Hi all,

Good to be back! It’s been a while.
So, is this new year just going to be another year? I think that’s up to us. Life is not always about what it gives to us. Sometimes it’s what we put in to it. When we feel down and sad and forsaken, sometimes life is hunting us with pain and loneliness. Strength fails us to press on when we feel beaten down. It gets hard to believe the words that keep saying that there is hope, that things will eventually get better. We hear a story from someone else that came through a more difficult situation than our own, but still the pain wins over our faith and our situation feels worse then any other, no matter what others say. We hear that praying will help, that having faith in the Bible helps and we seek comfort there, but it all seems so far away from our heart. We feel guilty for not having more faith, for not being stronger, for not enjoying things we know we should, for not being a bit more thankful. Now, is it okay to feel sorry for ourselves? No! Is it okay to have pain? Yes! Actually, pain is a way that is totally against our way of thinking, but in many cases it’s the best way to become dependant on the One that wants our attention so that He can show us how deeply He loves us. Many think that pain is a cruel way for God to speak to us. But first, God doesn’t want to hurt us, He wants to love us. And when we need someone to love us, love comes to us the strongest when we need it the most. For a long time I have felt terribly weak and sad. Anything could make me feel that there was no hope anymore. Others were better than I, for me no succes, no one thought of me as someone special, everything seemed to be made just to hurt me. God took care of everyone but me. That’s exactly how it felt and there seemed no way out to freedom and victory. And if the feeling of victory was there, it didn’t last long enough to get over the line that kept me under. But………. somehow I realized that the Lord is so near. He can get me where I can’t go, and I’m here to say that He brought me to victory when my eyes were opened anew for Who my Lord Jesus Christ truly is. And now it’s so very wonderful to look back to those terribly hard times and finally realize that God was in it. He was the One Who looked down in love, Who gently took my hand even if I didn’t feel it at the time, and Who was leading me slowly but surely to that point where I would surrender and give myself to Him. Once we know how very much He loves us, it becomes easier to surrender and just know and believe that He is there and brings out the best in life through His devine wisdom and through ways that are beyond our understanding.Things may be tough sometimes, but I want to tell anyone who will listen that we will all cry out in tears one day and stand before the Lord with deep thankfulness, being filled with awe when we realize how much it was worth it all, all to know Him better.
So, is this just going to be another year? No way! Each day is a gift that gives us the wonderful opportunity to learn more about the God Who created us for His beautiful purpose. Likewise, each day brings us the challenge to pass on to others what beauty we have found in our life with God. A beauty that can’t be found anywhere else!
Let’s USE the days we have in 2009, to learn and to pass on the great love of God!
I’m ready for it now, so, let’s go!

The world is full of questions, people wonder why…
Why is there suffering, why death and murder? How can a God allow killing, why did He kill?
These questions have always come my way by people as soon as they heard or noticed that I was a Christian. I have even questioned and doubted God’s capability myself by wondering why He couldn’t fix things the way I thought they should be fixed…
Working at the Noah’s Ark in Holland, these questions are regularly coming my way, sometimes it’s a daily matter.
Also sinds working there I have come to see and simply know that the answer is very, very simple…
- Not to accept, that’s not simple for our human thinking!
But the facts are very simple and logical and there ARE answers for any question we may have!

And the very simple way to find answers for our questions is to go back to the ORIGIN!!!!!!!
Why is there death and suffering? – Go back to the origin of it! Where did death and suffering start?
How can a loving God allow death? – Go back to the origin! He made us to LIVE and live in a perfect environment with the right climate, nice animals, plenty of fruit and food to enjoy, it was called paradise…………… Does God kill because He likes to do that to what He once made as something perfect? Doesn’t sound like the same person to me…….
God wants paradise for us still, and that’s why He must destroy anything that gets in the way of that perfectness. Now where did imperfection come from? From God or maybe, just maybe… from US??????
WE have ALL sinned and come short of the glory of God! It was not HIM who “came short”!!!!
But even when WE have ALL sinned….. HE….again….. took care of creating paradise for us……
Paradise for us? In this terrible world? Yes! He took care of that “paradise” by making peace available through His Son Jesus Christ who was willing to be killed for OUR SIN – which caused death and suffering- and make peace for lost sinners to become new creatures made free from sin so we could fit into God’s perfect idea that He had for us in the first place… Something like…paradise…. even better yet, HEAVEN!!!

So where did love and a perfect life setting come from?
Where did death and suffering come from?

Go back to the origin, be honest and you’ll get your answers!!!!!!!

