Dear blog friends, please take some time to show the people in Finland that we care about what happened to some of their students. I guess that you've all heard the sad news about another tragic shooting spree at a Finnish school today. A gunman has killed 10 people at a college in the town of Kauhajoki before shooting himself. What is going on in this crazy world of ours?
I feel powerless and angry, but at the same time I know that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle and that God's Light Force is winning this fight against the dark powers of evil - whatever people may think and see right now. Jesus is stronger! Let's pray for the people of Finland and please send some words of encouragement to our blog brother Markus. I have many relatives in Finland and this sad news really resonates with me.
BBC news story. Heavenbound weblog from Finnish brother / blogger Markus.
'We like Ike!' - that was the slogan that once helped President Dwight D. Eisenhower to take the White House by a storm caused by waves of public support in 1952. I am very old - approaching 47 - but far too young to remember this. But as an educated History teacher I've learned my lessons. And I sure hope and pray that the same is true for the American people today - caught in an election with slogans about winds of change, threatened by an economic disaster and beaten up by hurricanes - such as Ike.
My God, what's going on? I live on the other side of the Atlantic - the problems seem so far away. And most American families will live their lives as if nothing serious is happening to them.
Hurricanes have always been there. And our global economy has weathered some storms before. Leaders will rise and fall - nothing's really new - except maybe for the size and the frequency of the disasters and challenges.
In the meantime I am praying for the people of America. For the families that are isolated, for people caught in the winds and the waves. I am a Dutchman and I know about the threat of water, but thanks to God not by personal experience -yet. Let's do what we can and let's ask our Lord to silence the storms once again. And let the body of Christ on this side feel the pain of the body on the other side. My prayers are with you, friends! Trust in the Lord, keep the faith - Jesus is still the Lord of the winds and the waves.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly.Ephesians 4
This butterfly landed on the colourful logo on the front side of our office building in Amsterdam. This logo looks like a gigantic flower, the butterfly must have been thinking... This is why I am happy that I always carry my camera with me nowadays!
Click on the pics to enlarge and enjoy the details!
Feel free to visit my Dutch blog VRIJSPRAAK (= 'free speech', but in Dutch this word also means 'acquittal' / 'acquittance' or 'absolution'). If Dutch is a foreign language to you - which is most likely the case - you can click on this link from Google translate. But please beware of hilarious translation results!
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. (Ecc 11:1)
Son, husband, father, brother and friend. Publisher for a living. Trying to follow Jesus. Often failing, sometimes succeeding by the grace of God.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Allen C. Paul – Faithful Creativity
-
In this week’s episode of Bleeding Daylight, I welcome Allen C. Paul, a
seasoned musician, author, and advocate for Christian creatives, to discuss
the int...
Päätös
-
Hyvät ystävät.
Blogikirjoittamiseni tässä osoitteessa päättyvät tähän.
10v. on ihan hyvä aika ruveta laittamaan tälle asialle pistettä.
Halutessasi löyd...
silence
-
The video today is for a great girl band called Savages with their song
"SHUT UP" from their debut album *SILENCE YOURSELF*. This group "gets it"
Amazi...
Thank God for the Women!
-
*Some words shared at a community Good Friday Service. My assignment was
to consider the Word of Affection* (John 19:25-27).
Thank God for the women!
Th...
Captured by Facebook
-
Here's the reason that I have not posted in a long time: I started a
Facebook account. There is only so much time in a day and my online social
networking ...
Lydia and I looking up to the sky in Souillac, France
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
VerveEarth
Steps of Faith
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. Martin Luther King Jr.
LINKED-IN
Amena Brown - You
Lydia
My love
Reverend Fun
Click pic to see cartoon
Pun of the day
Come and take refuge
Judges 9:15
C. H. Spurgeon
There must be light as well as fire. Some preachers are all light and no fire, while others are all fire and no light. What we want is both fire and light.
Dynamite!
“You Christians have in your keeping a document with enough dynamite in it to blow the whole of civilization to bits...” Mahatma Gandhi
That's My King!
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.
Hebrews 13:3
Amsterdam
C.S. Lewis
If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning.
Click on the pic to visit Meerkerk website (Dutch)
Brother Andrew
If your vision doesn't scare you, then both your vision and your God are too small.
Do you know the laws of the heavens? (asks God in Job 38:33)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I believe, that God will give us, in every time of trouble, as much strength as we need to withstand it. But he does not give it in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves, but only on Him. Within such a belief, all anxiety about the future must be overcome.
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)
Friesland
Why I love my little country? Well, just have a look at this pic...
Mother Teresa"s good advice
“People ask me what advice I have for a married couple struggling in their relationship. I always answer: pray and forgive. And to young people from violent homes, I say pray and forgive. And again even to the single mother with no family support: pray and forgive”
John Stott
“There are to be no gurus in the Christian community – only pastors (shepherds). But shepherds do not feed their sheep. Instead they lead them to good, green pasture where the sheep feed themselves. Thus all preaching should lead people into the Scriptures and encourage them to browse there for themselves.”
Robin - son and big brother
He is a great guy and anyone who knows him knows that.
Hungry for Heaven
If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it that you don't feel at home there? (C.S. Lewis)
Corrie Ten Boom
When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.
Sosha
Yep, I'm a very proud father
Come to Me
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28 (The Message)
Finland December 2006
Trees against a winter sky
Italy august 2006
Piazza Amfiteatro, Lucca
Dutch Mona Lisa
Pascalle's smile is even better!
Isn"t she lovely?
Our youngest daughter Pascalle (9)
With Robin in London (2006)
Robin taking a rest from our long walk through the centre of London
London 2006
The Big Eye (but you've guessed that already)
Henri Nouwen
What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, "Do you love me?" We ask, "Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your Kingdom?" (Matthew 20:21). ... We have been tempted to replace love with power.
Posts
.jpg)
