I går græd jeg. Det sker ellers ikke så tit. Men jeg har været i Schweiz nogle dage til vigtige møder, og følte mig en del overvældet af alle de ting, der kommer til at forandre sig de næste måneder. Jeg tænkte på alle de ting, jeg må ofre for at følge Guds vej: Min dejlige lejlighed, mit pletfrie køkken, venner, kirke, familie, sprog, København, min næsten nye cykel og mange andre ting. Men det var nu ikke derfor, at jeg græd. Nej, jeg sludrede lidt med Gud om det hele og sagde: ”Der er godt nok meget, man må ofre for at følge dig!” Jeg vidste, at jeg var uretfærdig, for tænk på de store ofre, Jesus gav for vores skyld, da han forlod sit hjem for at komme til jorden.
Men pludselig skete det. Jeg så et billede. Ikke en overnaturlig vision. Nej, jeg så et foto. Det ligger som baggrundsbillede på min computer, og det forestiller Nini, som jeg skrev om på denne blog for et par dage siden. På billedet står hun sammen med en lille dreng, som ser meget alvorlig ud. Faktisk så jeg ham slet ikke smile i den tid, han var på besøg i vores børnetelt. Man spørger sig selv, hvorfor en lille dreng på fem år ser så alvorlig ud. Og jeg begyndte at græde for Ninis skyld og for den lille drengs skyld. Fordi der ikke er en børneklub i deres nærmiljø. Fordi Nini er efterladt helt alene med sin nye tro på Jesus. Fordi jeg ikke har hendes adresse. Og jeg græd for den lille dreng, der så alt for alvorlig ud. Jeg græd for alle de mange ”Nini’er”, jeg har mødt igennem mit liv. Og alle de andre, jeg ikke har mødt. Jeg så tusindvis af Nini’er for mit indre blik.
Og så blev det pludseligt så klart for mig igen, hvorfor det er så vigtigt at flytte til Schweiz. Her kan jeg være med til at træne folk, der kan træne folk, der kan række ud til børn over hele Europa. Her kan jeg gennem mit job forhåbentlig indirekte og direkte være med til, at der startes flere og flere og flere børneklubber. Og i lyset af alt dette, blev mine kommende måneders udfordringer pludseligt så små. Da jeg så alle de mange børn, som har brug for nogle, der vil gå en ekstra mil, ja, så var det ikke svært at bestemme sig for at gå den ekstra mil – for Nini!
Yesterday I cried. It actually doesn’t happen very often. But I have been in Switzerland a few days for some important meetings, and I felt a bit overwhelmed by all those things that are about to change the next few months. I thought about all the things I have to sacrifice in order to move and serve God: My wonderful apartment, my spotless kitchen, friends, church, family, language, Copenhagen, my almost new bike and a lot of other things. But that was not why I cried… No, I chatted a bit with God about the whole thing and said, ’There really are a lot of sacrifices when we follow you!’ I knew I was being unfair – because think about all the things Christ gave up in order to come to this earth.
But then it happened. I saw a picture. Not as in a supernatural vision but simply a photo. It is my background screen on the computer at the moment and it shows two children that I met last week at the tent campaign. It shows Nini, that I wrote about a few days ago. On the picture she is standing with a little boy who looks all too serious. I actually never saw him smiling while he was visiting our tent last week. And I started crying for Nini and for the little boy. I cried because there is no Good News Club in their neighbourhood. I cried because Nini is left behind alone with her newfound trust in Christ. I cried because I don’t have her address. And I cried for the little boy who looked all too serious and sad. I cried for the many ‘Ninis’, I have meet in the past years. And especially for all the ones I haven’t met. In my mind I saw thousand of ‘Ninis’.
