22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the worldin righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

32Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33So Paul went out from their midst. 34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

This is my beautiful 13-YEAR-OLD SISTER, Mikaela!

Just as I’ve wrestled with the presence of Starbucks here in Prague with mixed feelings, it would appear that I’m not the only one. This morning I read an interesting article from Prague 360 entitled, “Starbucks brings us up to date with Civilization” and the author was definitely a little cynical about Bucks’ arrival to the “Golden City.” They used strong words like “imperialists”, “neo-imperialism”, “communism” and more. Here are two sections that I found interesting:

What, then, is exactly wrong with Starbucks’ arrival in Prague? It’s just another cafe among hundreds is the facile answer, and the wrong one of course. Just as American citizens have more weight on their shoulders for the state of global affairs than say a Moldavian citizen, Starbucks strikes a chord with everyone. It’s a symbol of something far greater than just coffee that’s roasted too dark. It’s the neo imperialism. It’s McDonalds. This Starbucks on Malostranske Namesti might not be as momentous as the McDonalds in Moscow, but it’s on the same track. Prague is not that wild place anymore. You can’t buy a house for pennies or have a different supermodel girlfriend for every day of the week. You can’t buy ten beers for your local equivalent of one (with a few exceptions). Yes, Prague is part of Western Europe now.

And:

Like with everything else here in Bohemia, we know that these new imperialists will one day leave, like the Russians, and the Germans before that, and so on. Look at The Metronome in Letna Park — tick tock, tick tock. Time will pass and the present nonsense will go away, probably to be replaced by presently unknown nonsense, but no matter. It will all go away eventually. Tick tock, tick tock.

Read the whole article HERE. For the record, my director, Billy, and I are meeting at Cafe Calma today instead of Starbucks. It was our original plan to go to Starbucks, but we felt inclined to turn it down today. Hmmm, sad or liberating? Not quite sure!

Good evening from Tihan, Hungary! I’m sitting at my computer on some all together too slow internet in my “bungalow”, but I guess I should be stoked that I have net at all, SO PRAISE GOD! I’m here for the Area Staff Conf. that takes place every three years. It includes “Eastern Europe” and Russia. It has been a blessing so far. Our main speaker thus far is an acquaintance and friend from when I was in Xenia, OH at AIA headquarters – Erik Thoennes (click here to see a previous post about Erik.). One word to sum Erik up – STUD! Last night he introduced his talks for the next 3 days and brought it and brought it strong, in a simple introduction! I was pretty exited for his talk this morning and it floored me. Over the last year, or so, I’ve been getting bombarded by the need to have the Gospel permeate through my being more holistically than it has ever before.


See I, like so many other Christians, regulates the Gospel to the nonbeliever, the person who hasn’t entered a personal relationship with Christ. Well folks, I’ll be honest – WE ARE WRONG! Christians need the Gospel each day. This morning Erik brought this theme and it hit home for me! One of the thoughts he talked about what how foolish it is, as believers, to live as if we have to earn something that has already been paid for and given to us! That being, life anew from Christ’s life, death and resurrection. I thought of this illustration afterwards as I reflected:

Imagine me buying a great gift for my 12-year-old sister, Mikaela, for her birthday coming up. I take the time to shop, and then pay for it with money from my salary that has come from God, but also from many amazing ministry partners that are behind me that God connected me with after lots of hours on the phone and meetings as I raised support. So I take the time to buy it, send it to her, and upon receiving it she loves it. She calls me from Wisconsin and thanks me. Then imagine a week later me getting $40 in one-dollar bills in the mail from her. Let me remind you, she’s 12 and gets a minimal allowance. Then imagine that in the envelope there being a note that says, “Zach I love the gift, but I must pay for it. So here is two months of my allowance.”

Ridiculous, right? What an insult would that be? I did the work. In love I bought it and gave it to her and then she is trying to earn the gift! Well, take that times infinity and that is what I do to God every day when I try to impress or prove myself to this world in an effort to receive acceptance that God has already giving me in a insane-gracious-God-manner. May the Gospel sink into our hearts and minds deeper and deeper and may we never tire of our need for the Gospel! Okay, I have to go to dinner and then another session. Be A Revolution!

p.s. Thanks for the prayers about my final on Thursday. I, by the grace of God, rocked the verbal, but then got rocked by the written! Praise God my identity and worth doesn’t come from that test! blessings…

Good evening from Praha! I pray you are doing well. I wanted to send a shout out for my silence on my blog as of late. Maybe I’ve been bitter because no one has responded to my last post! Just playing, well kinda! I would love to have you respond if you have any serious or humorous things to do with the hard copy of my prayer letter each month when you are done with it! But if not, I’m totally okay.

The real reason why zACHhARROD.com has been silent is because I’ve had work to do and mostly I’ve had my nose in my Czech language textbooks and notebooks! “Why?” you ask. Because tomorrow at 1:30 pm here in Prague I will begin my oral exam and then at 2:00 I’ll start the written portion! See the rest of the school will take it next week, but I will be in Hungary for our Regional Staff Conference that we have every 3 years for Eastern Europe and Russia and thus I have to take it early. Oh well… SO IF YOU WOULD PRAY FOR ME TOMORROW AT 1:30 PM ARE TIME THAT WOULD BE GREAT. (That is 7:30 am Eastern standard time.) Or just pray when you read this! I hope to do well so that I get into the next level for next semester. I can’t tell you how badly I want to learn this language so I can communicate in the Czechs’ heart language!

So there you have it, this is why my brain hurts! Thanks for stopping by! As always be revolution in all you do unto Jesus today! Whether it be taking a Czech test or changing a diaper I pray we would do it unto Him, in a revolutionary manner!

So when I got home tonight I had an email from my director, this is what it said:

The world’s largest coffee-shop chain Starbucks plans to open some 20 outlets in the Czech Republic and Poland this year. Saturday’s Mlada Fronta reported that the Czech Republic would have its first Starbucks by March 2008. It is speculated that this first branch will be opened in Prague’s Palladium shopping centre, with others to follow in the city’s other malls. There are more than 15,000 Starbucks in over 40 countries. This year, the chain aims to expand into Central Europe, as well as Portugal and Bulgaria.

I don’t know how I feel about this. I know for sure that I will miss going to Starbucks as treat of sorts when I travel for work and etc around Europe. The jury is still out on what I think about the Starbucks chain here. I’m not a fan of Prague becoming like London, where you seemingly have one on every corner. But this isn’t the first time I’ve said this, see here. We shall see…

“This might have been the biggest year of my short 27 years thus far. Big life decisions. Big life transitions. And so much more God. Could this be the biggest year yet?”

I would say YES. Bigger than leaving for college. Bigger than graduating college. Bigger than moving to Europe for 18 months. Bigger. Biggest yet. So much has happened in the last year. I’ve seen evidence of God in so many ways in the last year. I’ve been challenged to continue to grow up this past year in ways that I expected and didn’t expect. All in all it was a great year. As I reflect on the goodness of God and the fullness of 2007, I wonder what 2008 will bring. There is so much ahead of me. Many things, “life landmarks” if you will, that I have yet to pass over the threshold of and that is crazy to me! Thus I look ahead with great anticipation to ’08. What will God bring? What beautiful story has the Divine Playwright written that I will walk into, today, tomorrow, next month, this summer and so on? May God bless our 2008s and may they be a beautiful reflection of Him at work in our lives and the world!

So as I look back and reflect on 2007 and God’s work, I thought it would be fun to do a Year in Review here at zACHhARROD.com, enjoy…
[Read more…]