Telling about Jesus

Most of the time when people figure out I am not from Belgium or the Netherlands - they often cannot hear it in my speech - the first question they have is what we are doing here. My answer is always the same: we came here to tell people about Jesus. I am an evangelist, a spreader of the good news. Interestingly, many people are not at all surprised that this is something that needs to be done. In past years one might have thought: “Doesn’t everyone know about Jesus?” Not anymore. 

Telling people about Jesus and his wonderful love for us doesn’t always mean that people are willing or wanting to listen. Plenty of people say simply, “That’s nice for you.” But we keep talking about Jesus, because we simply cannot stop. He is amazing and we know that what He gives us makes everyone’s life better. So we want to share. 

This is something that all of us in the congregation are learning to do as well. Recently several members talked about the conversations they are having. Our brother who is a postman has a colleague who recently purchased a Bible and wanted to know how to read it, where he should start. Our sister who is a police officer (detective now) has a colleague who was asking about her faith and wanting to know how to approach God. 

God wants to use us as His body to reach all of those who are seeking. Sometimes we do not even know who is seeking until they come to us. The two sisters who came to us during the Covid years had been searching on their own for years. It is exciting to see how this growth comes because of what God is doing and because we keep trying to be faithful. 

My recent regular conversation with an atheist acquaintance brought this up. He mentioned that I had been talking with some people for many years (he and I have been talking for more than 10 years). He joked that I must not be very good if neither of these people have come to faith in God. I reminded him that my task is to faithfully speak. It is the Spirit who is convicting hearts and people who must make their own decisions. 

Interestingly, he mentioned that his granddaughter told him that she knew everything about Jesus - because he had taught her! He also regularly berated his colleagues who called themselves Christians, telling them that he, an atheist, read the Bible more than they did. I wonder how many people will in the end give their hearts to God because of an atheist - who by chance talked regularly to a Christian. God can use all circumstances to reach people. 

We pray that you are thinking about Jesus and the abundant blessings He brings and can bring to your life. And we pray that you are also faithfully speaking of this good news to whoever you meet. Don’t worry about what the “results” are, but remain faithful in proclaiming His love and truth. Thank you for your prayers for us as we try to do the same. 

(Photo of an outing with the team of the local neighborhood newspaper Scott works with)

Where oh Where Wednesday: Verviers

On the way down to Bible camp in the Ardennes, we pass through the city of Verviers, traveling a bridge which spans the edge of the city and gives a view into the valley in which the city has spread out. Verviers is an old industrial city of Wallonia, the French-speaking area of Belgium, but it is much older than the Industrial Revolution which made it important. 

Although Roman coins have been found in the area of the city, it is known that people lived here even in pre-history. In the 7th century an abbey was Stavelot and the whole area belonged to the bishopric of Liege (which we also drive past on the way to camp). Later the area was known for its industrial activity, especially textiles. This was because the water from the high fens had a low calcium content and was perfect for washing wool. 

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution Verviers became even more important. British industrialist William Cockerill brought machines which turned Verviers, together with Bradford in England, into the “Wool Capitol of the World”. Although the wall has long gone, the water remains and Verviers is also known as the city of water (Spa water and Chaudfontaine are both in the area). 

More recently the area made the news due to the “water bomb” that hit in the summer of 2021. The heavy rain I a very short time flooded the area, wiping some parts of various villages completely away. The damage has still not been completely restored in all areas and people will for a long time remember that summer. We also remember that summer as the floods hit our Bible camp, forcing us to hold our camp weeks in other locations. 

One of the first times I visited Verviers was to visit the church there. This congregation still has a link with Freed-Hardeman University. When I talk about the Advanced Bible Study Series (ABSS) held in Germany every year, it is a program that originally began with the church in Verviers. Every once in a while we get to see members from the congregation at camp activities. When I was a young man in Haarlem, the Netherlands, I biked to camp, passing through Verviers on the long journey (my knees still remember the trip). These days we still regularly pick up kids traveling by train to camp via the train station in Verviers (see the photo). 

A song in our heart

This month has been full of singing, as I mentioned last week. We have been in Haarlem, Eindhoven and Cologne for a time of teaching singing and singing in fellowship. And we enjoyed a Family Day at camp singing together with brothers and sisters from the Netherlands and Belgium. God has made us to sing. He has given us the song in our hearts, filling us with His joy. 

I have always been a singer. My family used to sing Christmas carols in the home. My dad got us into singing Barbershop when we were young, and I sang in the choir when I was in the Catholic Church and during my school years. So singing is natural for me. But not everyone can “feel” the harmonies or has experience with music. As a matter of fact, many in the church here in Europe have never had to sing with music notation. 

