Just Rambling

Business has been rather slow for me today, so I thought I'd just ramble a bit. I could certainly do some filing, but this is the task that I usually keep putting off until the very last. Yesterday, I was sorry for not having brought my camera with me. There was a very official ceremony taking place in the courtyard of our building. It was the inauguration of a stele in memory of Karel Van Miert, one of the former Competition Commissioners who died exactly one year ago. I followed everything from my office window. Commission President Barroso was present and gave a speech in honor of him, as well as Van Miert's three successors. There was a red carpet spread out and they played the European anthem. I'm sure the man would have liked this!

Also yesterday, we adopted a big and important decision pertaining to one of our cases. It's about a cartel in the sector of bathroom fittings and fixtures. There are several companies in Europe, especially German ones, who agreed on prices and thus infringed competition laws. Now they have to pay fines with the money that they don't have in this time of financial crisis! In the afternoon, I helped taking four language versions of the 500-page decision to the main Commission building. There, we got the bad news that the individual versions for each company would need to be ready as well by next morning, but they weren't! So the core team had to take a night shift until midnight to sort things out and have everything ready on time. Things always tend to get crazy here when it comes closer to an adoption!

The weather is becoming summer-like now. Today it's very sunny and about 77F; towards the weekend it's supposed to be in the lower 80's even! Well, that's certainly enough to make my bedroom uncomfortably warm. The sun only sets almost at 10PM these days in June, and this makes it hard enough for me to go to sleep early. But even though they have air conditioning in Alabama, I wouldn't want to be there right now!

This coming Friday, we will start a special church revival with Jack Sequiera from the US. I have never heard of this Pastor before, but it promises to be interesting. I'm just curious how many church members will attend outside Sabbath hours. It will be hard for me as well to come every night, but I will try to be there as much as possible. More about it later!

EU Summit

Today it's quite chilly again; too cold for the month of June. But it's the Sabbath and I'm thankful for another day of rest. There was supposed to be communion service at the English speaking church, but they had to cancel it due to the absence of the Pastor. However, I didn't want to miss out on it, and so I decided to worship with the French speaking church where it was also on. They also had potluck there, and I thought this would be a nice change, as many of my English speaking brothers and sisters are still after the flesh pots of Egypt. They call it more elegantly "Auberge Espagnole" in French, but to my disappointment there was lots of fish and fowl. And this after our Sabbath school lesson on nutrition in the bible! Well, the fellowship was nice anyway, and who knows, maybe one day I can convince them of a better diet. May the Lord help me.

This past week, there was another EU summit here in Brussels. This is when all the heads of governments come together to discuss the future of Europe, and it usually happens every three months. As far as I gathered at first glance, they were talking about the so-called "Europe 2020 strategy", which stands for boosting growth and creating employment. They also warmly welcomed the proposal of Estonia being part of the Euro zone from 2011, which means they would introduce the Euro as an official currency there. Another item of the agenda was the aspiration of Iceland to become an EU member state and the decision to open accession negotiations with them.

So they keep working here on a prosperous, united Europe, striving for "unity in diversity". But how long will the iron and clay hold together? Well, the Lord knows. May His Kingdom be established soon.

They have very strict security parameters during EU summit - nobody can walk by the Council building during this time, except the EU officials

A lot of press in front of the Council building - doesn't it look like a "bunker of power"?

The red banner is advertising the current Spanish presidency of the EU

Sunshine and Rain

Although yesterday was a Sunday, I exceptionally went to Church for a women's prayer breakfast. It was supposed to start at 9 AM, but I didn't take the "African time" into account, and so my Filipino sisters and I eventually decided to start eating until the rest of the participants would arrive (which was close to 10 AM). Later on, I gave a presentation on the frontal lobe of the brain, and another sister shared a spiritual thought before we ended the meeting with prayer. It was well received, although the overall attendance was a bit low. But unfortunately, this always tends to be the case if there is anything happening outside regular church services.

On my way home, I witnessed a crime. Well, it was not a terrible, life-threatening episode, yet I was stunned. There was an elderly couple sitting with me in the tram and they were about to exit at the second door of the vehicle. I also exited, but at the first door next to the conductor. Stepping down, I suddenly heard loud voices shouting. There was a young man who had been trying to pickpocket the elderly man, but an attentive woman had seen him and she blew him off. I only saw the thief shouting and running away, leaving the man behind totally baffled with the wallet in his hand. This taught me again that I really need to be attentive here in Brussels - no matter what time of the day it is or what location I'm at.

