Category: Czech Republic

Every post I wrote while we lived overseas.

It Was Nice To…

Czechs love to walk. Especially if it’s not raining (and somtimes if it is!) or if the sun is out or both. You can walk pretty much anywhere you need to in our town. The post office, the grocery store, the city hall, the bank–it’s all within a few minutes of where we live. Today I had to walk to the bank to finish up the crazy situation with our rent and finally was able to deposit the right amount for our landlord. I asked Titus if he wanted to go with me but he wasn’t up for it so I went alone. There were a lot of other people out just walking. It almost feels like downtown New York to me. That’s the only place I know of and been to where you just walk. It was nice to walk today.

I really enjoyed our Czech lesson today. I’m not sure if it was because I had just gone on a nice walk and my mind was more clear, but I felt like I was really making progress today. I would say the same for Bethany. Of course, I could use more discipline, but I think the work we’re putting in is paying off during our lessons. Below is a photo of Bethany working through a little exercise where we were given a photo of “our” family (it was actually a photo of someone else’s family) and we had to say what relationship we had to the person in the photo and say what their name is…all in Czech. It wasn’t easy but I really thought Bethany and I did pretty well (I better be careful not to overstate our progress because I know our teacher reads our blog!). For sure language learning is slow process, but I really enjoyed it today. It was nice to study a little Czech today.

On my errand to the bank they gave me some paperwork along with our new Czech debit cards that had come in. I wasn’t able to get Bethany’s because she has to sign for it so we decided to walk there after our Czech lesson. The second walk was better than the first. I think mainly because I didn’t feel rushed and we didn’t have a super set plan. It’s nice to just slow down and not have a set plan.

Once we finished up at the bank Bethany said we should go to the Christian book store which we hear may be one of the only ones in the entire country. It was just a block down the road from the bank and I’m glad we went. Bethany was able to pick up a little stack of postcards with Czech verses on them and the kids and I just kind of looked around at all the fun things they had. It was nice to just enjoy the bookstore.

We actually made two more stops before we went back home. The first was at the town square water fountain where the kids and I played while mommy went to get a few things at the “kosmetika” store. I chased Avery around with the stroller and Titus basically ran in a circle around the fountain for fifteen minutes. The second stop was to the little mini-mart grocery store where I decided to spend 77 cents to get the kids a little juice drink and where mommy was getting the last few ingredients she needed for tonight’s lasagna dinner. The whole trip from the bank to home was only about an hour of time, but I loved our little outing. It was nice to walk a second time today.

It was nice today. The weather was cooler and it didn’t rain. I got a few projects done for JV. We had a great Czech lesson. We had a fun time walking the city. Maybe I needed a nice day like today more than I knew. I do know that when I sat down to write this I was happy and smiling and as I finish I feel the same. It was nice to write about today.

Tags city, Czech lessons, walk

365 Czech Republic

The Tale of the Rent and the Babička

Post author By Shay
Post date August 12, 2014
1 Comment on The Tale of the Rent and the Babička

As I was walking in to the JV office this morning I get a text from Bethany, “Are you in your meeting yet?” I wasn’t. She texts again, “Can I call you?” “Yes,” I replied. Phone rings. I pick up.

Bethany: “So…we don’t know how much our rent is.”
Me: “Huh?”
Bethany: “[our landord] just came over and gave me a note written in English that we didn’t pay enough for rent.”
Me: “Oh man.”

And so continues the saga that began with me not paying the rent on time to thinking I had figured it out the second time, to me now not paying enough for rent. Honestly, I’m really trying here. I thought I had read the contract correctly and even after a review of the entire document by both Bethany and I we’re not seeing where the extra fees are coming from. But after having our Czech friend look it over she says we owe what our landlord is asking for which is totally fine, I just want to do right. It’s hard enough going to the bank to try and make a cash transfer to our landlord’s account, but having to do it again and again is just double difficult. Even today I tried to get to the bank on my way home only to find out they close earlier today and I missed it by 15 minutes. I can’t win…but I digress.

Babička (pronounced BAH-BEECH-KA) in Czech means “grandma” or “grandmother.” That’s what our landlord (who lives above us) wants our kids to call her. Even though we can’t communicate very well with her we know she’s really sweet. I actually take it as a big deal that she wants our kids to call her grandma because that means she likes them and whenever she sees them she calls their names and says hi.

