So things are about to get CRAZY come this Monday! For the second time I will be flying three of my Czech guys over for the Second Czech Take Over America Tour! Each time it gets a little bit better! I’m so excited for Tomáš, Lukáš and Honza to get here Monday at 2:55 pm. “Why?” you ask. Well you can look at the map (I’m not overly excited about driving all that time, but I am excited to get tons of relationship time with my guys in the car.) and the schedule below to see why I’m amped for this trip. Is that not amazing? This time it is more geared towards helping these guys become better coaches as well as show them America, expose them to faith and more. While we are at each of these schools we will sit down with coaches for a few hours and get better at what we do – coach. It will be a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for them, and myself! I can’t wait to be in the midst of this all. Please pray that God would show up in many ways throughout the duration of our trip. By the way, America, ARE YOU READY FOR THE CZECH TAKEOVER?

Once ’twas painful trying, Now ’tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation, Now the uttermost.
Once ’twas ceaseless holding, Now He holds me fast;
Once ’twas constant drifting, Now my anchor’s cast.

Once ’twas busy planning, Now ’tis trustful prayer;
Once ’twas anxious caring, Now He has the care.
Once ’twas what I wanted, Now what Jesus says;
Once ’twas constant asking, Now ’tis ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him, Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored, Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus, Now I know He’s mine;
Once my lamps were dying, Now they brightly shine.
Once for death I waited, Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored, Safe within the vail.

I bolded the section that God used specifically in my heart to give this, previously mentioned, attitude adjustment. Those past actions – busy planning, caring, wanted, constant asking – that Simpson spoke of were, and maybe are still, things that I’m dealing with while I’m back in the States, trusting God to provide for me, so that I, and my ministry partners, can continue to make a difference in Prague, Czech, Europe and Beyond! Since I heard this poem, I’ve returned to it several times and I have been reminded of Jesus’ love for me and work in my life.

How about you? Did God use this to give you an attitude adjustment?

Thanks for stopping by! As always, BE A REVOLUTION!

Music is one of the things that God continually uses in my life to encourage me and pick me up. Over the last week I have been listening to Crowder Band’s new album Give Us Rest nonstop, especially the song “Let Me Feel You Shine.” Here’s how the song opens:

This place is trying to break my belief
But my faith is bigger than all I can see
What I need is redemption
What I need is for You for to put me back on my feet
(read full lyrics here)

As I’ve been back in the States sharing about what God is doing in Prague, the needs to OUR (your ministry and my ministry) in Prague (you can help meet those needs, click HERE!) and the challenges of living and doing ministry there, these first few words of this song are a HUGE encouragement for me. Honestly I just hit “back” and listen to the beginning of this song over and over again! Why? Because Prague and Czech does break missionaries. If you have met with me since I’ve been back you have heard that I referred to Prague and Czech as “Missionary Graveyard,” where the average missionary making a 5 year commitment makes it on average about 18 months. It’s the sad reality of a tough language, tough soil, unreal expectations and more…

Somehow, by God’s grace, I’ve defied the statistics and I’m on year number 5, but that doesn’t mean Prague, Czech and individuals there haven’t thrown their best at me to break me. That is why I love the words – “This place is trying to break my belief, But my faith is bigger than all I can see!” It’s true. It’s true. My faith, given to me by the redemption of Jesus of me, is bigger than the hurt, the betrayal, the lies, the discouragement, the lack of faithfulness, the cowardliness and the like! IT’S BIGGER! God can put you and I back our feet!

So where are you today? How do you need to cling to this truth? Do you need to start by submitting to Jesus for the first time or maybe for the thousandth time? He’s there. The faith He gives free of charge, is bigger than your situation, “your place,” “this place!” Turn to Him right now!

