I am writing this from the familiar surroundings of the apartment in Svbice in Český Těšín.  Once again, my makeshift computer desk/ironing board is placed in front of the living room window.  Once again, I find myself reflecting upon what God has been showing us as we serve Him in Czechia.  Today, though, I’m racing against time to complete a blog before jet lag overcomes me.  So, I better get moving.

Today was a day of travel for us.  We left our home Saturday at 7:00am (shortly after posting my last blog).  Our first stop took us to Salt Lake City, where the snow-topped Rocky Mountains greeted us with majestic winter flair.  After a three hour layover, we were off again to Amsterdam.  The Netherlands were cold and gray – a picture of what we can expect for the duration of our trip.  In Amsterdam we had an amazingly short transition through immigration control (thank you for your prayers), and then not long after, we found ourselves departing on the final leg of our air travel – Krakow Poland.

In Krakow we were united with most of our luggage (one duffel bag decided to say a little longer in Amsterdam), then Filip (the youth leader here) drove us to our home-away-from-home Český Těšín.

On a day like today, God works differently in the hearts of each traveler.  For some of us it was trusting Him with air sickness, or schedules, or even delayed bags.  For me it was anxiety over anther kidney stone.

If you remember, our last trip to the Czech Republic began with me being taken to the emergency room due to a kidney stone attack.  God was merciful and allowed me to serve productively during the remainder of the trip, but during the short period of time that I had the attack, the pain was intense, and the recovery afterward was equally unpleasant.  It’s not an experience that I look forward to repeating.

So, back to today, there were points of time that I felt anxious and couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was causing it.  “God,” I asked “what is going on?  What is bothering me?” He didn’t answer me with a words, but nevertheless gave me real clarity: I was afraid of an encore performance of a kidney stone.

But we serve a God that doesn’t just offer promise of eternal hope, but offers us hope for today too.  We serve a God who will never leave us nor forsake us and who understands our human frailness.  The turning point came for me today when I recognized what was nagging at me.  I promptly took it to Jesus in prayer, and the God of all Hope granted me peace.

I don’t know what struggles you may be facing today but I encourage you to take them to our risen savior, the Prince of Peace, so the He may renew your hope for today as well.

Prayer Requests:

• Health for the team (Noah is feeling much better)
• Recovery from jet lag