Shortly after babička came over to talk about the rent issue, she came bearing a gift for our family. Sigh of relief…she must not be mad about the rent! The gift was a cake. In Bethany’s words it’s “some kind of walnut/nut cake with chocolate mouse and chocolate and vanilla icing.” It’s awesome. Czech desserts and pastries are amazing and this one lived up to the Czech standards. It was a really nice gift and genuinely made us feel like we’re not offending her. I guess I don’t know if that’s actually true or not, but we’re going to work under that assumption! Here’s a photo of the cake.

Today Bethany worked with Titus on his hand writing in a workbook we have for him. When I got home from work he said, “Daddy! Look!” and went on to tell me what he had done. It was really special to me. About drawing the letter “A” he said, “You do this line…then this line…then you pick your pencil up and make a bridge across.” He gets an “A” for awesome job.

I wish I could say that the rent thing was the only hangup we had today, but sadly other things continue to be problematic. While at the JV office today Martina (a Czech who works for JV) came in to where I was working and said, “Shay…I need to talk to you.” Basically, she wanted to know if the Czech embassy said anything to me about getting a special stamp on our visas within “3 working days” of getting our visas. Her concerned look to my reply of “No” was not reassuring. We’re already passed the 3 day mark on Bethany and my visas and we’re headed back to the embassy on Thursday to get the kid’s visas. Now I need to find out if there are any issues with our visas and if this going to be a problem. Pray for us.

Every day we’re making progress on our language learning and the more I work on my vocabulary the better for me it is to understand and hear things when I’m out and about. We have language lessons tomorrow and I still have homework to do. I better get on that before it gets too late!

Tags babicka, cake, rent

365 Czech Republic

One Box At A Time

Some people take life one day at a time, but we like to take it one box at a time. If you’ve ever moved, you know what I’m talking about. It’s like you keep unpacking and unpacking and the more you unpack the harder it gets to find places for everything. There’s actually a part of me that has sort of begun to ignore some of the boxes in our house, but seeing the stack of empty ones that Bethany had from today surprised me. Where are all of these coming from?! Bethany is on a roll right now just tearing through boxes and putting stuff away. I’m so thankful for her. She works so hard for us. I honestly don’t know where she is getting all of this energy.

The past few weeks have actually been very busy at the JV office as we prepare for an international training conference in late September. Over 300 people will come together for an annual conference that JV puts on for the country leaders and others (or least that’s my understanding at this point. I’ve never been to this conference). Needless to say there’s a lot going on with my team to prepare for their arrival and hopefully provide them all the resources they need so they can be equipped to serve Christ better in their countries. For instance, my team is helping build a Web site right now that will be a resource for leadership training material. It goes hand-in-hand with a book that we’re designing (written by JV staff) that will aid leaders to train other leaders. There’s a lot that goes into both projects but things are moving along which is a blessing. My hope and desire is that these will be a blessing to those who use them and more fruit in the Kingdom will come from it!

The other night when Jonny was visiting I was showing him some music that has been blessing me of late. One of the songs I showed him and one that I just can’t seem to stop listening to is “The Only Name (Yours Will Be)” by Benji and Jenna Cowart. I won’t try and explain the song now but recommend you take a listen. It’s a simple worship song and a good reminder about what really matters at the end of the day (or the end of your life!). I’ve placed the lyrics below the video. Enjoy.

The Only Name (Yours Will Be)

Yours will be the only Name that matters to me
The only One Whose favor I seek
The only Name that matters to me

Yours will be the friendship and affection I need
To feel my Father smiling on me
The only Name that matters to me

And Yours is the Name the Name that saved me
Mercy and grace the power that forgave me
And Your love is all I’ve ever needed

When I wake up in the land of glory
With the saints I will tell my story
There will be one Name that I proclaim

Jesus Jesus Jesus just that Name

This song can be found on their EP album “Letters To The Church At Buffalo.”

Tags boxes, moving, music

365 Czech Republic

Making Progress on Sunday

We’ve already shared before that Sundays in church have been tough with the kids. The summer months are especially hard in Czech because our church (photo above) doesn’t have Sunday school for the kids so we’re taking them to the main two hour service. We do our best to have them draw in a coloring book or even (yes, I’ll admit) play a game or two on the iPhone so as not to distract the service. In that past weeks we have ended up outside at some point just because they weren’t staying quiet enough to not disrupt the service. Today, by God’s amazing grace, was the first week we didn’t go outside! Friends have already told us they are praying for this and we saw that prayer answered today. It wasn’t perfect and there were moment’s of frustration, but the kids stayed the entire two hours and we definitely praise God for this little victory. After church we let the kids play in the church yard for a little bit and the photo below is of Avery and Titus walking around with huge branches. Avery’s face kills me in this photo.

