Christmas 2017

Mili pratele a rodino, 

protoze je tu uz prosinec, ohledli jsme se za uplynulym rokem, od ktereho jsme si hodne slibovali. Vydrzi mi remise dalsi rok? Kdy se prestehujeme do naseho domku? Jak to dopadne se zalozenim noveho sboru? Vsechno to byly velke,  zasadni veci, za ktere jsme se modlili a dekujeme, ze jste to nesli na modlitbach spolu s nami.

Dear friends and family,

as December started, we looked back on an amazing year, one that we had high hopes for on so many levels. Will my health last another year? When will we move into our house? How about starting a new church? Big things that we prayed for, and you were joining us.

Kdyz to vezmu po zpatku, ta nejnovejsi zprava se tyka meho zdravi. Vse je v poradku, remise pokracuje a slavim 48 mesicu v remisi!!  Posledni chemoterapie skoncila pred 18 mesici, pred 4 roky na vanoce mi doktorka oznamila, ze jsem znovu v remisi bez pritomnosti leukemie v tele, a posledni den v listopadu to bylo 6 let od zacatku cele teto kapitoly. Za tech sest let se udala spousta zmen, ktere by se bez me nemoci nestaly, ale asi tou nejcasteji pripominanou a  nezapomenutelnou skutecnosti, jste byli vy vsichni, kdo jste se kolem nas semkli a postarali jste se o to, ze jsme se nikdy necitili, ze to musime zvladnout sami!!! Za to jsme Vam moc vdecni!!!!

Going backward from the most recent news, last week I had another check-up, and my health is good. That simply means that I am celebrating 48 months of remission!!!!!! So I have been without any chemotherapy for 18 months, four years no-show of leukemia and six years since it all started. Looking at the six years, we are amazed of all the changes that have happened in our family life because of my sickness. We will never forget how many people embraced us and walked so closely with us- that we never felt alone. Very thankful for each of you! 

Minulou nedeli byla prvni adventni nedele a nase rodina mela za ukol zapalit svicku behem bohosluzby a rict par slov na tema “nadeje”. Podle jedne z mnoha vanocnich tradic, prvni adventni svicka reprezentuje nadeji. Jane cetla biblicky text v anglictine, Sofia v cestine, Mia zapalila svicku a na me zbylo neco rict. 

“Nadeje. V mladi jsem zil nadeji, ze zmenim svet. Ted po dvaceti letech je moje nadeje, ze Buh zmeni me. Predtim jsem se spolehal na svoji silu a co dokazu ja. Ted se spoleham na Boha a na to, co chce On. Spolu s Janem Krtitelem vyznavam o Jezisove miste v mem zivote: “On musi rust, ja se mensit.” (Jan 3:30). To je moje nadeje. “

Last Sunday, we lit the first advent candle in our church. We were asked to speak about hope. Hope means different things for different people. These were my words:

“Hope. When I was younger, my hope was to change the world. Twenty years later my hope is that God will change me. Before it was about my strength and what I could do. Now it's about who God is and what He wants to do. Together with John the Baptist, I say this about Jesus’ role in my life: He must increase, I must decrease. (John 3:30). That is my hope.”

Zivot neni jednoduchy, ale zije se daleko snaz, kdyz mate nekoho jako je Richard Davis za sveho mentora a muzete s nim probirat zivot a okolnosti tak jak prichazi.  Kdyz jsem se mu zminil o mem adventnim svedectvi o nadeji, obratem to vyuzil pro dalsi lekci a protoze me zna, pouzil ilustraci s dvojkolem (tandem). To je celkem paradox, protoze tandem byla “moje” ilustrace co jsem pouzival na klubech Young Lifu pro studenty. Richard rekl: V mladi mas dost sily a velke ego. Pozves Jezise do sveho zivota, ale posadis ho dozadu. Chces jeho silu, aby slapal a rychlejc te dostal kam ty ridis. (Nakonec ceske nazvy pozic na dvojkole - “Kapitan” a “Topic” jsou asi dostatecne jasne.) Ted si ale menite mista, ty budes vzadu a Jezis vpredu. “ A pridal i slova jeho kamarada: “Kdyz je Jezis kapitanem, dostanes se na mista, o kterych ani nevis ze existuji.. “ A neni sam, kdo to zazil. S odhodlanim a velkym ocekavanim se vzdavam riditek, at me vezme na vylet kam On uzna za vhodne. 

