Father's Image

Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-25)

You may not believe me, but I've recently met Rembrandt! No, not the man himself, but I visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and stood face to face with one of his great paintings, ‘Titus as a monk’. And you know what? I didn't know this painting at all! It really is an extraordinary piece of art. Most of the canvas is painted with all the dark colours that Rembrandt is famous for. Your eyes are automatically drawn to the pale face of Rembrandt's son Titus, posing in a dark brown robe and monk's hood. Please allow me to share this special experience with you... No, I can't show you the real painting (you have to visit Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum to experience this sensation) - but I can give you a little picture with this official description:

Rembrandt painted this portrait of his son Titus dressed as a monk in 1660. The monk's habit offered Rembrandt the opportunity to show his skills in the painting of brown tones. He depicted every possible nuance of brown, both in the deep shadows and light areas, so that the thick woolen material almost becomes tangible. In the background, Rembrandt has loosely painted a bush and a wall. Titus's thin face is separated from the background by the brown hood. This concentrates attention on his downcast eyes and his introspective gaze. Titus was not a monk, although he probably served here as a model for the famous monk: St Francis of Assisi.

Maybe you are thinking, hmm, that's all very interesting, but why do we need to know this? Please visit the Rijksmuseum and be awestruck by Rembrandt! No, the man is not there in person, but then again - he is... You can see his master skills in every touch, in every little detail. But you can also see how much he cared about his son, because his love is mirrored in a face that is so real that you almost feel like touching it. You can also hear Rembrandt's heartbeat and experience his passion in this timeless painting. Yes indeed - you can feel his creative genius deep down inside your soul...

There's no denying, you can meet Rembrandt in the Rijksmuseum. A piece of art was never produced by sheer coincidence - out of absolutely nothing. If you think that such a coincidental creatio ex nihilo is a human possibility, you need to get a mental check-up. Only God can create beauty out of nothing and speak things into existence! Just look around you, do you recognize the Master's hand in the beauty of his creation? Did you ever have an up-close and personal look at the image of his Son, as depicted in God's living Word? Did you ever hear the Father's heartbeat and did you ever experience the power and inspiration of his Holy Spirit? Well, you can. And you don't have to travel to Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum to get in touch with the Father through his Son. Open your heart to the Spirit of God and he will open your eyes for the truth that can be found right here.

Click pic to enlarge. Source picture and description.

Fully focused on the goal ahead

It's easy to miss this point, but John tells us about some Greek men who were trying to get in touch with Jesus via two of his disciples.
Jesus was determined. He was going to fulfill his mission - nothing could stop him, nobody could distract him. His journey would lead him through hell and back and his purpose was to bring eternal life to all who put their trust in him! Read more here

A moment to cherish

This is my favourite photograph: me walking with my daughter Sosha when she was just a little girl. How time flies! Sosha is a big girl now (13) - so I am happy that my brother in law Rob Koster captured this special moment for us years ago! (Click pic to enlarge)

Picture left: Sosha in 2007 - she still likes to walk on grass, but now she plays football and I am here biggest fan, of course.
If you have a favourite picture (perhaps also with your son or daughter) - please upload it on your blog and leave a comment here so that we can all take a look!

Who is Zechariah talking about?

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. Zechariah 12:10

Definition of sin

Sin isn’t only doing bad things, it is more fundamentally making good things into ultimate things. Sin is building your life and meaning on anything, even a very good thing, more than on God. Whatever we build our life on will drive us and enslave us. Sin is primarily idolatry. -Tim Keller, Talking About Idolatry in a Postmodern Age

September Sunday

Click pic to enlarge. Have a look at my other pics here.

Roof extension and extra bedroom

Today the builders will come to change the shape of our roof and create space for an extra bedroom. Our daughters Sosha (13) and Pascalle (10) share one bedroom now, but this room will be enlarged and split in two separate bedrooms. I hope to upload some pics here to show you the changes that will take place during the next 3 weeks.
This is the current situation and the new situation as already realised at one of our neighbours' houses. (Click pics to enlarge)

The writing is on the wall

Our girls took advantage of the fact that their bedroom will be completely changed. They chalked some drawings and texts on the wallpaper of their bedroom - and I made some pictures of their art work just before the builders started their work!
Sosha loves football and you can still tell where her bed once was... Of course she took all the posters with her sporting heroes off the wall after these pictures were taken. The text in the second pic states: I'm God's Original Creation. So true. (Click pics to enlarge.)

