A very Merry Christmas!

Mili pratele,

Dear friends,

ani poradne nevim jak vyjadrit vdecnost za to, ze jsem se dozil dneska. Ale predtim nez se rozepisu o vanocich, chtel bych se podelit o kratkou zpravu z vanocni vecere prazskeho YL.

I can't tell you how grateful I am for today! But before I go on, let me give you a quick update on the YL Christmas dinner last week and my talk.

Celkem prislo asi 40 studentu. Meli jsme dost jidla pro celou skupinu a oproti lonskemu roku jsme nemeli zadne zbytky! Vsechno snedeno!! Byl jsem mile prekvapen, ze prislo i nekolik studentu a vedoucich z predchozich let a taky jsem si moc uzil cas s lidma z Klubu pratel prazskeho YL. 

We had about 40 students. There was enough food for all 55 of us and this year - NO LEFTOVERS to waste!!!

I was very surprised to see some older students and leaders and it's always a great time to hang out with our committee people!! 

Studenti trpelive poslouchali celou dobu co jsem mluvil. Oni poslouchali me, a ja pak poslouchal studenty a vedouci jak hodnoti muj program. Behem pripravy mi celkova delka vychazela na 13 min, ale to jsem vynechal uvodni videoklip z filmu a necetl jsem k tomu doslova tri pasaze z Bible. Takze celkem to byla pres 20 minut a ty 3 pasaze byly pomerne nesrozumitelne. Slo to rict jinak. Kdybych si to vyzkousel pred vedoucima pred veceri, mel bych zpetnou vazbu hned a mohl jsem to upravit. Ale studenti i vedouci dokazali zopakovat hlavni myslenku - Buh nezapomnel dodrzet svuj slib. Jezis se narodil v pravy cas na pravem miste a byl tou ocekavanou odpovedi na slib dany Abrahamovi, krali Davidovi a potvrzenim proroctvi co mel prorok Isajas. V hodnoceni se vedouci zminovali i o vyzve, kterou jsem dal studentum na letosni vanoce - nenechte si ukrast vanoce Santou, Mikulasem, nebo touhou po mnozstvi darku. Jezis nezustal v jeslickach moc dlouho, vyrostl a byl to ten Mesias, na ktereho cekali cele generace. Dejte si tu praci a obetujte trochu casu, abyste se sami mohli presvedcit, proc se slavi Jezisovo narozeni s takovou slavou. Nebojte se zeptat.

 

Students were kind enough to listen to my talk, and I learned some very valuable lessons. At practice, my talk was 13 minutes long. But that was without showing a movie clip first and also reading 3 passages from the Bible. So in the end, it was over 20min, with 3 heavy Old Testaments quotes. Had i practiced my talk in a presence of a leader or two, they would have already given me the much needed feedback before hand and not just afterwards. But the point was clear - God didn't forget to fulfill his promise. Jesus was born at the perfect time and place in histrory as a promise given to Abraham, King David and an answer to Isaiah's prophesy.  All the leaders whom I asked for evaluation got the point and remembered even the challenge i left the students with - don't let Santa Claus or Nicolas or desire for many gifts steal your Christmas. Jesus didn't stay in the crib for long, he grew and he was the promised Messiah. Take the time this Christmas to find out more about why we celebrate his birth. Ask. 

Sofia a Mia jsou dost stare na to, aby si vanoce pamatovali a dost mlade na to, aby si je poradne uzili se vsim co k nim patri. Jejich radost z vyrabeni a davani darku je silnejsi nez trpelivost, se kterou by mely cekat na Stedry vecer. Uz rano v 7.45 nas s Jane probudily s tim, ze "musime" otevrit darky co nam udelali. Chteji u vseho byt, na vsem se podilet a to jeste stihly si pripravit vanocni koncert pro babicky s dedou!! Mia uz umi asi 15 vanocnich koled a zpiva je porad dokola!! Jejich radost je nakazliva!

This year, Sofia and Mia are at the perfect Christmas age. Their joy of making and giving gifts is making them so impatient that Jane and I had to open our first gifts from them at 7.45am this morning!!!!!  We couldn't even convince them to wait until tonight, when the Baby Jesus is coming with the gifts. They want to help with everything around the house and are preparing a Christmas concert for tonight! Their Czech grandmas and grandpa are coming to join us so they put together a little show. Mia knows about 15 different Czech Christian carols and sings them constantly! What a joy to see their smiles!

Dneska vecer mam posledni davku prasku me pravidelne udrzovaci chemoterapie. A taky jsem moc vdecny, protoze muzeme slavit spolecne s moji rodinou prvni vyroci remise. Behem jara zemrel jeden z mych kamaradu z nemocnice a tak vim, jak blizko jsem se dostal k tomu, abych tyhle vanoce uz nemel s rodinou. Pral bych si (trosku sobecky), aby tu s nami byli i rodice Jane, ale potom co nam 3 roky pomahali a byly tu pokazde na vanocni svatky, tak je cas nechat je uzit si i ostatnich clenu rodiny a pribuznych.