Since we had Jonny with us at church we treated him to a pizza lunch in our time. I ordered three pizzas thinking they were small but they ended up being much bigger than I thought. Providentially our friend Rachael happened to be walking home from church and saw us eating so we asked her to join us and help us eat some of our extra slices. What’s amazing is we were able to feed six people for $24 and that included water (which you have to pay for) and a Czech favorite, Kofola soda. Not a bad deal!

This afternoon I drove Jonny over to the train station in Ostrava where he was catching his train to Prague. He and three of his friends are headed to Norway for six days to enjoy some camping and European exploration. While I at the station I saw another JV missionary, Jonathan Rosen, and he asked if I wanted to grab a quick cup of coffee before heading back home. I agreed and off we went to a little coffee shop in downtown Ostrava. Jonathan was actually the intern leader at the very first camp Bethany and I served at in 2012 so it was fun to catch up with him and see how ministry was going. He introduced me to a great little coffee shop and hopefully I’ll get a chance to take Bethany there some time.

At church this morning we were invited by a young Czech couple to hang at a river side park around 4pm. Because of my coffee with Jonathan I made us a little late to the park and it was a new park to us (one we hadn’t been to before) and we just couldn’t find the couple when we arrived. I was bummed, especially since it was really my fault we didn’t make it there by 4pm. Bethany wrote them on Facebook to apologize and hopefully reschedule and we literally just got a message back a few minutes ago saying that we actually didn’t miss them, but that we just didn’t walk far enough on the path to another park along the river. There are a lot of different parks along the river path but we just didn’t need to head further down…bummer. They said they’ll most likely be back there next week to so hopefully we can catch up then. That couple is due with their first child in just three weeks and it would be really fun to get to know them and catch up with them before the busyness of having a baby.

The little trip to the park wasn’t all bad because the kids got a little time to play and swing at the park we did find. We didn’t stay long because we needed to hit the grocery store and make dinner at home so off we went to the local Tesco. Bethany made another great dinner and we immediately did bath time with the kids when we were finished eating. We’re trying hard to get back into a rhythm with bed times and routines and it’s so nice to have a more settled home to do that.

It’s been a great past few days and Bethany commented tonight how much fun it’s been having so many different people in our home of late. In fact, both of us our a little worried we might start getting lonely here come fall because there’s just no one left to come and stay with us! I guess that’s just another reason to dive in and get to know the many people here, Czechs and other missionaries, and continue to build relationships right where we are. That’s really one of the main reasons we’re here and Lord willing we’ll be able to do just that in the months and weeks to come.

Tags church, coffee, friends, park

365 Czech Republic Friends

Uncle Jonny and a Backyard Bash

Post author By Shay
Post date August 9, 2014
1 Comment on Uncle Jonny and a Backyard Bash

In the ongoing series of people coming to see us in Czech, our good friend Jonny Ardavanis spent the day with us and is spending the night tonight! Jonny came early today and we were able to get his clothes washed and ready or his departure on Monday. He has been working as an intern with Josiah Venture this summer here in Czech and his last camp ended this week so he had a little time to come for a visit. On Monday he’s headed off to Norway with a few awesome guys to take in the site and enjoy a little more of Europe. I love his passion, his love for Christ, and his humor. Jonny is a ton of fun to be around and we’ve known him since he was in junior high. To have him in our home today has been such a joy and a blessing to us.

This evening we had been invited to a team get together at he Brian and Aleisha Stephens house. Since our entire team is now in Czech, the Stephens thought it would be fun to get everyone together for a fun hangout and that’s exactly what it was. I took my camera along and grabbed a bunch of shots. Here’s a lot of what we did in photos and video.

Shortly after that last photo the thunder clouds rolled into town and the rain came fast. We all quickly put toys and things away and headed for the house. Everyone that can play an instrument brought them so we had a little impromptu worship and singing time together while the rain, lightning, and thunder came through. It was a fun night and definitely a great time having the team all together. Thanks to the Stephens family for having us over!