My Very Own Moai Statue

The Statues of Easter Island

The famous Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl led the first archaeological expedition to Easter Island in 1955- 56. In 1962 he gave a series of lectures to the Swedish Society of Anthropology and Geography in Stockholm. Read more here

Why don't Christians observe Yom Kippur?

Carol has left a comment on my last blog entry and mentioned the fact that today our Jewish brothers and sisters are celebrating Yom Kippur. Her comment was slightly off-topic, but -as always when Carol has something to say- very thought provoking. I decided to write a special blog post about this subject and I invite you all to join the discussion if you have something to add.

This is what Carol wrote:

Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement set out in Leviticus and elsewhere. Traditionally this marks the day Moses received the second set of the Ten Commandments and marks the point at which the Israelites were exonerated for making the Golden Calf (hence the “Atonement”). I’ve always been curious as to why Christians don’t note this observance. I’m sure it has something to do with the idea that we are “free of the Law” (which is in itself somewhat suspect). I’m not set up to observe it; I have to work today, as does Doug. However, I am going to give some thought today to what I have to atone for.

This is what Jews for Jesus have to say about Yom Kippur:

Yom Kippur can be somewhat of a conundrum to Jewish believers in Y'shua. Do we fast and confess our sins like the rest of the Jewish community or do we rejoice in the knowledge that we're forgiven in Messiah? Many Jewish believers view Yom Kippur as a time for identification with our Jewish people, introspection for ourselves and intercession for loved ones, knowing all the while that Jesus is the One that makes us at one with God.

And this is my personal reflection on Carol's comment:

For me, as a publisher, the second set of the Ten Commandments sounds like the first REPRINT ever. But in this case the reprint was not by popular demand but by human disobedience and divine interference. We have a merciful God, a God of second chances!

I've been reading Paul's letter to the Galatians this week - in different translations. I like to read Eugene Peterson's the Message and Rob Lacey's Street Bible - because the old words have a strong impact if you read them in contemporary language. I am not suggesting that we all should replace 'official' bible translations by modern paraphrases, but sometimes there seems to be too much distance between the ancient sacred texts and us, modern readers in 2007. We must also read a letter in one go - not in fragments - if we want to get the whole message...

Paul stressed that we should NOT go back to the old testament rules and regulations, because Jesus has liberated us from the law. He didn't abandon the law, but he fulfilled it by his perfect life, perfect sacrifice and glorious resurrection. Yes indeed, we are FREE of the law. Mind you, God's standard was not replaced, but raised by Jesus! Read Matthew 5 if you want to know the rules and regulations of the new contract. This is not an updated version of the Law, this is the new edition - revealed to us by Jesus who shows us how merciful and loving his Father is!

I think that we can still learn a lot from our Jewish heritage as believers (descendants of Abraham), but there is always this risk of falling back into old patterns, sticking to old rules and trying to add something to what Jesus has completed for us. This is why many Christians stay away from old testament rules and celebrations, I suppose. But in the new testament we can also read that the history of the people of Israel is an example for us (often an example of how NOT to act in disobedience - like with the golden calf).
Read 1 Corinthians 10 if you want to know more about this.

Our day of atonement was the day that Jesus died for all sins of all people of all times. With such a celebration on Good Friday there is no need for a Christian version of Yom Kippur, just like Easter has come to succeed Pesach.

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews 7:26-28

This is what Paul teaches us in Romans 3:21-31

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law."

By the way, don't forget to have a look at Dry Bone's Yom Kippur confession. Yes, may you all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life! Blessings to all children of faith, all sons and daughters of Abraham.

And if you have some time left, check out this blog entry by Jews for Jesus blogger Chad Elliott.

Rapa Nui / Easter Island video

Known locally as Rapa Nui. An island of Chile in the southern Pacific Ocean about 3,701 km (2,300 mi) west of the mainland. Discovered by Dutch explorers on Easter Day, 1722, the island is famous for its hieroglyphic tablets and colossal heads carved from volcanic rock. The ancient remains, of unknown origin, have inspired many legends and theories.
Watch this video if you want to experience the approach by airplane to runway 10 in Easter Island. Click on the labels below this blog entry to read more about virtual island hopping, Easter Island and the Create Your Own Moai Competition!

