Speaking in Schools

I thought I left my last student in Uganda until we were invited to speak in the schools of Uvaly.  Jeanne, Hannah and I were excited for students again.  Speaking in European schools would be much different than how we spoke in Africa.  We were told we couldn't present the gospel. 

 

WHAT?  How do you speak without bringing everything to Christ crucified and risen? (smile)

 

WE WERE BACK TO WESTERNIZED SCHOOLS-- THIS "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE" MENTALITY. 

 

 

So, instead of searching the red lettters of the bible for great instruction for the students, we sat in our flat brainstorming.  We put together a picture powerpoint-- one or two photos representing each country.  Each of us would speak on the places that most impacted us.

 

The morning came for our school date.  We found ourselves being split-- each into our own classroom-- only one could use the laptop.  I revamped the whole presentation in the thirteen second walk into the classroom.  Though I didn't blatantly present the gospel, I took every possible opportunity to give my testimony of how God has blessed me.  I spoke the red letters of the Bible straight out of my heart, "It is better to give than to receive."  I shared how I've been blessed to give myself this year to ten different countries.  I asked how many of them would give the coat off their backs if someone really needed it.  I told them how I've been provided for all year long.  $13,800 being raised, a domestic plane trip to LA, spending money, a domestic plane trip home.  When my jeans were falling off my waist, a squad mate gave me her jeans that fit perfectly.  When all my tops were too baggy, squad mates have given me their shirts.  I've not wanted for anything this year.  I dedicated this year to God and He has truly given back to me.

 

It's interesting how when you stand in front of others to share what God's been teaching you, not only does it bless them but it strengthens your relationship with God.  You begin to truly realize what a loving Father and Friend we have in Him.

 

Who Do You Love? Photos

Who Do You Love? Why?

Who do you love?  Why?


These were the 2 questions my friend Casondra and I posed to nearly 20 people yesterday as we wandered around Praha 1, the embassies, and Prague Castle.

We handed out paper hearts, took portraits, listened, and learned from tourists and locals alike.

We received a variety of answers from the usual (family, parents, sister, uncle, boyfriend, wife) to the intriguing (music, culture, ''all of this,'') and the unique (''the Lord''-from Lynda.) This last one was unique in this country that is the 2nd most atheistic country in the world (Estonia is top on this list.)

Photos and a video are coming soon...


...but in the meantime, who do you love?  Why?

LOVE, PEACE, and PATIENCE

Last Friday, a few of my friends and I caught the A line to the John Lennon Wall, which is located near Charles Bridge. If you have yet to visit it, it's...interesting.


It has been around for years (since the '70s) and if you'd like to tag/spray paint on it, you are welcome to--and without getting in trouble with the local policie (that's Czech for all you English-speakers.)

Me with the revised PEACE sign.

My friends in action, writing what LOVE means to them.

I have been learning a lot about PATIENCE while living in Prague, so I wrote 'love is PATIENT' on the wall. Check it out!

There is just something beautiful and simple about writing your convictions on a wall with a spray paint bottle. Now, I don't recommend writing vulgar words or inappropriate phrases--but as humans, as individuals--it seems as though we have a desire to tell others who we are, how we are, what we are feeling, and what we are learning (not to mention a countless number of other details that comprise us each individually and uniquely.)

I wrote about Love, Peace, and Patience.

What will you write about?

Religion in Prague

Confessional Photos.

 If you haven't read
1 Cardboard Box, 1 Sharpie(c), & a Little Patience/ Boldness
read it now! Here are some pictures to go with it.

 

Unmasking Freedom

As we went to the town square loud music could be heard.  At first we thought we'd run into a wild teen party. 

After seeing kids on stilts, half-dressed girls, upside down crosses, bloody babies on the cross, Satan tattoos, horror masks, teens and young adults wasted from beer, we were told by a young girl wearing a box that we were in the middle of a Freedom Parade.  

Another teen later said this parade was giving people the opportunity to express themselves without worrying what others think.