And suddenly it became so clear to me again why it is so important to move to Switzerland. Here I can be a part of training the ones who will train the ones who will go and start Good News Clubs around Europe. It became clear how I hopefully through my job directly and indirectly can be a part of inspiring and equipping people to begin more and more and more Good News Clubs. And in the light of that, the challenges of the coming months became so small. When I saw all the children who needed someone who would walk an extra mile, it wasn’t hard to decide to walk that extra mile – for Nini.
torsdag, juni 28, 2007
Søndag i Schweiz - Sunday in Switzerland
Bare et par billeder fra en lille opdagelsesrejse, jeg begik i søndags i Schweiz. Den tog mig på gåben ned af bjerget, hvor Kilchzimmer ligger på, videre med bus, to toge og endelig en sporvogn i Basel, indtil jeg endte i en kirke, jeg virkelig havde lyst til at besøge.
Just some wee pictures from a little adventure I had on Sunday in Switzerland. I went on foot down the mountain from Kilchzimmer, then by bus, two trains and finally by cable car in Basel to a church I really wanted to visit.
lørdag, juni 23, 2007
Kirken og børnene - The church and the children
I ugen der er gået så vi en fantastisk ting og en trist ting.
Den fantastiske ting er, at evangeliet besidder en fænomenal tiltrækningskraft på små og store. Tænk at se totalt kirkefremmede børn, teenagere og voksne opsluges af Guds ord i vores telt. Vi havde vel 50-60 personer, som kom og gik i teltet. Flere af dem er egentlig alt for store til vores børneprogram, men det forhindrer dem ikke i at lytte og lytte og lytte.
Men hvad var så det triste? Jo, det triste var, at efter tre dage flyttede vi teltet to kilometre op til en lokal frikirke. Vi fortalte børnene, hvordan de skulle finde vej, og vi delte indbydelser ud. Til de fire børnemøder hos den lokale kirke dukkede én kirkefremmed familie med tre personer op.
Interessen for Guds ord var altså tydelig hos de 60, men kun tre (heraf to voksne) formåede at gå de ekstra to kilometre for at få mere af Guds ord.
I Bibelen står der, at hvis nogen beder dig om at gå en mil, så skal du gå to med ham.
Jeg har et vigtigt spørgmål til os kristne:
SKAL BØRNENE KOMME TIL KIRKEN ELLER SKAL KIRKEN KOMME TIL BØRNENE?
During the week that has just passed I experienced both a very wonderful and a very sad thing.
The wonderful thing is that the Gospel contains a phenomenal power to attract people. How wonderful it is to see 50-60 people at our children's tent meetings - many of them way too old for this kind of programme. But they are listening and listening and listening to the Word of God.
But what is the sad thing, then? The sad thing is that after some days we moved the tent two kilometres to a local evangelical church and had children meetings at their place. We explained the way to get there to the children and we handed out invitations. But only ONE family of three members (two adults and a child) showed up.
The 60 people clearly had an interest in the Gospel but most of them did not manage to walk the distance of two kilometres to get more.
The Bible tells us that if anyone asks you to walk a mile with them you should offer to walk two.
Now I have an important question for us as God's people:
SHOULD THE CHILDREN COME TO THE CHURCH OR SHOULD THE CHURCH COME TO THE CHILDREN?
Den fantastiske ting er, at evangeliet besidder en fænomenal tiltrækningskraft på små og store. Tænk at se totalt kirkefremmede børn, teenagere og voksne opsluges af Guds ord i vores telt. Vi havde vel 50-60 personer, som kom og gik i teltet. Flere af dem er egentlig alt for store til vores børneprogram, men det forhindrer dem ikke i at lytte og lytte og lytte.
Men hvad var så det triste? Jo, det triste var, at efter tre dage flyttede vi teltet to kilometre op til en lokal frikirke. Vi fortalte børnene, hvordan de skulle finde vej, og vi delte indbydelser ud. Til de fire børnemøder hos den lokale kirke dukkede én kirkefremmed familie med tre personer op.