So that is one of the things that I try to pass on to congregations when we learn. What is a fermata? What does “mp” mean? How in the world can I make sense of all those chicken scratches on the page of that thick book? And where is my lyric? We spend time learning a bit, but not stressing too much. The most important thing, after all, is that we understand the words we are singing and truly mean them. 

We spend time singing songs we know and love, but which are a challenge. “Greatest Commands” is a favorite of many people, but is a challenge if you are not use to keeping your own part (soprano, alto, tenor or bass) and keeping time as well. Simply ;earning to count can help a lot. And then learning about dynamics in a song can help the words really dig deeper into our hearts and minds. We talk about enunciation, breathing and ending sentences with full words - “God” instead of “Gaww”. 

It is exciting to see brothers and sisters asking questions, struggling with new concepts and wanting to sing with their hearts to the Lord. We are thankful that God has put us in a situation where we can assists others to sing with their hearts and learn new songs at the same time. We also continue recording songs - mostly in Dutch - so that congregations can hear what a song sounds like and learn songs together. You can find our recordings (many also organized by our colleague Luk Brazle in Ghent) right here. 

Take time to put a song in your heart this week. Take time to sing together, paying attention to the words that you sing. Thank God and praise Him for the song He puts in our hearts every day. 

(Photo of the group this past Saturday in Haarlem)

Whensday: Flying high?

Today KLM was in the news. KLM is the Royal Dutch Airlines and has generally been known throughout its existence as one of the better airlines. Many people recognize the light blue planes and the logo. Today they lost quite a bit of money because of a strike by the ground personnel. More than 100 flights had top be canceled. This is the reality of flying today. You might have done your very best to plan your holiday, getting the right flights to where you need to go, finding the best price for you and whomever is traveling with you - but it doesn’t mean a thing if some piece of the puzzle is suddenly missing. 

Back in 1908 the problems were different. In September of that year a Wright Flyer - one of the first airplanes - came down in a crash killing the passenger and wounding pilot Orville Wright. This was the first airplane crash I history. Of course there have been many more since then. And still, flying is basically safer than driving a car. There are fewer airplane crashes than car crashes. Car accidents are one of the biggest causes of death in the world. 

I have always loved flying. We flew from a young age since my father was military. We flew to Europe when I was still barely school age. We flew back to the US when I was just finishing elementary school. Every time I get on a plane, I can feel the excitement of traveling. I love looking out at the clouds. I love comparing landings that I have experienced. Although I don’t enjoy the waiting, I do enjoy the watching that can be done in the various airports of the world we have visited. 

Next year we hope to make our next trip back to the US for our Home Assignment. We will fly at least 7 times during the trip - two international flights and at least 5 continental flights. I don’t worry about any crashes happening, but I do hope that everything will go well with the ticketing and flights themselves. There is not much we can do about what might be happening in the world at that time. As always with flying, we will take our chances. 

Family Day at Camp

I come from a family of 8: my parents and 6 kids. When we were growing up, that was not that remarkable. There were larger families. When I first came to the Netherlands, a family that large was quickly becoming the exception to the rule. As a matter of fact, I remember people remarking to some friends of ours with a large family, “Don’t they know how babies are made?” This was meant to shame them and point out that they were creating too many children. It was a time when people were talking about how the world population was causing problems for the world, including climate and poverty. 

These days it is remarkable to see a family with more than 2 kids and some young people are even saying that they do not want to bring a child Ito the world (either because of cost or environment or that the world is such a bad place). And yet the beauty and blessing of family remains constant (along with some of the troubles and struggles). But family can be more than just your parents and brothers and sisters. 

I know some families that, when they have a family reunion must decide which part of the family is invited and where to organize the event. There can be hundreds that come. There are families with 17 children - and if they all have children and grandchildren, then the list of invitees gets quite large quite quickly. And even then, family can be more than blood relatives.

This past weekend we were blessed to head down to camp again for Family Day. This is organized each year by a different congregation, usually in Belgium. Maastricht organized it last year and this year the church in Eindhoven organized the day for the first time. They have organized the Spring get together in The Hague before, but had not yet organized the Family Day at camp. 

This was an amazing day of family in Christ. There were more than 80 present for the day, pushing the limits of what our camp hall can accommodate and making for some amazing singing. There were people present from at least 8 different congregations and visitors as well. We sang in two different languages and I heard people speaking in at least 4 languages. 

This is a time to see people from other congregations who we don’t often get to see. We had a group of about 15 from Maastricht. There was a group of about 10-12 Ukrainians present as well (including “our” 3 from Maastricht). Once the wet weather had lifted and the sun began to shine - just in time for the lunch - everyone headed outside, kids running around with a ball or chasing two of the dogs who also came along, parents standing around in groups talking and laughing. We even had a challenge getting a camera drop down from a tree where it had become stuck (in the end a good prayer brought a favorable wind and the drone fell to the ground). 

