a flower in my lapel / a daisy in your hand

Arriving in Amsterdam, I was stuck by the biting cold wind, and soon after this, I was struck with the problems and issues I quickly begun to hear about: I heard about the red light district, the “coffee” shops, and many of the other precarious activities that take place, and I was overwhelmed, and baffled as to how I would interact with such a place. (Amsterdam really is a normal city in many ways, but being new to the city, much of what I heard was negative).

Our times in class in Amsterdam were spent learning about international relations from a Christian perspective, and we then spent some time doing a broad overview of world history since the time of Christ. The broad overview of world history was very interesting in that as you look back on the main issues, conflicts, and problems in those times, God was doing something new in the hearts of His people. Revivals were birthed, missions movements went out into new areas of the world, societies were changed – at every point where society began to seem threatened, God countered this by raising up movements that were marked by the characteristics of His heart. I love seeing how God would be working for the good of humanity on such an Epic scale.

As many of you may know, God put the idea of some people’s hearts in our school to go into the red light district of the city, and hand out flowers to the prostitutes in the area, as well as anyone else who seemed in need of appreciation. When we first began to follow through with this, most of us were a bit nervous, as we weren’t sure how the people would respond, but it is evident that your prayers covered us during the time. With the flowers, we attached short messages, which basically just said something about God’s love and value in the peoples’ lives. The girls to whom we gave flowers were very appreciative, and we never had anyone reject our offer of flowers. It was interesting the whole time we were giving out flowers, I felt a clear peace and safety over the whole situation, and I fully believe that this was God going before us at our every step.




With this, I saw something that went beyond just prostitution, and beyond just the red light district of Amsterdam. I saw an openness to appreciation and love – an openness that would surely extend to just about every situation imaginable. Prostitutes are not the only people in the world who long to know true love and appreciation; many people in the most “normal” of situations surely feel as though they are dying on the inside, because the fact that they do not know of the God that died for them to understand His love.



Point is, more flowers need to be handed out (if you desire to continue putting things in terms of flowers). Everyone in the world is in need of the realization that they are loved by the creator of the universe, and He longs to speak that to them in whatever situation they are in. Love exists even before they have turned their face to Him.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 5:8, NKJV)

He didn’t wait until we were good enough. He died (and rose again) so that we could understand. He didn’t wait for us to come out of the “bad parts of town” to begin loving us; He went boldly into those areas, and showed us first hand the value we have in His eyes. All the while, He completely disregarded that fact that He would be associated with the sin that was all around us.







Seeing love, in a real, practical, tangible way, people have reason to change. Do we too often jump to fix their sin before they have reason to leave a life of sin? In the Bible, it seems as though people understood their own sin, but perhaps they did not have a reason to leave that sin behind until they saw that in Christ they were valued. With the issues of blatant sin, we can’t afford to just write those things as the blatant sins that they are; obviously certain activities are sinful, but what does it look like to love people in those situations in a way that will call them out of those lifestyles and into a realization of what true life can be? And just as well, the same goes for people whose sin is not blatant - everyone is in need of a similar redemption [for all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, whether we can see it with our eyes or not]. Perhaps if we began to show people the care, concern, and love of Christ in their lives, they will then have a legitimate reason to leave behind their former garments of filth in exchange for the pure white robes that God intends for them.



Walking along the canal my last night in Amsterdam, I was struck with the beauty of our God. From my time in Amsterdam I see that God is not overwhelmed with our problems and the sicknesses that plague our societies (even when they are a bright red fluorescent light that is shining in your face.) Rather, He is one who will walk within those plagues to show us all the more about His grace. Wherever I go there will be some way shape of form in which He is moving, no matter how initially overwhelmed I may feel.

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Currently, I write to you from Paris. We have about a week to make our way down to Malaga, Spain, and so this week I will be in Paris, seeing some new sights, and working on some photography assignments. I am here with my friends Naphtalie and April, and thankfully God has blessed us with places to stay while we’re here. I'm looking forward to finding the ways that God has made Himself apparent in this place.