And then finally, walking the short distance from the metro stop to my place, I got pretty wet. The sun had been shining in the morning, but as so often in the past, I hadn't observed rule number one of living in Belgium: "Never leave the house without an umbrella!"

Indeed, there is sunshine and rain in our lives, literally and figuratively. It was also yesterday morning when I received very sad news from the US. Cindy, my former roommate at Uchee Pines, lost her 23-year-old daughter Brittany in a tragic accident. She had been living with her at Eden Valley Institute, and due to a very unfortunate incident, her daughter drowned in the canal located on campus. I feel so sorry for Cindy and the rest of her family. This shows me again how fragile life is, and that I really need to pray more for the safety and divine protection of my family members and friends. It also shows me that it's high time for Jesus to come back to bring an end to all this suffering. I really like one of our early Advent hymns called "Lo, what a glorious sight appears", and in particular one of the stanzas:

"His own soft had shall wipe the tears from every weeping eye,
and pains and groans and griefs and fears and death itself shall die."

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Faith and Power part 2

I wanted to add something to my previous post, a story in the Bible which I found rather impressive. It's found in 2 Chronicles 20, and it's the story of King Jehoshaphat. In this episode, the people of God find themselves in great distress, as they were facing a battle they didn't consider themselves strong enough to withstand.  


Notice first how the Lord encourages His children:

And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not yours, but God's. (verse 15)

Ye shall not [need] to fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand ye [still], and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD [will be] with you. (verse 17) 

Indeed, He knows our frame! He is actually the One who is fighting for us in every battle with sin. Only by His strength we can gain victories.

Next, something very interesting is happening:

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with [his] face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.  And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. (vs. 18-19)

They started praising the Lord even before they went into battle! The same way, we should not only ask the Lord for the victory, but at the same time we should thank and praise Him for it and claim it for ourselves!

See what followed in this story:

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 

 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy [endureth] for ever. 

And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. (vs. 20-22)

Singing and praising the Lord, they went into the battle, and He acted on their behalf! 

I found this a very powerful lesson. Never should we wait to claim the Lord's victory on our behalf until we are actually tempted. We can strengthen and increase our faith by not only asking, but claiming victories in advance - and then trust that the battle is indeed not ours, but the Lord's!

Faith and Power

I've been learning more about overcoming lately. Do we need to learn how to overcome as Christians? Most definitely. I'm not only talking about these besetting, habitual sins that are even prevalent amongst believers, and that we usually don't even dare to admit. What about undesirable traits of character, laziness, lack of diligence, being quick tempered, given to appetite, just to name a few?

Well, I found a program that works for all of them. I'm sure most of us have experienced that if we try to overcome anything by our own strength, we most certainly fail. It's only by the power of God that we can have victory. And this power comes through faith only. In Matthew 9:29, it clearly says: "According to your faith be it unto you". And according to Romans 10:17 faith comes through the hearing or reading of the word of God.

So abiding in the the Lord through His Word seems to be the key, because this is the only way for us to sustain our faith. But we also need to ask God for the victory and know that it is ours through faith in the promises found all over in the Bible.

I decided to commit the following verses to memory:

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:2-4)

Note that we can be actually partakers of the divine nature! And 1 John 3 clearly states that "whosoever abideth in him SINNETH NOT"!

Then it is essential, after asking, to thank God for giving us the victory and claim it in the name of Jesus. Our deliverance from whatever besets us is not in the future, it's available NOW! But as soldiers, we have to prepare for the battle by gathering faith through the Word on a daily basis. In Ephesians 6:16, in the context of the armour of God, it says: "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

See how important our faith is? Without it, it is impossible to please God (Romans 11:6), and through faith, our forefathers "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,..." (Hebrews 11:33). Yes, all promises that we find in God's Word are also available to us today, including the ones pertaining to victory over sin. May this be your experience today and in the future!

This is a short summary of the concept. If you are interested, you may look it up in detail under www.faithpowerministries.com.

Sowing more seeds

Life is back to normal here in Brussels. I'm enjoying a long weekend (because of whit sun Monday) and the weather is giving it's very best - sunshine, sunshine, sunshine!