One of the biggest blessings of my life is to have Richard Davis as my mentor. Last time we talked, I mention to him my words about hope. He, knowing me, used a tandem bike illustration to take me even deeper on the theme of hope. (Do you know that  tandem bike is not only our hobby, but also it was my thing to use for illustrations for kids during the Young Life club talks?). This is what he said: “When we are young, we have strength and ego. We invite Jesus into our lives. But we give him the back seat - we want his power to go faster to places as we steer the bike. (That makes us captains and Jesus a stoker. or some say rear admiral.) Now, you are switching places, you will sit in the back, and Jesus will take you places.”  As goes a testimony of one of Richard’s friends - when he let Jesus be the captain, Jesus took him places that he never imagined he would see. And so did many others, I am told.  Now I am ready to give Jesus the handlebar to steer where he wants us to go.

Nevim co je prede mnou. Verte mi, ze bych nejradsi smlouval s Bohem a mel jistotu, ze v leukemii jsem si odbyl to nejhorsi a je to za nami. Bohuzel takove vyjednavani neni mozne a nasledovani Jezise je bez jakychkoliv garanci pohodli, klidku a ruzove budoucnosti.

Pokazde kdyz me boli hlava, premyslim o nadoru na mozku. Cokoliv me boli na tele, premyslim ktery organ selhava a jake to bude mit dusledky. S kazdou drobnou zmenou znejistim a ptam se jestli to je zacatek konce.. Ale zaroven kazdy novy den je dar a chci se ptat Boha, jaky smysl ma to ze tu jsem, co je duvodem proc ja tu jsem a nekolik jinych uz ne? Vidim svoji situaci tak, ze jsem na zacatku nove kapitoly. Pokukuju po moznostech jak bych mohl zacit pravidelne prispivat do rodinneho rozpoctu, a postupne se vratit  do role zivitele rodiny a prevzit tuto roli od Jane, ktera ji zastavala po dobu me nemoci. Neumim ani slovy vyjadrit dostatecne svuj dik Jane za to, jak se o vse postarala behem me nemoci. Jako rodina jsme nejen prezili, ale szili se dohromady a pokracovali na ceste spolecnym zivotem. S kazdym rokem co jsme spolu si ji vazim o to vic a mam ji rad, ale jako spravny Cech komunikuju spis opak, takze pokracujici modlitby za nase manzelstvi jsou na miste :-)

I don’t know what is next. Trust me when I say that as much as I would like to bargain with God.  'Ok, leukemia happened, but now there should be nothing else that will affect our lives to such an extent as leukemia did.' I know that is not how following Jesus works.

With every headache, I think of brain tumors. With every pain inside my body, I think of organs that have given up for good. Every change on/in my body I look with a question - is this the beginning of the end? Yet, each day is a gift, and as long as I am alive and well enough, I want to ask God for His purpose. He left me here, while others are with Him. I am pursuing a new chapter of my life, hoping to start some regular activity that would bring more money into our family budget and Jane’s role as our provider would slowly take a turn, and it would once again be my role. I can’t express enough gratitude for God allowing me to have Jane as my wife. Because of her, we didn’t just survive during the sick time; we grew as a family together. With each year I love her more and more! (but as a true Czech man, I mostly communicate the opposite, so pls continue to pray for our marriage! :-))

Po dvou a pul letem usili, kdy jsem nejvice casu stravil na stavbe a vecmi s tim spojenych, jsme na zacatku listopadu prosli kolaudaci!! Byly to nervy, ale vyslo to na poprve. Uzivame si bydleni v novych prostorach, stale je co delat, a jak rikaji zkuseni stavitele - je to hotovy, jen to dokoncit.

