something that pressed into me while overseas was the incredible importance of small groups. during the hockey season i was unable to get to one of the small groups that met every week from Faith Community church in prague. once march rolled around and hockey ended, i got plugged into one of these groups and it really spurred me on in my walk with christ. god did some big stuff in me during those months!

there's something so powerful about the body getting together and purposefully doing life together, challenging, holding accountable, speaking into one another's lives. i found these points on small groups as laid out by john piper on desiringgod.org and just thought they were awesome. here they are:

7 Reasons We Need Small Groups
1.The impulse avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.

2.The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.

3.Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.

4.Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.

5.Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogue. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.

6.Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.

7.Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.

i feel like i'm saying this all the time now... but SO GOOD, right?!

daily dose of truth

My sister posted these great thoughts on her blog a while back... i'm posting them here because they're SO great and something everyone needs to hear everyday! they're from JD Greer and he says them to himself every morning.

SO GOOD.

“God, because I am in Christ I know there is nothing I can do today that would make you love me any more, and there is nothing I have done that makes you love me any less.”

“God, your presence and approval is all I need to have joy today.”

“God, everything the gospel tells me about your intentions for my life is TRUE.”

you should mosey on over to her blog and check out some of the cool stuff going on her life when you get a chance!
www.jodyheywood.blogspot.com

so i guess now that i'm not in the czech republic anymore i need to think of a new name for my blog. two minutes for czeching just doesn't seem appropriate when i'm clearly not in the czech and no longer number one on the list for people to penalize. well, not that i was ever number one - i think that title would go to ms. jackie friesen. seems the refs in europe couldn't get enough of seeing her skate to the box.

the reference to hockey might not be so appropriate - or rather - applicable since hockey is going to be a substantially smaller part of my world now that i'm back in canada.

yep, back on the homefront. now that i've been back for almost 3 months, i just experienced my first week of feeling like i'm happy to be here. it's been a tough adjustment - last week i almost bought a ticket to prague i missed the place so badly. i had to keep repeating to myself what is true about life: god is sovereign, god is sovereign, god is sovereign. if not for that incredible truth, i think i might have gone crazy! but he is sovereign and i rest and rejoice in that - even though i don't always like what that requires of me.

surrender? denying my own wishes? not planning out my future myself? seriously?? is that even possible? well, truth be told, it's not - not on our own strength at least. that's why our great and mighty god gave us the gift of faith... that he increases as we seek him so that becoming more like christ is even possible... that we can do those things that seem upside-down and are often completely against our will and the desires of fleshly, sinful man.

what does the world who doesn't know him do? do they think about such things? what governs their motives and assures them of the validity of their decisions? i can only begin to imagine the varied list of fillers... what happens to those things when we die? i bet none of it leads to soul satisfaction, peace, joy, freedom from circumstances.

last sunday at the compass (www.compassregina.com) blair talked about our joy not being in external circumstances but the forward progress of the gospel. that is one HARD thing to do - but again, it's not about us doing it... but the Lord doing it in us. and how is that even possible?? the power of christ, his death and resurrection, and saving grace that he extends to all of mankind. the compass is a new church that's recently started up in regina and the lord led me there this summer. i'm so jacked about it and excited to see what god's going to do in a body of people who love christ and seek to live missionally for the gospel.

what would happen if all the christians in regina really GOT it... really started surrendering, living for jesus, stepping out of their comfort zones, denying themselves and sharing what god is doing in their lives with others. it's my prayer that god would do that in me!

and wooaaaahhhh, it would be incredible, the transformation we'd see in this city. but why not?? look at the lord's resume... if anyone's qualified to do it - HE IS.

sidewalk bodytalk

i don't know if i've ever mentioned this before, but there's not much by way of personal space in this country. even when there exists space to be used, often it is still not. case in point: this morning i'm driving home from our first AIA project meeting of 2009, and i saw two women walking on the sidewalk. there were people scattered throughout, but definitely enough space for everyone to walk comfortably. despite this fact, i watched as the two women walked past each other and gave a clear shoulder check to one another - both their arms went flying awkwardly into the air, but neither stopped or even gave a second glance. they went on as if nothing had happened! it was incredible to me. if that happened in north america, someone would have been shouting, possibly punching, maybe even calling their lawyer.

a similiar story comes from my great pal, arielle schade, who spent the year with me here in the czech republic. this time, the setting is italy. arielle is a fairly tall, strong gal (after playing hockey for years and being, well, canadian). she told me that when she was travelling through italy, she was getting fed up with being bumped, nudged, bodychecked, etc., by passersby, so decided to take matters into her own hands. she resolved that the next time someone walked closely past her, she wouldn't dodge out of the way or try to avoid running into them. unfortunately for her, the next person to come her way was a man - a man apparently without regard for anyone else using the space around him. this might be an extreme case, but none the less, it did happen. so arielle braced herself and as the man approached, she even leaned into it a little. BAM. the guy slammed right into her and sent her flying to the side, shoulder aching and feeling more than a little ticked. the guy didn't look back, didn't say sorry, apparently he hadn't noticed the shoulder check he'd administered on the sidewalk in rome.

