Archive for October, 2007

Something Worth Sharing

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

Brothers and Sisters,
Here’s an unbelievable experience that I would like to share with you. Actually, when it is investigated within the realms of the power of God, it is completely believable. However, it still blows our hair back just think about it.

It’s about a girl.

She is a 23 year old university student we met late last week. It all started with one of our teachers, which asked if we would be interested in having Czech/English conversations with Czechs that were interested in furthering their English abilities. We willingly agreed, because we are just as much, if not more, interested in furthering our Czech abilities. We are all already doing this type of language exchange with others that we have been in contact with, but we still have room for more.

Sarah and I volunteered to be the first one to meet with her, and we decided that a local coffee shop would be a nice, comfortable environment to meet her. After a brief time of formalities, she popped the question of why we are here. Now, this might seem like an easy question that can be answered fairly quickly, but, for some reason or another, it’s the toughest of all questions for all of us. We haven’t fully figured out how to explain the reasons for why we are here adequately, so usually, like in this case, it took a little while to explain to her our reasons for living in the Czech Republic. As if answering this question in English is bad enough, try answering it in Czech when the vocabulary escapes you! :) Anyways, we got our point across, being true to our purpose while at the same time trying to react to how our answer “sounds”.

Then the most amazing thing happened.

She responded by saying “Wow, I guess that fate brought us together, because I am asking questions about God but have no one to help me.” I’m am not kidding. That was her exact statement. Now, does that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up or what? :) The rest of the almost three hours Sarah and I spent on that first visit with her still make us smile. Put simply, the conversation was awesome, and we are absolutely bursting with optimism about where this relationship could go. Sarah, as well as the other girls on the team, will be meeting with her about two times a week to share in Czech/English conversation - discussing things that matter in this life. Even more so, we will be living the life as best as we can to show her how hope in Jesus Christ DOES change lives, and we will try our best to invite her along on the journey of experiencing God.

I say all of this to ask you to praise God today for our encounter with one of His children that is seeking Him. Praise God for the unbelievable person she already is, and the incredible heart she has for making this world a better place. Pray that God acts through our feeble, weak selves as we trip and stumble over being His ambassadors here in this city, and more specifically, as we share Jesus Christ with her. Pray that God continues to go before us, and provides us with more people like her to share the message with.

Thanks for your continued love and support as we strive to hold out the word of Life in this beautiful city called Olomouc!

Corey

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taking a break to take a break

Monday, October 15th, 2007

I have decided that I’m really appreciative of our language school schedule this semester. Last year we had Wednesdays off - a nice hump-day break to pare down the long week of class, but this semester we have Mondays off. I didn’t think I wuld take to this too highly at first, but as busy as our weekends have been lately I have come to wholeheartedly embrace the three-day weekend, despite the weighty chunk of classes it leaves in between. All that to say, it’s good to have today off from school since we were in Prague all weekend and could use some down time to recover.

Our dear friends in Prague, MatuÅ¡ and Melissa Dedina are about a month away from the birth of their new daughter, Katerina, and the girls here in Olomouc decided to throw Melissa the American-style baby shower that Czech culture hasn’t yet adopted (go figure). So when class ended on Friday we soon thereafter boarded a train to Prague to hook up with the Dedinas and another young married couple that are moving back to Prague in the Spring, TomaÅ¡ and Martina Mach. So on Saturday, while the girls were having pillow fights and painting nails (or whatever really goes on at a baby shower), almost every male in the Prague congregation converged at the church for a raucous afternoon of ping-pong, wrestling, and other degenerative activities that follow when competitive and fun-loving guys coop themselves up for hours away from supervision:) But each respective gender had a blast that afternoon, and we reconvened that evening for a much-anticipated dinner of Thai food to warm our bellies before stepping back into the cold, fall night and heading back to our respective accomodations.

On Sunday morning we made our way to the Prague worship service, where MatuÅ¡ had organized the theme (and furniture) around an extended period of table fellowship, during which we gorged ourselves on healthy portions of pancakes, eggs, bacon, bread, and fruit. When we had finished eating, we broke bread and shared grape juice together in a much more intimate setting for communion than most churches can allow, and then we sang and sang until our throats ran dry. It was a truly memorable exploration of what church can be (and perhaps was, eons ago), for when you occupy a table with your brothers and sisters, rubbing elbows and looking at them eye to eye, all else tends to melt away in the rising spirit of community and love. The atmosphere of worry, selfishness, and self-preccupation thins away, leaving you in the rich space of divine presence, where all that matters anymore is care for one’s neighbor and the sorting out of internal prerogatives in the face of something that moves beyond a couple dozen people sharing breakfast, as much as the meaning of communion moves beyond mere bread and wine and treads that ephemeral territory of the sacred/profane interface.

So after such a stimulating weekend I am glad for a day off to recover. As one who used to dread Mondays, maybe they’re beginning to make a comeback after all…

Graham

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