Tak je to i u nas - jen to dokoncit!

In the last two and half years, my main role was to be present and supervise the renovation of our house. It is with great joy to report, that in November our reconstructed home passed the state inspection!! That was a big deal, and it's done!! We love living here. It is not completely finished, but we are told by many house owners - there is always something, you are never done with a house.. So all good on this end.

Potom co doktor potvrdil dobre vysledky odberu,  skoncila rekonstrukce uzavrena kolaudaci, zacalo rozhlizeni se po praci, tak zbyva jen jedine - podat zpravu o nove vzniklem sboru DoSlova. Zacali jsme v zari a uz po trech mesicu je seznam veci, za ktere jsme vdecni! Hned na zacatku nam nevyslo uzavreni smlouvy v prostorach kde jsme se schazeli. Buh se smiloval a ve velice kratke dobe se objevilo nahradni reseni, ktere je v nekterych ohledech zajimavejsi nez to puvodni, ktere jsme tak neradi opousteli. Schazime se v prostorach, kde je pres den a vecer bar, a kde vicemene vsechno (zidle, stoly..) drzi “na cestne slovo” - ale v nedeli je to nase utociste, slouzici k chvaleni Pana Boha. A protoze jsme maly sbor, nemame moc divaku.. Vetsina musi prilozit ruku k dilu, abychom si rozdelili zodpovednosti, a bohosluzba probehla cela od zacatku az do konce (99% bohosluzby je s prekladem na podiu). A moc se tesime z nedavneho narozeni dvou miminek maminkam z naseho sboru! Je to obrovska udalost v zivote nasich kamaradu, ale zaroven to zpusobilu vysoky procentni narust poctu lidi v nasem sboru behem prvnich trech mesicu.. (test zarlivosti pro ostatni skupiny zakladajici nove sbory ;-)

With my good health reports, house renovations finished and approved, job search, last but absolutely not least, is the report on the church plant of which we are grateful to be a part. We started in September, and now, three months later there is so much to be thankful for. Even though we got kicked out of one location, God provided a new one, that suits our group perfectly. Because of what it is - a run down bar right in the center of Prague - God is teaching us a lot regarding ownership of the responsibilities that each one of us has for us to come together and worship him. Most people who come on Sunday, have to participate more than just being spectators. It is a good thing. We are still ironing details to make the service run more efficiently and smoothly, especially as 99% of the service is in two languages and translation happens from the stage. We have two new babies being born to two couples, now parents from the launch team, so our church growth makes others jealous - just kidding!

Jsem moc vdecny za kazdeho z Vas, kdo jste se kolem nas semkli, modlite se za nas a stale ctete nas blog. Mam v planu pokracovat s blogem jeste minimalne pristi rok, kdy bych z Bozi milosti dosahl na 5. rok remise. Pak se rozhodneme co dal.

I am very thankful for each one of you, who have come and embraced our family in prayers and who continue to read the blog. I plan to continue to give our updates here for at least another year when by God’s grace I finish year 5 in remission. Then we will decide what will happen next.

Dekujeme Vam vsem za Vasi vytrvalou podporu, modlitby, dopisy, emaily. Je skvele Vas znat a jit zivotem spolu s Vami. Pri vyhledu na rok 2018 vubec nemam poneti co napsat. Nemame plany, ani nevime co si vlastne  prat. Predstavte si novy, cisty, nepopsany list papiru. Takova je nase predstava o 2018. Pokud byste nekdo mel nejakou potuchu nebo proroctvi pro nasi rodinu a co nas ceka, prosim sdilejte s nami.  Nepamatuju si, ze bych nekdy v zivote “nemel plan” nejen na novy rok, ale Ti co me znate jako organizatora, cloveka co vidi co by mohlo byt tak si umite predstavit, ze jsem v teto situaci trochu nervozni.. Cisty nepopsany papir. Modlime se. Pridate se k nam, prosim?

