BUT A POOR REFLECTION: Spread your wings

Friday, November 23, 2007

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)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...: We have cormorants that hang around a couple of nearby ponds around us. They are so funny to watch because they just sit there with their wings spread, drying out. I like the photos. It is funny that they chose this figure on which to dry out!; 11/24/2007 12:36 pm
Art said...: THat's funny - the bird's sitting on the guy's head.; 11/26/2007 8:54 pm
John said...: You are missed my friend. Is all well?; 12/07/2007 5:05 pm
little david said...: Yeah, good timing, Paul. It's a nice shot. But I feel kind of sad when I realize that you live near that airport because I spent about three hours in that airport last June and didn't know you at the time. We could have met in person! (I was going with a team on a mission trip to Kenya.) Really, I am sorry to have missed you. (Turns out that we missed our British friends on the way through London by about 45 minutes.); 12/08/2007 5:26 am
Anonymous said...: Paul,

Is everything OK. You have not blogged in a while. If you need prayer let us know.

Mike

http://theupperroom.typepad.com; 12/09/2007 6:23 pm
Paul said...: No worries, friends! I just have a very, very busy time with work, church and family. When I have some time left, I am painting and decorating the walls of the new bed rooms that are now build for our daughters Sosha and Pascalle.
I was ill for a week (just a cold) but I am working again and I do appreciate your inquiries after my well being. There are many things to be thankful for, but I am also a bit concerned about the work load this month so your prayers are welcome. We are preparing an alpha course for prison (starting in January 2008) and I am also busy with the Dutch edition of Christianity Explored (check www.christianityexplored.com ) which will be published by us.
@ Little David - it is kind of sad that you didn't realise that I am living so near the airport - next time you will know!
@ Mike, thanks bro. I need to read your blog and the other blogs from my brothers and sisters in cyberspace... but I need to find some time first ;-)
Blessings to you all.; 12/10/2007 7:41 am
Vicki said...: I've been checking on your blog for new posts and was beginning to get concerned about you. I finally thought to read your comment (above). I'm glad to know that all is well!

If I don't "talk" to you before, I want to wish you and your family a very wonderful and blessed Christmas!

Take care, my friend!; 12/12/2007 3:10 pm

Post a Comment

God loves us

Have you ever wondered why God gives so much? We could exist on far less. He could have left the world flat and grey; we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. He splashed orange in the sunrise and cast the sky in blue. And if you love to see geese as they gather, chances are you’ll see that too. Did he have to make the squirrel’s tail furry? Was he obliged to make the birds sing? And the funny way that chickens scurry or the majesty of thunder when it rings? Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste? Could it be he loves to see that look upon your face?

Max Lucado - He Chose the Nails

Sadhu Sundar Singh

I do not condemn theologians wholesale, but it is unfortunately the fashion in Western thinking to doubt and deny everything. I protest this tendency. I never advise anyone to consult theologians, because all too often they have completely lost all sense of spiritual reality. They can explain Greek words and all that, but they spend too much time among their books and not enough time with the Master in prayer. It is not that I oppose all education, but education without life is certainly dangerous. You must stop examining spiritual truths like dry bones! You must break open the bones and take in the life-giving marrow.

Oswald Chambers

In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. "The clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 29th)