For kings and all those in authority

Some days seem bigger than others, but all days belong to the Lord. One of the things that hit me again last year was how little we all know of what is going on in the world and how important things can be for others. Our congregation in Maastricht is quite international, so we hear of things happening all over the world. And we pray for God’s guidance and strength each and every day. 

Elections in Belgium and Netherlands can lead to changes in government. Or the government can still be struggling to form, in the case of Belgium. Wars and conflicts are taking place not only in Ukraine, but also in Syria, Sudan, and many other places. A combination of government and dangerous struggles is present in Kenya or Ecuador. And we (in Maastricht and perhaps for you as well) have family in each of these places. 

We pray for leaders in Brazil, in Iran, Syria, Sudan or the Philippines. We think about what is happening in Germany or Italy, Ecuador or Venezuela, Suriname or the United States. We are part of a body that is around the world and active in all of these places. And it is good to bring each of these places and situations before our Lord in prayer. 

It may seem repetitive or maybe useless, wondering if world leaders, kings and queens, dictators and tyrants are ever going to listen. But God - our King of kings - has asked us to pray for these leaders and situations, reminding us that He is truly in control. We are not the ones who know what is happening or what can happen (despite all the people telling us their opinions about what is going to happen). 

As “big” things are happening in the world, father and mothers are still trying to be good parents, showing their children what God looks like and what is most important in life. Neighbors are still looking for help and people still want to know more about Jesus and why He is called the Christ. Our Father is still in control of each and every moment, and we can give Him these moments every day. 

Today will influence many - not necessarily because of political changes - because God is working through each of us in all of our various places and moments. We want to live for Him and we pray for leaders and kings that we will be able to live in peace. 

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-4

An eventful day

Some days just stay etched in your mind. I remember hearing from people who could remember everything that happened on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. I remember watching the first landing on the moon and know exactly where I was when the Challenger blew up. In the Netherlands people remember where they were when they heard about the Bijlmer catastrophe (plane flying into a block of flats) or when the fireworks blew away a whole neighborhood in Enschede. In Belgium people remember the time hearing of Dutroux (a man who kidnapped and killed young girls) or the gas pipeline explosion near Ath. 

Some things just stick in your mind, become part of the tapestry of history of a place. That is what this date is for many in the world. September 11 brought some major changes in the world which are still reverberating today. We stood watching the news on the television repeating, “What? What? Oh no!” The boys were not quite sure what was happening and why we were so upset. It seemed at that moment that the world was falling apart. 

And yet, that was a very eventful time for us in general. When we first came to Belgium it was to work with the church in Maastricht, the Netherlands. We lived for a year in Antwerp, Belgium to get into the language and still be able to be with a congregation before we would start things with a new team in Maastricht. 

We were able to get a permit to stay in the country which was renewed every year. When we looked into how we would work things with the team, it was easier to stay living in Belgium rather than move into the Netherlands.  So we found a place to live, close by the border, and continued renewing our permit. This worked well for us and at one point we were able to get a 5 year card, instead of renewing every year. 

But coming up on 2000 the government decided that they needed to change things concerning foreigners in the country. It was not a problem to be working for a company, but religious workers were not going to be allowed to stay any more. We were informed that we would need to leave the country. 

Around this same time, the opportunity to become a Belgian opened up. Both the US and Belgium technically allow dual citizenship and the more we looked into it, the better it looked. The process to become Belgian was fairly simple. We wanted to be sure that we would still be able to get back to the US if needed, so only Scott went through the process. We heard the good news right around September 11 in 2001. 

Now it would be possible to stay in the country and continue our work with the church in Maastricht and churches in Belgium. As with the apostle Paul, we would now be able to use both nationalities, both citizenships. We would now be able to move freely within the European Union and preach the gospel. This was a real blessing that we could not have foreseen. And it came at a time when we wondered what was happening with the world. 

Clearly, God has a different perspective on what is happening in the world. We have good friends all around the globe who experience things others may never even hear about. Have you heard of the struggles in Sudan? Of the elections in Kenya? Of the hurricane that basically wiped much of St. Maarten away? Of the tsunami in Indonesia? And so much more (including a war in Ukraine). Or most recently, the earthquake that has killed thousands in Morocco? It may seem like the world is ending. It may look like there is no way forward. It may feel like God has forgotten. But we know that this is not true. We have seen so many times before (look at all the times in the Old Testament) that God has been faithful. He knows what is going on. He can use even this time for His glory. 