More about Moais

This picture was taken at the slope of the Rano Raraku volcano. This place is the quarry where most of the sculptures (Moais) were carved. Source

Moai (pronounced MOH-EYE), the large stone statues for which Easter Island is world famous, were carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive megalithic activity. Archeologists now estimate that ceremonial site construction and statue carving took place largely between about AD 1100 and 1600 and may have consumed up to 25% of island-wide resources.

According to recent archaeological research 887 monolithic stone statues, called moai, have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections. This number is not final, however. The on-going statue survey continues to turn up new fragments, and mapping in Rano Raraku quarry has documented more unfinished statues than previously known. In addition, some statues incorporated into ceremonial site construction surely remain to be uncovered.

Although often identified as "heads", the statues actually are heads and complete torsos. Some upright moai, however, have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils. Most moai were carved out of a distinctive, compressed, easily-worked volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site called Rano Raraku. The quarry there seems to have been abandoned abruptly, with half-carved statues left in the rock. However, on closer examination the pattern of use and abandonment is more complex.

The most widely-accepted theory is that the statues were carved by the ancestors of the modern Polynesian inhabitants (Rapanui) at a time when the island was largely planted with trees and resources were plentiful, supporting a population of at least 10,000-15,000 native Rapanui. The majority of the statues were still standing when Jacob Roggeveen arrived in 1722. Captain James Cook also saw many standing statues when he landed on the island in 1774.

It's unclear why the islanders erected the moai and what their function was. A mystery to cherish all the way. Source

This is an interesting educational site where you read more about Easter Island and have a look at some pics.

Read more about Easter Island Click on the virtual island hopping label below this blog entry to find out more about this expedition to Easter Island. You can also join our Make Your Own Moai Statue Competition - see last blog entry.

Carol's Stuffed Moai (Easter Island Statue)

Do we have a winner? It certainly looks like it, but only time and Vicki will tell. This is Carol's stuffed moai (= easter island statue) - the first entry in our Create Your Own Easter Island Moai Competition, part of our world wide virtual island hopping project... Who's next? Click on the labels below this posting if you want to read more about this! You can email your very own moai pic to me: abspoel at gmail dot com - until October 15, 2007!

Exodus and Entrance

When Jesus makes his entrance in Jerusalem, the Jewish people are again oppressed by foreigners. This time they were not taken away to a foreign country, an army of strangers had overwhelmed them instead and these Romans were now in charge of their holy land. Maybe God could send a liberator once again to set His people free?
Read more here

Our booth at the Christian Book Fair

Last Friday, Saturday and Monday we did our best to promote our books, calendars and cards at the BCB Christian Book Fair in Zwolle, the Netherlands. At Ark Boeken we do give a lot of attention to the looks of our products - they are about the most important message in the world, so we make sure that they are of good quality and look attractive! That is also why we paid a lot of attention (and quite some money) on our booth - to present our new titles in an attractive, professional environment. I am very proud of our team and our booth and just want to share some impressions with you!
Please click pics to enlarge.

All photographs © Hans de Rijk / Ark Boeken Publishing House, Amsterdam.

Be made new in the attitude of your minds

“If your mind is not constantly being changed, you're not following Christ.” Donald Miller

The Police in Amsterdam Arena

Both pictures © Rob Koster

Not alone at being alone

Just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh
Another lonely day, with no one here but me, oh

Well, you've probably recognized these words from the song Message in a bottle by the Police, didn't you?

Walked out this morning,
don't believe what I saw
Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore
Seems I'm not alone at being alone
Hundred billion castaways, looking for a home

Together with 50 000 fans we were singing, dancing and having a good time in the Amsterdam Arena yesterday. And when we went back home late at night - our ears still ringing - I was wondering: why did they ever stop recording and performing as a band!?



And another question that came to my mind: why are we all singing 'So lonely, so lonely...' when there are so many of us? Yes, that's me, can't stop asking philosophical questions - even when I'm enjoying myself. Seems I'm not alone at being alone...

But I'm wasn't lonely at all, because I went there with my dear wife Lydia, her sister Yvonne and our brother in law Rob and we had a great time together. The Police was as good as ever and I was really impressed by them. It was a fantastic concert!

I'm always listening to the lyrics of the songs - even if they make so much noise that you can hardly understand a word. But I am intrigued by all the questions and observations in Sting's lyrics.

