The first clue that the annual national frenzy was upon us was when I saw the guy standing outside the Albert Heijn grocery store with a orange paper crown on his head.  Then I noticed that our favorite fish vendors had been moved out of their customary spot in the Friday market because a […]

As December turns into January and February and the temperature dips across the Netherlands, it awakens a deep longing and hope among the Dutch.  It starts with the small narrow canals, then little ponds — the edges first — as the ice starts to creep ever further out across the water.   And then, if the […]

Sitting here on January 9th, I wondered:  Had I missed my window to make a Christmas post?   But then I realized that that’s a ridiculous notion.  So here we go. We spent Christmas this year across two countries — the Netherlands (Kerste) and France (Noel).  In both places, we experienced joy, beauty, and controversy. The […]

I sat in the barbershop chair contemplating the reality of my receding hairline. Why not just let him do anything he wants with it? God knows I was seeking to avoid the dreaded ‘comb-over’ like the plague. He, by the way, is Ali. I had gone online to search for a barbershop to go to. […]

This post is about Remembrance.  And thinking about it, you can’t have remembrance without time.  The passage of time.  So to be more precise, this post is about time and remembering — all wrapped up in our recent week-long visit to London and Scotland.  (And speaking of time, this is a longer post than usual, […]

This post was coming sooner or later. After serving as a pastor for 8 ¾ years – that’s leading a little over 400 worship services – I’m back in the pew. As one of those visitors. One of the folks who suddenly show up on a Sunday. Having no responsibilities in the course of a […]

We knew THEY were coming. Before we even arrived in the Netherlands, we understood that THEY were the reason that the city of Groningen sports the lowest average age of its citizens of all the cities in the Netherlands.  THEY are the university students that claim a full 20% of the population of this city […]

For the first 5 weeks of our stay in the Netherlands, my wife Janet, daughter Elyse and I lived in a 4th floor studio apartment in the city of Groningen.  The total area of the apartment was approximately 14 ft x 33 ft  (or I should say 4.2m x 9.9 m!) .   Here’s a view […]