Transforming Grace and Practical Love

The Youth Show Practical Love to One Another

Last Friday, when the youth got together we spent some time encouraging one of the members of our group.  Karin, the younger sister of Tereza whom we have known for years thanks to the English Camps, has had health problems throughout her life.  She has had different operations on her joints and often struggles with crippling pain.  The last few months have been particularly difficult for her.  She has not been able to go to school for the past three months or so and is often just confined to her home.  Even though she would love to come to the youth group she has been unable to.  I didn't know about this until about 2 weeks ago when I was speaking with Tereza.  She told me what was going on with Karin and I immediately gave Karin a call to hear straight from her how she was feeling.  She told me about the pain that she had been going through and she told me how prayer had brought her through some tough times and how she had spoken to some of her friends about how God had given her relief during a particular time of intense pain.  I let her know that I would pray for her and asked if I could let the other teens in the youth group know about her struggles so that we could pray for her as a group.  What I didn't tell her was that I was going to ask the teens to write some cards of encouragement to send her.  This Friday Karin received the letters and was so thankful for them and sent a message to the group on Facebook thanking them for the love that they showed her.  This is the kind of environment that we are trying to create within the youth group here.  An environment where people support one another and where each person knows that they are loved.  Pray for Karin as she continues to struggle with pain that she would continue to draw closer and closer to the Lord and that He would bring her relief.  Pray also for the teens in the group that they would come to feel comfortable to ask for help when they need it, that the love of Christ would be contagious, and that these teens would come to know the love of Christ more completely.

Anička on the left and Karin on the right.

A Connection to Home All the Way in the Czech Republic

Over the weekend some of the men of the church here in Ostrava joined with other brothers from across the Czech Republic for a men's retreat and I went along as well.  The reason that I went was because the speaker was American so I knew that I would be able to understand what was being said. The interesting thing was that the speaker was the Senior Pastor of the Wheaton Bible Church.  I thought, Wheaton, that's where the Brusts live.  So I got in contact with Carly and she told me that this is their church and that Jonathan is familiar with the pastor.  So I did introduce myself and let Rob Bugh, the speaker, know of the connection.  We spoke about Jonathan and Carly and about some of the differences between the Czech Republic and the States.  He spoke on the transforming power of God's grace using three different Psalms and spoke about how the Lord has shown him grace through some difficult times in his life.  I also got a chance to meet some new Czech people and a few English speaking foreigners like myself.  All in all a good weekend.  Pray for the men of the church in the Czech Republic.  They need prayer as leaders within the church and leaders in their families.  Pray also that these retreats would grow in size during the coming years.

Rob and I after the conference

Some of the worship team.  They did an awesome job leading this group of men.

Coming Up This Week

Please pray for me this coming week as I will be preaching once again.  Thankfully I was able to finish most of my preparation for the sermon earlier today.  Pray that the Lord would use this sermon in the lives of each person there, including myself.  Pray that the Lord would bring the people that need to hear this sermon to the church this Sunday and that the Lord would speak through me.  Pray also for the youth group as we will have a fun evening of ice skating this coming Friday night.  Pray that they would invite friends to come and skate and that they would just enjoy some fun with one another.