HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !

A friend of mine said: Be happy you've got birthdays!  It means you're still alive!

Love it!  ... and I really am still alive, and loving the life God is giving me.

Since this is my 71st birthday, it is so appropriate for me to quote some of my keystone verses from Psalm 71, as I praise and thank God for his goodness and faithfulness to me:

"Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may continually come ...
 

"You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, from my youth.  Upon you have I leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother's womb ...
 

"I have been as a signpost to many, but you are my strong refuge.  My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.

 

 

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not leave me when my strength is spent..

From my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.  So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, and your power to all those to come ...

 

"You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.  You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. ...

 

 

 

I spoiled myself today:  I made a reservation at a lovely Brussels restaurant for lunch, and what a lunch!  The service, the flavours and the décor were impeccable.  I told the waiter it was my birthday and so I was treating myself ... and at the end of the meal, a beautiful silver tray arrived at my table with a framed "Joyeux Anniversaire", flowers and chocolate.  And they took my picture so I'll share it with you.

 

 

And at end of the day, my niece Rebekah who is here teaching this year, took me out for dinner to a traditional little Brussels hideaway restaurant with Belgian food, called 'T Spinnekopke (The Spider's Web).

 

 

 

I have been wrapped around with love in all sorts of forms on this special day.  I am truly blessed.

 



CHANGED BY CONTACT

I conceive of the spiritual life as a capacity built into the human person, but one that can only develop in relationship with God.  "I call you into my soul", said Augustine, "which you prepare to accept, by the longing that you breathe into it."  Although we all have the capacity, our spiritual longing will remain unfulfilled until we make contact, and then develop the skills of spiritual "correspondence."  Considered in this way, Jesus' striking image of being born again makes perfect sense.  Conversion, the process of connecting to spiritual reality, awakens the potential of brand new life.  And as God's children we become who we are through relationship with God and God's people.

I become who I am as a Christian by relating to God.  In ways mysterious and often hard to describe - yet never coercive or manipulative - I have changed over time because of my contact with God.                                                              (P. Yancey)

UN CAFÉ, S'IL VOUS PLAÎT

One of the things I like about Belgium is the way they serve coffee.  You can complain about the eternal grey skies but you cannot possibly fault the way this country presents a cup of coffee.

Here is how it works.  You go into a café.  It will probably be old-fashioned even if it just opened last week.  The style they like in these parts is 1950s modern with a hint of the middle ages.  You sit down, smile at the elderly lady at the next table and take care not to step on her little pampered dog.  Then the waiter arrives.

You just have to ask for a coffee and he will nod, disappear behind the bar, and return with a perfect coffee served on a silver tray with a pot of milk and possibly a little Belgian speculoos biscuit or a square of chocolate on the side.  This is so civilised.  It's as if the Hapsburg Empire had never ended.  It only needs a string quartet and you could be in Vienna.

FUN WITH PILAT

PILAT?  Program in Language Acquisition Techniques

That's the name of the program that I teach each January and July to the new missionaries of the Presbyterian Church of America: in January here in Brussels and in July in New York City.

I don't teach them how to learn a language: I help them see that NOT knowing a language when one arrives, is not a liability but the entrance into the community where they will be working, if they present themselves as a 'learner'.  I give them techniques, projects and tools to help them take advantage of this, using the community and neighbourhood around them to learn culture and language.  I take language learning out of the classroom and into the life of the community.

We always have fun.  The participants don't come prepared to 'play at learning' and they really enjoy the course.  AND, they finish the course with enthusiasm to "get at it"!  That's my reward.

                                                  some of the participants

I have the best group of people to help me with different aspects of the course: they are all on the Mission to the World staff, and former missionaries themselves.  We have the best time together and great laughs, whether it be in New York or in Brussels.

                                  Peter, Minette, Bruce & Susan, Mischa & Jeff

PILAT is part of the final 4-week cross-cultural training for these people.  From here, they head out overseas.

I stayed in an apartment in Queens for my week and had the most breath-taking view of the Manhattan skyline: so different in the morning from the evening!  The temperatures for the first few days were in the 40s (Celcius) and you can 'see' the heat in my morning photos.

After a super week-end with my sister Kathy in Philadelphia, I took the plane back to Brussels, my home away from home .... to be welcomed by a heat wave à la Brussels: 32 to 34o Celcius (95-ish), the highest temperature for this time of year since the 1800s!!  and no air-conditioning :(