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.  Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5

God is good all the time

What do you do when things seem to go wrong? Most people want to stay calm and move ahead. But how does one do that? It means that you have to trust - doctors, politicians, parents, schools and more. But can we trust? Most of us have experienced that people are not to be trusted. Not that people always are evil, but people are people. We are all human - and that means that we are fallible. We make mistakes. We let people down. 

I remember well, before I was a Christian, hearing Ron Carter say from the pulpit: “Don’t put your trust in me. I will certainly let you down.” And he did. Even a man that I (still) consider to have had a deep influence on my life for the good. He was after all, just a man. But he knew something that I did not know then. He was a man who walked with God. 

Since then I have met many people who knew the same thing. I have given my life to God as well. That doesn’t mean that I, or any of these people, have become somehow perfect. What it means is that we have figured out who we can really trust. When everything else is going to let you down, the Father in heaven, with whom we walk daily, will always be there and be reliable. 

When we were traveling in the States we came across some amazing examples of people who know this very truth. A young couple pregnant with their first child were able to only greet their too-soon born child for minutes before having to say goodbye as the child died. And yet this couple spoke of the goodness of their Heavenly Father and how good He is. 

In the coming weeks we will be visiting with a sister in the church in Eindhoven to talk about her funeral. She has known for some time that she is dying. And she praises the God of all creation, singing to his glory when her voice allows it. She understands what it is about and shares this with those around her. God has given her life and eternal life. And her trust in His grace speaks of His beauty. 

At the same time, we have witnessed joy and happiness in so many around us due to this same trust in God. A laughing family of young girls blessing a couple who may have thought at one time that such a thing was not possible. Happy faces thankful for the extra years that have been granted after a cancer diagnosis. 

At the end of June we were thankful for becoming grandparents for the first time - even if it was earlier than expected. Sophia Ruby Raab was welcomed into the world. All are safe and the new family is getting used to being a family together. And God is good - all of the time. He is the One who can be trusted. He gives what we need most - strength to deal with all situations. He teaches us to put our trust where it truly belongs - in Him. 

As war rages in parts of the world, as sickness devastates bodies, as political situations seem to darken the future, we can know that there is One in whom we can put our trust. But then we must be ready to accept what He presents to us. Like the young couple who for a minute welcomed their child, like the sister who knows where she is going, like the brothers and sisters living for God in a strange land because war is ravaging theirs, we can know and live as people who trust that it will work out.

God IS good. He is good all of the time. We can only see that if we can trust Him. We can try to trust other things, but we will be disappointed. We are thankful that we have found and learned to trust God who is good all the time.  

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Disrupted

It is probably nothing new to you. You probably already know. I did, but I had forgotten. When things just go along as they should, or as I think they should, when everything is normal, we tend to fall asleep. I remember traveling with a recruiting group from York College called “Friends”. We would often travel from a summer camp in Wisconsin or Minnesota to a camp in Kansas or Texas, driving through the night to get there on time. We all shared the driving duties, but the night shift was for our manager, Scott Lambert and Brett Osborne, who was reliable. We didn’t want anyone falling asleep at the wheel. 

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

It is interesting to see that when God is saving His people, He never does it the way that they anticipated. As a matter of fact, it is almost always in a way that no one expected and most have difficulty accepting. The people fleeing Egypt ask Mozes why he brought them to this sea where they are caught between a watery death and death by Pharaoh. But Mozes hadn’t brought them there, God had. 

When the disciples finally come to Jesus and ask/plead to send the crowd away to get something to eat, Jesus has other plans. He is the one who talked so long and knew that it would come to this. He knows what He can do with a young boy’s lunch. And when the disciples tell Jesus about his friend Lazarus who is sick, Jesus decides to wait a bit longer because he knows what he is going to do. God likes to surprise us. Or is it that we simply have a hard time expecting what God can do and are thus always surprised?

It is not God’s purpose that we all have a nice quiet life together. That is not why we are here. We have come to Jesus to join his kingdom and fight to free ever more people from the slavery of sin and death. Paul tells Timothy, “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2 Tim. 2:4). So I shouldn’t be surprised when my life gets turned upside down. I should hunker down and move the direction God is taking me. After all, that is why Paul mentions the footwear of the Roman soldier in Ephesians 6 - the gospel of peace. 

God is the Master of using disruption for good. Satan likes to disturb and destroy. There are all sorts of ways that Satan keeps us busy. And sometimes he just wants us to fall asleep. But that is not why we are here - and God makes sure that we know that. So I am trying to see best how God can use me in this time. Wait a minute - let me rephrase that. I don’t need to see how He is going to do it. I don’t need to understand. I simply need to keep doing what I know He desires and trust in His strength and might. Then He can use me mightily - however He wishes. 

