collision

• instance of one moving object or person striking violently against another : a midair collision between two aircrafts.

• an instance of conflict between opposing ideas, interests, or factions : a collision between experience and theory | cultures in collision.

As I begin writing this, I’m currently 35,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean and I’m preparing mentally, emotionally and spiritually for something I have yet to experience in my short 29 years of existence, that being - a collision of my world! As I sit here writing this, Kachna is watching the Michael Jackson tribute, Martin is over my left shoulder laughing at a movie and Matej is sawing logs in a deep sleep. This three guys are about to experience a whole new world in about 4 hours, but I’m also about to experience this collision. I can’t wait!

The levels of collision will be interesting. Yes there will be the collision of Czech and American cultures, which are “two of my worlds.” But there will also be the world that I work in and my family, that world as well with those who support me through prayer and financially. Then on top of that there will be this collision of the skeptic, I’m-an-atheist Czech world with American Christianity in the form of meeting my ministry partners (a.k.a. supporters) and also meeting Christian college students. I’m sure there are some more worlds that will collide over the next two weeks, but those are the ones that come to mind right now.

Collisions indeed can be deadly and even ugly (which I’m hoping and praying won’t be the coming collision for us), but I like to see beautiful collisions and also think of collisions as beautiful things. See when things collide there are marks, their are results from a collision, these results can either be deadly or beautiful. Or even both deadly and beautiful. I think back on my freshman year of college and the collision that it was. My world of cultural Christianity and I’m-a-Christian-because-I-go-to-church-every-now-and-then attitude colliding with the true God. In that collision there was both death and life. It was indeed beautiful. I’m praying that the coming collisions will bring the death that is necessary for life, and thus beauty. Would you pray with me for beautiful collisions and also I encourage you to go out today, stir things up, be a revolution and be part of some beautiful collisions!

That’s right I’m coming to America! I leave in less than 12 hours, but this time it will be different! I’m bringing three of my guys!!! Tomorrow at noon (Prague time) Matej, Martin, Kachna and I will be leaving the ground on a plane bound to Chicago! I can’t wait! It should be great! We would love your prayers! Pray it up please! We hope to see you while we are in the States, some of you will have 3 chances, here they are:

February 10 – Southern WI/Northern IL - Simple Cafe (525 Broad St. Lake Geneva, WI)
February 11 – Oshkosh Area at RiverValley Church (1331 High Ave, Oshkosh, WI)
February 17 – Xenia, OH at AIA Headquarters (Staff Dining Room, 1197 S. Detroit St.)

We hope to see you!

I’ve caught lots of grief from friends, both in Prague and in the States, about my twitter (Don’t know what Twitter is? Where have you been living? Sorry for the sarcasm, here’s an explanation.) habit over the last year or so. It’s actually been pretty entertaining at times. I’ve been “defrieneded” on facebook (because I send my tweets to fb) due to my tweeting habit and then I’ve had others say they love it. Quite a contrast, isn’t it? In the midst of this, I’ve actually grown to enjoy twitter and the positives of tweeting and being on twitter. Here are some of the positive that come to my mind (I’m not trying to be a twitter evangelist, but you can read others for that.):

• Feeling connected with friends that are an ocean away.

• Being able to pray for those friends as they are doing life and ministry. I know I can do this without Twitter, but it’s a good reminder.

• People standing with me in prayer. It’s cool knowing that when I tweet there are people that will read it and lift me or that request up in that moment.

• Being challenged theologically, biblically and so much more. I love that I have such a difference people, whom I follow, that are constantly challenging me through their short 140 character messages.

• It’s taught me to be brief, well briefer, or should I say getting to the point, if that’s possible! Those of you that know me, know that I’m not one who is lost for words ofter, and I struggle with being concise. Well 140 characters, let’s say, is a bit of challenge for me.

• It’s entertaining. I follow some people that just make me laugh. Living in Prague and the challenges that it can present, I find myself needing to laugh more. Twitter brings laughs through some hilarious people.

Those are some great things, yeah? But I’ve also seen negatives of the world of tweeting and those are why I did my short week plus tweet detox. Here are the negatives for me:

• It consumes my life. I find myself not wanting to miss a tweet and in not wanting to miss a tweet, I can live on on twitter (actually my iPhone). This is the main reason I said, “I need a tweet detox.”

• With it being time consuming, I don’t want to look at a screen more than the faces of people in front of me! So it can rob me of relational time. I want to engage the person, who is actually in front of me, in conversation, with my heart and not stare as some well-picked profile pic.

