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365 Czech Republic

Our First Hole in the Wall

Thanks to our friend Greg who lives and serves in Poland, we now have our nice big clock hanging up in our living room. You would think that I, as the man of the house, would be able to hang a clock on my own. I would say I probably could’ve done it, but we have never actually tried drilling in to the concrete walls before and because I was unsure I enlisted Greg’s assistances (and tools!) to help me. He came over at 8am because he was going to be in our part of town anyway and in about 10 minutes we had this new clock hung and looking good! So there you have it–our first hole in the wall.

Hanging Time (3/10/15)

After hanging the clock I headed into the Josiah Venture office for our big international team meeting. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to be there because of sickness, but I was so encouraged by the verses we looked at this morning.

Philippians 4:6-7

…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Dave, who was teaching, talked about having a “zero tolerance” for anxiousness. I really like that thought. The Apostle Paul is not saying you can be anxious sometimes, but “do not be anxious about anything.” Anything! I started to think how often I am anxious in my heart. Whether I’m driving the car, thinking about my family, thinking about ministry, or whatever I’m probably anxious a thousand times more than I realize. But God’s Word provides the solution to our sinful anxiety. “…but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Pray! Cast all our worries on the Lord! Be thankful! And what happens? “The peace of God…will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Amazing. It’s a simple truth, but it’s impact is far reaching. I love the simplicity and I love that when we follow God’s plan in His Word that He brings peace to our worried hearts.

That’s our Tuesday. Goodnight for now.

Categories
365 Czech Republic

Worrying, I Mean, Thinking About Tomorrow

Titus Starts Preschool Tomorrow (10/14/14)

Tomorrow, Lord willing, will be Titus’ first day of preschool. To be perfectly honest, I’ve been thinking about it all day. There’s a mix of emotions that come with this step and it’s something I’ve been trying to take the to the Lord. I say “step” because that’s how it feels, like a step of faith. We’re dropping our kid off tomorrow at a school that only speaks Czech, to a group people we don’t know much about, and expect Titus to do his best without us there. That requires faith. Faith in many different things, but mostly in the God we serve. Many have done this before us, and thankfully we’ve had a local church environment to sort of prepare him, but that doesn’t mean this dad (aka: me) has prepared himself. That’s probably why my heart was drawn to Matthew 6:25-35 tonight. It reads,

[25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There’s a lot to worry about. How will Titus do? How will the teachers treat him? How the other kids treat him? What happens when they don’t understand what he says to them? What happens when he doesn’t understand what they say to him? Do I trust these people with my kid? What if he disobeys? How long will it take for him to get a grasp of the language? What if he struggles with the language? What if he hates it? What if he struggles?

See what I mean? There’s a lot to worry about. But Jesus says, “…do not be anxious about your life.” You can’t take that to mean much else except that you shouldn’t worry about anything in your life. Oh sure, He qualifies it with a few things like food and clothing, but we know He’s talking anything in your life in it’s fullest sense…like your kid’s first day of school. And Jesus explains why. I’ll paraphrase and apply to my situation, but He’s essentially saying, “God is control. He takes care of everything else, so He’ll take care of your son at preschool. Listen, I know what you need and I know what Titus needs. I will take care of it all, you just seek after Me.” That’s a lot easier than worrying, especially since the Creator of the universe has got it all under control. I’ll just seek after Him.

I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Maybe it’ll be great, and I hope it is. Maybe it won’t go so well, but I hope not. Either way, I can trust the Lord knows and is in control of it all. I can look to Him when I don’t know what to do or what to think. He has a vision for our lives and specifically for Titus’ life and He will be faithful. I realize it’s just preschool…but I love my son. I want the best for him like every other dad and sometimes that can can push me in to anxiousness. Praise God that I don’t have to stay anxious, but can seek after Him and trust He will take care of it all.