Saturday, August 2, 2008

Death Valley

I am old enough to remember the old TV show "Death Valley Days" sponsored by the 20-mule team borax product line. That's ancient history for most of you.

As we rode into downtown this afternoon (Saturday) I was reminded of that TV show. So much of the story was filmed in the desert where there was nothing around. True Gent looked like Gent, including gray skies and some rain. But after seeing the crowds and all the setup from the Gentse Feesten it looked a little bare.

It reminded me of how much we "get used" to things and how the abnormal can quickly become the normal. It as "business as usual" and we had forgotten what usual was like. We are created to have a relationship with God. A broken relationship should feel abnormal but many have gotten used to that feeling so it now feels normal.

Unfortunately people are getting back to business as usual too. During the feesten people are more open to chatting and talking with strangers. But on the tram the only people talking out loud were three teenage girls of African descent. (By the way I must be becoming too Belge since I thought they were talking way too loud). The Flemish did not speak or only in hushed voices to the people they already knew.

Please pray that we can stay connected with some folks that we met and help them not fall back into their usual life. God has such an extraordinary life for us. It is so much better than the feesten if people will just give Him a chance.

Now that the scenery looks like something is missing pray that people will see the Someone who is missing. We know Him and want to help make Him personally known to those in our city.

This is the last posting in this blog. But you can always check out our regular blog by clicking on the blog link on the website.