Greytown

From My drawings

Johannes Webalbum

see the website: picasaweb.google.com/johannesable

From Paintings of ...

Mountain stream NZ

stapelen

STAPELEN castle
Netherlands

What an wonderful experience it is to be chosen! To know that we are important to someone, that we are valued, that we are desirable. Being chosen is important stuff. In the gospel we read that the Son of God, the Christ, the Chosen One of God, has chosen us - and chosen us not simply to be servants, but to be his friends - and this without us even seeking him, without us even choosing him.
When I was young I experienced a vocation. To be chosen or called to enter religious life. After a long time of preparation I entered the Congregation of the assumptionist fathers. The Dutch province had its beginning in an old castle called Stapelen. The picture above is the court yard of the castle. It is still the important place of the fathers, although many have retired there now.
From the New Zealand perspective it looks quaint, but I have good memories of the place where I lived once for a short time.
Now I myself am retired in New Zealand and often spend my free time sketching and painting. Stapelen is now for me a place of inspiration and motivation. In this way I express my gratitude for being chosen. Thank God.

John Heijnen