Thank you all for your faithful support, prayers, letters, emails. We are thankful for knowing you and having you in our lives. When we look at 2018, we have no plans and no idea of what that year will hold. Literally,  2018 is a white sheet of paper. Anyone wants to predict or prophecy, or give us heads up of what will happen? I think this is “a first” for me, a planner, a visionary, a dreamer. Not this time.

White blank paper. Praying. Will you continue to pray for us and with us?

Prejeme Vam krasnou vanocni oslavu dodrzeni Boziho slibu svym vernym, ktery se naplnil narozenim Jezise Krista. To jsou nase vanoce a moc si je uzivame, 

je to opravdovy Dar s velkym D!! 

May you have a very Merry Christmas, celebrating that God fulfilled His promise he made to His people and he gave us Jesus Christ! That’s Christmas for me, and what a GIFT!

V Kristu,

In His name,

Martin

45 months and counting.

45 months!

Dear friends, 

earlier this week, doctors confirmed that i continue to be in remission.  With gratefulness for undeserved gift of 45 months in remission I continue to heal, gain strength, and pray for what is next. As i mentioned in the previous posts, a change of our address and starting a new church plant were the two big projects for 2017. We have moved in February and have enjoyed being at the house for the spring and summer even though all the outside and the bottom floor is still a construction site. The renovation will come to an end soon, and we will take a break before we work on the front yard and back yard next spring. 

At the moment, more exciting than finishing the house is tomorrow’s official launch of the new church plant called DoSlova (IntoTheWord). September 10th at 10 am marks a new beginning of a bilingual church in Prague. Over the summer we practiced how to best accommodate two possible groups of people - Czechs, who speak English and English speaking expats for whom Prague is their home. We also realized, probably like any other church, we are struggling with balance for looking inward to make sure we all (including kids) are growing in our faith, but that it would not consume us to the point that we won’t have any energy left to be with those who are asking questions, are interested in opening the Bible to find out more about what God we believe and what do we experience in our following the rabbi Joshua and his teachings…

Looking at the last six months since my last post, i see how God is teaching me about two major things. One can be summed up in a short phrase, that spoke to me in a preaching - “There is enough time for God’s will. “ Time is a commodity that we are all short of. Even if our days had 48 hours we would try to squeeze in more than what we humanly can. We don’t walk, we drive so we can be at more places. We don’t prepare meals out of fresh ingredients because it takes time, which we want to spend somewhere else. God is the Master of time management and that little phrase is slowly changing my life. Since i am aware of it, and talk about it with others, i see how leaving things up to God’s time management is worth the risk.

Busyness is loosing its’ grip on me. It’s not my idol anymore. I am learning how to manage time with God’s help. Especially as the other topic I am learning about is death. “It is not death coming to get me, but God,” was an inspiring quote during one of the hardest times fighting leukemia. Now I am in the process of putting together something that I hope to be the theology of death in written form. What does the Bible teach us about death? What are the major blocks for building a solid theology of how are we to approach the fact, that each one of us has a final day here on Earth. God knows my last day. Is it today? Is it tomorrow? When is it? I don’t know, but the bigger question is this: is my death a tragic end to  my life or is it an end of chapter 1? Someone compared our life and eternity to 9 months of pregnancy and life after birth. I like that illustration. I was not aware of what I was getting into when being born, but it seems that  God gave us a few hints what to look forward to when we will be crossing into eternity. My overall impression is that by not knowing in detail what God revealed to us about death and eternity, I am leaving room for speculations, I am choosing confusion and by tolerating lies opening doors for chaos and fear, that in death I am loosing something, while the TRUTH is that to “die is gain”.

And with this hope..

… that our lives are just a chapter 1 of something much longer then 80 years, 

… that forgiveness for turning our back to God and reconciliation with Him is made possible thru the cross of Jesus,  

… that Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Light

… let’s start a church!!!!!!!! 

ps. here is the link, may you ever wonder when and where we worship on Sunday www.doslovapraha.cz

38 months!!