The result? Hate towards sin, love towards God and LIFE!!!
The purpose? HOPE and ETERNAL LIFE and PEACE even NOW!!!

Don’t mess with the truth, it will keep you confused and lead you nowhere!

In His love, Jacky Baken

Dear friends,
Here I am, finally back to blog a bit…
The thing that kept me busy thinking the last while is how fast life can change when you walk in faith with the Lord. It’s exciting, but sometimes also a little scary.
For those of you who have been following the news around me for a while, you know how I changed jobs very suddenly and how it was an answer to prayer.
This new job has taken me out of my routine of life and away from home a lot of the time. Before I took this job, my home was such a place of comfort, and it still is when I come home for week-ends.
Nothing compares to the freedom and quiet of living in the country, and having time to yourself with a dog and cat accompanying you in the cozy candle light. But did my heart find purpose in that? No!!
As much as I love being home and enjoying my quiet moments of comfort, my heart was -and is longing to be of meaning for the time that I have left on this earth. This means that I am not sure how I will spend the next months of my life. Right now I am living in a very luxuous appartment in the very centre of Rotterdam, once the largest harbour town of the world. Soon I may be living with people in their home or in another appartment and for the time in Germany I am pretty sure that I can stay with good friends in an appartment all to myself.
However, the future doesn’t look as sure and planned as the past did when I was working close to home and got tired of the routine of leaving home at seven and coming back at five etc…:)
Right now there is no routine or straight schedule, but how can I feel more secure then before?
It is because now I am part of something the Lord has lead me to, which gives me the faith that He will provide. Not all the time I must atmid, but deep down in my heart I feel the happiness and confidence in the fact that although things seem insecure and strange, my heart finds purpose in what I’m doing and my security is in Him, which is more secure and steadfast then any home or family or routine!!
Said in short, following the Lord is a road of faith, but with Peter I know that when I say to the Lord: I left home and family for You and the Lord will reply: I returned to you in hundredfold what you have done for Me, I have to say AMEN!!!
if we find securities in this world, we don’t know what we’re missing…..
Nothing in this world gives us as much satisfaction and security as when we blindly follow the Lord, give up our lives of comfort and just follow Him in faith and then see how He provides when we are dependant! I encourage you to USE the time that we have left to let Him reveal Himself in power and provision as we leave ourselves behind to blindly follow Him.
This can be done at home or away from home, but if you dare to follow Him no matter what people think, I am sure that you will get to know riches in Him that otherwise you’d never had the chance to discover!!!!!!
I love you, God bless and keep you, He’s coming soon!!!!!

It’s been a while already, but life is busy! There’s too much to say, so I just want to take a few monets to tell you that when you fins yourself in a senseless cirkle and feel like nothing matters, it’s time to pray, leave yourself behind and go forward in faith, OPEN to what THE LORD has for you in stead of planning your own way!
Before I came to the Ark, I felt that I needed to cling to my job because it was a well paying one that would help me with my financial needs. I was growing more unhappy all the time and didn’t find any purpose in my life as far as what I was doing on daily basics.
All of a sudden, my TRUE need became clear to me, and no matter how I needed financial security, after I just went in faith and followed the need that I felt, to do something useful and with purpose for the Lord my life became a very, VERY happy one. Honestly I don’t know how my bank account looks at the moment, I hardly ever check, but I know that I’m not lacking of anything, and what is far out more important then a nice bank account (something I don’t know…:)) is that my heart is HAPPY to do what I do now. There is so very much challenge in following the Lord, and people that think that being a Christian means a “dull life” is very mistaken. It may be a picture that some Christians have given over time, but if we TRULY!!!! want to follow the Lord in faith and ARE OPEN!!!! to step out and folow Him, there won’t be another dull moment, because life with Him is not always easy, but ALWAYS exciting and challenging!!!!!

P.S. We may not see fruit of our work, but He sees it! Knowing that He owns a HOME with GOLDEN streets, shouldn’t it give us rest that He knows the fruit of our work more then when we do????

