COPA Benelux

This past weekend we were united in fun. Really. Every year the COPA Benelux - an indoor soccer tournament for teams from around Belgium and the Netherlands - is organized. In Maastricht we try to form a team to play, but the last few years this has not been possible. So this year three of us from Maastricht joined three from Gent and one from Haarlem to form a team. We are FUN United.

You see, the teams are split up in Pro and Fun. The Pro teams are serious. They usually have people who know how to play, are basically fit and are serious about winning - although they are also there to have fun. Christians know how to have fun. God made fun. The other teams, made up mostly of kids (at least 10 years old), people who don’t know that much about soccer and older people make up the Fun teams. 

This year there were only 3 fun teams and 7 pro teams. But the fun teams definitely had fun. Our team did not win any games, although we made some of them fairly exciting. Still, we got third place. (This is where one would put an emoji sticking his cheeky tongue out). It was fun to play although my body definitely feels it still, two days later. We had some beautiful goals and plenty of screaming to root one another one. 

In between matches I always enjoy meeting new people and checking in with people we do not get to see very often. There were some players from Antwerp that we only see during this tournament. And it was good to check in with them. One of the other Fun teams was from Den Haag. As a matter of fact, last year I won the Fun tournament as part of their team. This year they also won in a thrilling final that only ended after penalty shootouts. 

I am always thankful for people around the country who make the effort to put something like this together. This is a place where young people can get together. It is a time when older people can connect with younger people in a different way. It is a moment when everyone sees that perseverance and fairness are part of having fun. It was great, nearing the end of the day, when we all gathered to sing praises to God and hear a pep talk. Like Luk Brazle always mentions - soccer and singing go together. We love singing to God who gives us such fun moments. 

The photo is of FUN United. You can find more photos of the day here. 

Thank-you-very-much-you’re-welcome

Have you ever noticed? It is such a hard thing to do: to simply say, “Thank you.” Why is that? I know that part of it is a desire to be humble – a misplaced desire (the desire is not misplaced, but it gets put in the wrong place). When someone compliments me on something I have done, or on a characteristic that they have noticed or experienced in me, why do I feel the need to minimalize that? Because I think that otherwise I am being proud, tooting my own horn. So I say something like, “It’s nothing really. I just threw that together.” Or something like, “This old thing? I just found it in a thrift store.”

It is often true. Maybe it is something that I just threw together. Maybe I did get for a really good price so that it looks expensive but wasn’t. Maybe it is something that is easy for me. But am I being humble when I mention that?

God gives gifts as He sees fit. We are blessed with certain abilities that others do not have. That is how we can help and serve one another. If we didn’t have different abilities, we would not need one another, we would not be a body. (Consider Oholiab and Bezalel in Exodus 31 and 1 Corinthians 12 about the body).

What I am actually doing is negating what the other has said. I am basically saying that they are a liar. That what they are saying is either not true or not correctly seen or not actually important. But that is not at all what I want to do! It isn’t what I mean to be doing! But it is what is happening.

On the other side, what do I do when someone thanks me for something? Too often I minimalize again. Perhaps I don’t know how to deal with the attention. Once again, I don’t want to be prideful. So I deny them their thankfulness. Of course that is not at all what I want to do, but when I minimalize their thanks, I am not being humble.

I have noticed that this gets in the way of my relationships. Maybe you have noticed that as well (in your relationship with me – or in your own relationships). But it doesn’t have to happen. We all learned as children some simple ways of dealing with these situations.

When I was a kid there were a few ‘magic’ words: Please, Thank you, and You’re welcome. Nothing has changed since I have grown except that I have gotten taller and older. God asks us to be thankful to Him. He has made us and knows how we work best. Thankfulness is what puts all into perspective.

Thanking someone is good, but it is the same when they compliment us. They have done something for us – given of themselves, opened themselves up to us. It is best for me and for him/her to simply be thankful. If you have been able to do something for another, or be something for another and he/she mentions this in a compliment – say, “Thank you.” It is that simple. If someone thanks you for what you have done or said or have been – simply say, “You’re welcome.” No more, no less.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Jesus, social media, the bank and the cloud

What do we choose?
Can we get closer together and keep following this path?

