Sunday, December 23, 2007

It's A Wonderful Life

I'm a sucker for this movie. I have been ever since my mom made me watch it one Christmas when I was younger. Now I HAVE to watch it every year. I just finished watching it and I got to thinking about the "gift" that George Bailey was given - to see what things would be like if he'd never been born. It made me wonder what my "world" would be like if I had never been a part of it. And, ya know, I think it would be different. I hope so. There are many, many times, that life is tough and feels a little futile. What I am a part of here in Czech Republic is not quick work and it is easy to become discouraged. But, as I thought about it, I realize there really are many here who are different because I have been a part of their lives. As a follower of Christ, I really pray that this difference is due to the fact that God is working in my life and therefore, through my life and into other's lives. So, I dare you to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" this year and just think about your own life. Think about those in your world who are different because of your influence in their lives...and pray for them. And, enjoy the adventures of George and Bailey and Clarence the angel.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Conversation Club

My favorite time of the week is Tuesday evening. This is when we have our Conversation Club. The setup is completely simple. We provide coffee and a paper with a few questions dealing with a certain topic and everyone just talks. The draw, of course, for this is that they are speaking in English. Some of our past topics have been things like family, truth, and 'would you rather...' questions. Good, but not brain surgery. But, I tell you what, the Lord meets with us each Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM. It is simply amazing. Each week throughout the semester, we've had no less than 14 Czechs come and talk with us. The funny thing is that only a couple of these Czechs are Christians. But we can feel, really feel, God's presence there each week. Last night was our last conversation club until after Christmas, which was sad. The theme for last night was "Christmas." We were blessed to have Pastor Phil Nettleton come last night and lead a group. He was even able to end his group's time in prayer. This is very unusual for nearly anyone who comes. But this is the amazing thing. People are learning more about God through this informal conversation time. We are seeing people opening themselves up to us and softening their hearts to God. Each week, as we teachers wash the coffee cups afterward, we just stand around, in awe, and talk about the unbelievable ways we saw God work in the conversations. How people made comments and asked questions about things that only God could coordinate in our conversation time. Sometimes we talk about it through tears, both of happiness and amazement and of sadness for those of our friends here who don't know Jesus personally, but are so close. We can clearly see that people are coming and enjoying this time not only because they can come and enjoy English conversation, but because they can come and have interesting, intelligent conversations about topics. Please pray for these friends.