I wish I could have a conversation with Sting about lyrics like these:

Yeah
There's a hole
In my life
There's a hole
In my life
Shadow in my heart
Is tearing me apart
Or maybe it's just something
In my stars

There's a hole
In my life
There's a hole
In my life

Be a happy man
I try the best I can
Or maybe I'm just looking
For too much
There's something missing from my life
Cuts me open like a knife
It leaves me vulnerable
I have this disease
I shake like an incurable
God help me please

Oh, there's a hole
In my life
There's a hole
In my life
Yeah...

Well, need I say more? I would love to have a talk with Sting. But one of my other musical heroes is in a better position to talk with him about the Invisible Sun / King of Pain. Check this unique video clip for a surprise performance with this hero. Invisible Sun is my favourite Police song - together with King of Pain. Please let me know your favourite Sting / the Police song!

This must be Sting

“This must be Sting.”
“But it isn’t.”
“Sure it is!”
“Don’t think so”
“Nobody else has such a voice. Just listen!”

Sitting in the car, listening to the radio and arguing about the artist’s identity … Are we the only couple doing this? We had to wait until the radio dj gave us the final answer:

“That was Two Sisters a song by Fiction Plane with singer Joe Sumner, son of Gordon Sumner, better known as Sting!”

“So I was right! - Sort of.”
“No you weren’t right. - Sort of.”

Listen to this song here and judge for yourself!

But tonight both Sting and his son (pic left) will be very nervous. They will be performing in the Amsterdam Arena and somewhere in the crowd Lydia and I will compare their voices and appearances and I'm sure both of us will have a great time. After the support act (Fiction Plane) we will be arrested by the Police! But we are not nervous at all, because we are playing a home game. And I hope we will also hear this fantastic song:

Easter Island - let's go there with Google Earth!

I don't know whether you've all installed Google Earth yet - if not, don't hesitate any longer and get yourself this great tool that is bound to give you hours of fun and a chronic lack of sleep (I did warn you!)
Why am I so excited again? Let me explain. First I used Google Maps with my laptop computer to have a closer look at Easter Island because I wanted to upload some nice pics (satellite/aerial imagery) for our virtual island hopping tour. However, the only thing you'll see with Google Maps is a tiny little green spot in a gigantic blue ocean - far away from the Chilean coast. You can't zoom in to the island, so Google Maps was not the right tool for me. Of course I wanted to see more details and some spectacular photos, so I started Google Earth on my desktop PC. And wow - you just have to do this yourselves in order to understand what I mean! You can have a look at every little piece of this island and you can click on loads of pics that visitors have made especially for your enjoyment! It is just like going there in your lazy chair - no travel costs, no exhausting long journeys, but the closest thing to the real experience: the sheer thrill of virtual island hopping!
Please also check the blogs of two of my cyberspace travel companions: Mike and Vicki and join us on our journey - it doesn't matter who you are or where you're coming from, all that matters is where we are going and that together we will finally get there! Yes, that is a philosophical statement too: I am a thoughtful person who easily gets lost in the labyrinths of my own mind... But where was I?
Okay, click on the virtual island hopping label below this post to see the first entry and reports about other island 'visits'. You can also take part in our create your own Easter Island statue competition - but you'll have to face strong opposition, because I will make my own statue with one of our XXL Dutch potatoes and I come from a land of artistic geniuses such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh. So: beat me!

Reply to my question about geese

This is the answer about my 'geese question' that I received today from fellow Dutchman and bird expert Jan Harteman (this is his website - check it out - also in English!)

"Thanks for your e-mail. I’ve had a look at the picture of the geese. All these geese, without exception, are tame / domesticated geese. That means that they are originally ‘home geese’, that were kept and bred for production. There are different known races and they are all descendants of the grey goose (Anser anser) and sometimes of the swan goose (Anser cygnoides). Some of these races are predominantly white, others coloured or grey / greyish.
Now and in the past some of these geese escaped from farms or they were brought to parks. These geese become wild again in polders or city parks and they mix with their undomesticated ancestors. That is why you can see big groups of tame geese between grey geese. Or, as depicted in your photograph, a complete group of tame geese. The one with the grey head could be a mixture of several tame geese races, or probably a mixture of tame geese / grey geese. It is not uncommon that one of the geese looks a little bit different."