I am trying to deal with moving all of my information from an old computer to a newer one. This happens to me about every 6 years or so when I update my computer. But for a while there has been this thing called 'the cloud'. Try explaining that some time to a person who doesn't use computers. That will truly test your language skills. But the cloud has been a great help in moving my files from one computer to the next (and connecting the various computers in our house). And I have had my pictures (like the one here) in the cloud for quite some years now.

As a matter of fact, years ago, one paid for a little slice of cloud. Now there are so many competitors that a big chunk of cloud is free. I was ruminating on that thought during a morning walk with the dog recently. It all seems so wonderful. A great place to store all of that information, all those pictures, contacts, thoughts. Just like a floppy disk, but bigger and easier. (Don't know what a floppy disk is? Ask someone who is at least 40.)

But at our house we have also been struggling with our internet. Okay, we have not been struggling with the internet, we have been struggling with our frustration over our internet provider and our lack of internet access. So what happens when everything you have is in the cloud and you can't reach the cloud? That is what hit me during my morning rumination. First they get you to give them all your stuff, then they restrict access to that very stuff and charge you for it.

The same thing happens with your money. You earn money for the work you do and you want to keep it safe, so you put it in a bank. As a matter of fact, the bank even pays you to let them use your money (because they earn money using your money). But then they stop paying you (you get no interest), and instead you end up paying more for even less access to your own money. If it were possible, you could take it out and hide it in your mattress, but these days you can barely pay for things with cash. Everything is digital, you use your phone to bank and even to pay for the parking meter or bus ticket.

Even our relationships have moved off into the cloud. There has been more than enough said about the trend toward absent presence (physically present in a group, but actually absent due to being present on your 'smart' phone). We have given away our relationships - the touch, intonation, the fidgeting that makes us who we are - and settle for a shadowed version of friendship. Mind you, this internet possibility is wonderful for those who are separated by great distances. But do we really want to place our proximally close relationships into these fickle, clouded hands?

And that is where my chewing was really bringing me. Our relationship with Jesus is something that too often also gets loaned out, passed into the hands of others. I don't need to think about a certain position, a truth - if it is what Jesus wants or not - there are others who think about those things and tell me about it. This has long been a discussion among Christians: how much does one rely on teachers (for teachers are given by God - think about Eph. 4:11-15) and how much responsibility lies with the individual believer?

If I give away my responsibility to know Jesus, to walk in relationship with him, to know what he thinks is important and how he wants things done - then I place myself in a position where those who say they know hold me hostage. I must then go to them for information. OR I retain only a vague, shadowy relationship with the very One who created me and knows me better than any other. I don't want to give away this relationship. I don't want someone helpfully relieving me of the 'troublesome task' of truly getting to know and follow Jesus.

I will continue using the cloud and the bank and social media - and enjoying the perks - but I will also pay attention to retaining and building the most important links for life. I will continue sharing thoughts and ideas with other followers of Jesus, listening to teaching that can help me stretch and grow. But I will above all continue to keep Jesus close, learning from His word what he thinks is most important and putting that into practice.

Take your time

I need to be outside pulling weeds. Or in the pantry putting in new electrical outlets. I so like to have things done, but I hate doing the preparatory work necessary to get it done right. It all takes so much time! Although I must admit that I also dislike all the trouble that comes from a job poorly prepared. Then I just end up doing the job twice!

Most of the time my lack of patience means that I do not have the right tools at hand. Have you ever gotten up on the ladder and realized that the screw you need is down on the floor - somewhere among all those things? Then when you have gotten the screw and are back up the ladder, you realize that the screwdriver is down on the floor (you know where)! Or even worse, you disassemble the toilet to find out that the one piece of equipment you need to fix it (or even put it back together) is not in your toolchest at all. 

I know that I am not very patient. I like to think that I am fairly patient with people – although I know that I am the hardest on those closest to me (my children and my wife). But, as will all good work, building and maintaining relationships also takes some good preparation.

It is important, if I want to be able to encourage someone in their faith, to know who they really are and what they are actually struggling with. Simply tossing some scripture their way and leaving them to it is not going to help. And I don't always feel that I have the tools to help in every situation. Some things I can learn, others are out of my grasp. That’s why God put us in a family. We are then able to influence one another, use our talents and benefit from the talents of others as we grow together. But then I need to be willing to put the effort into those relationships.

I am thankful that God takes time to help me grow. I want to be willing to take time to help others as well.