I'm thankful for some little opportunities to share literature that opened up recently. I have one colleague who is currently working with us as a trainee. She is from the French part of Switzerland, and we happened to talk about my experience in Hungary. Obviously, she was interested in health matters, so I gave her a flyer about the 8 laws of health as well as a French Signs of the Times that especially deals with this topic. Furthermore, I recently found out about a book/DVD swap that is taking place in our Directorate-General for Agriculture. As they informed me that they would be happy for donations, I decided to give them some of the Spirit of Prophecy books that I have in different EU languages. Although this is not a very personal way to share this kind of literature, at least it guarantees that they will be read by people who are really interested in them.

Another exciting development is the possibility of having an evangelistic series with Brother Lowell Hargreaves from Amazing Facts in Brussels. So far, there hasn't been any rejection by the church responsibles I've talked to. My pastor, who is also the Conference president, is in favor, as well as the elders both from the English- and the French speaking church. The only challenge might be the finances, as the first few weeks of the campaign would have to take place in a secular setting (since not even some Christians would ever take a step into an SDA church), and this is very costly in the city of Brussels. We would also have to start up with a health seminar to make people come in the first place. So many things to consider, and so many hands needed! But I'm praying for God's leading. If it's His will, I'll be ready to invest my time and strength into this endeavor.

We had a baptism at our church yesterday. The candidates were seven young people, mainly youth from the church. Of course I'm happy that they decided to follow the Lord and not to go out into the world, but it would be nice to baptize more first generation Adventists. If the evangelistic series will take place next spring, this could be an opportunity to help achieving this goal. May the Lord lead in His wisdom and power to reach the unreached in the city of Brussels.

The baptismal candidates

Last Sabbath in Germany

Below are some more pictures I have taken this Sabbath day. It was good spending time with family and church members while at home. But everything comes to an end, and so I'll be headed back to Brussels this coming Monday.

My home church in Karlsruhe

Sabbath school

The church has about 200 members

With my baptismal brother Andrej

Going home by tram

A cat in the neighborhood

My parent's home - the right upper chamber used to be my abode

I never get tired looking at the forget-me-nots!

Springtime in Germany

I safely made it to Germany, and I'm glad to be able to spend another week here before I have to go back to work. The weather conditions are not so typical for May though, but nature doesn't care! I will try to upload a few more pictures before I leave.

Mother's day bouquet

Everything is so green!

Daisies

Lilacs

The little ducklings in the pond

With my cousin Antje

Thou will keep him in perfect peace

Originally, I was going to write on a different topic, but I changed my mind today. Although I'm not a preacher, I can relate to those servants of the Lord who have a tendency to mainly speak about things that personally concern them most at the moment.

I think nobody can claim that they have never been discouraged in life. After all, life is not always a bed of roses, and things may not always work out the way we would like them to. But how do we deal with those feelings?

Yes, I've found myself discouraged lately, and the main reasons were some situations at work that unsettled me. I thought "O Lord, why – why do I have to go through this? Why did I end up in this particular unit?" I don't want to go into details, but I believe I do have good reasons to be frustrated. However, should this take away my peace in any way?

Isaiah 26:3 says:

"Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."

So should we focus our minds on the circumstances? No, definitely not. We need to be anchored in the Lord, and staying my mind on Him means dwelling in His Word and believing His promises. This is the only way we can build real faith in Him.

In one of the talks of Dr. Nedley, he would sing a little song about feelings. Googling it up, I got the complete quote and I found out that it's actually by Martin Luther:

"Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God--
Naught else is worth believing.

Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken.

I'll trust in God's unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!"

How encouraging! I'm so thankful for God's unchanging Word, and that He is actually the one who is in control of our circumstances as well as our feelings. Whenever you feel dismayed, keep looking up, for the Lord is the One in charge!

This Friday, I'll be headed to Germany for a ten days vacation. Of course I look forward to this break and to spending time with family and friends. Maybe I can take some nice pictures there, provided the spring will be coming back by then!

Hungary

This past Thursday, I finally made it back to Brussels. I was already scheduled to return from my mission trip on Sunday, but the whims of nature made it impossible for me to fly home as planned. I would have never thought that a volcano erruption could have such wide-ranging impact, yet I'm thankful for the Lord's timing. Indeed, if it had happened a week before, I wouldn't even have made it to Hungary; and on the day of my planned departure, my friend Ann-Marie got sick, so I was able to fill in for her.

