Posts Tagged ‘featured’

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!

pride.

Do you have it? I’ll be honest, apart from Christ, I am a prideful jerk. I know it and it tears me up. I find myself daily wrestling with myself and the deep, selfish pride that I know I’m capable of. I’m thankful I wrestle with it though, because if I ever get to the point where I don’t, I pray earnestly that I’m no longer breathing and I’m in heaven. Why? Because I never want to be okay with the pridefulness that resides in me and/or the amount of pride I’m capable of, because when you are okay with it, the fights done. The pride wins. I refuse, as far as I am able, to let pride win!

But what is pride exactly?

Pride defined:

1pride \?pr?d\ n
1 : the quality or state of being proud: as
a : inordinate self-esteem : conceit
b : a reasonable or justifiable self-respect
c : delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship ?parental pride?
2 : proud or disdainful behavior or treatment : disdain
3 a : ostentatious display
b : highest pitch : prime
4 : a source of pride : the best in a group or class
5 : a company of lions
6 : a showy or impressive group ?a pride of dancers?

Pride can have some positive definitions, but it can also have sicking definitions that reek of sheer arrogance played out in life. In fact, when you look at the Bible and what God thinks of pride, it’s not positive! I don’t want to share with an exhaustive word study on pride but I did want to share with you some things I’ve been kicking around and a couple of resources. The first resource, is simply a link on the word PRIDE in the Bible. (click here) I encourage you to click away, then read away, the pray away, and then repent away! Sit in some of these verses and ask God to work you and your heart over, thus exposing your pride!

The other resource is a talk from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church, in Seattle, WA. I had the opportunity to visit Mars Hill Church a few weeks back and I happened to be there for the start of their new series and the first talk - HUMILITY! It was like a 2×4 board to the face, especially about 10 minutes in when I thought, “So and so should listen to this!” That is when God swung the spiritual 2×4 and hit me right between the eyes and I realized that I needed just as bad, if not worse than “so and so.” Here it is, listen to it, journal it and see what God might say to you….

Beyond that, I’ve pondered things like, “How do I know I’m living a prideful existence?”
PRIDE CHECK - here are somethings that I came up with, as “pride checks” to spot it in my life:

1. Thinking something like, “I’m not ‘that’ prideful.” Denial, very often, IS the first sign we are suffering from “said” thing.
2. An unwillingness to listen to the opinions and/or thoughts of others.
3. Any, and I do mean ANY, from of prejudice in my heart. I’ll be real, I see surprising things come out of my own heart as I ask this one, living in a foreign country.
4. Refusing to apologize, even if I know I was wrong.
5. An absolute belief that “I’m always right.”
6. Thus the inability and unwillingness to say the 3 words, “I was wrong.”
7. Self-righteousness. Enough said.
8. Lack of repentance towards God or anyone else for that matter.
9. Isolating myself and not giving others the opportunity to call me out.
10. Refusing to submit myself to godly leadership.

There are 10 PRIDE CHECKS that I’ve been asking of myself as of late. How did you do? If you think you made it through the list, you should probably start over and dig a little deeper in your soul and life! Ask God, by His Spirit, who give you eyes to see your junk and the courage to repent of it.

Before I close this entry (which again, isn’t attended to exhaustive, but to serve as a launching point) I want to share with you, what I keep coming back to as the solution to my own pride - the Gospel - the fact that “I’m more prideful, sinful, hated, despised by God, wretched and much, much more than I could ever imagine outside of Christ BUT (thank God there is a BUT here) in Christ I’m more loved, cherished, clean, pure, innocent and so on infinitely more than I can even begin to imagine!” It’s this that is the answer to our pride. It’s running to the Gospel of Christ - the only truly humble and pure person ever to walk this planet died in my place, even though I was a rebel against him and I was vile. He graciously hung there for me and my sins, so that I would be made right before God! It wasn’t anything I did, nothing I could contrive. Oh how beautiful this Gospel (Good News) is! It’s so beautiful and deep, and yet simple and to the point. So I will choose today, right now, to apply this Gospel to my life and allow God to gut me of my pride for my good and His glory! Will you join me? Will you fight the pride?