SERIOUSLY?

Wearing stilts is being yourself?  You see yourself superior to others?

Wearing clothes that hardly cover anything is being yourself?  You see yourself as a prostitute?

Having Satan's name written on your arm is being yourself?  You see yourself as a manipulator and liar?

Wearing horror masks is being yourself?  You see yourself as a murderer?

Getting completely wasted is being yourself?  You see yourself as having no self-control?

Wearing a box is being yourself?  You see yourself as being closed off and one not willing to think beyond the thoughts you've always had?

I couldn't stomache the atmosphere much longer.  I felt sad for these people and pissed off at Satan.  This is who we are called to this month.  We are in Czech Republic.  We are called to a people who some have never even heard God's name.  They think they are experiencing freedom but really Satan is just having a field day with their lives.  

This was the worst Halloween movie I've ever seen.  God has sent us to do some work.  I can't wait to see how He shows himself here.

1 Cardboard Box, 1 Sharpie(c), & a Little Patience/Boldness

Two Christmases ago, my church included 'cardboard confessionals' to the docket of a holiday gathering. A cardboard confessional is a simple way of announcing to the world that your life was somehow changed, altered, and or improved by God. With the simplest tools of flattened cardboard boxes, a Sharpie(c) or two, and volunteers who possessed the needed gumption and boldness to stand in front of hundreds of friends and family alike.

I had planned to step up and so to speak 'air out my dirty laundry' that God had--somehow and in His timing--made clean.

But I overbooked myself. I missed the requisite meetings to participate in this project. I recall it clearly--I was rather disappointed with myself, but I had been consumed in the last battery of exams that comprised my undergraduate degree.

So, I had a choice: to pout or not to pout? To support my fellow church-goers or silently boycott the whole episode due to my internal frustration.

I chose to have a "good" attitude and quit grumbling to myself. After all, it was no one's fault but my own that I missed the meeting.

The night of the Christmas gathering came and as the volunteers paraded to the front of the room, I felt a twinge of jealousy. I still wanted to be up there. Still. Even after I internally convinced myself that I was sitting where I was supposed to be: between an ex and a good friend whose husband stood in line with his cardboard in hand.

As soon as I realized this, I noticed tears in my friend's eyes. My gaze followed her's and rested on her husband's lopsided but unmistakable grin as he held up his Sharpie(c)-written confession above his head for literally hundreds of people to see.

My jealousy fled the room like as fast as a rodent being chased by a feline. I felt something damp on my cheeks. What was this? I am not a crier. But my friend's words, not even a dozen of them, glared at me. The message was clear: get over yourself. You will have a time to be honest, vulnerable, and confessional. This is not your time. Be patient. Grow. Learn. Love. Be honest.

Nearly 2 years later, I find myself in Prague, with a flattened cardboard box announcing in black Sharpie(c) to anyone willing to read 6 words that describe part of my past.

I have realized that it does not matter that I know less than 20 people in this city of 1.3 million. It does not matter that millions of tourists (an annual 2 million to be exact) daily walk the same streets that I do.

What really matters is that my patience paid off. That I have grown, learned, loved, and have been more honest in the last 2 years than ever before. This was not my timing.

This timing is of God, so if you see me wandering the city with a piece of cardboard, I am supposed to be there.

And so are you.

And so were a group of German tourists last Monday near the John Lennon wall and where visitors and natives alike place locks near the Charles Bridge.

One of the tourists asked questions and translated for this group on their behalf as I answered. I was asked what religion I affiliate myself with. Honestly, I cannot say that I affiliate myself with any single religion. Or denomination for that matter.

I affiliate myself with Jesus.

Who do you affiliate yourself with?

Tell me on the streets of Prague or answer here.

I am beyond interested.

My life has been altered, changed, improved by God.

And in His timing.

What about your's?

Kingdom in Prague.