Mili pratele,

Dear friends,

jsem moc rad, ze s Vami muzu sdilet nekolik dobrych zprav. Povazuji to za obrovskou Bozi milost, ze mame tak bohaty a pestry zivot, ale i tato radost a vdecnost nejsou schopny prekryt moji bolest, kterou nesu spolu s jednim z mych pratel.

It is with great gratitude for God’s mercy that I write to you today. My heart is rejoicing for three reasons, that unfortunately cannot outweigh the pain I feel for a friend of mine.

V pondeli jsem byl na pravidelnem odberu krve a vysledky jsou ciste!!! Pristi tyden tak muzu slavit 38.mesic remise! Jsem velice vdecny za to, ze navsteva nemocnice je “pouze” 4x do roka. 

Pridejte se k nam a dekujme spolecne Bohu za moje zdravi.

On Monday, I had another blood test that came back clean. That makes me in remission for 38 months next week!!!!! I am very thankful that my trips to the hospital are “only” 4 times a year!! Please join my family and me as we are praising God for my recovery. 

Ta dalsi dobra zprava je ohledne naseho bydleni. Uz dva tydny bydlime v nasem domku!! Holky cely proces stehovani trochu urychlily. Za vysvedceni jsme ji slibili prespani, a hned po prvni noci nas presvedcili, abychom uz tady zustali. Zacali jsme tedy postupne privazet vic a vic veci. Je to uplne jiny pocit po 2 stehovanich v roce 2016 se “konecne” stehovat do sveho. Pomalu si tak zvykame na nove prostredi. Postupne jsou dokonceny ruzne interierove detaily jako treba dvere na zachod a do koupelny, nektere jsou stale v procesu jako satni skrine a ulozne prostory, a nektere nas cekaji az povoli mrazy a budeme moci dodelat vstupni lavku mezi chodnikem a domem. Nase “kempovani” trvalo nakonec 7 mesicu oproti planovanym 3, ale kdo to ted bude pocitat, kdyz uz jsme prestehovani!!!!!! Jsem moc vdecny Bohu za takovou moznost, nikdy jsem si nemyslel, ze budeme nekdy bydlet v domku se zahradou.. A navic ted uz muzeme znovu privitat navstevy, pochutnat si na domaci kuchyni a peceni od Jane, a uzit si spolecny cas! Takze pokud budete na Praze 6, nebo planujete cestu pres Prahu, dejte nam vedet a radi Vas uvidime!! Mezitim nez k nam dorazite, muzete se prosim spolu s nami primlouvat za moudrost jak nejlepe dokoncit rozdelanou praci a taky za papiry a dokumenty, kterych je porad neskutecne mnozstvi k vyrizeni. Moc dekujeme!

The second update is about our housing. For the last two weeks we have been in our house!! Our girls talked us into moving into barely finished house as they were excited after sleeping here for one night as a special treat at the end of school semester. From that one night we never fully went back into our rental apartment and instead started to bring more and more things into our home.  It is quite an adjustment after two temporary moves during 2016 to be unpacking knowing that we have arrived and this is our future home. Slowly we are settling in. We appreciate details that are already finished, (like doors to the bathroom), are in process of being finished (closets and storage spaces) and some that we still have to wait patiently for until the weather permits outside work again (connecting bridge from the street into the house).  

So our family “camping” took 7 months instead of 3, but who is counting now, when we are in house, right? Very thankful to God that this is even possible at all. I never dreamed that it would ever be an option. Now we can open the doors, have family and friends over, enjoy together Jane’s cooking and baking and have a good time together!!  So, may you find yourself in the neighborhood of Prague 6 or may your travel take you to Prague, please don’t hesitate to contact us and/or come on over!!!!!! In the meantime, can I ask you to pray for us as we settle in and there is still a lot of projects ahead of us that we would love to finish as well as paperwork that we need to deal with. 