Thanks, Jan! I hope my translation of your answer is accurate - hopefully it will still make some sense to my foreign blog readers. I like birds, but I am already happy that I am able to tell the difference between geese and swans... This goose with a grey head just caught my eye and now he is my favourite (I just have a weak spot for all people and animals who stand out in a crowd. Dare to be different - that's what I say!) Thanks also for all your educational work and you willingness to share your knowledge. Maybe you can also have a look at my question about swans and moorhens in my earlier postings on this blog... if you have some time left.

And the house was filled with the fragrance

Mary couldn’t care less about money. She wanted to give her all – with everything she had. Read this.

Easter Island, here we come!

Okay, visitors from outer cyberspace! Mike asked me to continue our interesting virtual island hopping tour and who am I to say no? So... pack your backpacks and follow me on this next stage of our world-wide expedition. Let's all go to EASTER ISLAND!

Mike doesn't know this yet, but I have just decided that he will be my assistant tour guide... so he will help me with finding some interesting information and getting in touch with the locals (don't know whether there are any islanders out there with internet connection, but finding out about this is part of the fun.)

This is our mission: we need to find out as much as possible about this island's location, geography, history, culture, population (if any), natural environment and spiritual state. My most important questions are: did the message of Easter ever reach the hearts and souls of the islanders, does the island have a rich Christian heritage and is there still a community of Christ followers that we can get in touch with today? I need all the help I can get, so you are all invited to send me useful links, cool pics and email-addresses from all your friends and relatives living on Easter Island (I'm sure you will all have some contacts there...)

There is also a special competition connected to this adventurous expedition: I want you all to make a picture of your very own Easter Island Statue - made from a potato, a piece of clay or cabbage or any other useful material. Upload your picture on your own blog and leave a comment here so that I can have a look at your creative masterpiece. The best home-made Easter Island Statue will receive eternal glory in cyberspace (thanks for the correction, Vicki) and the winner will be announced at the end of our tour. The winner will be selected by Vicki (President and only member of the jury) - before October 15, 2007. I am not a member of the jury, because I want to participate in this competition myself and I intend to win!

Why do we go to Easter Island? Well, because Mike asked me to go there, but also because I just found out that Easter Island was found and named by its first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen. Yep, I come from a small country, but we did explore the entire globe in the past and I am planning to do it again. This time with the help of modern technology, some good blogger friends and nothing but peaceful intentions... Join me and start blogging about this exciting expedition and competition, so that we can make some waves and raise some attention for this virtual journey through cyberspace.

Click here (first island) and here (other visited islands) if you want to find out more about earlier stages of this tour!

These geese

Just went out for a walk and saw these geese. One of them has a grey head - click on the pic if you want to spot him. I guess he is the man in the family - but am I right? Please let me know, you professional bird watchers out there, because I don't have a clue!

Throw away your sneakers and buy yourself a set of fashionable new yellow klompen

From our special correspondent: an important news story about fashion, shoes (see also my last entry for an intriguing question), and the colours that you need to choose if you want to be "in". Maybe the British people feel relieved because they don't have to wear wooden shoes yet, but believe me: it's just a matter of time and they will all change their minds!
This is my prognosis: in the next couple of years the whole world will discover how great it is to wear Dutch wooden shoes. Just think about it: no shoe laces, no traffic lights were somebody can hang them out of your reach, and with rising sea levels (now we're back to the global warming and melting ice caps issue) it is also a good idea to have something that will keep you floating.
So be wise and take my advice: throw your sneakers in the air and get yourself a hot pair of yellow klompen. Thanks, Carol - this is the kind of information we are all looking for. And have a look at this website if you still think that this is just nonsense. If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much - as we modestly say in our humble country - a couple of metres below sea level.

It could have been worse

Alexis Petridis, Saturday September 1, 2007
I'm bewildered by the process by which designers determine what colours will be "in" each season. It's one of life's great mysteries, like the anomalous trajectories of unmanned spacecraft in the outer solar system or the ongoing career of Vernon Kay. Why did they decide, en masse, that men should wear Yves Klein blue this summer? Do they get together and vote on it? Is there a debate? How shrill and hysterical do you imagine a debate involving fashion designers would become?
So there's something pleasing about one colour predicted to be big in the next few months. It's not that I'm fussed either way about yellow. A jaunty antidote to dowdy autumn tones it may be, but if, like me, you have a pallid complexion, it's going to do you no favours, unless you actively want to look as if you're on the verge of death. It's just that I know from whence the penchant for this colour came.
The answer, as I'm sure you've guessed, is traditional Dutch clogs. Patriotic to a fault, Amsterdam designers Viktor & Rolf had every model in their autumn/winter show wearing bright yellow wooden klompen: there were men in three-piece suits wearing klompen, men in bow-ties wearing klompen, and one man in tight leopard-print trousers and klompen decorated with paintings of windmills, who you can only hope was handsomely renumerated.
The people who rework ideas from the catwalk for the UK high street were understandably unconvinced that your average British male was going to embrace klompen, but they clearly liked something, hence the colour's arrival in Debenhams and Topman. You might not care for it, but think of it this way: at least they're not suggesting you spend autumn in a pair of huge wooden shoes going clip-clipperty-clop to the pub.
Source: Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Whose shoes?

