The Record

Here is a link to an article written in the Kitchener Record about the hockey ministry in the Czech Republic.

As a point of interest, some of Jody's quotes are not correctly quoted. For example, when you read it, Jody is quoted as saying, "It was almost miraculous." He, in fact, believes that it was miraculous...not almost miraculous. :)

http://news.therecord.com/Life/faith/article/669983

Enjoy!

SOS Hockey 2010

Our Canadian hockey team will be arriving today!

Please be in prayer...

A torch in the hands of the Master

Several years ago I was living and working in Canada. I had been involved youth ministry for about five or six years at that point and knew that God had a call on my life. As a child I always loved the TV show the littlest hobo, for those of you who don't remember the show, it about a stray German shepherd that travels from place to place helping people. The dog always arrived as he was needed and then would leave again when his job was done. One day while telling Rachael about the show I realized that I was a little like that dog, God would use me in places and then call me on to the next place. "Maybe tomorrow I just might settle down, until tomorrow the whole world is my home" that was a line from the theme song and it was how I was feeling in my life. It was at that time that I began to seek God on His calling for me and what it might look like. After a few weeks of praying and thinking about things, God gave me a picture and a clear vision of His call on my life. He showed me that I was a torch in His hand that he would use to light fires for His glory. God would call me places and use me there for a season to light a fire. It is why I have always been more of a visionary and dreamer in my life, God made me that way for a reason. That picture God gave me was so vivid that I immediately shared it with Rachael and it is something that I have held onto tightly for the past several years. After moving here to Czech I have said to Rachael that maybe this time God will use us not only to light a fire but perhaps to tend the fire. To stay longer and be a part of something over the long haul. Only God knows for sure and that is the way it should be, but from our part we are committed to being here as long as the Lord leads. All of this is great and you may be wondering why now am I writing this, so let me share with you what happened today. I woke this morning and saw that I had a text message on my phone from last night. The message was from a girl in our youth group here and it read "the message is under the door mat” hmm that is a strange text to receive but it sparked my curiosity and of course I went to my front door and looked under the mat. There was a folded piece of paper, I opened it up and this is what I saw.

This is the picture that was folded up and placed under my door mat. I immediately texted Nela (the girl who placed it there) and I asked her what made you do this and have I ever shared that story with you before? She said she had never heard me say anything about this before and this picture came to her while several ladies in our church were talking about a vision they had of God lighting a fire here in this town. What had caused her to share this note with me? She said she just felt like she should. Wow. Personally I was floored and extremely encouraged by this. Three things I noticed about this picture. First, obviously the torch, the picture God gave me of His calling on my life exactly as I had seen it. Second, the fire is not yet lit but it is about to be. And lastly, beside the fire sits a stack of wood, which to me indicates this is a fire that will need some tending.

To me this is all way more then a coincidence and there is no other explanation for it. God is moving and confirming His call and plans for our lives. Praise God and may His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Amen

January 27, 2009

No, that's not a mistype on the title...I meant to write 2009. (Although writing 2010 sometimes is beyond my belief! A date like that still seems a little too futuristic to me.) Yet, here we are: January 27, 2010!

What is unbelievable about that date? Well it could be that Jane Fonda underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee in 1992. Or it could be that the World's longest subaqueous tunnel was opened in Honshu-Hokkaid in 1983. (http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/january_27.html) But who really cares about that? The date is significant to us because one year ago today we arrived in Hlinsko! One year ago! It seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye!

As they say, a picture says a thousand words. So here are some pictures to celebrate our first year in Czech. They are in reverse however beginning with Christmas 2009.


Our church celebrates God's provision to make a very large mortgage payment on the church building!


We say Merry Christmas to Jody's family over skype.


Rachael celebrates Christmas with her students.


The missionary team preforms the Thanksgiving story for the ESL students.


Grace's 4th birthday!


Rachael and Karna celebrate their birthdays together.


Hannah turns 5!


Jody's cousin Bethany spends the summer in Czech working at the YFC Conference Centre and being an incredible 'nanny' to our kids!