Our lifestyle training session was a great blessing. It was pleasant to work with Dr. Horsley again and to listen to his lectures. We had about 8 patients and over 20 observers, many of them from medical professions. It was a Uchee Pines style lifestyle session with the aim to show church members in Hungary how to do medical missionary work. One of the ladies I worked with was a woman my age with almost every possible health problem. My heart went out to her. But I was pleased that every person who was seeking help improved during this time. Yes, natural remedies work!

The session took place at a nursing home in a small place called Elek, situated in South Eastern Hungary, right at the Romanian border. The facilities where not as sophisticated like in an established lifestyle center, but we were able to work with what we had. It was nice interacting with the Hungarians, although the language barrier was a challenge again. But being German was an advantage, since quite a few Hungarians can somehow communicate in this language rather then in English. My interpreter was an 88-year old resident who spoke German very well. She was a remarkable lady.

Anyway, I'm glad that I was able to be part of this endeavor and to help teaching there. May the Lord strengthen this "right arm of the gospel" over in Hungary - and also in the rest of Europe!

It wasn't easy for me to get back to work after almost two weeks of absence. I'm assisting for a case investigation in the mining industry, and lots of messages had been piling up in my Outlook. In addition to this, I'm in charge of our functional mailbox in the unit, where all internal and external requests come in on a daily basis. However my dear fellow assistants usually don't do a very good job keeping up with this while I'm absent. It took me the whole morning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and now I'm really looking forward to some rest. And, believe it or not, it will be a sunny and warm weekend. Yes, I still live in Brussels and we are in April!

Our Team from left to right: Terry, myself, Ann-Marie, Lehel, Dr. Wynn Horsley

With my interpreter Sára

Medical Conference Uchee Pines style

I gave a testimony on some of my experiences in Brussels

Lot's of beautiful flowers everywhere

A stork working on his nest

Cooking Class

This past Monday, we had an Easter holiday, so I thought this might be an excellent opportunity to offer a cooking class at my home. I invited interested church members to come and see what a fully vegetarian cuisine can offer.

It was a great success: Eleven ladies attended, one of which even a non-Adventist. They all liked it very much and they were very open to this new way of cooking, which is rather unusual for them.

I'm very thankful that the Lord gave me this serving opportunity. My next project will be another medical-missionary effort in Hungary, to which I will be headed this coming Sunday. A former classmate from Uchee Pines, who is Hungarian, invited again the doctor who was the medical director there during our time. We are going to demonstrate how to do a lifestyle session with real patients. I'll be able to join for one week and I pray for another blessing.

The Conference

The conference that I wrote about in my last blog was held yesterday at the EU Parliament, and was supposed to be a kick-off meeting to relaunch the debate on Sunday protection in Europe. It was well-attended, the contributers mainly being catholics, but there were also contributors from the protestant churches as well as from non-religious backgrounds. The Germans were clearly prevalent.

The chairman, a German MEP, pointed out that they were recommending a legislative proposal for the Sunday as a work-free day, and that they were endeavoring to get 1 million votes from the EU population to support this. László Andor, the new Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs also gave a short speech, pointing out that he would like to "open a new chapter" in this regard. So there is an awareness at the EU Commission, and even if they fail again at the Parliament to get enough votes (as they did last year), the Commission can still launch the legislative procedure.

There were many contributions made from the different invited representatives, and of course many good arguments in favor of the protection of a work-free Sunday (and not any other day of the week) were brought forward. Of course this makes a lot of sense to people who are ignorant about the Sabbath. In fact, I'm amazed how many people have bought into the lie that the Sunday is the seventh day of the week and the biblical day of rest, as it was pointed out by several contributors.

Karel Nowak, Secretary General of the International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty, was also present, and he actually raised the question how this new legislation would protect minorities, like people who keep another day than Sunday. Well, he didn't get an answer to this. There was also a delegation from Newbold College present at the meeting, as well as an ADRA representative from Brussels.

Of course I'm very curious how this is going to play out. They said that this was only the beginning of a series of conferences on this topic. You may learn more about this initiative under www.workfreesunday.eu (sorry the hyper link function doesn't work).

Prophecy is fulfilling right before my eyes here in Brussels. Things may continue to develop in short order now, and we don't know for how much longer the Lord will hold back the winds. Are we ready for this? I will keep you posted on the developments.

