 

Even more, parents became aware that their children could be in danger. Julie and Melissa were just young friends, out playing together in the neighborhood. Julie’s mother went out at 6 pm to call her daughter to dinner but couldn’t find her. An and Eefje, although teenagers, were kidnapped as they walked along a road. After this summer of horror with Marc Dutroux, people everywhere realized that what happend in Belgium could happen anywhere - even in their own streets.