I’ve said it before, I like former Czech president, Vaclav Havel. I’m not going to lie, I think the man is intriguing. Do I agree with everything he says, or has said, or does, or has done? Absolutely not! He is indeed a broken and imperfect man, like myself, but the man still intrigues me. Some time ago I shared some quotes and thoughts from Havel on Life Post-Communism and recently, courtesy of Bloomberg.com, we have some more thoughts from him. Last week I read an article over at Bloomberg.com, entitled, Havel Laments Czech Future as ‘Consumer Palaces’ Occupy Nation and I was once again intrigued and even encouraged by Havel.

palaces and the new cathedrals

Czechs are building “palaces of consumerism” that will occupy a third of the country in the next two decades, politicians can’t see farther than the next opinion poll and mobsters and money-changers have become the new economic elite, Havel said in an interview yesterday.

“Not many of us thought the door would be opened so quickly to all the mafiosi and back-street money-changers” who have now become “millionaires and billionaires,” he said. “We are living in the first truly atheistic society, and there’s no feeling that there is any kind of moral anchor.”

First off, it must be said, that in much of my reading and study of Czech history, that the cathedrals that you see all over the city of Prague or the country, for the most part were never full, but they served more as political statements of the ruling party, the Habsburgs (whom were Catholics), against Bohemian protestants. With that said, I won’t say that the malls have become the ‘new’ cathedrals replacing the actual cathedrals of this country, but I will say in many ways, Havel’s statement of “palaces of consumerism” is very true. I would even argue that, for the most part, these are the new cathedrals of Czech. They are places, where Czechs now find their identity, their meaning and more, and as the article says they are spreading and consuming the country at a frantic rate. This makes me wonder how the Gospel must be contextualized into this new trend.

It brings me back to something I’ve heard Keller say and I shared with our project this summer. A better way to communicate the need for the Gospel (sin), is in terms of idolatry. (Click here for a pdf from the Gospel Coalition from Keller on Idolatry in a Postmodern Age.) The essence of sin is idolatry when we elevate a good thing (a created) thing to an ultimate thing and thus we worship it. These new ‘palaces of consumerism’ that are taking over this country have been elevated to an ultimate thing, and at the end of the day they will leave the Czech people, and myself, left wanting.

How could I not find it intriguing when Havel said, “We are living in the first truly atheistic society” that lacks any moral foundation. Some might be critical of what ‘religion’ has done to the world, and I would agree. In the name of ‘religion’ or ‘God’ horrible things have been done and I lament over those many things, but something must be said of a culture that lacks “any kind of moral anchor.” When this happens, you see the things that Havel laments over - corruption, greed, lying and more. So my question to my Czech friends, or critics of ‘religion,’ is, “How is it working?” (NOTE: I say ‘religion’ because personally, I’m not fan of religion. Religion is man’s efforts to get to God to appease something above through doing so I will get out of this or that. I’m not down with that. I’m in a relationship with a God who has done what is needed, and in response to his doing, I give him myself.) I don’t ask this smugly, but brokenly, with a longing to see people here turn to something greater than the gods of consumerism, or even a presumed freedom of sorts (yes, even freedom, which is a ‘good thing’ can be elevated to an ultimate thing!). Is it working? And if it isn’t working, what must be done? Is there anything? I would not have relocated my whole life here if I did not believe in the depths of my soul that there is an alternative to all this!

it takes time

“When you have a beautiful table, or a piece of furniture, it can be kicked to bits in half a minute, but it takes weeks, months, to put it all together again,” Havel said.