Interesting Developments

I'm sick at home today. Yesterday morning, I was still feeling ok, but later on my stomach started aching and I felt quite miserable. So I told my coworkers that I would take sick leave in the afternoon. On my way home in the metro, I had this strange feeling as if I would faint, and the next thing I knew was something hard hitting my head and all these people around me asking if I was ok! This incident scared me quite a bit, as I had never passed out before. Following some episodes of vomiting, I still feel kind of miserable today, so I'm going to stay home to rest. Nevertheless, I'm thankful for my general health, as I think there are quite a few people out there who would be grateful for only being confronted with a short-term bug.

Recently, I had another exciting witnessing opportunity. It was following this terrible train crash here in Belgium that I previously wrote about. Unfortunately, three of the officials of the EU-Commission lost their lives in this accident, and so they decided to put up an electronic condolences book on our intranet website. So everybody was invited to write something, yet they would first receive the comment and then decide whether it would shown to the public or not. As I included a bible verse, I didn't really expect them to publish mine, but they did!

This is what I wrote:

"I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the families of our precious colleagues who lost their lives in this tragic accident. May you find comfort and peace. John 16:22-23"

I'm thankful that this entry found it's way into our intranet.

Furthermore, I received a personal, hand-written note from Mr. Jacques Barrot, former Vice-President and Commissioner for Freedom, Justice and Security. Like to some of his former colleagues, I had sent him a copy of the Great Controversy in his own language. Back to France, he sent me this card with words of appreciation. This shows me again that my efforts didn't go unnoticed, and who knows what effects they will bring about.

Another interesting development is that next week, there will be a conference to relaunch the debate on Sunday protection at European level, which will be held at the European Parliament. László Andor, the new EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, will give a keynote speech at this occasion. This is organized by the Commission of the Bishops' conferences of the European Community. You may check the following link: www.comece.eu

This seems to be a groundbreaking event, and I will definitely try to be there. I will keep you posted on the outcome!

Reflections on the Love of God

I just came across an internet article talking about the love of God. It stated that there are lots of messages around us in the world that suggest that we are unloved, unattractive and unworthy, and that the Lord wants to set us free from such lies.

While I was pursuing language studies at a university in the Black Forest, I met a young lady from the local church. She was looking back to a lot of heartache and pain in her life, which had driven her into an eating disorder. She had given herself away to various boyfriends before she finally put her life in order and got married to a godly man. I can still hear her saying to me: "I only wanted love; but I had to yield to their wishes in order to keep them." And then she made a comment about men in general that I don't want to repeat on this blog.

This young woman wanted to be loved, but she only got hurt.

Wanting to be loved and wanting to give love is an inherent human desire, planted into our hearts. So what is it than can quench this desire? Is it sex? In the case of my friend it formed a deceiving bond that could only be severed with a lot of pain and unpleasant memories. At best it can be a beautiful expression of human love within a God-ordained relationship. Although the marriage union may be an earthly picture of the relationship that the Lord wants with each of His children, human love will never really give us fulfilment in life. Even our most affectionate, deep and meaningful friendships here on earth will not be able to take the place of God's love.

Well, the answer is obvious to those who know who the real love giver is: Only the One who actually put this desire into our hearts can truly give us fulfilment. He has filled His Word with affirmation after affirmation of how He created us in His image, loves us immensely, valued us as worth dying for, and has a purpose and plan for each one of us.

Let's take a closer look into some verses pointing out the characteristics of God's love:

"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Jeremiah 31:3

God's love is not temporal. While friendships end or fade away and marriages break, His love is everlasting and knows no limits.

"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." I John 3:16

Because of His love for us, God even laid down His life for us by sacrificing His son.

"We love him, because he first loved us." I John 4:19

God's love is the origin, it was His motivation to create human beings after His own image.

"Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-30

This clearly shows that God's love knows no limits and there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from it.

Do you find it hard to grasp sometimes? I do. We cannot touch God after all. And yet, we can be touched by His love – the only kind of love that can transform us, fulfil us, and give our lives meaning and purpose.

I like this little illustration:

I asked Jesus. "How much do you love me?" He answered, "This much" and He stretched His arms and died.

Rain!

After a sunny interlude yesterday afternoon, the rain is back today, and it will be increasing in the course of the day. Do you feel like joining me for a hike in the park looking at this view from my living room? However, hearing about raging floods and trembling earthquakes in other parts of the world, I shouldn't be complaining about the elements here in Brussels.

I'm just thinking now about how I'm going to spend my Sunday. I will probably do various chores at home (including my favorite one - cooking) and spend some time in the gym. It would also be nice if I could talk to some friends in the US. Let's see who will have time to spare on the phone with me!

