On a journey...

Snow topped mountains. Lakes. Quaint wooden houses. Forests. The view as my (now very delayed) train chuggs along on my way to visit a friend in the south of Norway. It's such a beautiful view which even the greyest of days (like today) can't steal. I just ate some vestlandslefse enjoying the sweetness of the sugar and the softness of the bread. A very Norwegian flavour to accompany my view (which is a lot more at a standstill than I would have liked). It's been a restful yet also slightly hectic few days since coming home. Last Thursday one of the women from the windows in Amsterdam shared her plan to leave prostitution and her need in order to do so. I said I would pray and ask others to pray as well. But suddenly the choice to share a need for prayer turned into a fundraiser as God started to respond to the prayer. I was completely taken off guard. I guess I should have anticipated it, but in the busyness of preparing to come home for Christmas I didn't think it thro

My plastic cup is stained bright pink from my beetroot, carrot, and I think banana juice. I picked it because it was called “stress blaster” (or something like that), and also coz it sounded nice. Sleep is starting to sneak in and I am wondering if I should have gone with a Starbucks latte with an extra shot of espresso. Anyways, all I really need to do this morning is make it to my gate and get on the plane home. And seeing as I am in the terminal already it shouldn’t be too difficult. Again I am at the airport, and as always a prime place to blog. It was weird to be walking through the wet streets of the city center of Amsterdam at 6:30 am this morning. It’s been freezing cold the past week, so I was taken a bit by surprise at how it was feeling warmer (read: still cold) and that my bundling up with scarf and fleece gloves was not necessary. The streets were so empty, but for some random people who by the looks of it hadn’t made it home for the evening yet. As I was walki

The cold had me cycling quickly through the city this evening coming back from a lovely meeting with a dear friend at the “Brecht café” (interestingly named after the German author “Bertolt Brecht” whose literature I was studying and analyzing when I did German in school, many many years ago).  Yet, even though I was trying to get inside as quickly as possible, I still took in the many amazing light features popping up around the city in preparation for the festival of lights. It is beautiful. Massive chandeliers made up of many little lights along the wide roads, and different creative uses of lights on buildings, really makes the city illuminated (literally). As I crossed the Dam square, the Christmas tree was also up and alight. I started thinking about the film I watched in the cinema today, “The Butler”. It was a great film, not really about light per se, more about USA and their racial history, but a quote at the start of the film stood out to me and remains with me. Martin

It’s strangely quiet. No sounds of drunken men shouting, or vehicles passing by. Just quiet. I guess it’s probably because it’s almost four o’clock in the morning, and unlike me, most people are sleeping at this time. Most people. Not all. After tossing and turning for a couple of hours I finally got up and made myself a cup of herbal tea. Waiting for the water to boil, I was looking out of my living room window. The few people on the streets were men and the bike-taxis, but it was quite empty. A rare sight in the largest Red Light District in Amsterdam. Empty except for the men walking with purpose towards the windows. The windows with their bright red lights lit, showing that although the city sleeps, they are open for business. Windows with women who are awake at this hour because they have someone or something that has to be paid for and this is the way they make the money. Windows with women that I know. Women I am hoping and praying for. It messes with me to

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.

Another time of transition. After almost 2 years here in Amsterdam I a starting to prepare to move on. After I get back from running Shine in Brazil I will be moving on. To what and where, I don’t know, but I know it’ll be something good because God leads well. It’s  another time of so many changes. And yet while looking to the future there is a need to be in the now and present. I am better at the latter at the moment. The ahead seems so far away, and the present has more than enough things to resolve. Kind of like it says in the Bible that each day has enough worries of it’s on. Last night I did my first of many lasts. My last shift with HOME soup- the soup project Not For Sale runs here in the Red Light District. The past year and a half I’ve been heading out every Tuesday night; rain or shine or snow, selling soup and salads to the women behind the windows. It’s been such a privilege and so amazing to see soup open doors to hearts. I will miss it. I will miss the joy o