Here I sit in my bed, in the room with all the guys, all 6 of us piled into our room named Jaro, Czech for Spring. The hostel we're staying in is amazing, according to many of the travelers we've become friends with the nicest they've stayed in. I've been thinking about the name of our room and have seen God use this name which means "spring" or new life as a true word of what he's doing through us here in this hostel community. The residents here are literally from around the globe, and God has given us tremendous favor with them. I do believe that those who follow Jesus have what I consider "hidden magnetism" within them, and those outside the family of God are attracted to them because of the hope that resides within.
Our experience here thus far supports that, especially with our experience with our friend that we've officially adopted into our Axis team. His name is Jose Maria and he's traveling from Argentina throughout Europe. Yesterday morning Tyler and some of the guys met him at breakfast, began a conversation with him and pretty much left it at that. As we toured the city that afternoon we ran into Jose near the historic Charles bridge that was constructed in the 1300's. We asked Jose to tag along with us and he agreed. He ended up spending all afternoon and night with us. I asked Jose if this was how he usually rolled when back packing and he said "actually I prefer to travel alone but for some reason I really enjoy being around your group."
Tonight when we got home from our serving with the kids (more on that later) we split up into 3 groups for dinner, and one group Bowie, Jeff, Dana, and Katrina saw Jose and invited him along. As dinner went on Jose began to ask a ton of questions about faith and why we follow God.
About 10 minutes ago he and I along with Kelly, Amy, Katrina,Bowie, and Dana finished talking with him even further for a couple hours so much so that Matthew, myself, and Katrina had an opportunity to share our faith stories and the gospel with him. I'm amazed at what God is doing in him and how God is seeking him out. As I left him a few minutes ago I looked at Jose in the eyes and said bro it's no accident that we've run into each other, and that we're having these conversations, Jose agreed completely.
Will you pray for him today? We ask that you would pray specifically for him, that we would see him come to faith, see him respond to the Truth of the gospel! Tomorrow I'm praying for the opportunity to walk him through Romans 6:23 and pray that when I do that God would anoint our time and direct my words with power and clarity. It's so obvious to our team that he's on the brink to responding to the beauty of the Gospel.
Also keep praying for the other relationships that we've been able to make with the other back packers. It's been such a blessing to get to hang with these people who all speak English (praise God), people who are open to community and conversation, and people that are all searching for something. Pray that God continues to give us opportunity to keep scattering his love, and sharing his gospel.
So the rest of our day was incredible as well and if you have the energy I encourage you to keep reading. Listen I'm the tired one, its almost 1:45am and I have to be up in 5 hours or so :)
Ok....
Earlier today for lunch we had the amazing blessing of sharing a meal with a man by the name of Sasha, who is one of the most influential person in the Czech Republic when it comes to Christianity. Sasha who is now in his early 40's became a Christian in 1987 while the Communist party still ruled the Czech people. He sat and shared his faith story and how he was arrested for his Faith, and how for the last 15 years he has given his life to translating the Bible into a form that will communicate God's Word to the Czech people in a relevant fashion. Currently there are two translations here in Czech. One is similar to our King James Version yet even older, and the other was edited by the Communists and just happens to leave out many important pieces of scripture that you and I enjoy on daily basis. So in our understanding he's dong what would be similar to our New International Version but for the Czech people. This work has the potential for incredible Kingdom impact, and is one year away from being fully released.
From there we went to the City Center to spend time with the Romanni Children (gypsie kids) who are the most marginalized and oppressed people group in Central and Eastern Europe. We sat with these beautiful kids and were able to lead them in some really fun worship songs, saw them smile, clap, and shout words that we're praying will be planted in their hearts. After that Dana was asked to share her faith story, and she shared in power and spoke of how difficult it was for her to grow up with a father who was a drug addict and alcoholic. She shared that most nights he wouldn't come home, and how this implanted in her a lack of trust in anyone, especially her dad. She then shared how she came into a relationship with Jesus and how he's become her perfect Father healing her hurts and disappointments.
At that point they opened it up for these kids to ask questions, and a child on the front row who was around 8 years old said that he understands her pain because his dad never comes home either. It was at this point that our hearts broke to a new level for these kids who live in a family system that consists of perpetual addiction and abuse, and how our hearts are longing for the power and Grace of God to break this cycle and bring them into freedom.
From there we went to the park and finished playing with the kids, some jumped roped and the rest of us played football, yeah not the American kind unfortunately :)
So this day has been quite full as you can tell, so please pray for our strength for tomorrow because we'll be starting our construction project that will consist of laying concrete for a new floor along with quite a bit of interaction with the kids again.
God is continually showing us that he's in the darkest, dirtiest, and most forgotten places longing to shine his light into the darkness so that all might see the beauty of who He is and what He has for all humanity.