This whole day reminded me that there are so many in the world who do not know this blessing of family in God. Blood relatives either aren’t present or for some reason keep their distance. We know so many people who are left alone. And then we are thankful that we know that we are still family. And we want this family for everyone we know. They say blood is thicker than water, but Jesus’ blood is thicker than any blood from family. Proverbs 27:10 talks about a close friend and faraway relatives. Jesus states it even better: “Greater love has no man than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) And He willingly lay down His life for us (John 10:14-18).

We are so thankful for the family we have in the Lord, not only here in Belgium and the Netherlands, but around the world. Are you looking for family? Look to God's family. 

(The photo is when we were trying to retrieve the drone. You can find more pictures by clicking on the photo)

Whatsit Wednesday: Keurig and Douwe Egberts coffee

At the end of August Keurig Dr. Pepper, an American company that sounds Dutch, acquired JDE Peet which owns the ultimate Dutch coffee brand, Douwe Egberts. 

I remember during one of our recent Home Assignments when we spend a summer traveling in the US, visiting our supporting congregations and family that many people had a Keurig machine in their kitchen. This was a way of making single cup coffees. I was surprised, because the name “Keurig” sounds Dutch. As a matter of fact it translates to things like: neat, elegant, excellent, choice, gentlemanly (or ladylike). And yet it is not Dutch. 

The Keurig brand - as I mentioned in a previous post (see here) - was created by two Americans in the 1990’s. It is now part of the conglomerate of Keurig Dr.Pepper which makes the Keurig machines and various beverages. Anyone from Texas knows about Dr Pepper. It surprised me to find it in connection with coffee. 

But now this beverage company has acquired the Dutch coffee brand, Douwe Egberts. When Phillips first invented the Senseo machine (another single serve coffee machine which is more prevalent in Europe), they partnered with coffee brand Douwe Egberts, wanting to give the new machines and its coffee a caché, a bit of elegance. Unfortunately for the coffee brand, they only had a contract with the coffee machine makers for a few years. When the contract expired, every supermarket in the country could make the coffee pads that work in the machine, removing Douwe Egberts profit while increasing Phillips profit. 

Now the coffee brand will be able to take over the United States via a different coffee machine that sounds completely Dutch, unless you know about that Dr Pepper stuff. How do you make your coffee?

Sing and be happy

This month is a month of singing. We are thankful that we can help congregations in their singing. We enjoy the time together as much as they and we all learn something from one another. This has always been a part of our ministry and as long as I can sing it will remain so. God has put a song in our hearts and singing is what we all will be doing together when we finally get Home. 

This month we have several opportunities to help in singing. The congregation in Haarlem (about 2,5 hours north of us) asked me to come and help them learn new songs and learn how to sing better. We went up at the end of August and will return near the end of September. This is a mix of learning music notation - what is a fermata, what is the difference between ff and mp, why do we breathe at a comma - and remembering that singing for God is about singing with your heart and your head. 

I always want to remind people that God made us to sing. Singing is divine, built for who and what we are. It is the only thing that touches mind and soul at the same time. You can literally feel the sound in your body, but you need to pay attention to the words you are singing. So taking time to look at the words in a song, making sure we understand it, is just as important as learning the rhythm or tempo or harmony. 

The group in Haarlem was excited to learn new songs and to learn more about singing. It was also a great time of fellowship, especially for us. We do not get to see the members of this congregation very often, although many of my Dutch roots come from here. I worked as an evangelism apprentice here when I first came to the Netherlands and learned my Dutch in this city. 

This past weekend we were in Cologne, Germany for a day of singing. Every February Uli and I see each other at the Advanced Bible Study Series (ABSS) in Germany. He is from the congregation in Cologne and I am from Maastricht. We started getting together for a singing back in 2014 when we talked about including Aachen again in some way. Aachen is in the middle between the two cities. We organized a singing and have kept this up (with some exceptions during corona years) every year. We have been in Cologne twice, in Aachen twice and in Maastricht three or four times. 

This singing day n Cologne brings us together with another congregation. We had 6 members from Maastricht attend (it would have been 8, but two were incapacitated, including Shirley). The group also included a refugee couple and a visiting couple from the neighborhood. We sing and speak more in German, but this time we also sang some in French. When we started members from Liege, Maastricht, Aachen and Cologne all attended, making it quite international. This time in Cologne we remembered that in heaven we will all be able to sing together in whatever language it will be. 

