The freezing cold bath

This morning I was thinking of skipping my early morning run because I had an appointment at Apeldorn at 10:00 and I have a reputation of being late. 

On waking up it was clear that I had to finish my daily run. So I ended up going out at 6:30 AM in the morning for a job and came back at 07:30 AM to take a cold shower.

The cold shower is something I am pushing my body to experience, since it takes away the fear of the cold weather all the day round.

Tineke had kindly set up my breakfast culinary ready the night before. I really appreciate family Nagtegaal's love and care.

As I was eating my first bread, I casually checked the train timing and noticed that the train I was planning to board was cancelled. Then I rushed quickly to the station on the bicycle to catch the earlier train but I was late by a minute. In the end I ended by reaching 16 minutes late but this time alone it was not my fault.

 I love the Bible verse "The stone that the builder's rejected has become a chief corner stone" - a reference to Jesus Christ. Peter Zevenhuizen recycles clothes, plastic and makes beautiful bags from them. I love the concept of something that is supposed to be thrown away or rejected is now given a new life and is placed in a place of honor. It is the Lord's doing. This has been my vision to start projects for differently abled and give them a helping hand.

It was great to share our work and vision with each other and he is a 2 meter tall dutchman and I looked small in front of him.

On coming back, I decided to walk 12 km from Utrecht Centraal to Driebergen-Zeist. I ended the day at 10:30 PM having a great conversation with Willine and Willine, great friends who have visited me twice in India

Sunday away from home

Sundays are generally a day of fasting but not today. I had to decide between going to xrds, Amsterdam or attend the church in Bethel, Zeist. Finally I decided to go to xrds, Since Anneke would pick me up at Amsterdam Zuid and I could ride with her.

It was great to visit a couple of old friends and visit Johan Verboom. I gifted this 2025 promise verse bag in Dutch (Psalms 65:11) to Johan and asked him to find a mistake in the print. He couldn't and I mentioned the reference in Dutch was Psalms 65:12 😀

Johan Verboom was the preacher for the day and I have seen his dedication about 18 years back when he was the head of the  custodians - Strong and serving with a compassionate heart. To see him on the podium as a teaching pastor was an honor. He spoke on "Jesus - The good shepherd". The call was clear that we need to let go of the fear and anxious thoughts and cling on to Jesus who as a shepherd cares for the sheep.

Anneke prepared a good lunch and I had an excellent conversation about the future and the life ahead. Anneke got introduced to me during my accident recovery in the year 2010, as a member of the prayer group for the land Israel, she was interested in knowing the reason behind my name and pointed out that I had the same injuries as "Israel" from the Bible from Genesis 32

At 5:30 PM we visited the "Chanukah" festival at the Dam and then I took the train back to Zeist.

In the evening had a great conversation with Evangelist Rein vd glind and his wife Trudy until 10:00 PM.

It's time to hit bed early now and be ready for tomorrow morning's appointment at Appeldorn with Peter Zevenhuizen.

Looking back with gratitude

Day 3 also started with a morning meditation followed by a run in the cold weather of 1 degree celcius at 7 AM. I had a complete cold shower thereafter on reaching back.

I had an appointment with family Edwin and Renate slomp who live close to Arnhem in the province of Gelderland, bordering Germany.

We had lunch together and Renate took me to see their horse Hugur. 

Hugur is from Iceland and surprisingly when the other horses had warm clothes on, Hugur didn't need one since he is used to extremely cold weather conditions.

Gérard de Koning Hans picked me up in his Luxury BMW and we went together to Wijnand's house. 

Wijnand, Rosine, their children Joab and Noami, Tijm and his wife Lisanne and Sam, Christel and Hans christian - all of us had dinner together.

I treasure these friends who helped me practically and stood with me all along in my recovery post my accident in 2010. 

Focus consistently

At the end of Matthew 20, there were two blind men sitting by the eayside and when they heard that Jesus passed by they cries out saying "Have mercy on us O Lord"

The multitude around him rebuked them and asked them not to disturb Jesus but they were even more focussed in their approach and took one step further and cried even more asking for a healing touch and they were healed. The were not deterred by the people around Jesus and they weren't discouraged thinking that the people around Jesus would also represent Jesus. 

They were focussed consistently with their foucs on Jesus For healing their eyes and nothing else. It was a great encouragement to pursue a personal direct relationship with Jesus without any meditation.

