if you want to live, you have to die

i was terminally ill

though with all of  my strength i tried to stay alive,

there was no way out -

no hope

i was fighting, resisting

i kept screaming into the paralyzing void

i knew death was near

but my mind refused to follow

when suddenly everything ceased

faster i expected

and then...

....resurrection came

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

easter 

Christ died for me

so that i can live for Him

and i

i need to die to myself

so that He can live through me

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

... and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves

but for Him who died for them and was raised again...

/2 corinthians 5:15/

... for through the law i died to the law so that i might live for God.

i have been crucified with Christ and i no longer live, 

but Christ lives in me.

the life  i live in the body, i live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave himself for me...

/galatians 2:19-20/

...you also died to the law through the body of Christ,

that you might belong to another,

to him who was raised from the dead,

in order that we might bear fruit to God...

/romans 7:4/

What if ...?

"What if I should have bought that second pair of shoes after all?"
"I would love to spend a semester abroad. But what if he breaks up with me because of that?"
"I'm not sure if I should take this job offer. What if there's something better just right behind the corner?"
"What if we'll never get over this crisis?"
"There has been a constant aching pain in my right eye for several months. What if I have a brain tumor?"

Funny.
And yet, how many of you could find yourself in this?
Combination of these two innocent words is quite scary.
It paralyzes you, comes with unfounded worries, leads to indecisiveness, or even activates anxiety.

I realized there have been (and probably still are) many "what if" fears in my life. I am so thankful to God that He has was (is) dealing with those and I know what the words 'so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed' mean!
However, those two little words still carried a negative connotation for me.

But then....I've got to listen to Dave Patty at Josiah Venture Fall Conference. He was using the same combination of words, but his didn't sound so scary.
"What if this could look differently?"
"What if we try to do .... Can you imagine what kind of change this could bring?"

Do you see the difference?
His words were inviting opportunities, motivating me, allowing me to dream.
I left really encouraged!
And I hope this can encourage you, too.

We might have tendency to worry, perceive circumstances as threats of to ourselves, but there is still another perspective as well.

Yeah, we cannot change everything.
But there are things we surely can,
or at least we can try. ;)

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

Of course, Lord! You are the Christ, my Savior!

Yes I am. But, do you love me?

Definitely! Everything I do, I do it for You.

Lord, haven't you noticed?

On the contrary! 

I know about your desire to bring good news to the lost;

I see you singing for my glory;

taking care of children and the old ones.

I see your tithing.

You pray, you read the Bible.

I know about all those things very well,

and you won't miss your reward.

But today I want to know something else:

Do you love me?

.................

I've written this poem few years ago and yesterday,

 during Rob Trenckmann's talk at JV fall converence, I got reminded of them.

I don't know about you, but I started with this:

Believing and accepting love changed everything; 

my presence, my future,

 my identity.

And yet, there are times when I get stuck. 

In my head I know God loves me, but it doesn't get to my heart.

It is just a knowledge.

Instead of living out of love I live out of obligation.

As a good Christian I try to do good things, obey, be thankful...

/even non-believers know how the good Christian ought to behave, right?/

... but something is missing.

Something is wrong!

God did not reconcile me with Himself to become a spiritual robot.

He gave his life freely so my relationship with Him could be restored.

Relationship built upon trust and mutual love.

L.O.V.E.

Love doesn't demand but has requirements.

Once I believed Him, He wants only one thing from me:

my love in return.

It actually makes so much sense.

The more I know I'm being loved by someone,

it makes me want to love him back.

And love's manifestations just as

making right decisions, doing good deeds, 

being able to give up selfish desires and 

pay the cost of following Jesus

will naturally come out of the deep conviction of 

being loved by my Creator.

.............

Well, I know how this works, but I still can be stuck.

So what do I do?

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives;

the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocs,

the door will be opened." /Matt.7:7-8/

Ask, seek and knock. 

There is this promise that if I go after the reason,

He will reveal it,

confront it, lead me to repentance if necessary 

and most of all I believe,

He will assure me about His love again.

What about you?

Do you love Him?

Do you want to love Him?

"I like staff meetings!"

I am very much aware that not everyone can say such a sentence

and that makes me even more thankful for where I work and especially

whom I work with.

Staff meeting in September belongs to my favorite ones.

Sharing different experiences from the summer (how we've seen God at work)
is actually a great way of kicking off a new season!

