Last Sunday was a special one! I was up at my church in Oshkosh, RiverValley, and was very blessed by worshipping with my dear church family up there! The gathering consisted of me sharing about Czech, my work over in Prague, Ondra’s story, sharing why I feel called to Prague, the church commissioning me, them praying for me, and then a cake (by the way it was a very cool cake!). Thank you to my RiverValley Church family! I am honored and blessed to be connected to you through our great Savior and also stoked that I can represent you in Prague, Europe and beyond! I love you dearly. Here are some pics from the day (thanks Amber for the pics!)!
starbucks in prague?!?!
Could it be true? I know I have friends out there (Amber) who loathe Starbucks and think their product is sub par, but I love it. While going down my morning blog roll I happened to be on a friend’s (Carrie) blog, who lives in Prague and she sited this article, Critics lining up to give Palladium a difficult arrival, that made me happy, but did it?! “Why?” you ask. Well they speak Starbucks’ arrival to Prague. Now I struggle with what Carrie discussed in her blog entry on this too. That struggle is with the commercialization of Prague. Prague is growing in popularity and seems to be flooded more and more by the positive and negative affects of capitalism. So is getting a Starbucks good for Prague? I’m not sure. I don’t think it will be cool when Prague is like London and there is a Starbucks on every corner. I’ll be honest, Starbucks espresso drinks are somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me and when I travel to a city in Europe with a Starbucks I delight in a splendid venti hazelnut mocha with caramel drizzle, with skim milk and no whip, but that is a treat. What will it be like having one in Prague? I’m not sure. I just hate to think of a Starbucks on every corner… Anyway, I am sure I will enjoy it for a season at least!
prague and tourism
If you watch anything as far as travel these days you will notice that Prague is moving up the list of “must see” destinations in Europe. Which I love but also hate. Love because I want people experience Prague and I also want Prague to grow in influence over culture in Europe. Hate because tourist can drive you nuts! I was informed by my friend (Thanks Tricia) about Yahoo Travel’s article entitled, Save Money With These Alternatives to Popular European Cities. Czech out what was at the bottom:
czech stats and maps
A friend sent me this LINK to some stats and info about Czech. The most intriguing thing I found on the site is this map you see below. I hope the purple (unknown numbers) and the orange (less than 2% evangelical and initial church planting) are as staggering to you as it is me. I take heart that Jesus said, “I will build my church” and that God said, “The nations will exalt me!” May God cause a spiritual revolution in Czech and the rest of Europe and the world!
driscoll at the canadian crusade conf.
countdown
So it’s a day late, but that’s all good! I’m at my Grandparent’s (a.k.a. the G-Rents!) for a couple of days before going down to Xenia! Have a revolutionary night!
cool stuff
We all love cool stuff, right? Well, it seems like in the last couple years I have heard a ton about Moleskine journals and sketchbooks. Here is what Moleskine has to say about itself:
MOLESKINE IS THE LEGENDARY NOTEBOOK,
USED BY EUROPEAN ARTISTS AND THINKERS
FOR THE PAST TWO CENTURIES.
THIS SILENT AND DISCREET KEEPER
OF AN EXTRAORDINARY TRADITION, WHICH
HAS BEEN MISSING FOR YEARS, HAS BEEN
REPRODUCED BY THE ITALIAN COMPANY MODO
& MODO SINCE 1998. WITH ITS VARIOUS
DIFFERENT PAGE STYLES IT ACCOMPANIES
THE CREATIVE PROFESSIONS AND HAS BECOME
A SYMBOL OF CONTEMPORARY NOMADISM.
MOLESKINE IS A FAMILY OF NOTEBOOKS
FOR DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS, ACCORDING
WITH A FREE MINDSTYLE, BOTH BASIC
AND EMOTIONAL.