Here’s the song with lyrics:

Update Schedule as of Thursday, January 12, 2012:

• January 12 – 16 – Southern WI/Northern IL
• Friday evening, January 13 – OPEN Support Dessert in the Lake Geneva, WI area. (please pray the snow doesn’t hinder this in any way!) Click HERE for the Facebook invite.
• Sunday, January 15 – The Church of DeKalb – DeKalb, IL – 10:00am – S. 1st Street
• January 17 – 23 – Dallas/Ft. Worth – I have a couple of rock stars setting things up down in DFW, but if you could help I’d love that!
• January 23 – 24 – Southern WI/Northern IL
• January 25 – 27 – TWIN CITIES, MN – as of today (January 12th) I have nothing concrete set up, but if you would like to help, please email me ASAP!
• January 27 – 29 – Southern WI/Northern IL
• Sunday, January 29 – Faith Baptist Church – Delavan, WI – 10:30am – 1500 Creek RD – ALL ARE WELCOME!

Right now my biggest need is to get in front of more people and share with them what God is doing in Prague, Czech and Europe. Anything you can do to connect me with more potential partners is, and would be, HUGE! Here are openings I still have that I can do around Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin:

• Saturday, January 15
• Monday, January 16
• Tuesday, January 17
• Monday, January 23 (i fly into Milwaukee at 4pm though, so might be tough, but we can make something work!)
• Friday, January 27
• Saturday, January 28 (but I’m going to a workshop in the Milwaukee area till around 4 pm)

Please feel free to call, email me, Facebook me, Tweet me or what ever form of modern communication you prefer! THANK YOU AND AS ALWAYS BE A REVOLUTION!

Schedule

• January 7 – 11 – Fox Valley area – Wisconsin
• Sunday, January 8 – RiverValley Church – Oshkosh, WI – 9:00 & 10:45am – 1331 High Avenue – ALL ARE WELCOME!
• Sunday, January 8 – OPEN HOUSE at the Michael and Cindy Smiths – 3:30-5:30pm – if you are interested please email me and I will pass the address on to you.
• Sunday evening, January 8 – Sharing at Winneconne Christian Fellowship – 6:00 pm – 102 South 3rd Street – ALL ARE WELCOME!
• January 11 – 12 – TWIN CITIES, MN – as of today (January 5th) I have nothing concrete set up, but if you would like to help, please email me ASAP!
• January 14 – 16 – Southern WI/Northern IL
• Friday evening, January 13 – private Support Dessert in the Lake Geneva, WI area.
• Sunday, January 15 – The Church of DeKalb – DeKalb, IL – 10:00am – S. 1st Street
• January 17 – 26 – Dallas/Ft. Worth – I have a couple of rock stars setting things up down in DFW, but if you could help I’d love that!
• January 27 – 29 – Southern WI/Northern IL
• Sunday, January 29 – Faith Baptist Church – Delavan, WI – 10:30am – 1500 Creek RD – ALL ARE WELCOME!

I hope to add much more and even a few “Come and See Me” times, but I wanted to get this up today… PLEASE, PLEASE let me know if you can help in anyway, I’m trusting God to provide and also to bring in new ministry partners to join you and I in reaching Prague, the Czech Republic, Europe and Beyond!

I’ve been asking these questions, and more, since my mom called me last week, with the news that my grandfather (or G-Pa as I like to say, it’s his gangsta name.) passed away, peacefully, in his sleep – “What did my grandfather, Robert Shisler, impart to me? What in my life can I see is a direct result of my Grandfather’s presence in my life?”

We all process death and grieving differently, but I have been fighting to find these things, as well as fighting to cling to the great memories of my G-Pa that I have, rather than feel sorry for myself and my family. I think this is what my G-Pa would have wanted from me, if I would have asked him, how he would want me to grieve and remember him. My G-Pa was a man of few words, but his actions, life and how he lived spoke volumes to me throughout my 31 years of knowing him.

I thought it would be great to remember him here on my blog and I hope that this will, in some way, be a challenge for me and you to consider these values and characteristics in our lives!

For most of my years on earth, my grandfather was something like a god among men, when it came to his strength. He would wrestle, tickle me, give me horse bites and the like and I had no answer, no comeback, no feat of strength to match his! This lasted even into college, until UW-Oshkosh Football got me in the weight-room day after day, but even then he probably could have taken me in a war of horse bites.

laughing is healthy
I take myself far too serious most of the time, but my G-Pa knew how to laugh and knew how to play. I, as many of the other children, have a fun, playful side that can be traced straight back to my G-Pa. Some of the deepest, heartiest laughing sessions of my life came as a result of the antics of my grandfather. It might have been as the result of a horse bite or something along that or it might have been the subtle little pranks that he would pull.