i guess the moral of the story is... if you don't wanna get hit, you better get out of the way! what a place, this european nation.

brokenness, an epiphany

last night i had an epiphany. a good one. one that's maybe been a really long time coming.

yesterday i turned 25.

that's not the epiphany. but it's part of it. see, birthdays to me are a big deal. but this year was a hard birthday because i was felt more alone than i ever have. it was my first bday away from home and therefore the people that know me best were not around to make my day the awesome day it usually is. it was an ordinary day, with some disappointing rainchecks, a hard off-ice training session containing completely hockey-unrelated exercises, and just an uber-normalesque day. i think these, combined with the low after a great weekend,plus the emotional state i was in, left me feeling nothing but broken.

i got home from practice and cried in bed for quite a while. soon i let the rational thought switch turn on and wondered at my state. i was feeling the intense emptiness of being alone on such a big day and feelings are totally legit. but i was quivering on the edge of letting myself feel unloved. it was time to put the F train to work: fact, faith then feelings. at that point i stopped and opened my bible. it was time for some truth.

now some of you might be wondering at my mental/emotional state, that i would cry over a bday. it's not like i'm 16 or something. but those of you who have lived overseas, far away from home, from normalcy, from your support system, probably know that what i'm talking about is really not that crazy. being in the midst of this whole situation is sometimes just really hard.

so what did i learn last night? here are words of truth that spoke to my heart:

"So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries. Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes."
Isaiah 30:18-19

people are going to let me down. i'm going to have times where i feel unloved - whether that's true or not. but last night in my brokennes and in god's goodness he taught me this:

if no one ever loves me and if everyone i know lets me down, he'll still love me and he'll still be the same kind and loving god he is.

and that's good enough for me.

here's to 25 years and one amazing Father.

loving a person

Loving a person just the way they are, it's no small thing
It takes some time to see things through
Sometimes things change, sometimes we're waiting
We need grace either way

Hold on to me
I'll hold on to you
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through

There's a lot of pain in reaching out and trying
It's a vulnerable place to be
Love and pride can't occupy the same spaces baby
Only one makes you free

Hold on to me
I'll hold on to you
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through

If we go looking for offense
We're going to find it
If we go looking for real love
We're going to find it

i love this song by sara groves because sometimes loving the people in our world is one of the hardest things we're called to do. among other things, our most staggering obstacle is the disease of self, rooted in pride. how can we eliminate this ugly tendency from our lives when, in our pride, we can't even see ourselves the way we truly are?

here are eugene peterson's words from the message, a new favorite translation of mine:

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

so loving a person comes back to spending time in front of that mirror so that we know who we truly are... so that when we glance into our mirrors we see christ and we know who we are and therefore how we act, how we treat people, the way we live our lives.

loving a person's no small thing... so start with christ.

JC using JP to tell it like it is...

you know you've been mia for just a little while when your URL doesn't even recognize your own blog name when you start typing it in.

hey, i'm back. at least for a bit. ;)

i listened to a sermon today by john piper and it was SO awesome. lately i've been thinking a lot about the WORD and how i don't really spend time memorizing scripture. so when i signed up for the desiring god sermon audio by j.p himself, i immediately downloaded the talk named "if my words abide in you".

john doesn't beat around the bush. the first 17 minutes he spent quoting scripture. it was one of the most powerful and profound things i've heard in a reeeeeally long time. here are 8 points he made about memorizing scripture:

1. it makes meditation possible at time when you can't be reading the bible. meditation is the pathway to deeper understanding.

2. it strengthens my faith because faith comes from hearing.

3. it shapes the way i view the world by conforming my mind to god's viewpoint on everything.

4. it makes god's word more readily accessible in overcoming temptation to sin because god's warnings and promises are the way we conquer the deceitful lies of the devil.

5. it guards my mind, making it easier for me to detect error. the world is filled with error because the god of this world is a liar.

6. it enables me to hit the devil in the face, with a force he cannot resist, to protect myself and my family from his assaults. he's millions of times stronger than me and not only that, he hates me, my friends and my family.

7. it provides the strongest and sweetest words for ministering to others in need.

8. it provides the matrix for fellowship with Jesus because he talks to me here in the word and no where else.

good stuff, eh??

he said a bunch of other great stuff, too, but i'll leave you with this sweet thought:

God made us with a brain so that we can connect the words from the bible to our hearts and minds. In this process the Holy Spirit sanctifies us through faith in Christ!