It’s from this quote that I received much encouragement! Yes, Havel is referring to political change, and to a degree cultural change, but I can take heart in this quote. “Why?” Because it would seem as of late that I’ve been struggling with how hard it is to do “my job” or “work” here. In the midst of life - seeing people leave, being discouraged by not seeing results like I (we) would like to see, the difficulty of learning the language and more - I have felt discouragement creep in because ‘things’ don’t happen here on my ‘American timetable.’ I forget that it “takes weeks, months, to put it all together” and want to do it in a weekend. I was encouraged by this analogy, for this reason. It would be easy to tear the table apart or just throw it away because it would take too much time, or I could roll up my sleeves, get out my sander and other tools and go to work, realizing that it won’t happen in a day or a weekend but weeks or months - i.e. seeing lasting change here in this place isn’t going to happen in a short-term trip, or in a year of STINT, but years invested deeply, where I continue to trust God and roll up my sleeves, grab the lunch box and go to work.

Thank you Vaclav for your thoughts and encouragements! Even if you didn’t attend it (which I know you didn’t), or even if you think I’m a crackpot for what I believe and/or why I am here, my God used your words to give me some more insight on you and your countrymen, more ways to pray for you and your countrymen and also a heavy dose of encouragement. Thanks Vaclav!

If you read my blog, with any regularity, I’m sure you have picked up on a theme about the spiritual climate of the Czech Republic - it claims to be one of the most atheistic countries in Europe, and even the world. Recently, I found a past link about the Czech Republic and religion that I found sad and interesting yet again. It was over at the ABC Prague blog, that I’ve blogged on in the past, but sadly it has gone quiet as of late. I thought this was worth blogging about as well, the post was Religion is not important for Czechs.

The Czech population belong to the five least religious nations in the world, it come from the research published by the Gallup company. Religion represents an important part of everyday life only for 21% of CR inhabitants. More unbelieving are only Norse with 20%, Danish with 18% and Swedish with 17% . Religion plays the lowest part in the life of the Estonians, where only 14% of the asked said it is important.

This research brought us the US company Gallup, they carried it out in 143 countries of the world. The most religious countries, on the contrary, are Egypt, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Those numbers are interesting, however from the point of view of an average Czech: If one comes to Moravia, which is the eastern part of the Czech Republic, there still might be some religious people, but in Prague, I personally met only two people who were active Christians in my entire life.

What I find interesting is that the countries they claim to be less religious than Czech - Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia - all have something common about them? They are all in Europe! According to this poll the 5 least religious counties in the world are all European. I think that is a HUGE indicator about where things are in the world. I’ve said it before, that I think it can be argued that Europe may be the least reached continent in the world (see here also). I think this study from Gallup is further indication of this, but I do wonder how they conduct their studies, because 21% seems like an awfully high number for the percentage of Czechs, whom would say they are “religious.” It must be said, that even though the vast majority of people wouldn’t claim to be religious in any way, they, like all people, are deeply religious. It just isn’t directed to a deity, but to the presumed deities of self, beer, sex and/or the presumed identity of being one of, if not, the most atheistic countries in the world.

Sadly, the last sentence from the author of this post - about only meeting two active Christians in the whole city - is very accurate. Granted, being a Christian means I will know, and know of, many active Christians - both Czech and ex-pat. It’s still an interesting statement though. It makes me wonder. Wonder about the Church here in Prague. It makes me hurt - hurt for the author of ABC Prague, who has only met two “active Christians” in this whole city. Hurt for the many, many Czechs who might know a Christian, who might even be a ‘friend,’ who is a Christian and they may not even know it by word or deed of this Christian. Hurt that that church doesn’t seeming to be loving in word and deed in missional ways to this city. I hurt reading things like this, but I also pray, pray that God would break through it. Pray and long that God would stir the hearts of His people and they would turn to Him and in turn to Him they would be sent on mission, as missionaries, as every Christian is to be (John 20:21). I dream and long for the day that the Church of Prague, and Czech, would go out on mission from God. Some days would seem hopeless, but there is hope in the midst of it all - the resurrection and the empty tomb! I know you have heard it before, but I pray that it would never ever grow stale or boring to us! He, Jesus, conquered death, nothing would stop Him and His mission. So I pray and long in response to this Gallup poll and yet I also cling to the hope and promise of the truth of the empty tomb! Would you join me in praying and longing for this place? Would you join me in longing? Would you join me in pleading? Thank you!

