Patrick and I had a long three days of traveling before we finally made it home to Louisville. Though long, those days were anything but boring! On Saturday we had a long layover in Amsterdam, so we decided to make the most of it and venture outside the airport to see a bit of the city. Nevermind the fact that we'd had basically no sleep for two days. Our unspoken motto seems to be "travel hard or go home."
It turns out that Amsterdam is pretty cold in November, and not at all conducive to flip flops, which, coming from three months in Zambia, is all we had with us. We figured as long as we kept walking we could stay warm enough to not freeze to death. Honestly it was only about 50 degrees or so, but after spending so long being constantly hot, it felt freezing to me.
I stood in awe of the beautiful architecture all over the city. That and the sheer number of bikes everywhere. I love cities where most of the population gets around by riding a bike. I think I'd fit in very nicely. We found a delightful little cafe for lunch, and I had real coffee (as in, not instant) for the first time in months. It was so tasty I deemed it photo worthy.
The other thing I discovered was that sex and drug use is absolutely rampant. I was surprised to see prostitutes just standing in shop windows and pot sold openly in many stores. In a few short hours it was clear that this was a city in serious need of redemption. It reminded me of a present day Sodom and Gomorrah, and I noticed a deadness in people's eyes that was unnerving. Experiencing all this was a good reminder of how powerful the gospel is to change people's lives and bring new life. I remember someone saying once that Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. Though there is rampant sin in that place, I think it's exactly where we would find Jesus today. He always had a way of hanging out with the "wrong" kind of people, yet those were the people who ultimately understood the concept of grace. Has much changed in the past 2000 years? It's those who have fallen the hardest that experience the biggest transformation when they come to know Christ.
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| A giant bike parking garage. I couldn't even fit it all in the picture. |
The other thing I discovered was that sex and drug use is absolutely rampant. I was surprised to see prostitutes just standing in shop windows and pot sold openly in many stores. In a few short hours it was clear that this was a city in serious need of redemption. It reminded me of a present day Sodom and Gomorrah, and I noticed a deadness in people's eyes that was unnerving. Experiencing all this was a good reminder of how powerful the gospel is to change people's lives and bring new life. I remember someone saying once that Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. Though there is rampant sin in that place, I think it's exactly where we would find Jesus today. He always had a way of hanging out with the "wrong" kind of people, yet those were the people who ultimately understood the concept of grace. Has much changed in the past 2000 years? It's those who have fallen the hardest that experience the biggest transformation when they come to know Christ.
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