So don’t take yourself too seriously! Give a loved one a horse bite and laugh today!

hard work and a relentless work ethic
My grandpa was one of the hardest workers I’ve ever known. I can see how his work ethic has worked its way down to my mother and then to her children. I saw my G-Pa’s relentless work ethic not necessarily though his years of work at the Dairies in Huntley, IL, but in his crafts, handiwork and gizmos. The man, with the help of his family, build a cabin up in Wisconsin Dells, he built tree-houses, go-carts, zip lines, can crushers, catapults and the like. He worked his tail off on these things, why? Because he loved it, because he loved us. My G-Pa seemed like one of those types of men, who found rest in hardwork, which has surely been passed down to me.

Now when I talk to my players about “hardwork” it will be a sort of living memorial to the handwork that I saw my G-Pa live out day after day, year after year up until his knees and hips slowed him down a bit.

industrious
I’ve noticed an industrious side to my sister, Megan, and I as we have graduated college and have moved into the “working world.” I’m sure my grandfather isn’t the only source of this industrious side, but I can see how it came from him. My G-Pa was a beast of the garage and the work bench! Seriously, he went “beast mode” often! As I said he built a cabin in the Dells, but it didn’t end there. He built me a go-cart for scratch! I don’t mean a kit or something like that, he welded, tinkered and created a red-ripping go-cart from left over parts of miscellaneous items. He did this time and time again, with tree-houses, zip-lines, can crushers, rocket launchers and the list goes on and on. It was perfect for a grandson! I loved it.

He enjoyed this of course, but it was part of his life, part of who he was. I think this is why I, and my sister, can visualize something that isn’t and work and create and see it through to fruition. We saw it modeled by our grandfather our whole lives.

faithfulness
In the last two years I’ve seen so much unfaithfulness and selfishness, that it makes me sick to think about, but from the 31 years I shared this earth with my G-Pa I saw him model something that isn’t valued or prized in our day – FAITHFULNESS! I learned faithfulness from him, which means the world to me, and has become one of, if the not the most, prized values or characteristics for me and for others as well. If someone is faithful you can count them and the potentialities are endless!

My grandpa didn’t teach me this through words, but for his faithful steady love of my Grandma for nearly 60 years, that lasted to last words that he told her, that he told her every night before they went to bed – “I love you dear. Those were the last words my Grandma heard from her husband of nearly 60 years! How amazingly beautiful is that? In those four words are nearly 60 years of faithfulness! Wow!

I think it was also fitting that my G-Pa was a marine and held their motto, Semper Fidelis, to heart. Semper Fidelis is Latin for “Always Faithful” or “Always Loyal.” Well said, well said indeed.

Here’s an example of a true man. THIS IS MANHOOD. Faithfulness and selflessness modeled for 84 years, 31 of those witnessed by me. This challenges me to strive to be faithful in all I do, in those relationships in my life and even to my God. It challenges me to also strive to be selfless and give more than I receive, and when I have given all I can, to give some more. I hope my G-Pa’s example of faithfulness challenges you too! I hope it challenges you and I to fight against the ugly unfaithfulness & selfishness of our world!

There you have a few things I learned from my G-Pa. I hope that this post encourages and challenges you to strive for something more in your life, than just the mundane, let life pass us by sort of attitude that many people have these days. As I recently wrote about legacy, I hope to carry on Robert Shisler’s legacy through these values and characteristics he passed down to his kids, grandkids and others.

Once more thank you to all of you, who have prayed and sent well wishes to me and my family in this time of mourning. It is very much appreciated. Grace and peace to all of you this Christmas season….

I thought I would post a quick entry with a couple of links about how you can support the work and what God is doing in the Czech Republic, as I’m constantly trusting God to show up and provide for what He has called me to do in Prague, Czech and Europe, to reach a city, country and a continent that are overwhelmingly post-Christian and aching for the Good News of a Savior who came to be the remedy for our fallen, broken human condition.

