Posts filed under 'Life'
So, Tuesday morning, I woke up at about 6.20 from the rumbling of my bed. Being quite tired, I only managed to think ‘this can’t be an earthquake’ and that someone must’ve slammed the door very hard (on reflection that wouldn’t have accounted for the continued rumbling though).
It turns out that Copenhagen was indeed hit by an earthquake that morning. Only a measly 4.7 on the Richter-scale, but for a country that hardly ever experiences such things, it’s quite big.
So there you go: Earthquakes now also in Copenhagen.
december 18th, 2008
Just stopped by the Royal Library in Copenhagen, in search for some resources, namely a Hebrew Bible and some lexica. I got more than I hoped for; they have the stuttgartensia, Koehler Baumgartner and a number of other reference works I recognize from Newbold – and also some pretty nice facilities 
However, I must say, the Newbold library actually quite well competes with the theology section in the diamond – which is no small feat.
Ok, sitting in the researcher’s study area now; need to get serious…
december 16th, 2008
As I lay my head on the pillow
as I try to fall asleep
there is only pain
As I close my eyes
still with every breath
there is only pain
With every breath
a new memory
breathe in
breathe out
With every breath
a new happy memory
in my memory
and there is only pain
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4. 23)
“Frem for alt: Vogt dit hjerte, for derfra udgår livet.” (Proverbs 4. 23 Danish 1992 translation)
august 25th, 2008
Saturday evening, we booked tickets for a classical concert in the Vienna State Opera (Staatsoper) with the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. Sadly, Marit had to remain at the hotel and take care of the sleeping Benjamin, so we were 2 people short. As it turned out, we got seated on the second row, even though we had not booked seats in this category, so that was quite nice 
The building itself is an experience. Somehow, I had the feeling I had seen it in some movies, but I have a suspicion that I was really thinking of a larger place somewhere in eastern Europe.
The greatest experience, however, was the music. The first 15-20 minutes I could not even make myself take a picture, as I just wanted to listen to the music. It struck me that this should not be something you capture for having a special memory, but rather the only way you enjoy classical music – live. It really is a totally different (and much nicer) sound experience, and you catch nuances of the famous works that you have not noticed before.
The Vienna Mozart Orchestra played extremely well, and both the classical costumes as well as the musical qualities contributed to making it a fantastic experience. The preferred mode of play seemed to be a somewhat understated, but still very nuanced sound, lying just beneath the real breakthrough of an audial (if that’s even a word) climax. It made me wonder if they could actually play with full strength or if the orchestra was simply too small, but in their very final extra-performance where they offered us “An der schönen blauen Donau” and “Radetsky March”, they seemed to be of the opinion that while Mozart apparently cannot be played in full strength, Strauss can
Along the concert, I was wondering if their somewhat understated interpretations were not purposeful and thus would have awarded them 9 out of 10 points, but clearly I was mistaken, so in my mind, they now have gotten full marks for playing in a very controlled just-below-breakthrough mode all through the classical works of Mozart.
In the end, a great evening. And so much more fun to listen to the works of Mozart than visiting his house. This is where Mozart truly comes alive!
august 25th, 2008
Just had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Vienna with my family. All in all, it was a good experience.
The food experiences were quite good, featuring amongst others an amazing Italian restaurant, the oldest restaurant of Vienna, serving very good traditional Austrian food, and of course Apfelstrudel with ice-cream and cream, served in the local zoo.
Of the not-so-good things can be mentioned the house of Mozart (the building in which he grew up), which was just disastrously boring, after having paid an entrance fee of 7,5 euros. Also, don’t ever bring kids in there – the children doesn’t like it, and apparently, neither does the museum attendants… After we left there, we found this meticulously bear in a shopping-windows close by, and wondered if he had a sudden accident caused by boredom
However, the pros far outweighed the cons. An excellent breakfast buffet every morning at the hotel, an excellent concert experience (to be told of further in a separate post) and even free wireless Internet at the Vienna Airport! (This makes you wonder what your airport taxes go towards in other countries…)
This was the only picture I could find where everyone in the family is at least partly visible, so here you go:
The background is that of the Stephansdom which is a quite grand and majestic church building.
august 25th, 2008
So, today was the day I was feeling quite introvert. (Yes, I know, the correct form would be ‘introverted’, but this sounded better)
Surprised myself this evening by writing two somewhat funny comments on the Facebook-status of certain other individuals, but never hitting the ’send’-button. There was nothing wrong with the comments. Nothing that would make people go ‘hey, wait a minute’, but I just didn’t feel like pushing the (their?) buttons.
Maybe it’s a stream of introvertedness I’ve been running into, which has been spilling on my blog and the level of activity here. However, no. The two cannot really be connected.
Quite on the contrary, I’ve been so busy hanging out with good friends in Copenhagen, that even when I’ve felt like blogging something, I’ve never gotten around to it. Thank you to amongst other Per, Jakob and the local appartment tv
Let’s see what happens when I get to Newbold. I suspect my blog might be in for a new revival… (which may say something about Newbold vs. Copenhagen, but let’s just leave that one for now)
Now listening to a somewhat chubby politician whom I did not recall as having always been a bit on the heavier side, but whom other can apparently well remember being so. Is TV2 News grand or what?
august 11th, 2008
Sitting this Saturday evening just past sunset, I though I would take the opportunity to reflect on the day.
Went to bed a bit late last night after having been to Laura’s ’studenterfest’ (a party you throw when you’ve graduated from high school), but was fortunate enough to be able to sleep late today. Had the opportunity to see Bobby’s (our Café church minister) 1-minute Facebook video-intro to his sermon today on the topic of ‘real rest’.