Interessen for Guds ord var altså tydelig hos de 60, men kun tre (heraf to voksne) formåede at gå de ekstra to kilometre for at få mere af Guds ord.
I Bibelen står der, at hvis nogen beder dig om at gå en mil, så skal du gå to med ham.
Jeg har et vigtigt spørgmål til os kristne:
SKAL BØRNENE KOMME TIL KIRKEN ELLER SKAL KIRKEN KOMME TIL BØRNENE?
During the week that has just passed I experienced both a very wonderful and a very sad thing.
The wonderful thing is that the Gospel contains a phenomenal power to attract people. How wonderful it is to see 50-60 people at our children's tent meetings - many of them way too old for this kind of programme. But they are listening and listening and listening to the Word of God.
But what is the sad thing, then? The sad thing is that after some days we moved the tent two kilometres to a local evangelical church and had children meetings at their place. We explained the way to get there to the children and we handed out invitations. But only ONE family of three members (two adults and a child) showed up.
The 60 people clearly had an interest in the Gospel but most of them did not manage to walk the distance of two kilometres to get more.
The Bible tells us that if anyone asks you to walk a mile with them you should offer to walk two.
Now I have an important question for us as God's people:
SHOULD THE CHILDREN COME TO THE CHURCH OR SHOULD THE CHURCH COME TO THE CHILDREN?
Teltkampagne - Tent campaign
Det var så vidunderligt at være på teltkampagne i Ringsted. Så snart vi ankom, begyndte børn og teenagere at komme forbi for at hilse på os. Vi har været på denne plads hver sommer i 27 år. Der var masser af gode oplevelser i løbet af ugen, men her er den største:
Om onsdagen sad vi i teltet og repeterede Den Ordløse Bog med børnene. Den Ordløse Bog består af fire sider med hver sin farve, som repræsenterer forskellige sider af evangeliet. Mens vi sad og talte, udbrød Nini (navnet er ændret): „Jeg tog imod Jesus i går." Jeg spurgte hende så, hvordan det føltes, og Hamid (navnet er ændret) svarede: „Det føles godt!" Nini fortsatte: „Det var sjovt, og nu er jeg så glad." Jeg fik talt lidt med dem om frelsesvished og gav Nini en andagtsbog. (De muslimske børn må ofte ikke tage imod kristen litteratur, så Hamid fik ikke nogen.) Både Nini og Hamid tog min ordløse bog og rendte rundt i teltet for at fortælle de andre børn evangeliet. Bogen kom tilbage med en del fedtfingre på – men hvad gør det??!! Hvor ville jeg dog ønske, at der var en børneklub i nærheden af disse børn!
It was so wonderful to be at the tent campaign this week. As soon as we arrived, children and teens started to drop by to say hello. We have been at this site every summer for 27 years. We had many good experiences during the week, but here is the biggest one for me:
On Wednesday we were sitting in the tent and repeating The Wordless Book with the children. The Wordless Book contains of four colours that each represents a different aspect of the Gospel. While we were talking, one 8 year old girl exclaimed, "I received Christ yesterday!" So I replied, "How did it feel?" Then one little Muslim boy replied, "It felt good!" And the girl added, "It was fun. I am so happy now." So I shared with them something about assurance of salvation and then gave the girl a Wonder Devotional Book. I couldn't give the boy a book since he was from a Muslim family but he did get his own Wordless Book. Then both the children picked up my Wordless Book and went around the tent sharing the Gospel with the other children. The book came back with lots of finger marks on it, but who cares??!! How I wish that there was a local Good News Club for these children! But it closed some years ago and noone has taken over.
søndag, juni 17, 2007
Så starter sommeren - Now the summer begins
Så starter sommeren! Eller ihvertfald mine sommer-oplevelser i EB. I morgen tager vi nemlig på børnekampagne med telt til Ringsted. Her har vi været de sidste snart 30 år, og vi har rigtig god kontakt med de lokale børn og voksne. Det er dog altid noget af en energi-præstation fra vores side, idet de første børn dukker op ved 12-tiden om formiddagen og så fortsætter det slag i slag til måske kl. 22-23 om aftenen.