V jedne z predeslych zprav jsem psal, ze v roce 2017 se nejenom prestehujeme, ale take se pripojime ke skupine lidi co pujdou zakladat novy sbor. Uz tretim rokem jsme soucasti mezinarodniho krestanskeho spolecenstvi Faith Community Church, a nekdy od leta by tento sbor vyslal skupinu cca 20 dospelych a deti do noveho mista. Spolecne se modlime a hledame misto i nazev pro tento sbor, kde bude zaznivat Bozi slovo anglicky i cesky. Radi bychom, aby v novem sboru nasli svuj prazsky duchovni  domov jak Cesi mluvici anglicky, tak cizinci, kteri ziji dlouhodobe v Praze, stari i mladi, proste vsichni ti, kteri jeste zadny sbor nemaji.. Jsme velice vdecni za tuto prilezitost, ze spolecneho vikendu pripravneho tymu jsme prijeli nadseni a tesime se na dalsi kroky, ktere jsou pred nami. Modlete se prosim s nami, abychom opravdu nasledovali Bozi vedeni. 

As I mentioned in my previous post,  in 2017 we will not only change our home address, but also be a part of a church plant. Growing out of Faith Community Church in Prague, which we have been part of for about three years now, a group of about 20 adults and kids is committed to follow God’s lead to a new location to present the Gospel to Czech/English speaking Czechs, expats and internationals. We came home from a weekend away with the launch team very encouraged and praying that God will open our eyes to things that we need to see to make good choices about the location and the name. We would love to have a name that somehow reflects who we are and what we are about, but it also needs to work in Czech and English.  The group is a great mix of Czechs, internationals, US expats, singles and families, old and young (I can say that, because I am the oldest at the moment..). We are very grateful to be part of this group and would you pray for us and with us that we literally go where God opens the doors. 

Tak a ted to co me trapi. Uz jsem psal o tom, ze otazka “Proc ja?“  me netrapila na zacatku me nemoci, ale trapi me ted behem uzdravovani. Nekolik z mych kamaradu uz nezije a jeden z tech kdo je pod tezkou palbou rakoviny, je muj kamarad Brian. Jeho diagnoza melonomy prisla cca 2 mesice potom co jsem si ja vyslechl tu svoji s leukemii. Od te doby Brian statecne valci, obcas se zda ze se mu podarilo vyhrat a nemoc se zastavila nebo dokonce malinko ustupuje, ale pak se zase objevi novy nalez a ten je vetsinou horsi nez co bylo predtim. Mohl bych Vas pozadat, pokud se pridate k nam a budete dekovat Bohu za me zdravi, muzete se take prosim primluvit u naseho nebeskeho Otce za Briana? Kdyby jste meli zajem o vic informaci, ktere chodi v emailove podobe, rad Vam predam kontakt.

Now the hard part. If you read my past blog posts, I struggle with the question “Why me?” as I am recovering and some of my friends have passed away. My friend Bryan, who was diagnosed with melanoma about two months after I heard the diagnosis of leukemia, has been fighting for five years with small victories in battles, but the war is still raging big time. May I ask that if you join me and my family in giving thanks to God for my health, you will pray for my friend Bryan, his wife Bethany and their two small children, Thad and Sage?

If you would be interested to be on their email updates with prayer requests, please let me know and I connect you. 

Nepovazuji to za samozrejmost, naopak za velikou nezaslouzenou milost, mit okolo sebe skupinu tak vytrvalych a vernych pratel. Radi bychom se modlili i my za Vas, poslete nam prosim jednu nebo dve veci jak se za Vas muzeme modlit. Jeste lepsi by byla navsteva a videt se nad salkem dobre kavy, ale budme realisti a vdecni za to co mame.. Dekujeme Vam vsem, ze nadale vytrvale jste temi, kteri prispivaji svoji pritomnosti v nasich zivotech k memu uzdraveni.

It is a privilege to have such a solid group of friends close and far to stand around me and my family. May you take a minute to let us know how can we be praying for you? It would be awesome to catch up over good cup of coffee but lets just be realistic and work with what we got..Thank you friends, your presence in our lives is part of my healing journey!

In Christ,

Martin