That’s me. That’s me learning a bit about slowing down. See the majority of this week I was quarantined to my house, and this particular couch is my favorite. You may ask, “Whom quarantined you Zach?” Simply put, God.

Yes, I said God. It wasn’t my boss, my coach, this culture or a co-worker, but God. God wanted to get my attention, he wanted me to slow down. See I’ve been going hard, like most of us, for quite some time and it would seem to have caught up with me. It was in this that God got my attention and caused me to slow down. This might make some people squirm a bit, saying that God has made me slow down, but I was reminded of it once again, as I read Psalm 23.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake. vv. 1-3, emphasis added

I’ve always pondered and wondered about those verses I have in bold font. They are God acting statements, not me acting, but God acting. God makes me rest. God grabs my hands and leads me to quite places and into places of right standing before Him. God brings restoration to my soul. Why does God do all of this? For “His name’s sake.” So that He would be made much of in my life and in this particular situation, through my resting. Really? Can that be true? Can I rest in such a way that God is glorified?

He can be. Recently for the Czech Project I did a ‘foundations talk’ and I included some great stuff from my friends at Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA about our Gospel Identities and Daily Rhythms. You should head over to their site and check out what they are doing! One of the Daily Rhythms is (re)creating, and as I’ve been stuck in ‘my cave’ (i.e. flat) this week I’ve been reminded of what I heard Jeff Vanderstelt, pastor at Soma, share about the Daily Rhythms at a church planting conference here in Czech last fall.

“The Gospel also enables people to truly rest when not working, because they know that God is always working – they don’t have to worry that their lack of work will prevent the world from spinning.”

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t say that Gospel always impacts the way I rest and I continually need it to. If I don’t believe this Gospel then I will falsely believe that I have far greater control than I can imagine, including far more control in respects to my salvation and the salvation of others. The Gospel should thus enable me to rest knowing that everything, everything is under God’s providential hand, thus enabling me to rest. There’s a bit more…

“Because God has accomplished everything necessary for our justification and is the one who will finish the work He started in us, we can rest. Whether working, playing, sleeping or creating – we rest in His work and His abilities and His power. Our rest then is not only a result of the Gospel, but a demonstration to the world not at rest in the gospel.”

I need not try to justify myself through ministry, work, maintaining an image or etc. Ultimately, if God has done the work of my justification I can rest and rest well. The question is, ‘Do I (you) rest well?’ Then by me resting well, I can demonstrate that I am not trying to save the world, that I’m not trying to work for my justification, but that I ultimately trust God. Of course, we need to be careful here and not take this to an extreme, becoming passive bystanders, that never do anything more than rest, claiming that God’s a work, therefore I need not do any more than rest. The Gospel calls us to rest and also act, but it impacts the way we rest and the way we act. Do you believe the Gospel this way? Do I believe the Gospel way? May we act with a deep love and boldness like never before believing this Gospel and may we also rest deeper knowing that God is on His thrown upholding “the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). Slowing down….

I love when God shows up! He surely did, while I was in Salzburg! As I headed out of Prague to Cesky Krumlov then Salzburg, on my short holiday I had a prayer that God would bring refreshment, encouragement and some peace in the midst of sight seeing, reading, train rides, caffeine, walks and life as of late. Surely, I wish I could have had some more time to work, process, pray, journal and more through the things that have taken, and that are going on right now, in life, but the moments I had were great.

