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Wednesday, April 2, 2008
He’s the Rock that Doesn’t Roll
I was scheduled to organize, all by myself, a fun night last Thursday night at the cafe. It had been a busy week, and I didn’t really know what to do. Thankfully, the nightman Marco came to my rescue. He is an awesome musician and asked if we could do an open mic night in the cafe.
Thursday morning, Marco came into the cafe where I was working and we practiced singing an old Larry Norman song, “He’s the Rock that Doesn’t Roll.” I was a little worried about my role that evening, but Marco emceed the night in his relaxed manner, handled the sound equipment and was great. A lot of guests attended, and a lot of staff sang songs and played music. Francine and Douwe both sang songs in Dutch. Marco did several really fun songs on his own, in various languages.
One guest from Germany played really beautiful music by heart on the piano. She said she would only play if we did our song next. Marco, Brandon and I got up and sang. It was really fun, singing some good ole’ “Jesus rock and roll,” despite the fact we butchered our ending chorus when we were supposed to dialogue the ending!
Then one guest got up and sang the Dutch national anthem. I think he was perhaps coming off of some substance, because he gave a rather extensive, animated and confusing history lesson on the anthem.Overall, thanks to Marco, I felt like the night was a success.
It’s a funny thing that I connected Larry Norman with Amsterdam because one of my professors, who so happens to be Dutch, told me about listening to Larry Norman in Amsterdam in the 70’s. He was kind of my ministry role model before I came to Amsterdam to work at Shelter Jordan. He handed out free records to get people to come to his concerts, but at that time, he was too Rock and Roll for the church and too Radically Christian for everyone else. He sang about issues that hippies related to, and lots of people felt the love of Christ through his music. I feel honored to have sung back-up for one of his songs.
Here are the lyrics to “He’s the Rock that Doesn’t Roll”:
I was lost and blind, when a friend of mine came and took me by the hand. Then He led me to His kingdom that was in another land Now my life has changed, it’s rearranged,when I think of my past I feel so strange. Wowie, Zowie, well He saved my soul, He’s the rock that doesn’t roll.
Chorus: He’s the rock that doesn’t roll, He’s the rock that doesn’t roll, Well He’s good for the body and great for the soul, He’s the rock that doesn’t roll.
I was all alone like a rolling stone, I was going nowhere fast. I was on the road so far from home, when the future touched my past. Now I feel so blessed, ‘cause He gave me a rest. And I finally feel like I passed my test, I want to be like Him, yes that’s my goal, like a rock that doesn’t roll.
(Chorus)
I was lost and blind when a friend of mine came and took me by the hand, And He led me to His kingdom that was in another land. Now my mind is blown, my head has grown, a Solid Rock and a rolling stone, Wowie, zowie, well the Cat’s got soul, He’s the Rock that doesn’t roll.
(Chorus)
Bridge: He’s the rock that doesn’t, the rock that doesn’t, The rock that doesn’t, the rock that doesn’t, You’ve got to rock me on the water, You’ve got to rock me from the grave, You’ve got to rock me till I’m feeling good, You’ve got to rock me till, rock me till I’m saved.
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Easter Surprises
Easter wasn’t quite the same for me this year, but was really special in a different sort of way. I definitely missed my family and our Easter traditions. Here, Easter brought snow, an awesome conversation with a homeless friend, an evening with the movie “Ben Hur” in the cafe, and a prophetic blessing. Saturday night before Easter Sunday, I had the day off, so I stayed up watching a movie. I had planned to get up early to go to a sunrise service, but my plans failed when my movie ended at 3 a.m. So silly.
I awoke at 11 a.m. feeling rather discouraged I had wasted Easter. I knew I would be going to church that afternoon, but doubted the service would be very Easter-y, so I moped about the house for a bit, sad about missing church and lacking direction for my afternoon. I wandered into the living room of the staff house and heard a cacophony of human voices from our courtyard below. I looked out of our window and realized the Tweede Mil, a homeless ministry run by the same organization as our hostel, was having its Easter lunch in the classrooms downstairs. Amid the crowd, I noticed one of my fellow staff members, Sam, talking with people. I didn’t have anything I needed to do, so I padded back upstairs in my bare feet and changed out of my PJs so I could join the party.
In minutes I was heading to the crowd of Dutch-speaking homeless and otherwise hungry people. I realized with a bit of discouragement that most of the conversations going on around me were happening in their native language. I stood awkwardly amongst the crowd until I could make my way out to Sam, who was speaking in Dutch with an old man, wizened with age and leaning heavily on his cane.
One man, about 30, was standing off behind the rest. He was the last in line and seemed to be in no hurry. Sam asked him in Dutch if he was going to eat. ‘Excuse me?” the man replied in English. I immediately knew he was an American. We started talking and it turned out Daniel was from Arizona and had been traveling wherever God led him for the past year and a half.
His story was incredible. He told me about his perceptions of Amsterdam and The Netherlands. We shared a few of our same observations, and then shared a few different ones. Daniel got his plate, and we sat down next to a Portuguese couple. I introduced myself to the woman. She said something about not knowing much English. She spoke some Spanish, and I responded by saying I didn’t know much Spanish, but could understand. We ended up having a conversation, half in English and half in Spanish. I could understand her when she spoke to me in Spanish, and she could understand me when I spoke to her in English. It was awesome. She and her boyfriend had been traveling and were possibly going to work at the Shelter City. Daniel also had some connections with the Shelter City, going to Bible discussions and such. What are the odds?
I sat and talked with them for awhile and invited them to come to watch “Ben Hur” at the Jordan that night. Eventually, I went to get ready for church that afternoon and walked with some friends and cleaners to Zolder 50, a really friendly church in the Jordan.
That evening, several guests sat with me and Jens to watch the movie. About 15 minutes after the movie began, Daniel walked in and joined us. He was wearing about 5 layers of clothing, including his thick camouflage pants. His grizzly chin looked somehow squished underneath the beanie on top of his head. We watched the movie as more guests gathered to watch with us. I had never seen it before and was really impressed at how awesome the story is portrayed, considering it was made 40 years ago. I did catch some power lines in the backdrop of Judea in one scene!
After the movie, Daniel and I went to sit at one of the cafe tables to talk privately. His incredibly fitting words encouraged me. Even though I had only met him that day, he seemed to understand what I was learning and struggling with during my time in Amsterdam. He encouraged me to continue being a light here in Amsterdam, that people can see the light of Christ through me. His words were exactly what I needed to hear, even though of the things he said I had to chew on to understand. When he left, I realized he was a modern day prophet, traveling and encouraging those who God puts in his path.
That night, I biked home with friends, gathering snow from the cars to make snowballs to throw at each other as we laughed and tried not to fall. It was a beautiful Easter, indeed.
