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Sermon: God of the Impossible

December 8, 2011 in Church, Czech, Life, Living our Faith with 8 Appreciated Comments

Over the past few months, you may have seen a number of blog posts, Tweets, Facebook updates and Tumblr posts revolving around this idea that we serve the God of the Impossible.

I’ve talked about how God is able to defy the laws of physics. I’ve written about His ability to fulfill His promises. I’ve encouraged and challenged and pushed us to understand just how big He really is.

It’s a message that has become a part of who I am. I have lived it, gone through the struggles of questioning if God really could come through, or wanted to come through, and was challenged to find hope in a hopeless situation.

Back in July, I had the opportunity to preach this message in full at Křesťanské centrum, the church that I and Ignite work with while in the Czech Republic. It was a powerful message that impacted a lot of lives.

And they recorded it.

So I want to share that message with you.

Ruined. Completely.

July 25, 2011 in Czech, Living our Faith with 20 Appreciated Comments

A little over three days ago, British Airways flight number 295 touched down in Chicago, signifying the end of our mission trip to the Czech Republic. My team gathered their bags, said goodbye at the airport, and we all went our separate ways.

It was a pretty rough day for me.

If you know me at all, or have read this blog for any amount of time, it’s no secret that my heart beats for Czech (well really all of Central and Eastern Europe). I talk about it. I dream about it. Apparently even people who don’t know me well at all know that I am passionate about impacting young people in Europe. I live for these trips, feel at home when I’m in Europe…and tend to cry when it’s time to come back to the States.

I have been ruined.

And God Showed Up…

July 19, 2011 in Czech with 9 Appreciated Comments

Earlier this afternoon, we wrapped up our youth retreat, packed into a few cars and headed out for our mountain hike. We walked up a gravel roadway, took a short cut up a ski slope and spent some time relaxing and taking pictures at the top. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. The trip down the mountain was a bit…wet. It started pouring on us as a Czech thunderstorm rolled into the area.

It definitely was the best way to end an amazing retreat.

I am still in awe of everything God did. I don’t have the time or the energy to write about every testimony and to lay out what happened each day. I could write a post about each testimony itself, that’s how much God did in and through us. But there are a few stories that really impacted me.

Out with a Bang…

July 15, 2011 in Czech with 9 Appreciated Comments

Just a short update today. We had an awesome last day of outreaches, and one of out team members, Wynton, got to share his testimony in front of a lot of people. It really hit home for many of the youth.

We only had one non-Christian sign up for the youth retreat, but we have a few who will stop in on their days off work to join us. The Czech half of our team was also able to get contact info for some of the youth and are already making plans to follow up with them. It will be amazing to hear testimonies of how these young people came to Christ!

God Moved…and We Were Changed…

July 14, 2011 in Czech, Ignite with 4 Appreciated Comments

Today was one of those days where I stood in awe of the work God is doing in and through our team (our whole team). Not only did we step out in ways we wouldn’t have a few days before, but we were privileged to see God beginning to work in the lives of the young people we are reaching out to.

It was kind of rainy (but much cooler) today, which drove most of our afternoon workshops indoors. Some were a little less attended then yesterday, but the kids that did show up were impacted on a deeper level. There were two young men in the Slam Poetry (or Rap) workshop especially that have captured my heart. I spent the majority of the afternoon in that course, making a fool of myself dancing (I’m sure you will see a video of my epic white-boy dance moves on FB at some point, thanks to my wonderful team), cramped in a small room and, at one point, sweating like crazy due to the heat, just to build relationship with these two boys.

At our evening outreach, I was able to spend a good amount of time with one of them, and found out that he is hoping to come to our youth retreat. He’s already asked his mom (who said yes) and now just needs to ask his dad. Please pray that tonight, his father says yes and he is able to come. There is just something about him that I believe God is going to impact him in great ways on our retreat.

And his isn’t the only story.

World Changing Team

July 13, 2011 in Czech with 12 Appreciated Comments

Today was another mind-blowing day.

We had a bit of a rough start. Not only was it in the mid-90′s here today – something very rare for Czech – but also, because of the temps, a lot of youth weren’t coming to the outreaches. We set up in their neighborhood, talked to anyone who was outside, but it seemed most were being smart and avoided hanging out in the playground area, closed in by former communist flats with little to no shade.

But after a while, and some major prodding, we were able to get youth (and some kids) to participate in our workshops. They were able to spend time painting, playing basketball, designing fashionable clothes out of paper (it’s apparently a girl thing – I don’t understand it), and learning how to write their own rap songs. Some of the workshops were a big hit.