The Saturday I was in Salzburg, I sat at the cafe capp&ccino (which was also the only place I could find WIFI) and over a cappuccino, my moleskine, and my esv bible app on my iPhone I had a sacred moment. It was almost like I should have taken my shoes off, for the place I was sitting felt holy to me. I love that my God isn’t a distant God that is aloof, but that is present and meets me! There at Capp&ccino the God of the universe met me. I sat there, reading through Colossians and writing page after page in my moleskine, God seemingly flooded me with the encouragement I needed.

The theme - love. Simply put, it was like God was whispering to my soul, “I love you. Relax. Take a deep breath. Through everything that has happened I love you. Did you hear that? I love you. I loved you, as you received criticism, as you made mistakes, as you wallowed in your pool of self-pity. In the midst of all of this - I loved you. Zach, hear this - I love you. I hung on a Roman cross for you, and punched death squarely in the jaw knocking him out, because I love you. Hear that Zach…” So, so good…. It was a couple hours of the Gospel being preached to me via the Holy Spirit, and also preaching the Gospel to myself. I once again, was reminded how badly I need the Gospel and why Paul said this to the Roman church (yes, the church, made up of believers, not simply nonbelievers), “So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:15)” Oh, if I was eager to constantly preach the Gospel to nonbelievers, believers and myself, what would life look like around me? I’m not sure, but I’m grateful for another wake up call to the Gospel!

“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Peter 1:3c

As Easter season was upon us, I returned to these words from 1 Peter once again for a fresh perspective in the midst of life and all that is going on for a large dose of hope. Especially in relationship to life here and also the prayer request of a dear friend of mine; it was simple – that God would give him HOPE in the midst of doing life and ministry here. Like my dear friend, I also find myself looking to God for hope in the midst of what appears to be a hopeless ordeal, situation, country, city and etc. After all, this country does claim to be the most atheistic country in all of Europe, and I would argue that per capita it might be the most in the world! In the midst of doing life and ministry, finding hope, and not just a plastic-wrapped, trite, pat super-spiritual hope, but a hope that is deeper than I could imagine. So here I am again, longing and looking for hope, in the midst of feeling somewhat hopeless.

I felt this sense of hopelessness once again a Easter weekend on our most recent road game (we are now 3-0) to the Eastern portion of Czech, Moravia. While on our way, we passed through the city square where there was a reading of the newest Bible translation in Czech. Actually, this is a very big deal. Let me explain this quick, as an aside of sorts. Quite, some time ago, I wrote about Sasa Flek and the new translation he was working on. Sasa’s work has been huge! This new Bible, Preklad 21. Století or 21st Century Translation, is in contemporary Czech, and it is very readable. Sasa’s heart is to get over a 1 million Bibles in the hands of his countrymen over the next 7 years! Please pray for this, please pray for him. Pray that God would use this to reach many Czechs, who might have never read the Bible before. From my understanding this is only the third translation of the Bible into Czech, in hundreds of years! Because of this, a Bible reading(s) commenced throughout the country and in many cities. While I’m excited that this took place, I also have a heavy heart about it, for the reason I’m about to tell you. While, it was admirable to set up Bible readings of the new translation in many town squares, I can imagine the challenge many Christians had with it. Christians and Christianity are very laughable to the average Czech, and from my understanding many of the churches, whom were asked to be part of this public reading were reluctant for several reasons, but the over riding two appeared to be – 1) this isn’t relevant to the Czech heart and/or 2) fear of being jeered at. It didn’t surprise me when a friend told me about the reactions of churches throughout the country; especially, when we drove past the square in Havirov and I witnessed this firsthand. As I said earlier, Havirov, is in Moravia, which is thought to be much, much more religious than Western Czech – Bohemia. This can be a debate for another time, but the scene in Havirov was very telling of the situation on a country-wide level. There were maybe four people on the big town square around the tent set up for the Bible reading – 4! All four, appeared to be there to help with the Bible reading. The square was so hopelessly empty, my heart sank for those four people and for other Czech Christians attempting to be faithful throughout the country, but my heart sank more from the reaction from within the bus.