• Tweeting can lead me from my identity in Christ and who I actually am. I can fine, or have found myself, worried about being some of other guy - who will wow people, make me people roll laughing, make people ponder the deepest of thoughts and so on. I have found myself trying to reinvent who I am, because of others, instead of simply being me, Zach Harrod.

There is why I did my detox. Some of you out there, might think I’m needing some professional help. No worries, I don’t think I am addicted and I think where I am is actually very healthy. However, needless to say, I needed to step away. I needed to see, what life was like without twitter. If I could do it in a healthy and redemptive manner. I was led to asking this, because recently I’ve had good friends hang up there tweeting (or fb) cleats and have called it quits because social networking was consuming them. I give these friends credit that they acknowledged it was affecting them in negative ways. With that said, I think my week plus, was enough to strip me of the negatives of my tweeting, enough to me, to still do relationship with those around me and live in a way that is healthy, while still tweeting. It’s actually been more refreshing since the detox, I don’t feel the pressure to tweet or to read every tweet. I also can actually enjoy twitter redemptively now! Who knew that was possible?!?! No if I could only get back on the blog train and write regularly! We shall see… Thanks for stopping by!

Tomorrow morning I’m heading out of town on a jet plane to Nerja, Spain! And I can’t wait! Every year Campus Crusade for Christ has a Midyear conference for STINTers (Short Term International Interns) and long-term staff members who are serving throughout Europe. I haven’t attended this in the past, but this year it couldn’t come at a better time. I’ve been going hard for some time now and I need some space to catch my breath, to pray and to process much going on in ministry and also in life. It will also be great, being around those who are serving throughout Europe. Would you please pray that the Lord would meet me in a special way over this next week! Thanks for the prayers and thank you for being you!

As promised some time ago, here is a little taste of Barcelona in zhtv fashion! I hope you enjoy it and I hope it encourages you go get a passport and see this great world that God has created! Get out there in the midst of it and be a REVOLUTION for the King and His kingdom!

I’ve mentioned it before, but my staff team here is reading Tim Chester’s You Can Change and it has been very challenging and good for me at the same time. God has used it to convict me and at the same time encourage me! I highly recommend it, you should get it like yesterday! Anyway, this morning as I was reading I was once again challenged and sat at my desk contemplating much. See I just finished the chapter on living in community and helping one another take steps of changing as we live out the Gospel in community. There is just so much to share with you, this is why you have to go buy the book and read it, but I did want to share a quote/thought with you, that is actually in the book and on Chester’s blog too!

It’s about churches and churches being safe places for messy people - like you and me. Yes I said it, like you and me! You’re a mess! So am I! But that is beautiful because God’s grace, love and work is in the midst of our messiness is more than enough! (One of the first places I was challenged by the mess I am was from the book Messy Spirituality by the late Mike Yaconelli. It’s another good read!) Anyway, I could go on and on, but here is the quote from Chester’s blog:

One alternative is to be a church in which there is a lot of pretending; in which people have problems, but in which the culture does not allow people to be open about them. Churches like this are very neat and respectable. But I know I would rather be in a messy church! Mess reflects, I think, a culture of grace. We pretend because either we do not trust God’s grace for ourselves or we do not trust other people to show us grace. (from post entitled, A messy church or a pretending church)

So what type of church are going to? What type of church do you gravitate too? Do you gravitate to churches that “are neat and respectable?” Why do you gravitate to a church like this? For anonymity, so that people don’t see your messiness? Fight it! Be real. Do community in truth and love. Know that God’s grace is indeed sufficient! May we be transformed by the Word of God, but also by the beautiful mess of community that He has provided for us…

Wow! Today 2009 will come to an end! I can’t believe it! Where did this year go? Not only does today, the 31st, close out another year but also a decade! It’s been more than a decade since I left my parent’s home and ventured out into this big world to live this thing we call life! It’s been a decade since God cornered me with his relentless love and I couldn’t help but give my life to this God. As I sit down to begin to write this and share some images and thoughts that made up the year 2009, I almost considered trying to do a “Decade in Review!” But since this decade didn’t start off digitally like we are ending it, I don’t have any pics from, nearly, the first half of the decade in a digital format! Crazy! So here we go, a year in review will have to do…

off to a fun start

Last year, at this time I was in America, after the biggest bomb-digity-dank-sneak-attack surprise of the decade! (Haven’t seen it yet, click here) With that said, I got 2009 off to a great start with my family (minus Megs) in the LG (Lake Geneva) to roll in the New Year. It was so much fun to dance with my littlest sister, my mom and also watch my parents dance! It was probably the best New Years I’ve ever had and I could not have started off the New Year any better than spending it with those whom I love and whom love me dearly!

