Whensday: January 2, 1994 - Blender

In January 1995 a Dutch guy named Ton Roosendaal and his software company released version 1.00 of an application called “Blender”. The software had been released internally the year before, was publicly released in 1998 and was distributed as shareware (does anyone remember shareware?) until 2002. When the company holding Blender went bankrupt in 2002, Ton Roosendaal changed course and made it into free open-source software. 

This software is perhaps best known for its 3D modeling capabilities and what it has been used for. It is an extremely capable and useful application used for various forms of modeling. It can simulate smoke, dust, rain, fluids, hair, clothing and rigid bodies. The files are forward, backward and cross-platform compatible. 

The software was used professionally for Spider Man 2 for the storyboards. The French-language film “Friday or Another Day” was the first 35mm film to use Blender for all its special effects on Linux work stations. Most recently Blender was used entirely for the 2024 Latvian film “Flow” (assisted by a Belgian company). This movie received two nominations for the 97th Academy Awards and won the Best Animated Feature. 

Family around the world

Today I will head off to ABSS (Advanced Bible Study Series) in Germany. This time three other guys will join me in the car. Alexander and Andrey are father and son from Ukraine who have lived in Belgium for the last 5 years. Alexander is a former widower who is now married to a Belgian. Andrey is his youngest son who came out with him and is now married to his high school sweetheart and living in Belgium. Both are amazing encouraging brothers in the congregation in Maastricht. 

Along with them I will be picking up Evgeny from Haarlem, The Netherlands. He is originally from Russia, but has lived in THE NETHERLANDS for quite some time. I first met him before he was married, when he was living and working in Maastricht. He was an integral part of the congregation then and now serves with the church in Haarlem. 

I am looking forward to the time in Germany at this study week because people from all over Europe gather there to learn from each other and encourage one another. I will see some folks I have not seen in quite some time, and others I see regularly. That is the beauty of the family of Christ. 

This past Saturday we were included in the church family from Eindhoven because we help them sing every month. We also feel part of the congregation in Haarlem for the same reason. I look forward to seeing Uli from Cologne again this coming week - we always plan a singing day together in September. The church has connections with church family in Uganda and Ukraine, Kenya and Canada and all over Europe and the US. We are so very thankful for the way that God builds family and that we can be part of this wonderful body. 

In May and June we will be traveling to the US to visit family and church family. We look forward to rekindling those bonds and reconnecting with family there. There will also be some time to meet new members of God’s family - whether they are simply new to us or new in the family. Next week I will post about our travel plans. We hope to be able to see some of you when we come through the US. 

(Photo is ABSS 2025)

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. 

Growing as a family

Every year we try to be encouragers in all that we do. All of the activities we plan and are part of are connected to how we hope God can use us for His kingdom. This year has begun and will continue no different. We are looking forward to the various activities we can take part in. 

This past weekend we traveled up to Haarlem (2.5 hours north) for a day of singing. The church there is wanting to learn more about singing and how to sing better together. Mostly they want to do this so that they as a congregation can learn new songs and sing well to the Lord on Sundays. But they are also looking at using this as a means of reaching out in the community with the gospel. They asked us to come and help with learning and it has been a great time of encouragement. Each time we have been, there are at least 10 members learning and singing together with us. 

We have been doing the same thing in Eindhoven for several years, although we have had to miss the last few months. It is exciting and encouraging for us to be able to spend time with congregations in other cities and to see and show how God encourages and teaches us through song. But singing is not all that we are looking forward to in the coming months. 

Before we leave for the US for two months (in May and June) we are looking at various ways of reaching out in the neighborhood in Maastricht. In the coming month we will be going around the neighborhood with a questionnaire about church and society in order to gauge where the neighborhood is and also to encourage people to think about the choices they are making. At the same time we hope to again let people know that we are active in the neighborhood. 

We also hope to get downtown Maastricht at some point to engage with people on the street, asking them what questions they might have for God. We have been preparing for this during our Wednesday studies when we look at some of the questions that people ask and how we as Christians can answer them. We hope to be going into town as weather gets better and there are more people walking outside. We would love your prayers for these efforts. 

In addition we of course are also working on plans for the summer camp weeks and training church members for leadership in those areas. The leadership training “Breathe” will be organized at the end of March. Shirley and I will also be leading the Benjamin week at the end of the summer when we return from our trip to the US. Camp opportunities are always a chance to encourage campers as well as the team that we work with during the week that we lead. 

Before all of that comes, we are also looking at some growing time for ourselves and with church family members. Scott will go down to ABSS (Advanced Bible Study Series) at the middle of February with some brothers from Haarlem and Maastricht. Shirley will go to the Ladies Retreat in March with several sisters from Maastricht. It continues to amaze us how God can use so many opportunities to encourage us and others and to help us all grow in grace. 

(Photo: the invitation for the camp leaders training session "Breathe")