My parents are here right now. Visiting for two weeks. It's been like a puff of fresh strong wind in my sails. I love living here and I love my history/my family/my past... so in these two weeks it feels like both have come together a bit. It was so fun last night at small group to introduce my parents to everyone. My worlds mixing for a night. Being with my parents also reminds me again and again of who I am, who Jesus is, and what my gifts are and what he's called me to be. I'm so thankful for this gift! 

It's also so fun to get the scoop on life back home. To hear stories, see pictures, and catch up on everything... not just what can fit in to an hour skype conversation. This morning we walked down to a little bakery... ate a delicious moroccan breakfast and sipped mint tea with arabic mixing in around us.  One of my favorite things is listening to my parents speaking arabic.... oh to be able to do the same some day. Maybe. We'll see.. let's stick with dutch for a while Brooke.

We went to the Van Gogh museum yesterday to see the Starry Night exhibit.. well worth the small price of 2.50 euro (with your museumkaart). In the last room of the exhibit, they describe Vincent as a man, who one day living in the mental asylum in France woke up and said, "I am a failure"... pretty much... I am a failure as an artist. He died soon after that. 

As I read of those deeply gut wrenching mournful words, I thought of the Vincent who loved God.... but struggled with loneliness, longing for companionship and meaning.. but never finding satisfaction. That's what I think he was always looking for as he made art... and what he is identified for later, as "the father of modern art".... he was interested in making the spiritual and emotional known in art, not just duplication of creation. 

And I think of John Wimber who when talking about praying for people said... if nothing happens when we pray, oh well, we don't have to become sad and depressed... as if there was something we could make happen.. it's ALL God and he may choose to heal one day and not heal the next. But instead of frustration, we get to pray openly and often, realizing that the result is totally up to God. We just get to have fun doing the asking. And if in turn we truly live that way, then we can't say "I am a failure." It's about Jesus... not us. And there's life and beautiful freedom every day when I live out of that. I find that there's anxiety, pressure and fear when it's about me.