momentum

The New Year brought me many new cool opportunities but one of the coolest had to be four guys from Rutgers University coming and partnering with me for a week over their spring break! As I look back over 2009, their week with me in Prague marks the start of a wave of momentum with my guys and with football that I have never seen here before. It was a HUGE blessing and I look forward to seeing where God takes things as I continue to ride out this wave of momentum and also I’m stoked to see more people join me in loving on the American Football world of the Czech Republic this year and for years to come!

visitors & a new life

The longer I live here in Prague, I see more and more visitors pass through. Which is always a blessing! This last spring I had the opportunity of having Aaron Slusher visit me. It was so much fun to have him hear and see what God has done in his life since I met him at Wilmington College, while I worked there for a year a half before coming back to Prague. I was so encouraged to see the growth in his life and how he still desires to grow in his walk with God. It was a nice reminder for me that God is at work, even when I forget it, as I live in a city where we see little “fruit.” Thanks for swinging through Aaron!

I also was so excited to welcome little Izaak Stewart’s (of Mark & Joanna) arrival last spring! Living so far away from my family is certainly tough on me (and very tough on my family as well, thanks for the sacrifice you make guys!), but it’s so cool to see how God provides people and a second family of sorts through His Church, well the Stewarts are part of my second family and I love being a “pseudo/faux uncle” to their little boys. So I was “pseudo/faux uncled” once again this Spring with the arrival of Izaak! (Megs & Tom when do you think I will be real “uncled”? Maybe nine months after the wedding? Hahaha….)

saying good bye

One of the toughest things about living in Prague is that in many ways this city is a revolving door! We are constantly seeing people arrive today and it is as if they are saying, “good bye” tomorrow. Well 2009 marked me saying goodbye to two dear friends (one who happened to be a dear co-worker as well). This year, I said hard “good byes” to Jason & Erin. Jason, was one of the unexpected blessings when I moved back here to Prague. He quickly became one of my best friends and closest confidants here. Mark still makes fun of us, because the first night Jason and I met we were at a concert of a friend, and instead of listening to the concert we stood in the corner and talked (sorry Ondra) about life, vision and etc. Mark said we were like “junior high girls.” Either way, Jason was a good friend and it was hard to see him leave, but I’m confident that God will use him in the next step of his life.

Then on top of saying “good bye” to Jason, I also said “good bye” to Erin, who was on staff with AIA here for about three and half years. Erin and I grew to become good friends and tight co-workers over the nearly two years we shared time here, even in the midst of differences. I think I saw how the Gospel should explode into communities and produce love, trust, respect and more, through my relationship with Erin. This is way exciting, because in the past I don’t know that I would have got to the place with Erin, as friends and co-workers, because I wasn’t living the Gospel out as much as I had to learn to live it out over the last two plus years. Thanks Erin for being used by God for this! Know you are missed here in Prague!

new couples

One of the things that’s tough, but sometimes good is that I live overseas and it keeps me from the many, many weddings that I could go, to what seems like, nearly every month. I hope that doesn’t offend any of my dear friends, who’s weddings I’ve missed. It’s just as a single person, who loves weddings and is a hopeless romantic, weddings can be very dangerous for me (i.e. zach can become bitter, anger, single guy)! However, this summer I got to attend two weddings! The first being the wedding of the Ernsters - Matt & Leanne. Matt (or Ernie) was my roommate for nearly two years here in Prague, after I moved back. It was so much fun to celebrate their marriage in Washington this summer.

Then the second couple was Lauren and Ondra, who had two weddings this summer/fall. They got married in the States and then got married again here in Czech with Ondra’s family. Ondra is a living encouragement for me in so many way, as he was the first guy, who I got to watch God bring to Himself and also because he continues to grow in his faith. Since May 2005, when Ondra came to faith, God brought a beautiful girl from America over to Czech and the rest is history. It was so much fun to join them for wedding #2 and celebrate with them. Please pray for both of these couples as they grow in their relationships with each other and with God.

my first furlough

This summer also brought my first furlough to the States. I put in thousands of miles crisscrossing America, I spoke or shared at churches 6 Sundays, had many dinners, many meetings and much more in a mere 6 weeks! I was so blessed to see old friends and ministry partners who loved on me, listened to me, fed me, prayed for me and plain and simple showed me what the Gospel played out in relationship should look like! Thank you to each and everyone of my ministry partners who gives and prays to make it possible to be here and see God move in the hearts of Czechs! Thank you, you are prized and cherished by me!

my sister & live in the same city?

