During my recent mission trip to the Czech Republic, I kept a journal. The format I will use for these posts is to share (and edited version of) my journal entry, then provide commentary on it. Here is entry #2.
Sunday 8/11/13 – 8:45 AM – Last night we saw many of my old Czech friends. This place feels like home. It’s so different this time from the first time I came here two years ago. I spoke with someone from Strakonice (the next town over from Pisek, about 30 minutes away by car, about 25,000 people, and that does not have a church), and he told me how meaningful it is for the Czechs when people they know come back after their first trip because it validates that the experiences we’ve had are real. It shows we are really invested and it shows Christ’s love. This place does feel like home, but I’m not fully sure what to do with that.
Last night at the leadership meeting, we had worship and we sang Always. It was so powerful. I felt that we were proclaiming this ground for God (right in the shadow of the building that was used as the Communist headquarters). I strongly felt that Gary Gowler (a servant of Christ who came many, many times on mission to the Czech and passed away in April) was with us during worship. I saw this shaft of light coming down into the center of the worship circle, and that this light was powerfully being projected out through the windows and walls and into Pisek. We were proclaiming that God is here in this land, and that this is God’s land.
My thoughts on this entry – God really put Strakonice on my heart on this trip. For my friends in the US, imagine living in a town with 25,000 people, and having no active church in the town. It’s so easy for these folks to go through a week without seeing another Christian (unless they are intentional about seeing and knowing them), and how discouraging it would be to know so few Christians and to be living in what is essentially a completely secular society. Might the great commission (what believers call the command of Jesus that you need to talk about him to those you come into contact with) seem like a chore with no end in sight? How can you be expected to be stopping every person you meet to tell them about Jesus, because when so few people know him, you can’t even step out of your house without needing to tell everyone about him? Wouldn’t it be easy to start to wonder if you matter to God? How can you matter to God you feel like society and the culture beats you down because of your faith? Now imagine that God sends a team of 20+ people from another continent over to you, with the primary job of the mission to encourage you in your faith. Almost half of these folks have come here before and have answered God’s call to come here two, three, or even twelve times. God wanted to use us so that these believers would know that God loves them and has not forgotten them. So often, the Old Testament talks about “God remembering” his people, and I believe that us coming to the Czech is a tangible manifestation of God remembering his people in the Czech.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Czech journal entry #1
During my recent mission trip to the Czech Republic, I kept a journal. The format I will use for these posts is to share (and edited version of) my journal entry, then provide commentary on it. Here is entry #1
Thursday 8/8/13 – 7PM (Chicago time)
I am on the plane and we are ready to leave. I am quite excited. In the airport, I met Kayla. She is on our flight, and is going on mission by herself to Central Asia for 5 months. At the airport, she ran into someone she went to high school with from Kentucky. They are both on our flight to London. God is already making divine connections on this trip. Kayla is also nervous about flying by herself, and she now knows many more people on the plane. It looks like I am getting two seats to myself, so hopefully I will be able to get some sleep on the plane. I am really excited to see what God will do on this trip!
My thoughts on this entry – God was making divine connections already on this trip What a great way to start. I was very moved that Kayla, who had to be no more than 22, and just up and went to serve in central Asia by herself (the country she was serving in was classified for the safety of everyone) for 5 months in a culture that doesn’t treat women the way we do in the US. God made sure that I met her to fully prepare my heart for those in the Czech who so willingly serve for the sake of the gospel.
Prayer was a central focus of this trip. We prayed as a team before leaving the Christ Community Church, we did a prayer walk on our layover at Heathrow, we did a prayer walk in Pisek with selected scripture readings (putting on the armor of God at the Pisek castle/old fort wall, reading about our fullness in Christ in front of Jesus on the oldest bridge in Central Europe, and praying for Elim Church, our local ministry partner), we prayed for people after service at Elim Church the first Sunday we were there, and we did a prayer walk when we arrived at camp. Prayer was a central focus in our preparation for the trip and this modeled how prayer just kept springing up at camp.
Thursday 8/8/13 – 7PM (Chicago time)
I am on the plane and we are ready to leave. I am quite excited. In the airport, I met Kayla. She is on our flight, and is going on mission by herself to Central Asia for 5 months. At the airport, she ran into someone she went to high school with from Kentucky. They are both on our flight to London. God is already making divine connections on this trip. Kayla is also nervous about flying by herself, and she now knows many more people on the plane. It looks like I am getting two seats to myself, so hopefully I will be able to get some sleep on the plane. I am really excited to see what God will do on this trip!
My thoughts on this entry – God was making divine connections already on this trip What a great way to start. I was very moved that Kayla, who had to be no more than 22, and just up and went to serve in central Asia by herself (the country she was serving in was classified for the safety of everyone) for 5 months in a culture that doesn’t treat women the way we do in the US. God made sure that I met her to fully prepare my heart for those in the Czech who so willingly serve for the sake of the gospel.
Prayer was a central focus of this trip. We prayed as a team before leaving the Christ Community Church, we did a prayer walk on our layover at Heathrow, we did a prayer walk in Pisek with selected scripture readings (putting on the armor of God at the Pisek castle/old fort wall, reading about our fullness in Christ in front of Jesus on the oldest bridge in Central Europe, and praying for Elim Church, our local ministry partner), we prayed for people after service at Elim Church the first Sunday we were there, and we did a prayer walk when we arrived at camp. Prayer was a central focus in our preparation for the trip and this modeled how prayer just kept springing up at camp.
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