We still cannot get across the border, where most of our work was going on. We are trying to keep in touch with seekers in other ways - using computers, phones or good old snail mail. The church has jumped into the silence, stirring up the ‘everyday’ with all sorts of ‘unique’. We are talking to each other more now than before, concerned with each others spiritual health and growth. We are praying not only for the good health of those around us, but are more than ever aware of the need to pray for spiritual salvation. 

The sun is shining outside and has been for the last several weeks. We have started to get used to the way we do things in these corona days. Each day often looks like every other - so much so that we sometimes have a hard time remembering which day of the week it is. Time for this to be disrupted. The government here has communicated their plans to move out of isolation. I am excited and wondering what God will do next. No matter what, I am trying to remain faithful and ready to follow wherever He will lead in the coming days. 

Maybe we will go back to some of the activities we had before. We are still hoping that our summer Bible camps will be allowed to continue. Maybe we will be forced into some completely new ways of doing things. But no disruption will be able to take me away from Him who has conquered and makes me a conqueror. 

It is time to wake up, O sleeper. Walk in the Light, every day. Here is one of my favorite songs (written by my colleague) expressing this mighty passage: Romans 8:31-39.  

The Tale of the Alternate Airport

All airports are areas of amazing adventure. Our journey across the water began in Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) and ended in MSP (Minnepolis-St. Paul, which is Minnesota), but it was the stops in between which make the tale complete of course, since we did not fly from Amsterdam to Minnesota. No, in the effort made by many these days (remember the days of consulting a travel agent?) to make flying more affordable, we had booked a cheaper flight, which meant more flights. 

I must apologize that we have no pictures of this part of our travels (these are not mine). We were too busy getting from one place to another. We flew from Schiphol to London Heathrow early in the morning. In London we enjoyed the hospitality of this mega-airport for a short time before stepping on the plane to Ney York City’s John F. Kenndy airport. A short 6 hours or so (and several movies on our personal media device) later, we landed in the Big Apple – and there began our biggest adventure. 

We had planned a flight from Newark airport to Minneapolis. For those of you who do not know, Newark is in New Jersey, which is the next state over from New York. “No problem”, thought I, “New York City and Newark are actually right next to each other and flow into one another.” And we had more than four hours on a layover to get from one to the other. We had landed at midday and our flight wasn’t leaving until after 5pm. As long as there were no problems with the bus we had arranged to get us from one airport to the next, their would be no problems at all. 

And that is when adventures truly begin. When everything is going as planned, adventure is waiting, watching for the moment to jump in and make things exciting. It is when things begin to fall apart, depart from the plan, that adventure smiles broadly and makes an entrance. And so too with our trip. 

The bus was called and would arrive within 45 minutes. We sat waiting, watching the various peoples that congeal and disapate in laughter and conversation, welcoming parents from their trip, screaming in delight at seeing one another after many months or years. A girl’s volleyball team loudly saying goodbye to each other as they went their separate ways. Several Jewish families waiting patiently to be picked up. A southern couple drawling about what they had seen and would tell to the grandkids. 

And we waited. Our flight was to leave at 5:30pm, but we knew we would still need to go through customs and get to the gate once we made it to the airport. We figured (and had checked out) that midday traffic across town would not be bad and we should be able to make the trip in 90 minutes. So if the bus came by 2pm at least, eveyrthing would be fine. But it was now 2 o’clock and the bus had not yet arrived. 

After waiting 2 hours, the bus finally arrived, having already passed our entrance and needing to drive completely around the airport again to arrive back at our entrance. Together with a man who was outwardly showing what we were feeling inside, we handed our luggage to the driver who would load it on the van. All of the luggage (the van was full of passengers) had been tossed higgeldy-piggeldy in the bag of the van, piled up like the stack a young child makes when cleaning up their toys. 

The van departed into what was now quickly becoming rush hour traffic – in New York City! “Are we heading into that traffic?” one passenger exclaimed with anguish. We tried not to worry, knowing that, whatever happened, we would be okay. We looked for things that Sean and Jill might see on a regular day, names of places we had heard them mention. We thrilled at crossing the Verazzano Narrows bridge. And when the van came to a car-pool lane and passed by all the still-standing traffic, we all breathed a sigh of relief. 