Jody turns 35!


The awesome youth we work with...Unified.


Our family visits with Rachael's students who are bee-keepers. Hannah gets to wear the bee-keeper outfit and get an upclose view of the hives.


Our friend Shelley comes for an encouraging visit.


Beautiful Spring in Czech.


Rachael teaching.


Making friends:)


Growing up in Hlinsko!


Jody's first goal with the Skulls hockey team.


One of our first family photos in Czech.



Here's to many more years in Czech!

An Update

It has once again been too long since our last post. Life gets rolling and blogging seems to be another thing on the list sometimes! Why does the list always seem to grow and never shrink?

Anyways, it's time to give a bit of an update on our life here. The past few weeks have been busy for our team as we were preparing for a big Thanksgiving program/dinner for the English school students and their families. It was neat to see how our team really worked together and put together a nice event. The evening started with the students enjoying hot spiced apple cider and snacks while reading about the history of Thanksgiving that we put together. We had set up a tepee in the Entrance hall that gave the room a Native feeling, while 'real' Pilgrims and Native Americans greeted the guests. When it was time, the guests were invited into the dining hall where their first sight was a tribe of Natives, led by Chief Massasoit, sitting around the fire. After the guests were seated, music started and the Natives began a dance. After the dance, Chief Massasoit began telling the story (in 'real' Sioux, mind you) of when white men came to their shores.

After, the guests got to enjoy a dance by some of the youth group girls and a student of mine. The girls choreographed a dance to "Cherokee Morning Song". It was beautiful! Throughout the rest of the program, the guests saw the history of the pilgrim's crossing through video and live action. They saw the Natives, led by Chief Massasoit, befriend the Pilgrims and teach them vital life saving techniques for living in the new land. In the end, everyone was able to celebrate and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner together. After dinner, guest were challenged to "challenge the Natives" with some silly games. Before saying goodnight, our school Director gave a moving talk about the Lord of the Harvest. We pray that there will be a harvest from this event, that students and their families would have seen the Spirit of God at work and felt his gentle call to become part of His kingdom.

We really enjoyed this event. From working with our team, to setting up, to visiting with the guests, to the last moment of going home. There are times when I, as their teacher, am frustrated by how difficult it can be to seemingly share Jesus with them. During class, I have to be careful that I don't preach at my students because they are paying to learn English. But during events outside of the classroom, we really try to be more evangelistic. It was a blessing to see this come together and hopefully bless people. Thank you for your prayers...please continue to pray that hearts would soften and students would accept Christ as their Saviour.

With some disappointment, we will be staying in Czech over the Christmas season. We have about $2000 that we still need in order to renew our visas, so there was no option to purchase airfare. Our visas expire the end of this month, and must be renewed by the 15th, so we have the paperwork about ready, and are trusting that if God wants us to stay here, He will provide the rest needed to pay for the expense of our visas. Renewing passports and visas overseas is significantly more expensive than doing it in North America, we have found out. And requires a lot more red tape! Lord willing finances and paperwork will all come together in time.

Although we will GREATLY miss being with family over the holidays, we are reminded that God has a plan in everything, and trust that His will is perfect and good. There will be many opportunities over the Christmas season to shine the light of Jesus to those we come in contact with. There will be a group coming from Minnesota over Christmas, so it will be nice to have some down time and hopefully some time of refreshing with the group through prayer and services.

We are also looking toward February and the hockey trip! As we hear, there is still space for some more hockey players and non players on this trip. We are praying that God would bring those He wants as participants. Maybe you know someone or you yourself should come? Please go to canadasos.ca for more information, or e-mail us directly.

Every third Saturday Jody and the teens have been hosting "The River", a youth led church service for youth. Each week a topic is prepared, there is worship, there are videos and a short but pointed message all following the theme of the evening. It seems that God is really moving in this area, and we look forward to seeing what more He has for this ministry. Jody especially feels called to this work and putting his heart into it. He enjoys working with the youth to prepare each service and feels God's anointing as he is preaching the message. The hope is still to one day have a drop in centre where these services may take place, but today, God has given us a great building where it is working. We pray that we can be faithful in this work.