In the meanwhile I landed safely even though there was a bit of delay in the arrival of my baggage and some confusion in the process. However I was glad to observe that I wasn't anxious at all even though I was asked to write a complaint of missing/delayed baggage. I was thankful to take the baggage along with me. 

I was picked up from the train station and arrived in Zeist by Ronald and was glad to meet Jaap and Lia and also Arjen, Ilsabe and their 2 year old son Eli on 26 December 

This morning I was awake at around 6 AM and went for a run between 7 AM and 8 AM. 

The meeting with Maarten was good and we went together to the park post lunch to do some exercises together. 

At 5:30 PM I reached Huis ter Heide where Shanu and Lennart live for dinner. 

Their beautiful children Jair and Yaron are a blessing. It is cold with the temperaturen dropping to 2-3 degrees and I need to bicycle back in the cold weather to my host family

26 December 2024

The flight was about to land in Frankfurt as early as 07:30 AM local time when I opened my Dutch bible for some early meditation.

The scripture from Matthew 20 was the parable about the kingdom of heaven compared to a landlord who hired workers early morning, afternoon and late evening for the same wages. Interestingly none of them had a job earlier but were given a job by the landlord. 

At the end of the parable, the workers, instead of being grateful to the landlord were furious with him because they started comparing their daily wages with others labourers. The workers employed in the evening were given the same salary as the people who worked since morning. 

The landlord eventually had to defend himself saying that just because their heart was evil because of ungratefulness and greed, it cannot override the fact that the landlord was good.

Serving the poor, marginalized,  down trodden or even people in need with good intentions can at times backfire but there is a call to serve for God and not for man.

Once I landed in Frankfurt, I took some office calls and then went to the forex exchange counter asking for an exchange of my big 100 euro bill into smaller notes.

The German on giving the change back to me replied - "I cannot refuse since you asked me so kindly".

I am about to board my flight to Amsterdam post which I will take a train to my host family.  Ronald and Tineke Nagtegaal will receive me at the train station at Driebergen Zeist at around 3 PM.

( I need to get used to eating lots of cheese in the morning for the next 9 days)

I had to take some pictures to give some color to this blog post 😀

The premium lounge

I hopped on my bicycle on a  rainy day at 7 AM in Chennai to go the visa appointment for my annual year-end visit to Netherlands. This time I was late for my visa appointment since they had changed the office and I wasn't aware of the change until I reached the existing location. 

On being redirected to the new location, I arrived there late. I was however allowed inside but using my delay on arrival as an excuse was asked to use the "premium lounge" route. When you take a "premium lounge" appointment route you don't wait in a queue and are given preferential treatment. 

I however refused the offer because it's not only about the extra money that I need to pay, it was since I was on my bicycle, I was sweating. I was also dirty due to the accumulated rainy mud on parts of my skin and clothes. Being an addicted bicyclist, I have been going around the city for using it as my mode of travel. 

 When I refused the premium lounge I was asked to wait a little longer in the waiting area. After waiting for a while I was let in. I noticed to my surprise that there was not any queue in the normal appointment counter since  VFS (company which mediates visa application) guys had almost convinced and sent everyone to the premium lounge except me. Once in, I finished my work and came back in 30 mins. 

The year gone by has been extremely busy with work at office, commuting to office on my bicycle, the differently abled bag making project taking shape very well and the sunday Hindi fellowships for migrant workers. 

It's just hardly a week left before I start my vacation but I am so grateful to my friends at Netherlands. The host family Nachtegaal with whom I stay, have their son's family staying with them this time around. However they still offered me a place to stay in their home without any hesitation. 

It's been close to 13 years since I moved to India from the Netherlands but the church and families in this small city Zeist love me still and I don't take this for granted at all. 

I have already made 7 appointments for my 10 day visit and it's only going to increase. The only time other than meeting friends and their families is when I go swimming in a 12 feet swimming pool. 

Well, I am also working on reading more dutch this time around so I can have good conversations. I adapt when I am there to the culture including eating lots of cheese and the sour karnemelk (milk) , adapting to the weather, making appointments for lunch/dinner, speaking and greeting wholeheartedly and riding my bicycle to their homes.

Before I even think seriously about my trip there are 2 Christmas programs which needs to be completed  - differently abled program on 20 Dec and Hindi program on 22 Dec. 

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength - Isaiah 40:29-31