Så bed gerne for:
At mange børn må lære Gud at kende
At vi må have energi og kærlighed til hele ugen
At Gud må passe på os.
Now the summer is about to start! Or at least my summer-experiences with CEF. Tomorrow we go on a tent campaign in a town 50 km outside Copenhagen. Here we have been for the last almost 30 years and we have very good contact with the children and adults. However it is really a tough week - the first children show up aorund noon and then it all continues until almost midnight.
So please pray:
That many children will get to know God
That we will have enough energy and love for the whole week
That God will protect us
Så bed gerne for:
At mange børn må lære Gud at kende
At vi må have energi og kærlighed til hele ugen
At Gud må passe på os.
Now the summer is about to start! Or at least my summer-experiences with CEF. Tomorrow we go on a tent campaign in a town 50 km outside Copenhagen. Here we have been for the last almost 30 years and we have very good contact with the children and adults. However it is really a tough week - the first children show up aorund noon and then it all continues until almost midnight.
So please pray:
That many children will get to know God
That we will have enough energy and love for the whole week
That God will protect us
Lederdag - Meeting for camp staff
Igår havde vi lederdag for dem, der skal med på børnelejr på Sjælland.
Vi startede morgenen med et oplæg om "Gode råd for ledere fra Ordsprogenes bog". Jeg havde forsøgt at gøre det en del interaktivt, og det virkede over al forventning. Lederne - selv de helt unge - delte alt muligt og kom med masser af gode input. Ja, det endte faktisk med, at vi alle frivilligt delte vore svagheder med hinanden og bad for hinanden. Ret bibelsk, faktisk... Sikke nogle coole ledere! Kan man ønske sig mere af en lederdag??
Yesterday we had a day of training for the staff that are going to be at one of our camps this summer.
We began the day with a devotion with good advices for leaders from the Book of Proverbs (Thanks, Gerd-Walter for that devotion in Germany!) I tried to teach with a lot of interaction and it actually worked beyond my expectations! The staff - even the youngest - shared so many wonderful insights. And actually the whole thing ended up with all of us sharing our weaknesses with one another and praying about it. Quite Biblical, actually... Such cool camp staff! Can you ask for more??
Vi startede morgenen med et oplæg om "Gode råd for ledere fra Ordsprogenes bog". Jeg havde forsøgt at gøre det en del interaktivt, og det virkede over al forventning. Lederne - selv de helt unge - delte alt muligt og kom med masser af gode input. Ja, det endte faktisk med, at vi alle frivilligt delte vore svagheder med hinanden og bad for hinanden. Ret bibelsk, faktisk... Sikke nogle coole ledere! Kan man ønske sig mere af en lederdag??
Yesterday we had a day of training for the staff that are going to be at one of our camps this summer.
We began the day with a devotion with good advices for leaders from the Book of Proverbs (Thanks, Gerd-Walter for that devotion in Germany!) I tried to teach with a lot of interaction and it actually worked beyond my expectations! The staff - even the youngest - shared so many wonderful insights. And actually the whole thing ended up with all of us sharing our weaknesses with one another and praying about it. Quite Biblical, actually... Such cool camp staff! Can you ask for more??
torsdag, juni 07, 2007
Søde Hanne - Sweet Hanne
Se her! Jeg har fået en fantastisk gave fra min kollega Hanne. Ligretto!! Hanne og jeg blev lidt fanatiske Ligretto-spillere, da vi var i Tyskland for nogle uger siden på konference, og nu har hun altså bestilt Ligretto over internettet og sender en kurér til mig, så jeg kan spille med! Tusind tak! Det var da en super overraskelse! Og et dejligt minde om hyggelige aftener i Tyskland!
