Spread your wings

I made this pic with my cell phone some weeks ago. An outlined figure of a man is spreading his arms like he is taking off above the water near a school of aviation in Hoofddorp (the place where I live, near Schiphol Airport). It is funny that 4 aalscholvers - as we call them in Dutch, or great cormorants as they are called in English - were sitting on this figure with their wings spread. When I approached them only two of them were spreading their wings, but 2 out of 4 still makes a funny picture - don't you agree?

You can see the fourth bird more clearly in the last of the next 2 pics... (please click to enlarge)

Cheer up, England fans!

Last night my TV screen was so disturbed by the red and white checkered Croatian football jerseys (see pic left) that I had to take some drastic action. I shouted at the referee, grabbed another beer, fine-tuned my TV set – but all to no avail. The game England vs Croatia was a terrible spectacle to watch... if you support the England team, that is. And the strangest thing happened, because as long as I held up my hands with the remote control, the British were winning, but whenever I lowered my hands, the Croatians were winning. Can you believe that? I have to admit that at the end of the day my arms were too tired and due to a lack of local supporters I finally had to give in and switch to another channel.

So, English football fans, please don’t blame goal keeper Scott Carson and coach Steve MacClaren – poor guys – they were not the only ones letting you down last night.

Some words of encouragement for all the England fans:

Always look on the bright side of life! There will be plenty of other sports to watch in the Olympic year 2008. But if you can’t afford to miss the European Championships (on TV, I mean, of course) you can always support the Netherlands. Our cool new shirts do look much better now – see below: Dutch strikers Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Yep, they are as sharp and dangerous as they look.

Pear Trees

Today I visited the Betuwe region, well-known in the Netherlands for the cultivation of fruit trees. These pics are made in Buren, a beautiful enwalled old town. (Funny, there were no leaves on these trees, just delicious pears ... hanging out of my reach!)
More cell phone pics here.

Bono talking and singing us through his unreleased song "Wave of Sorrow"

I guess it took years for Bono to find the right words to express all the horrible things that he and his wife Ali saw during their visit to a famine-stricken Ethiopia. This is a poet making beauty out of ashes. This is a contemporary prophet ans psalmist with a message that touches my heart. I don't think Bono has the answers, but he sure asks all the right questions. I can see and hear that this man is sincere. Look how passionate he is about what he witnessed in Ethiopia and about the song that finally helped him to express his feelings. Yet another masterpiece. Just listen to the beatitudes at the end of the song. These lyrics are awesome. Blessed is the spirit that overcomes.

"Wave of Sorrow is one of several rare and previously unreleased cuts which feature on the bonus audio CD of the remastered Joshua Tree." Source: ilike (Facebook application)

Opportunities for spiritual growth

If painful things happen to us, we can learn to trust our Father, the gardener, who is constantly at work in and around us – through his Word and through his Spirit. God creates opportunities for spiritual growth. If we stay connected to the true vine, our Lord Jesus Christ, if we drink in his words and allow him to poor out a constant stream of love and grace in our lives, we will bear much fruit. Read more here.

Oxford impressions

From Wednesday through Friday I visited Oxford, England. It was a business trip (together with colleagues from our publishing house), but of course we also took the time to do some sight seeing in this old university city! You can see more pics on my photo blog.

Constant flow

Like radio waves and wireless internet, this connection is very real but also very mysterious. Yet you can rely on it, tap in to it, hook up with it and download thoughts and feelings from the Father’s heart. This flow is a constant flow – there are no technical obstacles or interruptions. If there is a connection problem, ask yourself: What is wrong on my side of the line? Read my reflections and prayers here

Virtually everywhere (hope you don't mind)

My blogging here is slowing down a bit, probably because I also write here, here, here and here (for our church). But you can also check my pages on MySpace and Facebook - if you are signed up!
I sincerely apologize to the rest of the internet community for claiming so many bits and bytes in cyberspace... But hey, it's all free and I'm Dutch, remember?
Pastor David is a good man. He knows that this talkative blogger lives in a small, overcrowded country and needs lots of space to speak his mind. If you want to read my contribution to his blog, you can have a look here - but, in all honesty, I think that you may find Pastor David's own thoughts and the contributions of the other guest bloggers more interesting. We all were invited to share some thoughts for a series of posts on pastoral and theological reactions to Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia in observence of All Saints Day. Or, as Pastor David eloquently puts it himself, "to remember those who cannot remember themselves."

Also on Facebook now

If you are also on Facebook and if you consider yourself to be one of my (blog) friends - let me know! ;-)