This would also be an ideal day to do a cooking school at my home. I thought it would be much easier to invite people over, as I have all the equipment here that I would need.

The bottom line is that I would really like to get busy for the Lord and do whatever I can to educate people about the health message and point them to our Great Physician. When I was still at Uchee Pines, it was quite easy to serve people as this was may daily assignment. As soon as I left there and spent a summer at Eden Valley weeding lettuce, thinning carrots and watching after a group of self-sufficient elderly people, something was missing. I did want to do more to serve while I was there, but maybe I didn't seize the opportunities or I just didn't get them. Right now, I'm facing the situation that many doors are opening, yet nothing really materializes. Perhaps I should become more pro-active.

I just read an interesting quote:

"But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, God's purposes know no haste and no delay." (Desire of Ages, p. 32)

Wow, that's profound. Yet it leaves open what exactly God's purposes are in our individual lives. And how can we discern whether our views of God's timing are distorted, as His timing is just perfect and well-aligned like the circuit of the stars. Well, this gives rise to more thought, and I may get back to it in a later posting.

Yesterday, when I was worshiping with the French speaking Church, the lyrics of one of the hymns we sang caught my attention.

Le cri de mon âme s'élève vers toi, elle te réclame, Jésus, pour son roi. Ton joug est facile, ton fardeau léger; sur mon coeur docile, règne ô bon berger.

Eclare ma route, inspire mes choix, dissipe mes doutes et soutiens ma foi. Dans la nuit profonde, tiens-moi par la main; lumière du monde, luis sur mon chemin.

In English this means the following:

The cry of my soul is rising up to you, it claims you as its King. Your yoke is easy, your burden light; reign oh Shepperd over my meek heart. Light up my ways, inspire my choices, dissipate my doubts and uphold my faith. In the deep night hold me by your hand; light of the world, shine on my way.

May the Lord's light shine upon you today!


PS: And this is how ugly it became later in the afternoon. What a blessing it is to have a warm and cozy home to dwell in...

Sunshine!

The sun has been shining all afternoon - a rare treat in Brussels at this time of the year. During my lunchbreak, I went to the park to indulge in it for a while, and I wish I could have captured the scene with all the birds enjoying themselves on the frozen pond.

I have a new colleague in the secretariat, Livia from Romania. My other Romanian colleague just gave birth the other day and so we needed a replacement. I'm sharing the office with her this week to explain her the job. This is keeping me fairly busy, and I've also been trying to gently push my head of unit to work on his backlog of incoming mail. He has a tendency of keeping letters pile up and allocating them only at the last minute or later. This is against my nature, and I hope I'll be able to help improving this situation. At least he has been cooperative, and the pile made it onto his desk by now.

Yesterday, there were almost 20 people killed in a terrible train crash not far away from Brussels. A friend from the US contacted me to ask me if I was ok, so even there it went through the press. I wrote her that I was fine as I'm not taking the regional trains to get to my workplace, but that I should maybe start praying that something like this won't happen with the metro!

This brings to my mind again how fragile our lives are, and that we can only be truly safe in the arms of Jesus. Have you consecrated your life to Him this morning? I'm realizing more and more the urgency of getting ready for the difficult times ahead; and also to prepare others around us.

I received some more encouraging responses as a fruit of my endeavors to provide the departing Commissioners with a copy of the Great Controversy. Both the German and the Swedish Commissioner sent me short messages to thank me for the book. I was encouraged by this and I'm looking forward to more opportunities.

Today I'm thankful that Jesus can always enlighten our souls, no matter if the sun is shining or not - and that HE is the only One who can give us contentment, peace and true fulfilment in life.

There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my light.

O there's sunshine, blessed sunshine,
While the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face
There is sunshine in my soul.

Sowing Seeds

I read in the Spirit of Prophecy that some people are sowers and others are reapers. Looking back on my journey with the Lord, I would categorize myself as a sower. However, I've been developing a desire to get more of a balance here, to become also a reaper, but I don't know how and when this shall happen.

Once I had the opportunity to speak before a secular audience of about 250 people. This was nearly five years ago, when my father retired from his job as the principle of a college. There was this big celebration in his school and I told my dad I would like to contribute with a song. He agreed, and I took this opportunity to combine this with a personalized speech for my father. I shared a story of his life, boiling down to the fact that nothing happens by coincidence and the Lord has given him (like all of us) talents and that I can't do anything of my own strength. I praise God that there was a lot of positive feedback, and some of the attendees were even in tears.