We miss you all and love you.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Jon
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Prague: Day One
Day One
Today has been quite a day. Our travels here took some 27 hours due to layovers, delays and having to do an emergency landing in Berlin. We finally arrived here in Prague at 4pm yesterday. As we grabbed our bags we made our way through customs and there met our dear friends and church planters here Craig and Sara Springer. A couple who came to faith in their teens at Willow through Student Impact, joined the 3 year internship, then followed God to do the un-thinkable; plant a church in arguably the most lost city on the Planet. Craig said that “the Czech Republic is known as a spiritually desolate place. It is considered one of the most secular and atheistic countries in the world. A recent Euro-Barometer survey identified that only 19% of Czechs believe God even exists. More Czechs believe in UFO’s than in God and that less than .5 percent would consider themselves Christian”.
This morning we had some flex time so I threw on the running shoes and went for a run to get a feel for the context in which we would be serving for the next 8 days. Running through these streets was incredible, the trams running to my left and right, the stunning architecture and age of the buildings that date back to the 1100’s, it was incredible. I ran through the city park and began to make my way back to the stellar hostel we’re staying in and in the distance saw a billboard that consisted of only three letters. Those being “PRE”.
Now for most of you that means absolutely nothing but for me and those of you who have seen “without limits” it means everything. I first saw this movie that tells the life story of the legendary and arguably greatest American long distance runner of all time named Steve Prefontaine. Steve known of as yes “PRE” ran unlike any other of his time because when he stepped on the track he ran to win, so much so that he never embraced the idea of pacing himself. As hard as his coach at the University of Oregon tried, he could never convince Pre to start slow and work to 100%, on the contrary from start to finish Pre ran full out.
As I ran I reflected on that mindset, and was reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:24 that say’s “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win”! When you stop and think about it, the mindset behind the race set’s everything, the pace, the training, and the commitment to not stop no matter the pain or discouragement. God has been teaching me about this verse that its really not about winning, for his love is unchangeable, its really about how I run the race, and when I run to win I’m willing to surrender everything to him, follow him not matter the cost, and make decisions like Craig and Sara in moving to a city like this for the single purpose of making Christ known among the Czech people.
How about you? How hard are you training? Are you running to just finish, or like Paul, and Pre I might add running to win!
The Kingdom is at hand.
It’s time to lace ‘em up!!
Please continue praying for us, God has been opening doors to scatter His love with quite a few people in just one day. Tomorrow we'll be meeting the Gypsy children and will begin some of our construction on the park.
Your prayers a making a difference!!
Jon
Today has been quite a day. Our travels here took some 27 hours due to layovers, delays and having to do an emergency landing in Berlin. We finally arrived here in Prague at 4pm yesterday. As we grabbed our bags we made our way through customs and there met our dear friends and church planters here Craig and Sara Springer. A couple who came to faith in their teens at Willow through Student Impact, joined the 3 year internship, then followed God to do the un-thinkable; plant a church in arguably the most lost city on the Planet. Craig said that “the Czech Republic is known as a spiritually desolate place. It is considered one of the most secular and atheistic countries in the world. A recent Euro-Barometer survey identified that only 19% of Czechs believe God even exists. More Czechs believe in UFO’s than in God and that less than .5 percent would consider themselves Christian”.
This morning we had some flex time so I threw on the running shoes and went for a run to get a feel for the context in which we would be serving for the next 8 days. Running through these streets was incredible, the trams running to my left and right, the stunning architecture and age of the buildings that date back to the 1100’s, it was incredible. I ran through the city park and began to make my way back to the stellar hostel we’re staying in and in the distance saw a billboard that consisted of only three letters. Those being “PRE”.
Now for most of you that means absolutely nothing but for me and those of you who have seen “without limits” it means everything. I first saw this movie that tells the life story of the legendary and arguably greatest American long distance runner of all time named Steve Prefontaine. Steve known of as yes “PRE” ran unlike any other of his time because when he stepped on the track he ran to win, so much so that he never embraced the idea of pacing himself. As hard as his coach at the University of Oregon tried, he could never convince Pre to start slow and work to 100%, on the contrary from start to finish Pre ran full out.
As I ran I reflected on that mindset, and was reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:24 that say’s “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win”! When you stop and think about it, the mindset behind the race set’s everything, the pace, the training, and the commitment to not stop no matter the pain or discouragement. God has been teaching me about this verse that its really not about winning, for his love is unchangeable, its really about how I run the race, and when I run to win I’m willing to surrender everything to him, follow him not matter the cost, and make decisions like Craig and Sara in moving to a city like this for the single purpose of making Christ known among the Czech people.
How about you? How hard are you training? Are you running to just finish, or like Paul, and Pre I might add running to win!
The Kingdom is at hand.
It’s time to lace ‘em up!!
Please continue praying for us, God has been opening doors to scatter His love with quite a few people in just one day. Tomorrow we'll be meeting the Gypsy children and will begin some of our construction on the park.
Your prayers a making a difference!!
Jon
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