For the first time in 10 years, my sister, Megan, and I live in the same city! A third of the world away from where we last shared an address! Crazy! While our jobs have completely different hours, and we don’t get to see each other as much as we would like, it has been so much fun having her here and sharing life with her. It is really a special time in both of our lives and I’m hoping and praying I don’t take it for granted! In November we got to take our first adventure together since Megs moved here! It was to Barcelona. More on it to come in the future, as I have a zhtv in the works about our trip, but I wanted to share the picture you see above of us in a Tapas restaurant in Barcelona with you. This is one of the things I love about Megs and when we hang together. We spent three hours at one of the more notable Tapas restaurants in Barcelona and after three hours we were friends with almost all the servers and the hostess too! Megs has the ability to connect with anyone is just amazing and beautiful way! I learn much from watching her interact with people. Megs, here’s to more adventures before you leave!

a new role, new lessons, new guys & a championship!

This fall brought a new role and opportunity for me - that of a head coach. Being the son of head coach, I thought I was prepared, or groomed to a degree, for this, but that was so far from the truth! I learned that my dad (and all head coaches out there) do far more than I could ever have imagined. It was tough but I loved it! Every moment of it - the ups (winning the final) and the downs (having 13 guys at practice)! As promised a blog series will be here sooner or later about what I learned this fall, so stay tuned for Missional Lessons from the Gridiron here at zACHhARROD.com!

the year closes

As this year closed I celebrated the holidays with one of my “second families” here in Prague - the Crossans (Billy serves as the AIA Czech Director & he is pretty much a stud of a friend and boss!). I had so much fun with them over Christmas, and I’m so privileged to serve with a family like them, or I should say to be served by them, because let’s face it that’s the truth. They are great. It’s so much fun to serve as a “pseudo/faux uncle” to them as well and also to be that “crazy uncle.”

Well… There you have it a quick flyby of the year, that was 2009, in a few words and pictures. There is so much I left out, but I don’t want to write a novel today! I hope you understand (If there is anyone still reading this, at this point!). I’ve been utterly overwhelmed as of late as I reflect on much of life and the happenings of this life. God’s grace is so evident and the fact that you are reading this is evident of His grace too! Thank you to you out their in worldwide-web-land who follow these happenings here at zACHhARROD.com, who join in the adventure and revolution with me! You are unbelievable! Here’s to another year, full of more memories, evidences of God’s grace in our lives, and living out the revolution that is the Gospel. Happy New Year! Št’astný Nový Rok!

Merry Christmas from Prague! I hope you enjoy this little video postcard from a very Christmasy Prague!

For those of you who are new to zACHhARROD.com, might not have seen last year’s Christmas surprise. So I thought I would share it with you once more. My dad recently thought I was in the midst of “sneak attacking” them again with another visit, but sadly it will have to wait! At least I’m keeping them guessing!

Thanks for being you! How will you be a revolution this Christmas Eve?!?!

I’ve mentioned before how I love to create, how I really valuing creating and how I love creatives in general (see here) and one of those expressions has been photography. This is even more true now that I have a real camera (Boom D90!), thanks Mom, Dad and a friend who helped out as well! I’ve loved learning and I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m a hack! But I love it nonetheless! I have some friends (Mark and Amber specifically) who really inspire me to learn what I’m doing a capture images that will move people in some way. With that said, I’ve posted a bunch of new pics over at flickr. It’s really hard for me no to post more pics, but I try to limit it to the ones I like the most. I thought I would share a few of those here on my blog. Each of the pics is in a set over at flickr, so if you like to see more click away!
Barcelona Set

Riegl Wedding

Flying with Adam


Ernster Wedding


Quick Trip to Seattle


Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the pics… Now go create, in whatever way the Great Creator (that’s God) gave you the ability to create!

Our AIA team here is reading, You Can Change, by Tim Chester and it has been smacking me around over the last few weeks of reading it. Here is what smacking me around today:

Sin is fundamentally an orientation towards self. Many of us suffer from self-absorption. We’re preoccupied with your problems and successes. We bring every conversation round to our favorite subject: me. Or we develop habits of self-centeredness in which we live for our own comfort and security.” {pg. 158}

Ouch, that hurts. Um, yeah guilty. What is one way to combat this? Service. Go out and serve someone. Make deliberate decisions to fight against the self-absorption, against the self-centeredness, against turning yourself into a little god, which you bow to. Dang, I’m guilty of this, but I’m thankful that I’ve been set free to live a new life, a new way…. The way of Jesus… How will you serve someone other than yourself today? Join me in this fight and SERVE!