This coming weekend several of the members from Maastricht will join others from around the Netherlands and Belgium at the Family Day at camp. So we will get to sing and once again enjoy the wonderful fellowship of being together. This time we will simply take part in the singing, rather than lead any of it. But a week later we will be in Eindhoven for our monthly 3rd Wednesday singing there where we also help with learning new songs. Often people simply need to learn a song and see that they can sing it. 

We enjoy singing songs that members in the Netherlands and Belgium have written, songs written by Russian brothers and translated either into English or Dutch (or German), or new songs crossing over to Europe from other areas of the world. It is exciting to see how the song that God has put in our hearts continues to pour over into words of praise to Him. 

(You can find more photos of our time in Haarlem and Cologne here.)

Whodunit Wednesday: Jim and Ruth Krumrei

This past week Jim and Ruth Krumrei celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary. Every month our town in Belgium puts the various wedding anniversaries of the town in the paper with a picture of the couple and often of their family. These  pictures and mentions begin with 50 years. Nothing less is worthy of mention. I have seen a 65 year a few times and even a 70 year once. I wonder if we will get to see the 75 year anniversary of Jim and Ruth. 

Jim and Ruth live in Haarlem, the Netherlands and are an integral part of my history. When I came to the Netherlands as an apprentice, it was Jim who was my mentor. It was from him and Ruth that I learned, by example, how important it is to have a regular rhythm of reading in God’s word. I was at their house for dinner many nights and they always ended the evening by reading in God’s word. This was how I learned a lot of my Dutch, since the reading was done in Dutch. 

Ruth always took care of me, preparing her delicious rhubarb pie (from rhubarb in their tiny garden out the back) or making her own muesli for me when I was there for breakfast. As a young guy cooking on his own (and I still don’t really know how to cook) it was good to have a place to get real food and have a “mom” who took care of me. Even though I would never have admitted that I needed taking care of at that age. 

Jim and Ruth have always been a part of the church in the Netherlands. This past weekend I was in Haarlem to help the congregation with singing and Jim showed up for a short time. Even at his advanced age (they are both above 90 years-old) he loves to share his joy in Christ. And Ruth will never stop talking about how mighty her loving Saviour is. This time of persistence in purity is such an example to me and others around them. 

No one knows how old they will become. Sometimes I am surprised at my own age and wonder how I got here. I think Jim and Ruth are a good example. They simply got to that age one day at a time, moving forward faithfully with what they know God finds good. That is the type of person I want to be, every day. 

Sean Michael

Recently we were talking with people about names. In the US it is common to have a first name and middle name. My oldest brother is named after my father, using his middle name. He is Christopher Francis. Although I am the 3rd child, I am the 2nd son, so I am named after my mother: Scott Patrick (my mom is Patricia). Most of us are named after famous people at the time. I am named for Scott Carpenter, an astronaut. My younger brother is named after John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King (he is John Martin). 

In Belgium and the Netherlands there are lots of people with only one name. They do not have a middle name. Or if they come from a Catholic family, they have LOTS of names - all named after the parents or grandparents of godparents. But most only have one name. And those of us from the US often only use our first name. The middle name is reserved for when Mom really wants to get your attention: “Scott Patrick Raab you get over here RIGHT NOW!”

Often a name is chosen because is means something. A family we met recently had given all of their children Biblical names that mean something in Hebrew or Greek. But some parents simply go through the name book looking for something that sounds good as it rolls off the tongue. If your last name has three syllables, you might choose shorter first and middle names. 

We had tried to find a name for our first son that would fit in two different languages and cultures. It ended up not fitting in either very well. So when our second son came and we were already living in Belgium, we were certain that we wanted an “S” - we were all an “s” at this point - but we wanted something that would sound right and also work in the language. 

Sean Michael Raab was born on September 1 a few years ago. He had tried to show up a few weeks earlier while we were at camp, but the hospital sent us home - “false labor”. But when he came, he made his presence known. He had a low voice for a baby. And he looked at you with very serious eyes. But oh, he was beautiful. Just like his older brother had been, but different. Our boys were of course the most beautiful of babies in the world. 

We had to decide if we would use both of Sean’s names or just the one. Would he be Sean-Michael? Or Sean Michael? Or Sean? We called him “Sean Michael” for a while when he was a baby, but it ended up as simply Sean (until he wasn’t listening and the “Michael” had to be added). People here still weren’t sure how to pronounce his name. We thought “Sean Connery” would be enough of a clue, but they pronounced this actor as sée-uhn kahn-uh-ree. 

It has been a pleasure watching Sean grow up. We are thrilled with how he cares for the people around him and has become a teacher. He was always a teacher, willing to share what he had learned - if you could understand it. Today is Sean’s birthday and he is far away, but we are thankful for video calls and he and his wife Jilll taking time from their day to say hello. 

(Picture from 2023 during our Home Assignment)