Thank you for your prayers and support! Drop us an e-mail sometime and say hello!

The Strain of Following Christ

Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. No amount of enthusiasm will ever stand up to the strain that Jesus Christ will put upon His servant. Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself ~Oswald Chambers

A Lost Harvest

Living in the Czech Republic now for nine months we have had the privilege of enjoying a sample of all four seasons. As we have driven throughout this beautiful land, we noticed the roads lined with fruit trees, mostly apple and some pear trees. Now, when I say lined I am not exaggerating. For miles and miles these quaint little European roads were completely bordered by fruit trees. I have to confess that on more than one occasion while out on a family drive we would pull the car over and just help ourselves to some delicious fresh fruit. The interesting part about these trees is that they appear to belong to no one. There is no orchard and no farmer; indeed these are wild trees. As the summer was coming to a close and fall was setting in on us, we could not help but notice that many, if not all, of these trees were losing their fruit. It was literally rotting on the branches and then falling to the ground dead. None of it was being harvested. We are not talking about crab apples. These apples would put the best Ontario apples to shame (no offense if you happen to be an apple farmer in Ontario). Rachael would often comment on the sad waste of all that fruit, “How many people could have been fed if only there were workers to harvest the fruit.”

I remember one particularly beautiful early fall day here when this really began to set in. We had gone for a Sunday afternoon family drive to a nearby town. As we were heading out of town we came over the crest of a hill and saw a little country road full of apple trees whose fruit was rotting. In that moment, a powerful picture hit me as hard as I’ve been hit in a while. These trees represent the people of the Czech Republic. We live in a country of 10 million people who are everyday rotting and falling to the ground dead, never having received the message of Salvation through Christ alone. And Rachael’s words came back to me, “If only there were workers to harvest all this fruit, imagine the people it could feed.” Wow, if only there were more workers here and more resources available. Imagine all the people who could hear and respond to the Gospel and in turn imagine all the people they could feed. What a tragedy that all this fruit is dying, never having been harvested. Last week this picture really hit home for me. I was told of 3 great tragedies that took place in the last two weeks right here in our own community of 10,000 people. The first is the story of a man who on Sunday night was out drinking with friends. At 2 o’clock in the morning he called his wife to come and pick him up. Sadly when she got there he pushed her out of the car and took off driving. The man drove his car right into the side of a small hotel/restaurant and died. What a loss! My heart was so grieved to think of how quickly life can end, and if it ends without Jesus: what a loss indeed! On the same weekend there was a man in his 40’s partying in a village five minutes from our town. It was a village wide celebration and many town officials were there including several fireman. In the middle of the afternoon this man who had been drinking very heavily, jumped into a pool. While people stood by laughing, thinking he was joking, the man drowned. Finally, two weeks ago an 18 year old boy who only had his driver’s licence for a few months went to pick up some friends who had been partying late one night. After dropping off his friends he headed home and lost control of his car. He hit a tree and died less than one kilometre from our house. These stories immediately brought to mind the un-harvested fruit all over this country that is everyday falling to the ground and rotting and dying.

There is good news however, the Bible say the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. That’s what we are here for. We so desire to be those harvesters! For us, God has called us to be the Harvesters in the field of the Czech Republic. For you, it may be elsewhere. Jesus called us to go in to all the world. That means our neighbourhoods, cities, countries and places where no one else is shining His light. Please don’t lose sight of the global call of our mission.
I know God does not call all of us to leave our homes and countries. For if He did who then would minister there? But I believe that God has called us, the Rectors, all four of us, to this country for a season and for a reason. I know that God works way beyond what we can imagine. He also works through the Body of Christ, His church. His church knows no borders and we all have a different role and place within it. For now, ours is to be here to be Harvesters of the lost.
We hope and pray this letter finds you all well. Thank you for your support and prayers. We have been so blessed by the love and support we have received so many times by complete strangers, family and friends a like and above all by our Father in Heaven. God Bless you all and may you know His love and Peace deeper and deeper.