Looking ahead

We have entered a new year, although we tend to look at things along the school year. So what does our coming year look like? That is what some o the members asked me yesterday after a wonderful worship time together. As I mentioned then, we cannot know what is coming, but we can know that God will be with us through everything that comes up. 

Here are some of the things we are looking forward to in 2024: 

We will continue holding our Games afternoons after worship on the 2nd Sundays. This has become a great time to get to know one another and to mix the generations. 

We are looking forward to various youth weekends and youth days in the year. The first one is planned for the end of January for kids 10 and older and will be held in Gent. We don’t know if any of our kids will go, but we are thankful for the various churches planning days and weekends. Basically there is some sort of youth activity somewhere in Belgium or the Netherlands each month. In April the church in Maastricht is planning another youth day like we held in the Fall of 2023. This year we hope to organize two of these days, one in the Spring and another in the Fall. 

Shirley and I are both looking forward to various seminar moments. February is the month for the Advanced Bible Study Series (ABSS) in Gemünden, Germany. Shirley might come along for the first time in a long time. We always had to leave one of us home for the dog in the past. In March, Shirley will be off with some of the ladies from Maastricht to the Ladies Retreat, also in Germany. 

Our involvement with Ardennes Bible Camp (ABK) will continue this year. The annual meeting is at the end of January. This year we are installing a new commission and planning some changes. I will be teaching at the Spring Vacation Bible Camp (VBK) in April and will lead the Benjamin Camp (8-11 year-olds) in the summer. We will also attend and help at Family Camp. The congregation in Maastricht will organize the Family Day at camp in September. 

We are also a singing congregation. We continue to meet every first Friday of the month to sing together and encourage one an other in song. Every third Wednesday Shirley and I go to the congregation in Eindhoven to sing with them. We may finally be able to set up a singing day in September with the congregation in Cologne and Liege (which we have missed for the last few years because of covid measures). And at the end of the year we want to reach out to our neighborhood and see how we can use our singing to encourage others. 

Along the way we are looking at a “Thanks Walk” on certain Saturdays throughout the year. This will be an opportunity not only to meet people in the neighborhood, but to encourage them to be thankful, as we hope that we are as well. We hope at some point in the year to maybe be blessed to travel to the US and see (and hold) our granddaughter, Sophia. We just missed meeting her in 2023 (she was born a few weeks after we passed through Indianapolis). In all of these activities and moments we will are thankful for the people in our lives, in the church, and those who help in so many ways. 

We do not really know what the year holds. No one does. We make plans and work toward doing what we hope to be able to do. We lean on God’s strength in each moment that we are given. And we are thankful for the grace and strength that He provides in each day. Keep close to Him and choose to follow Him every day.