Now that's family!

I have used this space before to talk about family. It's one of my favourite topics. Shirley and I both grew up in large families, although we did not always know our extended family. But once we became Christians, we found out what family really means. I remember the first time I read Jesus' words in Mark 10:29-30 about leaving family for Jesus. I was already experiencing this truth in my Christian life and it would only be emphasised even more through the years. 

God loves family. He created it. It is His design. And it is amazing. So when we have opportunity to experience family, we enjoy it completely. And the last months have been full of family moments. 

On March 15 our Raab family added a daughter-in-law as Sean married Jill Verhaeghe just outside of Brussels. Both Sean and Jill work and live in Brussels. Jill joined us on a trip to Prague in January as we got to know her better. Now we look forward to getting to know her and being there as family for her and Sean. On May 26 we will hold a reception for the church members and friends in the area so that the broader family can get to know Jill as well - and vice-versa. We have been so thankful for the help that our brothers and sisters have been. 

At the end of March we spent a day with church family from all over the Netherlands and Belgium singing, learning new songs and getting to know one another. This was the 5th time a Song Workshop was organised and we had about 25 participants. The church in Rotselaar hosted us for the first time and we saw several first-time participants. 
We are so thankful for brothers and sister who so desire to spend time together and to spend that time singing to the Lord, our Father. Since I was leading the workshop, there are not many pictures, but we had a great and upbuilding time. We were able to record some songs that were new for some. And we learned some new hymns that I hope more in the church will be able to learn as well. 

At the beginning of April we said goodbye to our sweet sister in Christ, Willemien. She was 96 and has been patiently waiting to go Home for years. Her spirit of sharing, of patience in the Lord, of strength in His promises has always been an encouragement to me. Our life will be very different with her gone and we will miss her. But we so look forward to the time we will sing with her again around the throne. 
We were thankful that her passing was also a time of coming together, sharing as family, remembering how good it is to be children of God. He designed family for these very purposes. 

Take time this week - on Sunday and the days in between the weekend - to experience and remember how good it is to be part of His family. 

What kind of child are you?

As you have read, we challenged the young people at the youth weekend in Maastricht to read one of the gospels during October. I am reading through the gospel according to John.

‘Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or of a husband’s will, but born of God.’ (John 1:12-13)

I was supposed to be a girl. That was the plan. My sister is the oldest, then my older brother. So the plan was to have another girl and then a boy, making the perfect family of four kids, two boys and two girls. Of course, I was not a girl. And the next several tries for that girl also never panned out. I am one of 5 brothers, with my sister as the lone sister and oldest.

But that was the plan. My parents had a plan. They decided to have me. That in itself is a wonderful thought. There are plenty of people who only ‘plan’ on having sex, fulfilling themselves. A child is an unwanted, unforeseen (really?) consequence that needs to be dealt with. I was desired. And loved. And cared for. But I did not choose to be here. Someone else made that choice.

John tells us something amazing. Did you catch it? To be a child of God (the Creator of heaven and earth, the Eternal, the Almighty, the Loving One), I can be born. It is no one else’s decision and no one else can do it for me. There is no person who can make you a Christian, deciding for you that you will have wanted to make that choice.

But I can. I can decide to receive him, believe in his name. Then I have a right to become a child of God. I can choose this wonderful Father, because He has chosen me. And He has chosen you. Will I simply stand outside, accept being only a child of my parents, or will I accept the invitation to be a child of God? You see, I am both. God allowed me to be born into the family my parents ‘planned’. And then He invited me into His family. I am formed by both. And God makes both situations glorious, because He is this wonderful Father, able to turn even the worst situation into a victory.

What kind of child are you? Will you be His child?