So I got a little over eight hours of sleep before I was awoken by a phone call from a good friend, whom I was very glad to hear from, so this made a perfect start of the day. Afterwards, I had the opportunity to reflect a little, write in my journal, and read through Paul’s letter to Titus, which was the place to which I had come in the Scriptures, this morning. Especially Titus 3:9 made me pause a little: “But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.” (NRSV)
Soon after, I was out running. It was nice to feel that I’m getting a bit in shape, so I can actually run for most of the 25 minutes – on the route that used to take 30 – without having to stop for air. To add to the excitement, I ran into one of my cat friends I think I’ve met her before – I think it was a her – this black-brownish cat who looked very happy to see me in the rain, and came running towards me from the distance. So I took a few minutes to say hi and went on running. When I settle down sometime, I would definitely like a cat.
Afterwards, I made myself a nice brunch; I could post pictures, but you can just look down a couple of posts from last Saturday’s brunch to the picture of the baguettes with tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil, salt and pepper, to see what I had This was enjoyed with freshly squeezed – that is, before they put it onto a box in the supermarket, but at least it was not diluted concentrate – orange juice and further conversation with the before-mentioned good friend.
After a tiny bit of reflection, I turned to Isaiah 58 and read most of it before walking out the door. It’s one of my favorite passages. I was out the door quite early, and thought I might just get out of the Metro one station early (Nørreport, that is), and walk to church along the lakes of central Copenhagen. While going to church, I had a very relaxed feeling. Just feeling good. I got out of the train at Kongens Nytorv, but got back onto the train right away, as I had the feeling I should go to Nørreport instead. So, I did. As I got out from the station and up to street-level, I wanted to cross over to one side of the street I was to walk up, but there was a red light to my left. Strangely, there was still 5 seconds of green light to my right. So, I went that way (it made no difference to my route, as it only determined I was walking upwards on the left side of the street, instead of the right). When I had crossed the footpath over the street to the right, I saw a woman sitting, holding out a cup, needing money. I felt impressed to give her some money, so I did. And besides, it was very fitting with the passage I’d read before going out the door. It all fit so well together, I couldn’t help but wonder if God had sent me past her today, for her benefit as well as for mine (the amount I gave her couldn’t have made a huge difference, but I hope it got her on the way to meeting just a small amount of her real material needs). I remembered one of my teachers at Newbold who said something like this in a tutorial session: “The main theme of the Old Testament is not even God’s love. It is His justice. He is the God who cares about the underdog. Who provides justice for those who have been mistreated.”
The topic of Bobby’s sermon today was ‘real rest’, taking his point of origin in 1 Kings 1:1-4. Just a couple of highlights (as I remember them):
‘You can’t explain about rest unless you’ve experienced it’
‘These servants knew that the King needed help. Needed help to do what he couldn’t do, to get warm.’
‘Why does it say that David did not have sex with her? Remember the story in 2 Samuel? This shows us that David has grown.’
‘If there is no warmth in your thinking, God isn’t there’
‘Real rest is getting close to God’
(and there was another, brilliant, statement, but I just can’t remember it, which is driving me just a tiny bit crazy. No, not really, but still )
I think one of the main things I brought along is that the things we cannot do for ourselves, God can help us with. And that God can provide real rest for us. That He is the one who will provide it. And that nothing but God will provide us with real rest. None of the shorter-term things that we think will make us happy. But it’s hard to convey; these are just fragments. I hope they will get the recording of the sermons sorted soon, so they can be podcast (now also as a verb ).
The worship after the sermon in particular, was awesome, in the truest sense of the word. Just a couple of quite quiet songs, not intimidating in any way, and with quite a few a cappella-sections, God felt very present.
Afterwards, I went out with 4 friends and had a very nice meal at Jensens Bøfhus. Food, as always, was great. And the fact that the service wasn’t up to par was okay, since it provided us with free desserts
Sitting back in the apartment of the friend who’s been nice enough to have me staying for the summer, but who isn’t here at the moment, I am left with the feeling that today, I have experienced real rest. It’s not something tangible, but it’s still something I know I’ve experienced, and something I certainly know I would not be able to provide myself with these days. And I just want to acknowledge God for this.
juni 28th, 2008
What a nice way to start the day:
Baguette with Tomato, Fresh Basil, Mozarella, Olive Oil, Lemon juice, Salt and Pepper.
Pasta with Ricotta and Basil, covered in Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper and Fresh Basil leaves.
Just thought these should be on the blog as well
juni 22nd, 2008
Today, I attended a baptism at the home church of my childhood. It was a very moving service – come to think of it, I think all services should be baptismal services; it tends to provide the right focus that really should be present at any divine service, but for some reason is not always there.
For me, it was a personal experience as well. Seldom has it been that hard to sing ‘all to Jesus I surrender’. But I did sing it, and it felt good. About 1/3 of the song’s durations, I think I had to keep quiet in order to manage the river of tears that was wanting to run uncontrollably down my cheeks. Now, I just feel like sleeping.
I don’t know why I have to experience hardship (or for that matter why we all do), or, maybe I have some idea, but regardless, I believe God has a plan for me, plans for something better. The hardest part is probably patience while He does His stuff.
“Du kaldte mig, o Jesus,
nu kommer jeg til dig.
Jeg slipper alt mit eget,
jeg overgiver mig”
(Danish baptismal hymn from memory)
P.S. If the timestamp is confusing, I wrote some on this yesterday and some today :p
juni 8th, 2008
Getting out of the metro today, while taking the escalator up to the surface, I got a glimpse of a little goodbye scene. A woman was smiling, crying, waving at her family; four persons standing outside by a pram and waving back.
I instantly got a flashback to the opening scene of ‘Love Actually’:
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion love actually is all around.”
maj 25th, 2008
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