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inspiration in my ears…

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So write now I’m sitting here enjoying one of these:


Yummy… They just switched to the Christmas cups and I was compelled to enjoy one! I guess… So I’m in between my Czech class and doing some prep for a sermon I’m doing at church this weekend, and I thought I would blog some inspiration that has been in my ears over the last few days. I’m not procrastinating, I’m trying to catch my breath between things. It’s especially hard for me to transition to anything worthwhile after Czech class. In other words, Czech class kicks my butt, even when I have, the rare, good day like today! So here I am blogging wanting to share some inspiration with you. This inspiration comes in the form of 3 songs, here you go:

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a day that changed everything…

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Today, my dear Czech friends, and the whole of the country, celebrate the 19th anniversary of the fall of communism, with the Velvet Revolution that took place 19 years ago! It was truly a day that has changed everything in this country and I don’t think it can be said clearly how big of a day that was! So I wanted to give you some links to educate yourself. Here is Wikipedia on the Velvet Revolution and here is the official website of the Czech Republic’s thoughts on it. Take a quick look and while you take a quick look at these sites and these pictures…




…please pray for this country on the anniversary of this very, very big event! Pray that the freedom they have known for the last 19 years, that is largely political, would come up wanting to them and they would long for a deeper freedom. With these thoughts and prayers of/for freedom, I was reading parts of Vaclav Havel’s (for another good little link check this out: Vaclav Havel in his own words) New Year’s Address to the Nation in 1991, and was taken back by several parts of freedom:

* It has become clear that the legacy of the past decades we have to cope with is even worse than we anticipated or could anticipate in the joyful atmosphere of those first weeks of freedom. New problems are emerging day by day, and we can see how interconnected they are, how long it takes to solve them, and how difficult it is to establish priorities.

* A year ago, we all were united in the joy over having broken free of totalitarianism. Today we all are made somewhat nervous by the burden of freedom. Our society is still in a state of shock. This shock could have been expected, but none of us expected it to be so profound. The old system collapsed, and a new one so far has not been built. Our social life is marked by a subliminal uncertainty over what kind of system we are going to build, how to build it, and whether we are able to build it at all. {emphasis added}

Interesting indeed. I know that Havel is far from perfect, but his quotes from that cold night so long ago, to me, still linger in the cold of air of tonight. Has the state of shock faded or has it just been drowned by the West and Capitalism, the whole time still being there, but never really being addressed? I’m not sure. I do know that I’m committed to Czechs experiencing a deeper freedom than they have ever imagined, and I guess I deeper freedom that I could have every imagined as well. So here’s a big, “Na Zdravi” to the 19th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and Freedom!

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