Tonight, not only I will take my last dose of pills of my chemo for this year, but I get to celebrate with my family 1 YEAR in remission !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The reality is that I lost of one of my hospital friends earlier this year, so I know how close I was to not having this Christmas. Wishing (selfishly) that Jane's parents would be with us, but after their faithful service and help to our family for 3 years, it is time for their own families have their turns. 

Dekujeme za Vase pokracujici modlitby a podporu, ktere se nam od Vas dostava.  Prejeme Vam vsem krasne vanoce!! 

Thank you very much for your continues prayer and support that you show me and my family.  Merry Christmas to all of you! 

V Kristu,

In Christ,

Martin

advent update:: from Martin

Mili pratele,

Dear friends,

Rad bych se s Vami podelil o dve zpravy. 

Ta prvni je o mem zdravotnim stavu. Minuly tyden jsem mel kontrolu s odebranim vzorku krve a kostni drene. 

Protoze se ani muj osetrujici lekar a  ani nikdo jiny z nemocnice se neozval, beru to, ze je vsechno ciste a bez pritomnosti leukemie.

S mirnymi obtizemi, souvisejicimi s udrzovaci chemoterapii, kterou znova po 3 mesicich prochazim,se chystam na cilovou rovinku 1. roku remise!!!!!!!!!! Ani ne 10 dni..

There are two things that I would like to share with you. 

The first one is about my test results. Last week I gave blood and bone marrow samples. Since neither the doctor nor the hospital staff called, I take it that both samples are clear!!!! I am currently having some difficulties with side effects to the pills I am taking as part of my maintenance chemo, but other than that I am heading for the finish line of ONE YEAR in remission!!!!!!!!!!!! In less then 10 days..

Jsem nesmirne vdecny za kazdy den, i kdyz ne kazdy den je takovy jaky bych si ho pral mit. Porad se musim ucit co to znamena nasledovat Jezise, nest bremeno a ale mit hlavu nahore s vyhledem na Jeho milost a Jeho pozvani ke spolecne vecnosti. Na prvni adventni bohosluzbe jsme meli moznost zapalit ve sboru svicku a rict neco o uplynulem roce. Byl to dobry zacatek adventu, ale nebyt nasi domaci skupinky a nedelnich bohosluzeb, urcite bych se nechal pohltit kolotocem toho vseho, co bych jeste chtel do vanoc stihnout. 

I am very thankful for each new day, but have to confess that not every day goes according to my plan. It always brings me back to basics of how to follow and trust Jesus, bear the cross, but have the hope in His grace and invitation to be in His presence for eternity. My family was asked to light the first advent candle during our church service and say a few words about last year. It was a great start of advent, but if it was not for our home group and Sunday service, i would easily get sucked into the whirpool of things that MUST be done before Christmas. 

Minuly tyden jsem byl pozvan mezi studenty Evangelikalniho teologickeho seminare na praktickou cast jejich vyucovani s nazvem Praxis Pieatatis. Pro me osobne to byla vyzva srovnat si myslenky a ohlednout se za rokem, ktery se od tech predchozich dost odlisoval. Nejvetsi radosti pro me byly rozhovory, ktere zacaly na zaklade sdileni o pokracovani "cesty udolim". Znamena to, ze alespon nekteri studenti poslouchali, a pak se o bolesti, smrti, zdravotnich problemech chteli bavit na osobni rovine.  Ale mel jsem jeste jeden duvod k radosti. Nechci odhadovat presna cisla, ale oproti lonskemu roku byla skupina aspon dvojnasobna!!! To znamena, ze jsou dalsi mladi lide, kteri prozili povolani do sluzby a jsou ochotni vykrocit!!!!!!! To je uzasna zprava pro ceskou cirkev! 

As I mentioned before, I was asked to come to speak to the seminary students during their Praxis Pietatis. It was good for me to sit down and sort out my thoughts as I looked back at the last 15 months, that were different from anything else in my life. It was a joy to have personal conversations with some of the students afterwards, hearing their stories and how they want to help those in need. But there was one more reason for joy! The group was about twice as big as last year!!!! There are more young people who have answered God's call to ministry and they stepped out in faith. That is a great news for the Czech church!!

V tomto tydnu probehna i Vanocni vecere prazskeho Young Lifu, kam jsem pozvan abych studentum "neco" rekl. Tesim se, i kdyz jsem nervozni. Prosim pripojte se k mym modlitbam, abych mel nejen fyzicky dost sil (kvuli chemoterapii jsem vice unaveny a potrebuji pres den spat) ale taky aby moje slova byla prijata studenty jako vyzva ke vztahu s Tim, kdo splnil slib a poslal lidem opravdoveho Mesiase.

The YL Prague's Christmas dinner is on the schedule for this week. I am invited to have the club talk or as we talk about it - tell "something" to the students. I am looking forward to it, but i am also nervous. Please join me in my prayers for having enough physical strength (I am taking the chemo pills again and need to nap during every day) but more importantly that my words will challenge students to start their own relationship with the One, who promised and gave us the real Messiah.

Brzo napisu, jak to dopadlo.

I will soon send another update.

Preji Vam predvanocni tyden naplneny Bozim pokojem,

May your pre-Christmas week be filled with God's peace!

Martin