 Clara and Danny Jones were with us this time as well. 

To hear the history of TCKompas from the mouth of someone 

who was there at the very beginning was very inspiring to me!

Saying good-byes isn't usually very pleasant. But saying good-buy to our colleague,
Zuzi Potocka (who meanwhile became Mrs.Sabol)  was different.
Looking back and see the outcome of how God worked in and through her is
in fact a reason for celebration!

We got to Žilina from several Slovak cities and villages and it felt so good
when Žilina's staff took care of us.
Kim and Zac, thank you for being such a great host!

So this is how our team looks like together with our interns and friends with same vision.

And the vision is:

"Being a part of a movement of God amont the youth of Slovakia 

that finds its home in the local church and transforms society."

About an extraordinary Thursday!

Thursdays are usually ordinary days.

But not the last one!

I've been invited to sing at Christian festival Semfest.

And I am really thankful for this invitation,

because I literally had to brush up my old songs

and work on music outside of Fusion. 

The added value was that I was performing with my brother Ivan.

An unexpected thing was that 2 days before the concert our parents decided to go with us.

They took it as a celebration of their 38th wedding anniversary!

It was challenging to put all 4 of us into one car together with instruments

but we had fun.

Talking about different things,

drinking (for me definitely disgusting) energy drinks,

laughing and sharing

...

all of this is now part of our family history.

Of course one needs to prepare before performing on stage!

 I'm not talking only about song/music rehearsals. 

The most important part for me are those moments with God, 

when I pray and ask for THE playlist.

What a reward when people show up after concert telling

that they've got encouraged!

.....

One of the songs was about not giving up. 

Since I've no recording (yet), you will have to make up your own music :)

Even though I’m standing on the edge of my life once again;

and I don’t see much meaning around;

I will carry on, I will be strong.

Cause there must be something more,

more in this fallen world.

I refuse that some fate just plays stupid games

and humans like me try to escape away.

Many times I’m hiding behind my wounded heart;

and my eyes are blind to understand;

but somewhere deep in my soul

something stronger than me knows:

That there is something more,

more in this fallen world.

I refuse that some fate just plays stupid games

and humans like me try to escape away.

When enemy comes,

fear tries to steal,

and misery seems so real to me –

that’s the time I’ll stand on Your word about the promised land.

And even though war blusters around

I still can be sure that I...

I will survive,

I will touch eternity,

I will be forever

cause I believe (in) 

You, in You.

You are my light shining through the dark,

You are the reason why I’m risking my life.

read more ... elsewhere

my last blog post was about the process of a new fusion start in bratislava. well, since then we even launched another new fusion in eastern slovakia!!! so much work, so many good memories and a lot of God's mercy

.march 11
.beginning of Rača's Fusion

the morning began in the cultural house where the sound, lights, stage, and band were set up. after an hour of a great program prepared by one of the fusion choirs, students were given invitations to the first rehearsal that was happening that same evening.... read more

.march 19-22

.kpm

this year, we invited they youth leaders into the kingdom. we wanted to talk abou our instincts and the possibility of their deception toward us. what if there is still some knowledge of the reality of the kingdom that we ignore, because functioning through those principles would be unnatural for us?... read more

.april 10-12

.fusiondary

fusiondary is a festival for all fusions around europe. statistics of this year: cca 450 people, 5 countries, 12 concerts. read more .... this is a slovak blog, but you can use the language bar and read google translation (sorry)

.april 24

.fusion #5

their first concert together with the first official rehearsal went well. pictures can tell o lot, so visit their fb album

that would be it! 

for now :)

Seventh out of ten

Yesterday I got an email from a girl asking what would be the most important prerequisites

 for starting a new Fusion.

Good question.

When you go to our TCK web, you'll find 10 steps for a successful Fusion launch.

The first one says it all - if I don't have a burden for the lost teenagers, 

I don't even need to continue.

These people in Rača got it. After the second training ...

... there is step #7 ahead of us - preparation of the first rehearsal.

I'm excited because this means that in one week we launch Fusion there!

Till then, still lots of water will flow under the bridge 

and we need to take care of many things.

Just like today, while I was working on some details,

our Fusion students were creating and rehearsing a funny skit 

for the opening concert.

What a huge smile on my face and thankfulness in my heart!

We didn't even exist 2 and a half years ago and look at them...

...they are helping with the launch of a new Fusion in Bratislava!

Now it's Rača's turn, and then,

the next one will arise!