New life for Farley!

Farley has been visiting our services, participating in the weekly Bible studies and asking plenty of questions for a while. He and our sister in Christ, Shadira, are planning to wed next month. He has a lot on his mind and likes to make his life decisions certain. And he had a lot of questions about a life in Christ. But there are some things you just need to do.

We had talked about how giving your life to Christ is so much like a marriage. If you love the other, you want to belong completely to them. Jesus has already shown us that He has given everything so that we can be with him. Farley was already to the point that he knew he wanted to belong completely to Shadira, to give his life to become one with her. So when we talked about life in Christ in these terms, he understood that it was about the love he had for Jesus and making the decision - yes or no.

He had talked about being baptized in the sea. Both he and Shadira are from Curaçao. The ocean is part of their life - even if much of their lives have been in the rainy, hills of the Netherlands. But we also wanted to be able to share his birth with the brothers and sisters of Maastricht. So when someone said, "Why not this afternoon at the barbecue? We'll all be there," his response was, "Yeah, why not? Let's do it!"

A spatter of rain couldn't ruin the fellowship at the barbecue and definitely couldn't dampen Farley's spirits in giving his life to "my Lord and redeemer!" A swimming pool, some water and, most importantly, a family of believers and the blood of Jesus made for a wonderful afternoon of praising God for new life! Welcome Farley!

Let's do it!

Photo thanks to Luk Brazle

Monday, June 13 was the annual Spring fellowship of the Dutch-speaking churches in Belgium and the Netherlands. held in The Hague. This is always an opportunity to meet and encourage one another through word and song.  The theme this year was based on the Acts of the Apostles – how can we “act”-  do and live as christians, not simply say that we are.

The lesson brought by Ruud Verheijen encouraged all to make their faith active, to allow the word of the Lord to live in their lives in reality. This was followed by a quiz on the book of Acts. Teams formed loosely from the congregations “competed” against one another on their knowledge of the the truths in Acts, the things we could learn from those first Christians. And there was still plenty to learn, but everyone seemed ready to try. A jury made up of Ruud Verheijen, Roy Davison and Jim Krumrei not only made sure that difficult questions were answered correctly, they also gave important background information.  This was a fun and informative way to dig into the word of God.

To encourage all to understand the concept of a living body, tasks for the day were spread out among members from the various congregations. Brothers from 5 different congregations led the group in song and prayer. Helpers from other congregations made sure the youngest children were cared for during the quiz. And everyone brought their own lunch – and more (there were about 80 people from 8 different congregations present). This cooperation was exciting to see. When we remember whose children we are, when we are challenged to live as such, we do just that!

There was more than enough food for all present. There were more than enough helpers to set up and clean up afterwards. There was an abundance of activity from a real body on that day. We are so thankful  for how God can work through us and look forward to continuing to be active as His body wherever we go.

See another report of the day here. 

Thank you!

Our car
Originally uploaded by sraabs.

You heard us call for help and you responded! Thank you so much for being willing to help us out financially with a car. I talked a little bit about the joys of struggle while looking for a car - this is the one we found.
Sean likes the tinted windows along the back since he was convinced that the sun always had it in for him and somehow only shone through his window. Now he is protected.
This car has plenty of space - even though it is technically a smaller car than the one we had. I have already put bikes in it, helped people move, and taken things to the dump. The motor is set to go since we changed the timing belt this past week - ready for another 150,000 kilometers.
Thank you again for your willingness to sacrifice, to help, to share. It is so exciting to experience these things in the family of the Lord!

So…. Who is He listening to anyway?

Today we got some more rain … and I was thankful. We have been going through quite a dry spell here in Belgium. At one point they were telling us that we would need to have 14 straight days of rain in order to get to where we should be. Imagine Belgium without rain! So we have been praying for rain.

But many of my friends and family have been praying that rain, snow, storms and weather would cease. Tornados and flooding have caused terrible troubles in too many places. And so we have been praying with our friends and brothers and sisters in other countries.

But who is God listening to? What is best: rain or drought? And this is “simply” weather. What about when someone is sick and/or dying? When I am praying for my son’s safety and he is praying to have good fun? Does God hear me more than you? To whom does He listen?

For me the question has been more – what do I ask. I know He is listening to me – even the most inane things I might say or think. He cares about all of that. I know because Jesus told us so. And Jesus shows me what is important, how to ask, what to see as most important. Jesus asked for what he wanted, but he left all in the Father’s hands. “Not my will, but yours be done.”

Paul, too struggled with what he desired. Wouldn’t it be better to leave this life and go Home? But there is still so much to be done! (see Philippians 1:21-24). Perhaps instead of praying for rain, I should pray for strength to help those struggling with drought.

We are missing the rain, so I will continue to ask my wonderful Father for rain – as I will continue to ask for strength. And when the rain comes, I will remember to give thanks (and not complain about how wet it is!).