I had no intention to write anything about this theme, but by loggin onto my blog my eyes met those words on the way…
Global warming here, global warming there. It’s funny how we are all concerned about this temporary ball called Earth.
The discussion if we are even dealing with Global warming or not is a hot topic today.
Why is everybody so busy thinking about the Global warming when there is something else going on that is MUCH WORSE???
Can you guess what it is?
What gets my attention much more is the global cooling off of the human hearts!!! People close to their death bed say out loud that they just don’t care about any Gospel message and say that the Bible is a fairy tale. Others get upset when they hear about “end times” and say in furious manner that we live TODAY. They are right, but is any human being created to be contented with TODAY just like a cow eating grass not caring what is outside the field? Even a cow is interested in his surroundings!!! I don’t know much about cows, but I am always amused when I walk by a field with my dog and all the cows look at this black four footer with great attention.
Are we not more then cows? Were we meant to think just about today? No!! That’s why we want to save the world, so our children can live tomorrow. What if this world perishes anyway? Why not put our effords into something that is secure and lasting?
That is exactly what we were created to do, to live forever in a perfect environment. Fairy tale? For human thoughts yes! But….. After Christ went to heaven, He gave us His Holy Spirit to have hope and comfort, but also to understand the Word and Plan of God.
Global waming may be invented or true, but trying to save this world won’t get you anywhere since God is going to destroy this world anyway because of it’s sin and unbelief.
Global cooling off of human hearts? Yes! Even the Lord says: where will I find faith?
So, is there anything WE can do? Yes there is! “Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life”!
It’s a global cooling off of hearts rather then a Global warming, but for those of you who know to have warm hearts for the Lord- STAY PUT AND BE FAITHFUL FOR THE LORD HAS NEVER FORSAKEN TO FULFIL ANY OF HIS PROMISES!!!!!!!!
Be not concerned about a temporary world, but give it all when it comes to the matter of eternal hearts, your own-, or someone else’s……

A big hello to you again!
A while ago I shared about my new job. I thought that these office hours would give me more time for my hobbies, but it turns out my work has become my hobby and there are few minutes left for other things! And it feels GREAT!!:) Now when I’m at home for a few days, of course it’s nice to work some in my house and garden, catch my breath and have some quiet, but on the other side you feel like you’re missing out on something!!! Working at the Ark is really great!
Which reminds me on how the Lord has been leading my life all the way, every day that I’ve been here on earth, the Lord was fulfilling His promise day by day that He would NEVER LEAVE ME OR FORSAKE ME!!!
How often I questioned this promise. It didn’t always FEEL that way, I didn’t always SEE it… But looking back I know that the times when I didn’t see or feel it, it was my own fault. At those times I went my own way, had my own schedule and was looking on the waves in stead of to the One that calms the storm!
I have been touched many times by the Bible verse where Joshua is saying the following: And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Joshua 23:14.
We often think that good things are the things that we like, things that feel good, things that please us day by day. But our Lord God has a deeper way for those that really want to know Him. People that God can use for His glory don’t always get the things that are nice for our flesh. He often has to mold us, break us and shape us to make us free from the limited things that we like, in order to be able to reveal HIS unending beauty, His deep love for us and the rich sources that He wants us to get to so we get a bigger picture of who He is, and a bigger picture of who we are in Him!! Once that picture comes through, often after a time of testing and brokeness, we know what we missed when we just lived for our pleasure, because there’s no greater beauty then kowing God, His plan and His purpose. It’s so beautiful! Like purified gold, after dying to ourselves we learn to know what living for Him means and once we do, we know we could never do without anymore! The Lord is so beautiful, and when we may see so much of His beauty and love now, what will it be in heaven when our attention is fully and just on Him!
It’s nice to experience Him now, today, because also here a lot of His beauty is revealed to us, just like Joshua proclaimed! But how open are we to let Him lead us into His beautiful presence? How open are we to go and follow Him so He get’s the chance to become this Beautiful Leader to us?
I have said this before, but when my attention was pointed to working at the ark, I knew in my heart that this was the right thing to do, but my mind was scared of changes concerning money, schedule and practical things like that. It’s two months later now, I never said anything to Johan about these practical things that scared me, but everything has been taken care of beyond expectation! Of course there are things to learn, small things that are like bumps in the road, but there’s also a challenge in learning new things, thinking of how we can improve things the next time and finding out what everybodies qualities are. We’re all doing lots of new stuff that we never did before, but so far things are working good and getting done and the team is slowly learning to work together, yet respecting the other one’s job and staying put with our own.
But as far as I can speak for myself, I know that the Lord has every day in His hands, and what profit it brings to TRUST HIM!!!! I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I know that when I remember the days past and reflect on His perfect leading, then I will have trust for what tomorrow brings!
God is good and never failed! It’s good to be close to Him and trust Him in all our ways!! EACH DAY!!!!
With love- God bless you! ( PS: it’s good to be back!!!)