Laughter. Jeering. And eyes on me.

The sad reality, that was the reaction inside the bus, was obviously very similar to the reaction outside the bus. Was it hard for me, personally? Of course, but that isn’t why I was torn up. I was torn up because of the sad reality of this country - apathy and indifference. Apathetic and indifferent are two words that most of my Czech friends would use to describe this situation/problem here. It is as if this apathy, or indifference, is so thick, so prominent, that you can just feel it, it’s palpable. As we drove past the reading and I listened to the laughs and the things said of the Bible reading, it was once again palpable. One of my teammates, looked at me and said, “Muses byt trpelivy tady.” (”You must be patient here.”) I nodded in agreement, but in my heart, my response to the indifference was hopelessness.

Palpable hopelessness. So thick I could cut it with a knife. I sunk into my seat and felt as if I had the weight of this country of 10.6 million pressing on me. Due to my personality, I often find my self swimming in the deep sea of hopelessness that can be found here in response to the person of Jesus, but this day, this day I speak of was different. I opened my Bible for encouragement and found it once again in 1st Peter. First Peter has been my source of finding hope, again and again over the last year or so. One reason is because of the very, very obvious verse from chapter 1, verse 3, but also because the churches that Peter was writing to were surely in very hopeless situations. Peter talked about suffering, submitting to authorities (whom were only adding to the suffering), living in community in the midst of suffering, and, um, did I say suffering?

Needless to day, the churches of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia certainly needed someone to convey the hope of the resurrection and the hope of Christ to them. Granted, I’m not fearing physical persecution and, by no means, is the jeering I receive anything on the level that the earliest Christians experienced, oh no, but I find hope in this book. I found hope in this book two weeks ago, while in the bus to our game.

“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Peter 1:3c

No matter, how bleak, no matter, how palpable the hopelessness may be, it will never be more than hopelessness expressed on the reverse side of the resurrection, the side that appeared to be only one of death, abandonment, ugliness, blood, scorn, and desperation. It is in this side, in this situation, that God moves. It is in the ugliness that God brought life, beauty, and redemption! As I read, 1 Peter 1:3 and reflected on things here, I felt a tidal wave of hope wash over me. Hope that the apathy and indifference, someday, at some point will find an end and God will bring beauty, life and redemption to this city and country I love so much. So now, for about two weeks, I’ve been praying ‘resurrection hope’ for my teammates, Czech friends, Prague and the whole of this country. I would encourage you to reflect on this ‘resurrection hope’ for your city, and for the ‘tribe’ (of people) that God has called you to.


May, as we plead for this hope, God bring resurrections to our cities, friends and countries, and when things are hopeless, may he fill our hearts once again with hope to love the city with all we have for His glory and the city’s good!

It’s no secret, when you read the Bible that God has a heart for cities. (click here to read Timothy Keller’s A Biblical Theology of the City on theresurgence.com.) Time and time again, you have to wrestle with the fact that God has a heart for cities. Today, as I was reading through the four Gospels’ takes on the Passion week, I stopped in Luke 19:41-44, and pondered.

And when he {Jesus} drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

I found myself at a point I’ve been at many times before. That point is a longing that I can’t explain. A longing that goes deeper than anything I know. This longing is for the city that God has called me to. Granted, I’m not Jesus. I just wasn’t greeted with palm branches and adoration proclaiming that I was indeed the Messiah. I’m not looking ahead knowing that I will be betrayed, left for dead by those that are closest to me, will hang on a cross in shear humiliation and more. That’s not me, that’s Jesus, clearly. Although there is an aspect of Jesus’ heart for Jerusalem, that I pray that I would have for this great city, Prague, that God has called me to.