Somehow, the Lord keeps giving me ideas to share spiritual truths with secular, unchurched people. Maybe that's why I'm here in this secular environment.

I've been trying to get the different language versions of the Great Controversy to send to the departing Commissioners before they leave office on February 9. I haven't been successful with every version, but at least I managed to get a majority of them. One of my candidates was the Danish Commissioner, Mrs. Fischer Boel, who has been holding the portfolio for Agriculture and Rural Development. Hereunder is a message that I received through her assistant the day after I sent her the book:

Dear Mrs Weichhold

Commissioner Fischer Boel has asked me to thank you very much for the book you have sent her. It seems to be very interesting.

She was very touched by your thought and is looking forward to reading it now that she - hopefully - will have some more free time after ending her mandate as Member of the Commission.

Mrs. Fischer Boel sends you her best regards.

WOW! I was really encouraged by this e-mail, as it suggests to me that my efforts haven't been totally in vain.

I'm praying for more opportunities to be used as a tool to reach my secular colleagues at all levels, although I don't know at this point what I would get myself into if the Lord answers my prayers. But if He provides those opportunities, He also has to enable me to do whatever needs to be done.

The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few

There is one thing that has been occupying my mind for a while. I wonder how the work in Europe can ever be finished. In Belgium, there are less then 1700 Adventists, with a population of about 10 million. This means that there is less then 1 Adventist on 6000 inhabitants!

Every morning, I take the metro to go to work. It takes me about 20 minutes from my home to my office, and I usually listen to spiritual music until I enter the premises of my workplace; in order to uplift my mind heavenward, and also to override the rock- und popmusic they usually play in the metro stations. One of my favorite songs is "People need the Lord":

Everyday they pass me by,
I can see it in their eyes.
Empty people filled with care,
Headed who knows where?

On they go through private pain,
Living fear to fear.
Laughter hides their silent cries,
Only Jesus hears.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize, people need the Lord?

We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right.
What could be too great a cost
For sharing Life with one who's lost?

Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear.
They must hear the Words of Life
Only we can share.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize that we must give our lives,
For people need the Lord.

There are so many different people I observe in the metro everyday. People who for some reason or another came to this cosmopolitan city. They are white, black, yellow; they are Europeans, Africans, Americans, Sintis, Romas; quite a few are wealthy, many are part of the (upper) middle-class, and a considerable number of them is rather poor, or at least struggling with finances. Some look happy, some look neutral, some look sad. Interestingly, I just learned about a new study which has found that removing just the tears out of pictures of people crying reduces the sadness that viewers perceive in the photos, even though the rest of the expression remains intact. So how much pain is behind those "neutral faces"? Most of these people definitely don't know Jesus as their personal Saviour. They don't know that the Lord has something better in store for mankind than this world has to offer.

But who is going to tell them?

At the moment, I feel somehow paralyzed to share the Good News even in my own personal sphere of influence. How can I reach my colleagues? How can I establish trusting relationships with them? And if, by God's grace, I can win one of these precious souls, it would be just a drop in the bucket. Would it? Of course, even one single soul is very valuable in God's eyes. But there is still so much work to be done. However, the Lord is still in charge!

At the GYC convention, I was able to talk to one of the speakers of Amazing Facts who lives with his family at Uchee Pines. They have been doing evangelistic campaigns in Hungary, and they would be very open to come to Belgium as well. Of course in Europe it's crucial to combine such efforts with medical missionary work. So we would have to start off by giving a health seminar which would lead straight into a evangelistic series. Thus, we could even cover two language groups, as this would have to be interpreted from English into French. Some of my friends from Uchee would be eager to come and help with this. So, Lord willing, this could be one more step towards conquering Europe...



This is a group picture with my unit

What a journey!

Last Monday, I made it safely all the way from Colorado back to Brussels. It was quite an exciting journey with some unexpected happenings.

The first interesting encounter was with the driver of the shuttle bus in Loveland, Colorado. He asked me where I was from, and I told him that I lived in Brussels, Belgium. He said: "So you are a EU bureaucrat!" I was astonished about this statement, as the Americans usually don't come to such conclusions when I tell them where I live and work. But this man (maybe in his 60's) turned out to be from Australia. So we started a general discussion on politics, the economy, as well as conspiracy. I decided to give him a leaflet on prophecy and world history, as well as a small handout called "Why alcohol is not good for you". When he read this title, he told me that he had been with AA and that he was dry for 37 years; and he also asked me whether I was a recovering alcoholic! In fact, he used a more elegant word than alcoholic, but I can't remember. Anyway, I told him he could give the handout also to someone else.