I’m trusting God to provide for me for 2012, for a couple of concrete things:

• Coaches Trip to the States in February – the purpose of the trip is to help these young men become better coaches but also to expose them to a God who loves them.
• Players Trip to the States next summer – the purpose of the trip is very similar to the Coaches Trip, but the difference is that it will help them grow as better players, while still exposing them to this remedy.
• Visa expenses – before leaving Prague I had to take care of several larger expenses related to living in Prague and continuing OUR ministry there.

Those are just a few of the concrete plans/needs for 2012. Please consider helping with an end of the year gift, by clicking HERE to give online or click HERE to read about other ways to support OUR ministry in Czech. Here’s a video from my friend, Dan, about the influence we are having in Prague. Thank you for all you do! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I never met Havel, although I wish I could have met him, but his legacy and life impacted this kid from Lake Geneva, WI that lives, and calls home, Havel’s homeland. Sadly, some over look the impact Havel had and some question it. Or better, some question the man himself. I’m not claiming the Havel was a saint, he was a broken man like you and I, but there have been a few Czechs throughout history (another couple are Jan Hus and Jan Amos Komenský, or John Amos Comenius, to just name a couple.) that I admire and I pray that there would be more Czechs like them. Czechs that exhibit and embody the same values and qualities that made these Czechs heroes!

My director, wrote on Facebook last night, “Where are the Havels of this generation?” I would love to see “Havels” of this generation, “Havels” that aren’t concerned about themselves, but their countrymen and strive for higher virtues than “what’s best for me.” To my Czech friends, and non-Czech friends too, I would challenge you all to honor the legacy of Havel, by striving for, living out and embodying the ideas, values and virtues that made Havel the culture changer that he was! That is honoring his legacy! Yes, mourn and remember him, but remember him and honor him, by being the change that the Czech Republic so badly needs! By the way, my prayer is that the same passion that was seen last night on Wenceslas Square and throughout Prague, and the country, would be put into practice and lived out with passion! Here’s a moving video of last night’s celebrations of Havel, his life and his passing.

I have watched that video several times. As I watch it I pray for the country, I call home now, that something deep will happen. I pray that God would use the passing of this influential man to change the Czech Republic and ultimately draw more people to Himself. Please pray with me to this extent!

Here’s a couple of notable quotes from the man who helped change the course of history in the Czech Republic:

“Love and truth must triumph over hate and lies.”

“The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.”

“Man is in fact nailed down — like Christ on the Cross — to a grid of paradoxes . . . he balances between the torment of not knowing his mission and the joy of carrying it out, between nothingness and meaningfulness. And like Christ, he is in fact victorious by virtue of his defeats.”

“The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle.”

“You do not become a “dissident” just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”

That’s just scratching the surface of the quotes you can find, click here to find more.

I pondered… “How would they have felt?” As I thought and prayed through this, I realized to a lesser degree I can understand how they felt as I long for an “Advent” (ad·vent/?ad?vent/ The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.) of sorts in the Czech Republic. I labor and labor. I pray and pray. I love and love. I speak and speak. I listen and listen. Yet I haven’t seen the “Advent” that I yearn for to the hearts of the Czech people. So this song/poem ministered to me in this way for the last two weeks…

Then Tuesday at 5 pm my vonage line (American line via the net) rang and my crying mother was on the other end of the line. Honestly over the past couple months I’ve had a nervous feeling, every time that phone has rang, and it was for this reason. I learned quickly that my grandfather, Bob Shisler, passed away in his sleep Tuesday morning. He has slowed down over the last couple of years and had issues that most elderly people have, but this was unexpected to all of us. Since Tuesday the words of this poem/song have hit me in a much different way!

I’m hurting. My family is hurting. It’s been hard to see my mother morning and even harder hearing my grandmother’s grieving voice, but this amazing truth – God with us – has moved me. Jesus hasn’t left me alone in this. He’s in the midst of it all. He’s here. So as we are in the midst of “Advent Season” this year, this simple, but overwhelming truth, will take on a whole new meaning for me and my family. Please listen to this song, meditate on it and realize that God is with us! He is with us!