Forget global warming and melting ice caps - blame Al Gore for bringing us the bad news. This is also a serious issue that needs to be solved urgently: Whose Shoes Are These? (Click pic to enlarge)



We all know that apples grow on apple trees and strawberries can be picked from bushes, but nobody ever told me that sneakers come from traffic lights. I see these shoes every morning when I drive to my office and I can't help myself: I need to know whose shoes these are and why they are dangling here. Any suggestions?

Paul Baloche - All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises

Merging Zebras

Funny optical illusion... Source

Worth the wait

Check out Carol's excellent anwers to my 5 questions meme! If you want to know a bit more about some Dutch master painters - you can't afford to miss this free art lecture...

If only...

What would it take for some people to believe? If only… If only they could see God. Well, some people saw Jesus face-to-face and they still didn’t believe. If only they could see a miracle. Well, some people witnessed many miraculous signs, some of them even saw Lazarus walking out of his grave after our Lord called him back to live again! But did they all believe in Jesus?What does it take to believe? The answer is very simple and very hard at the same time, because it takes faith. And faith has nothing to do with calculated guesses, wild speculations or a complete understanding of all the big mysteries of life. Faith is like love, it is a decision of the heart, it takes total surrender - and that is the difficult part. More...

Give me that online religion

Re: the comments on my last post... 'They spun a web for me'

Check this: Lifechurch

And this is the article where I stole this funny entry title from...

They spun a web for me

The Hyves Internet community has 4 million members in the Netherlands (on a total population of 16 million people) and is now bigger than Google in our language area... Hyvers - mostly teens and young adults - are building their very own miniature universe for social networking and friendly interaction. I think you can compare this to the international successes of MySpace, MSN Faces, Facebook and other popular social networking sites. The blogspot you are now reading is my home base on the Internet, but I do post pics, texts and video clips elsewhere too. (See my other blogs in the sidebar of this blog.)
Why do I blog in English and why am I so active in cyberspace? Because man was made to communicate* and Christians are called to participate! The www is the place to be if we want to share our faith in a friendly, accessible, non-intrusive way.
Many children, teens and young adults have their own pages on Hyves and it is exciting to see how actively involved young Christians are. Many hyvers are very open about their personal faith and lots of churches and youth groups have opened their own hyve (such as this one from our baptist church in Hoofddorp). Young Christians also build their own communities on the Internet, sometimes these social networking sites are open to the public, sometimes you need to become a member first in order to join the discussion.
Jesus told us to go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all creations. Just think about this question: What is your mission field today? I think that the Internet is a great place to be salt and light - although it can't be an alternative for one-on-one interaction, personal dialogue and true fellowship in real life.
My contributions to the Hyves pages are mainly in Dutch, but if you go to this site you can have a look at my YouTube video compilation and you can see how we can use the rock idols of our days to point people to the Rock of our salvation. Scroll down to the bottom of your screen (on my Hyves page, I mean), click on 'replay' if the video clips don't start instantly, and look at the story that I want to tell by sharing these music video clips in this particular order (top to bottom). And - please don't get me wrong - I am not only using these music video clips - I am really enjoying them too! I also think that we shouldn't 'use' the Internet as a place where we can impose our views and beliefs on other people, that will only be counter-productive and bad PR for Jesus. But we need to be there, share our faith, be honest, outspoken and accountable and become reliable friends - both on the Internet and in real life. What do you think? Give me a shout.
PS 'They spun a web for me' is an intriguing line from the Coldplay song Trouble, the first clip from my video compilation on my Hyves page...

* Man was most of all made to know and worship God. Nothing else will satisfy the longing soul. Click!