In Atlanta, I had to get on my plane to Paris. My travel agency had informed me that the flight would leave two hours earlier than originally scheduled, but somehow, I didn’t internalize this, and so I was too late to check in! I was very upset, but they told me they would put me in standby for the next flight to Paris. I got on this plane, and this turned out a real blessing. It was a plane operated by Air France (and not by the code-share partner Delta), and I realized that the service was much better than on any Delta flights I had ever been on before. In addition, I ended up with a seat that gave me much more room for my legs than usual, so this made the journey more pleasant.

Arrived in Paris, I was supposed to take a high-speed train to Brussels, as Air France doesn’t operate flights anymore between these two cities, but they cooperate with the French rail company “TGV”. Sitting in the waiting room, I heard an announcement that there was an earlier train coming then the one I was booked on, and of course I wanted to get on it. So I went to the counter of Air France and the representative sent me down to the gate, but he said I had to be quick, as the train was going to depart without any further delay. So I hurried up and at the gate I addressed one of the employees of TGV, asking if I could go on this train, even though I had a reservation for the later train. He said that this was impossible unless I changed my ticket with Air France. I didn’t understand this kind of bureaucracy, as I saw there was still a lot of room in the train, and I started arguing with him. Finally, they sent me to the Air France staff located at the very end of the train. I approached them quickly, so they probably assumed that I’m just late on the train that I was booked on. The doors were about to be shut. I explained one of the employees the situation and asked if I could go on this train. He promptly gave me a new seat reservation and told me to get on immediately. I managed, and of course, I thanked this helpful man profusely. Then it popped into my mind that I still had some French health flyers in my bag, so I called him and gave it to him. Next to him there was one of his colleagues witnessing this and he was curious about what I had just given him. So he opened it and began reading to him: “See, it’s about sunshine, water, air…”. So I thought I could also give one to his colleague. However, the doors where about to close, so I had to be very quick. So by accident, I took one of the French flyers on Prophecy and World History that I also carried with me! Well, maybe this was exactly what this man needed, who knows! Anyway, later on I realized that I was even seated in a first class compartment!
I was home at lunchtime, and I'm very thankful for the Lord's intervention throughout the whole journey.

The year 2010 has just begun. What will it bring?

For me, 2009 was mainly a year of transitioning back to Europe: Going back to my work with the European Commission in Brussels, my current mission field. My heart is full of eager anticipation of the events to come in this year. There have been lots of changes on the political floor at the EU headquarters lately, and 2010 will be a year of transition for the European Commission, the administrative body of the EU. As for the Churches in Belgium in beyond, I can discern a “wake-up”, an increased awareness of the necessity to finish the work, but there is still so much to be done on this secularized continent, and the labor is always on the short side.

My 3-years stay in the US prepared me pretty well to face my old situation again, yet I don’t really feel adequate to serve the Lord in the capacity of a medical missionary in this challenging field. However, the statement of a brother I talked to during my Christmas visit at Uchee Pines Institute encouraged me a great deal. He considered it a good thing that I felt inadequate, “because if we feel adequate we wouldn’t depend on the Lord.” Amen to this. So I decided to accept the challenge to continue reaching out to my coworkers as well as my brothers and sisters in Brussels and beyond. I’m so thankful the Lord has planted me on this continent, and I’m grateful for the talents He has given me.

To me, the “spiritual climax” of 2009 was definitely the GYC convention in Louisville, Kentucky, which was held from December 30 through January 3. I felt greatly challenged by one of the first morning devotions, but it even became better towards the end. In fact, a great burden that I had felt was completely lifted after the Sabbath sermon by Mark Finley. I’m so grateful that I had spontaneously decided to sign up for GYC, as I had not originally planned on going there while visiting the States.

Until coming Sunday, I’m going to enjoy wintery Colorado with dear friends at Eden Valley, where I spent the summer of 2008 as a volunteer. It's rather cold and dreary today, but it's supposed to get better towards the weekend. It doesn't diminish my joy of being here as a visitor anyway!

I hope to be able to upload some pictures soon. May God richly bless you in this year 2010 - wherever the Lord has planted you!