Tags bbq, friends, party

365 Czech Republic

Paying Rent and Still Learning How to Shop

Post author By Shay
Post date August 8, 2014
1 Comment on Paying Rent and Still Learning How to Shop

I’m proud to say that I didn’t forget to pay the rent this month! Now don’t think that means it’s easy. Bethany and I started putting our plan together about it last night with notes, account numbers, amounts, phrases, what to do if we don’t understand what they’re saying to us, etc. I even got an email from our Czech friend Katka with the phrase “I need to make a cash deposit into someone else’s account” translated in Czech just in case I needed it. And I did! The bank teller could say a few numbers in English but for the most part she spoke a bunch of Czech that I just didn’t understand. I was looking around the room like a baseball pitcher checks the runners on first and third for anyone to help me and even though my American friend John was there we were still struggling. I tried showing her my phone with the amount I was trying to deposit which helped, but I still didn’t feel like we were on the same page. By God’s grace it all worked out in the end and the rent is paid!

Trust me…I realize that my victory at the bank may seem small, but I’m telling you for us this is a big win. It’s bad enough not being able to say anything more than “good day” to our landlord, and me forgetting to pay the rent on time last month just made me feel terrible. So actually getting it all done at the right time was especially encouraging. As it was, I found out today that I overpaid last month’s rent…yikes. Two steps forward, one step back.

We’re still learning how to shop here. Bethany usually goes to the store by herself because that just makes things easier. Finding things in an unfamiliar store in an unknown language is not easy. Add to that a few kids and a mom could have a mental breakdown just trying to find the butter in the mildly cold section. Tonight we decided to go to Kaufland as a family. Basically this means I take the cart and the kids and find random things (like a mouse pad, batteries, and windshield washer fluid) and Bethany goes on the hunt for the necessities. There’s a lot of picking things up, trying to read what it is, and then putting things back (at least for me). At one point Bethany said, “I need to get some meat” and we walked by a huge refrigerated section of red colored meat and Bethany just kept walking. Thinking she just missed it I said, “Hey, we just passed a ton of meat!” She said, “You mean a ton of pork.” Oh. The pork section here is like the entire meat section at an American store. That kind of tells you what they like to eat here, I guess? In the end we get what we need, but no doubt it’s still far from feeling natural.

Tomorrow we have a guest coming to stay with us, but I won’t spoil it on tonight’s blog. You’ll just have to wait in suspense. So tune in tomorrow: same bat time; same bat channel.

Tags bank, groceries, learning, shopping

365 Czech Republic

A Lack of Understanding

There’s a lot of things about Czech I don’t get and often I am confused. For instance, I’ve hit my head five times in the past two days on low ceilings or objects. Today I nailed my head on a tuba that was hanging from a ceiling where I had lunch. We were having a lunch with Jacob (one of our interns) because it was his last day before flying back to the States (photo above; Jacob is on the right). As soon as I stood up… bam! Right on the noggin. Earlier I hit my head on the top of a door post. Yesterday I hit my head on the same low ceiling two times and then on the ceiling in the stairwell. I guess I just don’t fit here?

But there are other things I don’t understand. Another example is John’s lunch from today. He ordered the fish (by accident) and that’s exactly what he got. It might sound funny, but when I think of ordering fish it usually comes battered or flat like a steak, but John’s fish was the whole fish with the head, eyes, tail and bones (photos below). Does all fish in Czech come like this? I have no clue.

And what’s the deal with mushrooms? According to friends here the word mushroom is actually a verb. You can go “mushrooming” here in Czech. This might explain why there were wild mushrooms from the grass in our sitting in the front entry way when I cam home today (photo below). As I pulled in there was a gardner working in the yard so I assume he was the one that set them aside for our landlord. Will she eat the mushrooms from the yard? I don’t know. I do know that when I saw those in the yard the other day while playing with Titus that I thought I should kick them and throw them away. So glad I didn’t.

All of that to say there are definitely things to learn about Czech. Every day is an opportunity to learn something new. I’m just not sure I’m read to commit to mushrooming yet.

Tonight we were invited to a dinner at the Yorman’s house which was really fun. Our kids and their kids love to play together and the Yorman boys showed Titus and Avery a new game on the Wii. They had a ton of fun playing and laughing and we enjoyed a great dinner together with a few other people on the JV staff. It’s fun to get to know every one on a deeper level and even just shooting the breeze about movies or whatever else might come up during the dinner conversation. There was even talk of doing a regular dinner together to give our kids some time to play and us to just hang out which would be a blessing.

That’s all from me tonight. I’m tired and honestly my head is still hurting from all those bonks!