In the end, we – as the last ones out of the van, after the driver had to undo his toy-stack with each departing passenger – arrived at our terminal, ran to our gate and stood in line for the security check (shoes off, belt off, change out, computer out etc). It was 5pm and our flight would board at 5:05pm. In the row in front of us, two women jovially discussed their work. They too, were on their way to Minneapolis and seemed not worried in the least. 

It turns out the plane was slightly delayed and we had time to grab something to eat from an airport store. We even enjoyed another sit down watching the people who would board with us. This would be a slightly shorter flight and we were planning on sleeping. It had been almost 24 hours since we woke to go to the airport. When we arrived in Minneapolis, we were met by Dale Hawley’s friendly face. He took us to our hotel (we would be leaving for Iowa the next morning), gave us the keys to his car and bade us good night. 

We had survived and enjoyed another amazing adventure. We have learned, time and again, that even if things do not work out as we expected or hoped, they work out. God is with us wherever we go. Which is why we simply look out for how we can be an encouragement to those around us and enjoy the ride. But the ride – that is the next tale. 

The Taming of the Shrew

One of my favorite movies is “The Taming of the Shrew” with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. It’s a favorite on several levels. I always wondered how much of the fireworks on the screen actually came from the actors’ real-life relationship. One could easliy see them acting and reacting in exactly this way even while walking around Hollywood.

And I really enjoyed how they were able to make Shaekspeare sound like everyday, normal language. That is how I hear it as well, when I read it. But the kids in my class thought it was so difficult to understand. It is how so many people (especially these days) react to the King James Bible. But if you know what is being said, it’s all simply normal. That is what a good Shaespearian actor can do for the wonderful writing that is Shakespeare.

What I like the most in this piece, however, is the message. I would imagine that this play doesn’t get much air time in schools these days. It has always incited ambivalent reactions in its audiences. Perhaps people think that it is too demeaning of women. This is unfortunate, since the story is exactly the opposite of the woman-bashing some might at first glance see. And it presents a message we all need. I won’t tell you what it is about, if you have not read it or seen it (and if you watch a film, choose the one with Burton and Taylor). I challenge you to check the story out.

What I will mention is how much we can learn from Katherina and Petruchio (as well as the others, of course). Why do I fight so hard against some things that are said? Am I just rebelling to be rebellious? To show that I am in control? Who is the shrew? And what am I really looking for? Am I honest with myself and those around me? These are questions that are very pertinent in my spiritual life as well. I want to be able to trust, knowing that I can trust.

For those who are interested:

Cole Porter’s “Kiss me Kate” (a musical) and the film “10 Things I hate about You” (a modern version) are also adaptations of this play. (I have seen “Kiss me, Kate” but prefer the Burton/Taylor version for the language). 

Let go

Recently I have been struggling with and thrilling to the lessons I am learning from three women in my life. How much do I want to hold on to? How much can I let go and really trust God? These three ladies have struggled with these questions far more and far more seriously than I have ever had to. One is struggling through MS and cancer, another is soon to die from cancer and one has lost yet another child to a miscarriage. Their attidues are challenging me to examine how much I really trust.

Many of you may know Sandi Rog. We have worked with them in the past here in the Netherlands. You may have read her books or followed her situation on her blog or prayed for her in a Wednesday evening group. I am thankful for her wording of her struggle here.  Am I willing to let my children go, knowing that they are in God’s hands, that they will have to make their own decisions and that God has surrounded them with wonderful people (as he had surrounded me as well at that time in my life)? A wonderful, challenging thought.

We work together with Luk and Holly Brazle, who live in Ghent, Belgium. Youth weekends and Bible camp are just a few of the things we do together, even though we live separated by most of the country (but it’s a small country). We are encouraged by their faith and gentleness, their joy in the Lord. And we have seen some of their struggles through the years. They recently expereinced another miscarriage. They have two wonderful boys, but have also lost several other children in miscarriages. Their attitude is also one of faith and trust which so inspires me (please read their thoughts here).

And then there is Irene. She will soon be going home to be with our wonderful Father. She has struggled with cancer in her body. She is a young woman, not yet 50. I know that sounds old to some, but so many have so many more years. But for Irene, this is a time to be used by God. She is ready to go home, if this is the time. She is also willing to have her sickness be used to show the greatness of a God who carries us through pain. But this has only been possible because she has put her whole life in God’s hands – not just the good things, not just the bad things – everything!

I want to trust God fully with my life. This is what gives real peace and real strength. Can I trust God with my life? Do I give him all my anxiety and joy? I am not alone in this struggle. I know that you know what I am talking about. I am so thankful for my Father who also not only knows what is going on, but is always present and helping.

Of course the Holy Spirit says it best:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:6-11