I figured since I am moving to Europe and I want to be an “artist and thinker” I should grab one. Well, what I found was their new product called The Moleskine City Notebook. They have dubbed the CityNotebook, “the first guide you write yourself.” Oh, how “postmodern” of them, and very cool! They have a good selection of cities in Europe and some here in the States. Here is what is inside:
I grabbed one for Praha (a.k.a. Prague) and was excited to open it up and check it out! It is a very cool little journal, I’m excited to fill it up and put it to use in about 3 weeks and begin writing my own guide! They are a little pricey, but I think its worth it. I would love to pick some up for other European cities that I get to visit. Another cool thing is that Moleskine is doing CityBlogs, where you can add and share your “personal points of view, exchange information, discover your urban paths, your interests, your itineraries.” But they don’t have an active blog yet for Praha. We will have to see what we can do about that. Have a great night!
loving the city…
Do you love your city? Do you long to see your city transformed for the glory of God and the good of the city? As I wrote in a previous post I’ve been getting drilled about loving the city and developing a Biblical Theology of the City and also loving the city as Christ loves the city. As of late I’ve been discipled from afar by Mark Driscoll out in Seattle as they are going through the Book of Nehemiah (click HERE to listen) and Tim Keller out in New York through some great articles at The Resurgence about the city (I’ve loved the new series that’s up – Ministry in the New Global Culture of Major City-Centers). But this discipleship has also hit a lot closer to home. Whether it be my friend Pastor Steve McCoy who has a blog dedicated to Living in Woodstock, IL or pastor friends like Joe Grier or Myron Bontrager who are actively working to restore the downtown areas of their cities through renovating old theaters.
The question I’ve been asking is, How do you you want me to practically love Prague God? It’s a big city so there are lots of needs. One of the things that made me wonder is an article at the Prague Post entitled Making the Most of the Riverfront. I wondered what it would look like to get involved in a group of people that want to see Prague become a better place to live and actually do something to make it better not just complain about it. I’m not sure what it will look like but I’m praying about ways to live missionally within the city for the good of the city and for God’s glory. So I’m wondering – What are you doing to live missionally in your city? What are you doing to mix it up within it for it’s good and glory of God? Leave a response, help out the rest of us who are trying to do this thing called missional living….
Another interesting article about the city, Prague, and how its a sister city with Chicago! A New View: A cultural exchange with Chicago brings a compelling photo exhibit
in due season…
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.†Galatians 6:9-10 (ESV)
I have been continuing my study of Galatians (using Tim Keller’s study) and today I was reading through Galatians 6:1-10 and the last two verses of this section hit me. The three words – “In due Season†– jumped off the page to me. I love when God’s Word hits home in a new and fresh way! The thought in my mind was that God will be God and do what God will do in due season, BUT we have a responsibility in this – not to grow weary in doing good for others.
This seems so pertinent to my life because I’ve been talking about Czech and what God is doing there a lot as of late and when I think of my directors and our team over there in Prague we could easily have the propensity to grow weary. It takes the average Czech about 10 years to respond to the Gospel and we have not seen God build a viable (whatever that means) “movement†yet, and because of this weariness could easily creep in and then we forfeit an opportunity to reap the harvest we have been yearning for. As I was thinking about God doing things in “due†time, I was drawn to Psalm 46:10 and I spent some time meditating on it:
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
We love that first part, but the majority of the verse is about how God WILL be exalted in the Nations. There are so many passages about God’s achieving His will, if He desires it, it will happen in DUE time. His time. This can also be seen in the lives of those who have a relationship with Christ. God makes it clear over and over again that He is working for our good (Romans 8:28), even in our death (1:21)! But it is DUE time, His time, not ours. Thank God for this reminder today as I wonder what He will do in Czech in the years to come, my life, support raising efforts, my family and more. May we look to God and not grow weary, but know in due time if we sow in righteousness we will reap a righteous harvest! Thanks for stopping bye zACHhARROD.com! Have a revolutionary day!
zhtv #4 – packing to go home
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