Tags culture, Czech, fish, food, mushrooms, weird things

365 Czech Republic Videos

The First Wednesday of Every Month

Post author By Shay
Post date August 6, 2014
2 Comments on The First Wednesday of Every Month

People told us it would happen. They said the first Wednesday of the month at around noon you would hear a loud alarm. After talking to Bethany neither of us could remember where were on July 2nd which was the first Wednesday that month, but then I checked the blog and we were actually in Poland that day. That makes sense because even the most jet lagged person on the planet wouldn’t be able to sleep through or forget this noise. And thanks to modern technology we can share the wonders of this amazing sound with all of you through video. Consider yourself warned (pun intended).

The speakers for this warning system are literally across the street from us on top of the fire station. It’s the kind of sound that blankets your entire body. There’s no escaping it. Thankfully it only last for about a minute or so. To be honest, even though I’ve asked I still haven’t really gotten a straight answer as to what exactly it is. Some other missionaries from the mid-west are used to that kind of noise because of tornado warnings but us West Coast kids just didn’t grow up with any kind of public warning system. The only warning we got growing up is “Hey! We’re having an earthquake!” Which now that I think about it, why didn’t they just let me sleep through it!

This morning I had an early, but short meeting with Dave Patty. He was preparing to teach at a reunion event for leaders at Malenovice which is a hotel/camp center/training center that is owned by Josiah Venture. Malenovice (pronounced MA-LEN-O-VEE-SEH) was where Bethany and I came and stayed on our first trip to Czech. I hadn’t been back in 3 years and I think I just forgot how incredible the view is from up there. The hotel sits on the side of a mountain overlooking a few different valleys and it’s just breathtaking. I had a moment before Dave was free to chat so I snuck out on the balcony at grabbed a panoramic shot (above).

Back at the JV office it was “moving day” so to speak as we changed around most of the offices to accommodate our team. It was a lot of manual labor and moving desks, tables, and bookshelves up and down the stairs, but in the end my team has a bigger space and I think everyone else is happy with their new spaces. Below is the room we have been working out of which is now Mel’s office and below that is a photo of our new space on the 2nd floor.

On the home front Bethany has been working really hard to continue to empty boxes and clean, clean, clean. We had a language lesson this afternoon and when I got home the place looked amazing and Bethany even had lunch waiting for me. Who deserves such a humble, selfless, and sacrificial wife? I sure don’t, but I’m super thankful to the Lord for who she is and how she serves me and the kids.

Speaking of the kids, they tried on silly glasses today.

They also enjoyed playing in the drying rack. In their minds it’s only a fort and serves no other purpose.

Tonight we had our friend and teammate Rachael over from the late afternoon through dinner. Rachael is a joy to be around and you can’t help but enjoy her Northern Irish accent. Bethany and her just spent a lot of time hanging out and chatting but one of things that excites me the most about their time chatting was that Rachael is going to help us get better connected to the youth ministry at our church here. She said there are actually no married couples currently on the youth staff which hopefully means they may have a need there just for some balance to the leadership. The youth meet on Saturday nights at 6pm which isn’t the best for our family, but we’re going to see what we can do to get involved there and what God might have for us. This is really something we have hoped for, prayed for, and our excited about pursuing!

Finally, tonight as Titus and I were playing outside the sun peaked through the gray clouds just before sunset. Our place sits right next to a huge Catholic church and the sunlight shown directly on it making it look incredible. I took the photo below of the reflection off of our window.

Tags alarm, kids, Malenovice, office

365 Czech Republic

2 of 4 Visas Approved

We were pretty excited to leave this morning for Bratislava, Slovakia because we knew our short-term visas were ready and waiting for us. We left our place about 8am and got to where the Czech embassy is around noon, grabbed some lunch, and got to the embassy for our 1:30pm time slot. I had the insurance paperwork ready, our passports, and the kids were doing pretty great considering the long drive this morning. Once we handed over all the documents we were just waiting around the lobby of the embassy. After about 15 minutes the lady came back to the window and said, “I’m sorry sir, but only 2 of your visas are ready… the kids aren’t done yet and won’t be until another day.” That’s one of those “Alright!” but… “Bummer…” moments. Two of our visas are approved, praise God! This is such an answer to prayer! The only bummer is now we have to wait and see what’s going on with the kids’ visas and then make another trip down to Bratislava (it will be our third) to pick those up when and if they’re ready. So it’s great news and a little disappointing news, but we’re thankful to be halfway done with this process. Here’s a picture of us waiting in the embassy:

Speaking of embassies, for some reason Avery got really excited today to see the American flag. I saw her running around our apartment the other day with a few small ones we had in a box, so I assume she’s just associating that with the big flag on the American embassy that she saw today. It was funny to watch her get so excited. Here’s a little picture of her during that moment and if you look between the trees you’ll see the American flag and embassy.

