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I’m proud of myself for something I did this past week – I passed the CompTIA A+ Essentials (220-601) exam. Not only did I pass it, but I made a high score as well. Out of a possible 900 points, I came out with 850. The test offers a scaled score between 100 and 900. So, 850 is about 94%. I’m very pleased with the outcome. God has blessed me once again. He never fails to show up in my time of need. Praise be to God and all glory be to His Son, Jesus Christ! Amen!

Update!

I passed the second part of the test with a score of 854 out of a possible 900! So, now I am CompTIA A+ IT Technician certified!

Today I head back to the Netherlands after a brief visit to the States. I had to settle a medical issue that’s been bothering me for some time. Things went well, and I’m looking forward to getting back to my chaotic job. The funny thing is that I actually missed all the chaos. Hopefully, the situation will improve with time. I won’t say that “it couldn’t get much worse”, because it surely can. All the challenges keep things interesting, I guess. So, I’ll say goodbye to Charlotte today, and hello to Brussels in the morning! Cheers!

The following video is from 2007. This is what it’ll be like in about 2.5 hours.

Yes, it’s that time of year once again. There are plenty of Christmas lights on peoples’ homes here in Holland and in Germany. We road to Xanten again today, and it was nice to see all the lights this evening on the way back home. It seemed a bit colder in Xanten – it’s about 1.5 hours north from us. There is a nice history of Roman occupation in Xanten. It was the northernmost outpost of the Holy Roman Empire. The town has a beautiful twin-tower Dom (Cathedral). It was just a little too cold to be out walking around today though. So, we saw a little, took some pictures, and headed back home. Oh, and we did get some good schnitzel Yummmmie!!!

We’ve made our plans for Christmas – we’re going to Rome! I’ve been wanting to go for some time, and now I’m finally going to make it. I just hope it’s dry by the time we get there! They’ve been having some terrible flooding! I’ll be sure to have plenty of pictures, and plenty of video. Now, I’ll leave you with a picture of our new Santa Clause. We got him at the Christmas Market in Gangelt, Germany.

Update! Well, we didn’t get to go to Rome for Chistmas There was so much fog at the Eindhoven Airport, they canceled the flight. The flight for the next day was already booked, so we just decided to go to the Den Haag (The Hague)/Amsterdam area. So, that’s where we are right now – in a cozy little hotel just meters from the North Sea. Thank God for Christmas and what it stands for – Our Savior Jesus was born!

I am very proud to announce that I’ve been inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa membership. PTK’s purpose is to “recognize and encourage scholarship among two-year college students. To achieve this purpose, Phi Theta Kappa shall provide opportunity for the development of leadership and service, for an intellectual climate for exchange of ideas and ideals, for lively fellowship for scholars, and for stimulation of interest in continuing academic excellence.” Click the link below to view my certificate.

View Certificate

We spent last week in Dublin, Ireland. Wow! that’s about all I can say. Irish people are great hosts! It was hard to leave, and I’m really missing being there while writing this. So, Dublin is a must visit in the future. Now we’re setting our sites on which city we want to visit during Christmas break. We are really thinking of Alicante, Spain. It would be nice to get some warm weather with sunshine during that time of year. That may be where we need to be. We spent last Christmas in Barcelona, which was nice, so, we’ll see. In the meantime, click the link below to view the Dublin pictures.

Dublin Pictures

I’ve been working a lot lately. So, tomorrow I’m taking a day off. We are going to Malmedy once again. Some very good frites and waffles can be found there. We will visit the Baugnez museum too, where I plan to buy a WWII DVD. I had asked the guy if they sold the 30 min. movie you can watch while there, and at the time they didn’t. He was nice enough to send me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago, informing me that they now have it for sale. So, I will get one for me, and one for mother. It will be nice to have a break from the pressures of work.

View some pictures from the Baugnez museum

View the Wikipedia page about the Malmedy Massacre

Authentic Friendships
by Rick Warren

But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:7–8 (NCV)

*** *** *** ***

In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity.

Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It’s genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level, sharing.

It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.

Authenticity is the exact opposite of what you find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, there is pretending, role-playing, politicking, superficial politeness, and shallow conversation.

People wear masks, keep their guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.

It’s only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, “If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. . . . If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves” (1 John 1:7–8 NCV).

The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures, and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.

Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again.

Why would anyone take such a risk?

Because it’s the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” (James 5:16 MSG).

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

This weekend we are in Wiesbaden, Germany. We took a small tour of Mainz this morning. Our quick tour included a visit to the Ancient Shipbuilding Museum. The site houses the remains of five ships which were discovered in 1981/1982 during excavations for the Mainz Hilton extension. These shipwrecks were found about 7.5 meters below the street surface level. They are thought to be military ships that were abandoned during the defeat of the Roman Rhine Army at the hands of the Teutans in about 407 a.d. I will post more pictures soon and make them available via the pictures link at altizer.org.