Look what Hanne my colleague has given me. Ligretto! Hanne and I turned out to be a bit crazy about the game Ligretto on our recent trip to Germany a few weeks ago for the CEF conference. And now she has ordered the game over the Internet and will send it to me through a courier. How wonderful. What a nice surprise. And a great memory of nice days in Germany. Thanks a lot, Hanne!
mandag, juni 04, 2007
20 kilometer havudsigt - 20 kilometres of sea view
Jeg har egentlig ferie, men den slags forhindrer ikke DSB i at dagens planer må ændres.
På vej hjem fra Humlebæk, kan toget ikke komme videre end til Rungsted, og så er gode råd, når man har sin cykel med.
Så selv om de påstår, at der er busser på vej, som måske kan have os cyklister med, så har jeg nu mange års bitter erfaring med aflyste toge og indsatte busser, og jeg vælger derfor at hoppe op på cyklen og køre et par stationer. En midaldrende dame; Lotte, spørger om vi skal følges.
Det bliver to timer på cykel, for hver gang vi kommer til en ny by, hvor toget muligvis går fra, bestemmer vi os for at køre videre. Det er jo så smukt og lunt. Og havet glimter. Og Lotte snakker. Og undervejs kan man jo belønne sig med is osv.
Jeg har altid ønsket at tage en cykeltur langs strandvejen, og nu kan jeg så takke DSB for, at det blev til virkelighed. 20 kilometre med havudsigt. Så de 15 år som togpendler har endelig givet potte.
Actually I have holiday this week but our public transportation can still change the plans of ones day. On my way home from North of Sealand, suddenly the train couldn't go any further. Now I had my bike with me and... With my many years of experience with our public transportation, I decided not to wait for the busses that maybe could bring our bikes back to Copenhagen. So I decided to bike to another train station but instead I end up biking for two hours together with an older lady who asks if she can join me. Because everytime we reach another town we decide to bike to the next. But the journey is beautiful. 20 kilometres of sea view. And the weather is wonderful. One of the first mild summer evenings. And off course we must reward ourselves with ice cream etc. during the journey. I actually always wanted to make this trip on bike - so now after 15 years of regular train journeys, I finally have something to thank our public transportation for.
På vej hjem fra Humlebæk, kan toget ikke komme videre end til Rungsted, og så er gode råd, når man har sin cykel med.
Så selv om de påstår, at der er busser på vej, som måske kan have os cyklister med, så har jeg nu mange års bitter erfaring med aflyste toge og indsatte busser, og jeg vælger derfor at hoppe op på cyklen og køre et par stationer. En midaldrende dame; Lotte, spørger om vi skal følges.
Det bliver to timer på cykel, for hver gang vi kommer til en ny by, hvor toget muligvis går fra, bestemmer vi os for at køre videre. Det er jo så smukt og lunt. Og havet glimter. Og Lotte snakker. Og undervejs kan man jo belønne sig med is osv.
Jeg har altid ønsket at tage en cykeltur langs strandvejen, og nu kan jeg så takke DSB for, at det blev til virkelighed. 20 kilometre med havudsigt. Så de 15 år som togpendler har endelig givet potte.
Actually I have holiday this week but our public transportation can still change the plans of ones day. On my way home from North of Sealand, suddenly the train couldn't go any further. Now I had my bike with me and... With my many years of experience with our public transportation, I decided not to wait for the busses that maybe could bring our bikes back to Copenhagen. So I decided to bike to another train station but instead I end up biking for two hours together with an older lady who asks if she can join me. Because everytime we reach another town we decide to bike to the next. But the journey is beautiful. 20 kilometres of sea view. And the weather is wonderful. One of the first mild summer evenings. And off course we must reward ourselves with ice cream etc. during the journey. I actually always wanted to make this trip on bike - so now after 15 years of regular train journeys, I finally have something to thank our public transportation for.
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