My phone is vibrating 5:30am, nagging me to lift my drowsy head up and start the day. This is not a typical waking time for me, and after only four hours of sleep my body is trying to convince my heart that nothing on earth is worth getting up this early. Maybe that’s true. But the reason I’m up so early is not for anything on earth. I’m up to join others in calling heaven down to earth. All the small churches that make up the Christian population in Prague are coming together this morning on the steps of the “Muzeum,” one of Prague’s most beautiful landmark buildings, to pray and speak over the city.

So my heart wins the argument and I get up and start the coffeemaker. My flatmates are starting to stir and one by one we quietly get up and move around with our squinty morning faces. An hour later we’re on the Metro… ten minutes more and we’re getting off at Muzeum… and by 6:45am we’re standing on the steps of the Muzeum, looking out over Wenceslas Square and huddling together in clothes and shoes that are ill-equipped to handle the 34 degrees outside.

We prayed a lot of specific things over the city, but the prayer I kept going back to was for Prague to know the love of God. For his love to be felt even through guilt, skepticism, offense, and apathy.

Prague, no matter what you have done, God loves you through it.

No matter what has been done to you, God has a plan for you because of that love.

No matter how much you may doubt his existence, he doesn’t disregard yours.

No matter how little you care about God, he still cares intensely for you.

Skip ahead six hours: after lunch the team decided to walk across the Charles Bridge and pray.  The three statues above are installed along each side of the Charles Bridge, as well as plenty of other works of art. Tourists flood all 1,690 feet (the length of the bridge) to take pictures, but jewelry, and listen to the bands that take up residence between statues. The views from the bridge are amazing, and I felt so lucky to be here in this stunning city. I’m living as a local (for a month), looking like a tourist (the accent gives it away), and labeled as a missionary because of the trip I’m on. But none of that is important. The fact is, I’m just here. God called me to this beautiful bridge in the heart of Prague to speak to this city and pray for heaven to come to earth.

Astro-clock and thoughts on faith:

Prague's Astrological Clock in Old Town Square is one of many tourist hot-spots in the city. Every hour on the hour, people from all over the world gather in front of the clock to watch it "go off." It's been voted one of the most overrated tourist attractions because of how disappointing the "going off" of the clock actually is... a bell rings, a few parts move, and a rooster makes a sighing noise at the end. This year the city decided to step it up a notch and add a trumpet player.

Although the hourly performance is, indeed, a let-down, the clock itself is quite beautiful and impressive considering it was built in the 1400's. It has a fascinating history as well. There are four little statues (2 on each side of the clock) that represent four of the biggest fears, or things despised, of the time period.

On the left we have Vanity, represented by the man looking into a mirror, and Greed, represented by a Jewish man with a bag of money:

On the right, a skeleton represents Death, and a turban wearing Turk represents Infidelity and Faithlessness:

Above the clock, two little doors open during the hourly performance to reveal what is known as "The Walk of the Apostles," where the twelve disciples of Jesus come rolling through one by one and peek their heads out.

Like the clock, many of Prague's famous landmarks and attractions are wrapped in a history of faith: churches, religious memorials, and statues depicting scenes of sacred warfare. The history of Prague is deep, complicated, and filled with religious disputes. The Catholics killed Protestants, Protestants defenestrated Catholics (which means threw them out windows of tall buildings), and eventually World War II, followed by Communism, oppressed religious groups to the point that 60% of Czechs now identify with Atheism.

For a Christian in Prague, that may be a discouraging fact. But the God of the Bible is notorious for taking horrifying things and using them for a good outcome. 1 Peter 1:6-7 talks about suffering grief in all kinds of trials, so that your faith may be tested and come out strong, to serve as evidence of God's victory.

Is it possible that God has allowed "religion" to be crushed in this country, to make way for true relationship? Isn't this what Jesus did by dying on the cross? By offering himself as a sacrifice on behalf of humankind, he wiped out traditional religion so that we may know and have a personal bond with God. I think the void of religion here has created a wide-open opportunity for God to move in and pursue the hearts of the Czech people.

Prague, do you know God is pursuing your heart?