life

Blessing or Burden?

December 10, 2016 by zharrod

Zach speaking at NCC Uprising, youth group.

I have been a “full-time missionary” for close to 14 years, which is absolutely crazy to consider! Fourteen years is a long time. It makes me feel a bit old as I type it and ponder those 14 years, close to 12 of them have been spent in Prague, the other two spent in Xenia, OH.

As I ponder those 14 years there are so many things to be thankful for and stop and praise God for. That is not a small amount of time and I can’t begin to imagine how many prayers have been prayed, how many dollars have been given and how much people, maybe including you, have sacrificed to be part of what God has, is and will be doing in Prague, Czech, Europe and beyond! I am moved to shout and sing out loud THANK YOU TO EACH OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN PART OF THIS AND WHO WILL BE PART OF THIS!

As we have been in Washington DC this week, we have been very blessed. We have seen God’s generosity through many people here. It’s moving and I’m speechless as I think about it all. In the midst of this all, something that I have been carrying around for 14 or so years stood out to me. Somewhere in the midst of this “career” of mine and the support raising I, and we, have done for all these years I started carrying around a “I am a burden” mindset.

What do I mean by “I am a burden” mindset? That’s a good question that I’m still trying to unpack, but somewhere in those 14 years, while I would write people, call people and try to create avenues to see the support we need raised, I started to believe that as missionaries that need to raise support, that we are not a blessing to people, but a burden to them. That when they see my name in their inbox or in their caller ID, they say something like, “Oh it’s that Zach guy again, he needs money.” This might be true, but I don’t believe it is the overwhelming response of people. However, in the midst of interactions, some how, some way I started to believe this.

Then God brought us here to DC and Míša and I have had this blown up this week. We have had people remind us that we are a blessing and not a burden. It has been freeing for us. It also has helped us to see that we aren’t trying to “sell” ourselves or what we do, but we are honestly giving people an opportunity to be part of what God is doing to woo people to Himself through our presence and work in Prague and beyond.
We are excited to see how God will surprise us the rest of our trip and we are actually slightly giddy with anticipation to see how He will show up. Of course, we will have those “burden moments,” but in those moments we will preach these words to ourselves: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15) Once again, THANK YOU to all of you who have been part of this crazy adventure in some way! You are all amazing. Please pray for us, as we are trusting God to once again show up and bless us, so that we can be a blessing to people in Prague! If you would like to be part of it, please CLICK HERE to help. THANK YOU!

Jon and his wife, Anne Marie, who put together an amazing week, to allow and show us we are a blessing not a burden.

BIG NEWS

December 9, 2016 by zharrod

We have made our rounds on social media with our BIG NEWS, but we didn’t get it up on our website until today. We are so stoked for this little person to join us in May, but till then we wait in anticipation and are trying to prepare in practical ways and in deeper, spiritual ways as well.

Practically we will need to prepare his or her room and all that comes with that, but we are also practically preparing for his or her arrival with our trip back in the States right now. One of the most practical things we need is a salary and living expenses that will be for a family and not a couple. We are trusting God to help us raise an additional $1000/month to help us raise our salary and living expenses for a family of three, but we are also needing to re-raise some monthly support, as people have had to change their giving for a variety of reasons.

Would you consider joining our team, but giving monthly? Your regular monthly support helps us do the day in and day out ministry in Prague. Please CLICK HERE to give today and be part of what God is doing in Prague through us.

We are also praying for this little one’s arrival as we wrestle through what it means to be parents, how we are going to parent and the ins and outs of being a parent. Both of us have a bit more experience with kids, thanks to our siblings who our 15 and 16 years younger than us, BUT still that doesn’t prepare us for having our own little one. Would you pray for us, as we wait in great expectation to meet little Oliver or Anabella? Please pray that God would shape and prepare us to be the parents he or she will need.

Thank you for being you and as always BE A

my tweet detox

February 6, 2010 by zharrod

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!

slowing down…

June 12, 2009 by zharrod

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….

submission to authority, or the foreigner’s police!

December 1, 2008 by zharrod

Tonight will be a very, very long night. I’m praying that I would have a good attitude, because tonight is the annual sit-in-the-cold-with-a-ton-of-other-human-beings-while-feeling-dehumanized-at-the-foreigner’s-police night! Please pray that my co-worker, Erin, and I have good attitudes, get a number and get the through the line today, thus getting our Visas renewed! What a wonderful opportunity to live out 1 Peter 2:13-17:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Alright, my Czech homework is calling… Thanks for the prayers and stopping by today!

the one year mark

September 4, 2008 by zharrod

Today, believe it or not, is the one year mark for my return “home” or back to Prague! I can’t believe it’s already been a year! So much has transpired in the last 365 days that as I thought about a year in Prague and putting something on my blog about I didn’t know where to start or what to do. How do you attempt to sum up a year like I’ve gone through, or any year for that matter, in the last year. As I sit here looking back and reflecting over the last year I’m so grateful for what God has done, both in the ups and the downs. I think one of the biggest things that hits home with me as of late is what God taught me about my “romanticized view” of returning to Prague, that I included in my May/June monthly prayer letter. I wrote:

I have a confession, while I was away from Prague, I had a “romanticized view” of the many things back here, especially with the Lions. I think this is a common epidemic amongst human beings; we do it in a variety of ways – marriage (if we’re single), kids, singleness (once we are married, looking back, or so I’m told), and much more. Well, this year wore out my romanticized view of the Lions and has brought a HUGE degree of reality to my life and ministry with the team.

As I sit looking ahead, over what God would do, could do, in the next year I sit with a much more grounded view, but yet I’m so very optimistic to see what God is going to do. As I include pics that attempt to sum up the last year, I wonder what images will sum up the next year of life in Prague. It should be exciting to see what transpires! Thank you to each of you who pray and support what WE (that is you and I partnering together with God) do here in Prague, Europe and beyond!

Back in Prague with new friends – my roomdawg (Ernie), Mark and Jason.

I was so excited to see how God had moved in Ondra’s life while I was gone and I also dove head long into learning Czech in a class room that consisted of Chinese, Koreans, a Swede and myself.

I loved jumping back into coaching and loving on my junior team guys! Pray that God would move in their hearts!

Last fall was interesting, because I was waiting, and waiting for my shipment to come with all my stuff, it came 4 months after it was scheduled and I was so very happy that it arrived! I also was blessed to spend a week on holiday with dear Crusade friends in Athens, which was a much needed break between semesters of language class.

The second semester of Czech class brought presentations, these pics (with Gustav’s [me Swedish classmate who used to play] try to represent my attempt of trying to explain American football in Czech!

It was also a blast attending the Story of the Soul conference and working with my Polish friends on a presentation about being “World Changers”.

It was awesome to partner with my teammate and friend, Šimmí, as we taught 15 or so kids how to play American football. It was also so much fun to celebrate Gustav’s birthday with him. He makes me proud to say I have Swedish blood in my veins!

This summer also brought a visit from my very dear friends, Andy and Chelsey Garrett, that was so very refreshing. Then of course, work took me to the “Far East” which I could have never have imagined.

The Chinese loved us foreigners, it was strange feeling like a rock star! I was blessed to take my friend and teammate, Honza, with me for a life changing couple of weeks! Lastly, a short lay over in Moscow, just made me scratch my head and wonder…

Thanks for sharing the last year of life with me! May God bring a revolutionary next year!

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