There are three brief insights from verse 41 that can serve us, as believers, well for loving the cities that God has called us to. It must be noted that these three insights, are not, indeed, rocket science, but as I read them today and meditated on them, I realized I get lost in the shuffle of practicing them here in Prague.

Drew Near
Simple isn’t it. Draw near. All too often, the problems in the city (crime, homelessness, noise and more) keep us from drawing near to the city, and we find ourselves keep the city at arms length. That way we don’t have to get our hands dirty. So we keep the problems of the city at a distance and we scoff at the city and it’s problems. The whole time forgetting that there are people that God loves in that city. We need to be reminded that Jesus drew near in a way that we cannot even begin to understand in the incarnation – God, Himself, becoming flesh and getting his hands dirty mixing it up in the midst of sin-wrecked humanity. So my question for myself, and for you, is – Are you drawing near and loving the city? Or are you standing at a distance scoffing at the evil of the city, refusing to follow Jesus’ lead and entering?

Saw the City
It seems to be a very logical flow, doesn’t it? As you draw near to something, or someone, you then see what is really going on, you see the situation. As Jesus, drew near to the city, he saw it. He observed it. What was to come to the city, came to his mind. So as we, make the decision to draw near to the city, we don’t know what the future will bring, but we can observe. We can see where God is working. We can see desperate areas where God is desperately needed. We see. We diagnose. We then can pray. So how are you “seeing” your city? Are you “seeing” it purposely? What observations are you making? Where does it appear that God is moving? What areas need His touch?

Wept Over It
To follow the progression, as we draw near (enter) the city, we will see the city (make observations), then we will be moved and weep for the city (empathize, sympathize, move forward and do something). The four words – He wept over it – always move me. They move me to pray. First, to pray that God would give me a genuine desire to love ‘my Jerusalem’ (the city God has called me to and put me in), Prague, in ways that are out of myself, no matter what happens. It’s always challenged me that Jesus knew what the people in the city of Jerusalem would do to him in the days to come, he what ‘Jerusalem’ would do to Him and He still wept. He still loved in ways that I can’t. This is convicting as I find myself, secretly cursing aspects of the city, and people in the city when things don’t ‘go my way.’ Oh how fickle I am. Oh how quickly I can forget that apart from Jesus’ work in my heart, that I am just as vile, as the vile parts of the city that drive me crazy. I need God to continually work in me to get me to this point of weeping for Prague. So where are you in the ‘weeping’ process? Are you like me, secretly cursing the ills and evils of the city? How are you weeping over your city? As we weep, may God call us to action to see His Kingdom advance in our cities, and his radical love and grace break through!

So as we journey through Passion Week together, may we not forget the places that God has called us to live, work and play. May we follow Jesus’ lead and draw near (enter the city), see (observe where God is working or what areas need God’s touch) and lastly weep over it (being moved to make a difference in our cities).

Getting lost in loving your city? Here is a great post over at Church Planting Novice - 8 Ways to Easily be Missional.

||DISCLAIMER|| So the intent of this post isn’t to upset people (Yeah, I know that is a great way to begin a post, bear with me here), but merely to ask questions, to get you and I thinking and ultimately to see the local church in each of our communities flourish. For those of you that are regular readers of this thing I call my blog you know my choice of writing style is random stream of consciousness, and for those of you who are new to my blog might have to get used to it. One of the reasons I’m writing in these random streams is because a lot of these thoughts are merely fluid, they are just kind of floating in the cerebral cortex that is my mind. I pray that this will add to or begin conversation and help us as believers consider the role of the local church in our lives and our communities. I do regret not having the ability for my readers to post comments, because I view this as a conversation that is on-going. I apologize about not having that ability for you. Well to the thoughts.

Upon moving back to the States for some time and having the initial support raising phase behind me has meant that I have had to get settled down for a period of time here in Xenia, OH. And that means I have had to decide which grocery store I would use, which garage I would use to get my car repaired and so on. But more importantly I have had to make a decision about the church that I would call home while I live here in Xenia.

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