When God said stay.

Amsterdam has never been on my list of cities to see. It was always one of those, well if I'm there I guess, but wasn't on my wish list. I don't know why, it just really wasn't. So when it ended up being the place we would leave for Scotland from, I thought of it as that. A city to maybe see a bit of while we were there. One day. And then we would catch a boat and head to Scotland. This was the plan. A far as I was concerned it was a good plan. Evidently God thought otherwise. Due to a series of unfortunate events, our boat to Scotland was a day later than we thought. So, we had an extra day in Amsterdam. So, then it became a matter of trying to figure out why. What exactly God wanted us to experience that we would have otherwise skipped.

So we went to the museums (more on that in a later post). And I went to the Anne Frank house. The house she and her family hid in during the Second World War. I remember studying her diary in the 5th grade. But standing where she stood, smelling the rooms she hid in, hearing the church bells ring that she would have heard, all while hiding because of her religion.

It was all so powerful, I'm not sure I can find the words. It certainly brought that diary to life. It gave the war a human side I'd never experienced that powerfully before. The very air of that place changed from when you stepped inside to when you stepped out. Walking through that space had me praying with my whole being. Without knowing how, without any words. It is a series of moments I will carry with me forever. Stepping out into the sunshine, I could only imagine the longing to be able to do that. The desperate desire to feel the sun on your face again. To be able to breath fresh air. It was an occasion to ponder all the ways humanity has managed to hurt one another throughout the years. I kept recalling Jesus saying we should love one another. Giving wholeheartedly of ourselves. How are we as a church doing that now? Who are we failing? How can we do better? How can I personally do better? These questions and more stuck with me through the rest of the day and on our track to our next hotel. It was in a small town near where we would catch the boat. Walking around the small town that evening and the next day allowed me to feel like I had actually seen the Netherlands, gotten a much better feel for the land.

It is amazing all I would have missed, everything I would have passed by. I am infinitely glad God said "stay"