Sorry all my dear blog friends… I have so much I wish I could just write down and tell you, but time fails me.
The main thing on my heart is to encourage all of us to HOLD ON TO GODS WORD!!!!!
Let nothing else rule your mind, your emotions or your feelings!
We live in a sick world and more and more often a sick church as well. Do we see the signs of an end time? Do we see the signs of Sodom and Gomorrah? Do we see the signs of the time before the flood? Do we see the signs of people dancing around a golden calf while Moses had spend such a close and holy time with the Lord God? He didn’t even have time to enjoy sharing about this most beautiful time of his life, because he became furious right away when he saw how his people LEFT THE WORD OF GOD AND HIS WAYS!!!
Do we trust other ways then God’s? Are we looking for alternative ways? I have heard a lot lately and also before, how people turn to homeopathic medicine. That’s a world that is binding people to a spiritual world that is not from God but binding to satanic alternative healing. Some people change their ways because they are slowly getting used to teachings that the world without God teaches. That a man has certain feelings, a woman does too, I sin but he sinned to so what can we say and so much more… All these things are not from GOD. And leaving the truth of God’s Word, and leaving to count it to be God’s word, brings enormous damage, even destruction to your faith.
The time is short! NOW is the time to listen to His word, NOW is the time to be faithful to HIS WORD, NOW is the time to hide in Him! There’s a roaring lion going around, seeking whom he may devour. That’s NOT OLD NEWS, it was new referring to NOW!!!
Hold on, believe in HIS WORD and hide under HIS wings! There’s no other place to stay in the light but close to Himself!
Keep practising it so your arms are strong when the battle gets rough!!!
HOLD ON TO GODS PURE WORD!!! Because I love you, Jacky Baken

Although I´ve only heard from Scotti, Wanda and Maria and colleagues, I am sure that many of my friends have been praying. It is encouraging to hear that people support you when you feel the pressure of doing something like this. To know that you´re not on your own and that others are with you as they know that where a testimony is given satan is working hard as well…

But the most important for us is to KNOW WHO we are doing it for. When we realize what kind of God we serve, when we know His name, and the Person behind that name, we can do what we do with enthusiasm for we know WHO is with us! When I think of people in the old testament it is inspiring. Even when God asked them to sacrifice their own child, Abraham went EARLY in the morning! He was excited to do this for the Lord he KNEW to be faithful and a Worker of miracles. That´s where his enthusiasm for the Lord came from. I am SURE that if Abraham hadn´t known his Lord well enough, he would have gone at night, so he could have enjoyed his son at least one more day… God rewarded his enthusiasm by giving back his son so Abraham could enjoy him for the rest of his life!!!!
It´s the same for us. When we know and trust the One that we believe to be a faithful and true God, we may serve Him with enthusiasm, because He will reward a willing spirit in His time! The Lord Jesus gave 33 years and He gave it His all to serve the Lord God and us people. He knew His Father, and like Him and through Him, we may know the Father too and get the same enthusiasm to serve Him, not needing people to praise or support us as much. What we do, we do for Him, and like no human can, He CAN reward what is done out of love for Him!

So, thanks for your prayers and enjoy the result!

Hi friends…
I like to post frequently, but it’s very busy right now.
I would like to ask you to remember me and my family in your prayers.
During this time of year we always make a flower Mosaic as a testimony of the beautiful message of hope in Christ, but also a warning towards those that seem to think the Lord will never ever return again.
He WILL and it’s only out of love for people that we want to warn them if they don’t know the Saviour that alone can safe us from sin to make us clean to enter into His holy presence and the beauty of heaven.
Satan doesn’t sit still to just let us witness. He hates it and likes to destroy anything that can take his followers away from God’s reach. I’ve had some personal struggles in preparing to this event and I am entering into this week rather tired because of SO MANY things happening, many beautiful things but just things that keep your mind busy. I’m doing good again now, how could I not after turning to the Lord with what’s bothering me in stead of running to other sources or people… The Lord is the most beautiful friend and the best source for help and love and guidance and reasurrance! If you don’t know Him, I can tell you right now that you’re missing out on what LIFE really is about! When all else is falling away the Lord can still fill your heart with joy and purpose!
So please pray that this week can be one where a beautiful testimony of God’s LOVE for this world will be displayed, where we have strength to make it and have wisdom for where things are tough. We are getting help from a nice group of people, and we know the fellowship will be great in singing, praying ans sharing together besides making a hopefully beautiful picture with flowers.
May the name of the Lord be glorified and become bigger to all of us!
I’ll post a picture as soon as the work is finished! And then I’ll come back with some new thoughts!

Next week the ark (where I work since three weeks then) will be open to the public officially…
We’re all curious how it’s going to go! Pray for that as well!
Much love, Jacky

Cliff Richard – Thief In The Night

We fuss about so many things or just want to have fun…
Does the following message matter to us today? What if it’s true? How will we enter eternity???