Holland conference

I arrived last Monday at Schipol airport in Holland, got my rental car, and drove 2 hours to a tiny little town of about 6000 people where this conference, "Open up the Earth" would begin on Tuesday.

I found my accomodations...quite miraculously as the bed and breakfast was on a side, side, side road way out in the countryside...so far out, it was actually a working farm, with cows and all! My wonderful hostess showed me my "cottage"...it had sounded so quaint from the phone call, and now I realized why the price was so reasonable...the cottage was a tiny thing that could hold a bed and my bags and me...yep, the bathroom was in the main house, about 100 yards away. I was not looking forward to my nightly 3 a.m. potty run and quickly began to consider changing accomodations for the second night.

I dropped my things in my cottage and then went into the small town of Gorrekjik to have a look around as it was "open market" day. Found where the conference would be held, enjoyed some food, did some Christmas shopping, and then went back to my cottage to settle in for the evening.

Remember I said it was a working farm with cows? Well, when I arrived there was a HUGE bull cow in one stall and a momma cow and her baby in another stall about 50 yards from my cottage. When I arrived that late afternoon, the baby cow had been "taken" from its momma...NOT a pleasant thing to witness or hear...so, even through my very good earplugs, I "enjoyed" the mournful cries of the momma cow weeping over the loss of her baby calf...calling, calling, calling out, no kidding, ALL night long. In the morning, as I walked to the bathroom in the main house, I looked at the momma cow, who was breathing heavily, after having pulled an all-nighter mourning session, and she had spittle dripping from her mouth and literally LOOKED sad. Ok, this sounds strange, but my heart really broke for her. As has become a custom for me, I asked the Lord to show me something through this situation.

What made me weep inside is the reality of her pain---while I've never given birth, I can imagine the tearing, the heart-ache a mom must feel when a child is taken from her---it struck me that a cow can FEEL so deeply and stay up ALL night calling out for her calf---she knows her calf knows her voice because she or he has come running to it before---and so, with everything within her, she cries out, in desperation, in hope, that maybe her baby will come back to her---there's a love there that some would simply call animal instinct, but I believe it is a real love---and separation is devastating---it's like a death---for the mom. I can only imagine for the baby calf as well---who is gonna care for me? I'm all alone in a new place and everything I've ever known has changed, and the unknown is terrifying because "mom" is not here.

The connection to our relationship with God is obvious---He cries out and cried out from the cross---"Father, forgive them!" and "It is finished!"---and His voice continues to cry out today around the world, to His BABIES---to those whom He created, whom He knew since the foundation of time---His heart is broken but not because His children have been ripped from Him, but because we've chosen to leave---we've decided that life without "poppa" is much better---we can do it on our own. God wants us right by His side so He can provide everything for us...and even as I grow up in You, You still want me close to You; You don't need me there, but You know that I need to BE there with You. May the mourning cries of this cow be a reminder to each of us of how MUCH or heavenly DADDY cries out for us to come home and crawl up into His lap and just rest in Him.