Having to return to Bratislava for anything really isn’t that much of a disappointment. The city is beautiful and the old town square area is a piece of history. Walking around the by the shops and restaurants is super fun and the weather was amazing there today so it was just nice to be outside. Bethany and I were talking this afternoon that we just don’t build downtown areas like they do here in Europe. Bratislava is spacious, lots of walking room, tons of benches to relax on, and numerous trees for shade.

Except everywhere you look some has an ice cream cone. I guess the only way they get away with all this ice cream intake is because they all walk everywhere. And there’s only so much ice cream watching you can do before you dive in yourself. We hit the little ice cream shop across from the embassy and Avery immediately went for the large cone outside. It was a really fun place and there were a lot of people hanging around so you knew it had to be good. It wasn’t just good, it was delicious and a fun little treat for all of us.

Our trip home was close to 4 hours. From start to finish it was a 10 hour day, with around 7-8 of that in the car. We actually drove the Slovakian route today which took us by some amazing castles. It was hard to get good photos on our phones, and I forgot my camera, but here’s a few shots for you to try to imagine these castle ruins that sat on top of a few different hills. I seriously want to know how old these places are.

We praise the Lord for his grace in allowing such a relatively smooth process in getting our visas approved. Lord willing our kids’ will be approved soon and we’ll head back down to Bratislava pick them up. Now that we have these we finally transfer some of our utilities to our name and even feel a little more settled here. Please continue to pray with us for the rest of this process and our continued transition to life in Czech Republic.

Tags Bratislava, trip, visas

365 Christianity Czech Republic

Jesus and the Kids’ Bible

It rained a lot today so Bethany got creative with the kids in the house. Titus and her played tennis in our living room and Avery lined up her wooden cookies on a box. We have this kind of second living room where our desks are and there’s a lot of open floor space so hey, why not a little game of tennis?

That cat from yesterday came back today right during dinner time. We were again sitting at our table and it popped up only this time our window was close so it glared at us (like cats do) and was gone as quickly as it came.

There have been a lot of “firsts” since we arrive and today was no exception. My team at Josiah Venture had our first official, everyone-in-person, meeting! It was fun to be together in Czech, but we didn’t waste any time with the pleasantries. We have a lot of projects right now and we’re really just trying to stay afloat. I stayed up late this evening trying to finish up one of them because tomorrow we’re off to Bratislava to work on items related to our short-term visas. It’s a 4-hour one-way trip so it’s going to be an 8 hour driving day tomorrow. Not something I’m super excited about but it’s necessary for us to continue to live and do ministry here.

Tonight as I was reading the kids their Bible, I was just reminded of the gospel. I don’t know if you can read the story of Christ on the cross without it realigning your heart. It makes no difference to me if it’s in my regular Bible or the kid’s storybook Bible, the cross of Christ is so important to the Christian faith. While reading I tried to tell the kids, “This is a sad and happy part of the Bible.” Our kids have commented on the pages before but when Avery saw the thorns in Jesus’ head she said, “He has ouchies.” Yes, he does. And it was my sin that caused it.

These pages (shown above and below) are actually very powerful and I could tell our kids got more quiet as I read. This page below is especially interesting and moving to me. The vantage point from above the cross to the people below is new and the page only says, “On a small hill outside the city of Jerusalem, Jesus was nailed to a cross and died.” Again, it doesn’t matter if it’s a kids Bible or not…how can you not stop and ponder the cross in that moment?

The chapter actually ends right there in the book, and normally I would only read them one chapter a night, but tonight we kept reading. We went on to see the tomb, the then empty tomb, and then Christ revealing himself to the disciples. Avery and Titus’ faces lit up and Titus actually started jumping up and down on the couch in excitement because Christ came back from the dead. I know he’s just a little kid, but I want that excitement. Shouldn’t I be the one jumping up and down? Shouldn’t all Christians be so blown away by Christ’s work on the cross that we’re just ecstatic about it? Oh, I realize that’s not realistic in many ways, but in other ways it absolutely should be. We should be so thankful that Jesus rises from the dead! Because if Christ isn’t raised, then what does Paul tell the church at Corinth:

[17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. [18] Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. [19] If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

(1 Corinthians 15:17-19 ESV)

But he does rise! He does overcome sin and death! He declares victory over sin and wipes my slate clean! That’s why I should be jumping up and down on the couch like Titus. And that’s the thing I want to be thinking about as I go to bed tonight. I’m thankful for the work of Christ!

Tags Bible, Christ, kids