Skip to main content

Checking in.

Just said goodbye to more friends who are leaving. It’s amazing how connected you can get to people in such a short time, but it’s such a beautiful thing. One of the things I’ve gained these past 6 weeks is a whole set of new friends. I am so rich!


This weekend was busy but very good. It was so encouraging to see and meet people from different parts of Europe, all with a heart to fight against Human Trafficking. I led a time of intercession which went well and other then that participated in the conference. I am excited to see what the continuation is. A friend of mine from my time at uni in Leeds came and it was wonderful to reconnect with her after almost 13 years. She’s at an exciting place in life considering the possibility of heading into missions.


So here I’m sat in my new room. I had to move to a different room for my last week here. It’s one floor down (so not quite as many steps to climb) and has a different view which is nice. Sat here praying and pondering. “What next, Lord?” Where is this journey taking me? I am glad to have a small week ahead of me where I am not on a rigid schedule and can take my time to pray and think and see what the plan ahead is. I thought I’d know by now, and maybe I do, I just haven’t realised it yet....


Anyways, I just wanted to check in and maybe I’ll end up writing a bit more this week, but then again I might not. In any case it’s been a beautiful day in Amsterdam. Warm weather, walking to Vondelpark (a big park about 40 minute walk away), appreciating friends (meaning it’s sad to see them leave), and off to hang out with some of those who have yet to leave in a bit. Tomorrow the Tabernacle (i.e. house of prayer) is open in the afternoon so I’ll be heading there. Maybe I’ll go visit Corrie Ten Boom’s house in Haarleem in the morning....

Popular posts from this blog

Packing...again.

I just folded the last load of laundry and I’m almost packed. Off to the airport at 5am tomorrow morning, heading off to Amsterdam. I’m excited, a bit nervous, and wondering what it’ll be like. It’s been a good week at home with lots of quality time with family, especially the little nieces and nephew. I’m glad I’ll see them in April again. Well, not much to write and packing to be done and a bit of sleep would probably be a good idea too. Next time I write it’ll be from Amsterdam....

Single-tasking September: The art of single-tasking.

To change habits and ways of life, the motivation for change has to be strong, and the benefits outweigh the effort it takes to make the change.  For so long it’s seemed like the ability to multitask has been regarded as a great skill, but is it really a good thing? Recovering from burn-out, one of the effects I noticed was that it was harder to concentrate, and especially tricky trying to focus on many things at once. I’d try to multitask, only to realise that all tasks suffered from lack of capacity to complete any one of them. The challenge is that the habit of always doing many things at once goes deep, and when I tried to focus on just one thing, I found that it was actually really difficult.  As I did a little google search on the matter, I found it seems like multitasking isn’t as healthy as once thought, and that it doesn’t help productivity. Some even referred to it as “switch tasking”, in the sense that the brain isn’t doing many things at once, but shifting rapidly...

Walking through December: overcoming the challenge of language.

I just got done leading a Bible study in Spanish without a translation back-up, and it went really well. I am amazed at what we are actually able to do when we have no other option. It wasn’t a flawless flow of communication (that would have been a miracle), but together we figured out what I wanted to say. And I think it was good. I was blessed and they seemed blessed as well. The girls just left and I am sat here in my living room with the candles lit. It’s windy and rainy outside, and I am smiling. Happy. Not because I overcame the language challenge, but happy because of yet another beautiful time of bringing more of Jesus to the girls in our Bible study. I am thankful for the privilege of knowing them and standing with them in their journeys of knowing Jesus. And thankful that even when language is shaky, love is stronger and is communicated beyond mere words.