Thursday Morning

Well, I wanted to give you another post before the week was up, but whenever I had time I was just too tired, so I had to let it wait until today.

My morning class was cancelled this morning (school program of some sort) so I had a couple of extra hours around the house which was nice. I have to go in in a little while for my two afternoon classes and then tutoring. President Obama is here in Prague today as well - there were some signs on my bus route saying it would be detoured because of it. Our big trash and recycling cans were also removed from the corner of our block. They either want things to look nicer, or they're worried about bombs. Either is legit, I guess. I'll let you know if I see him walking around our neighborhood! :)

Anyway, the past week has been a good one too. I had lots of fun over our long Easter break (Thurs. Fri. and Mon. off of school) just hanging around the city exploring and checking things off of our "things to do in Prague" list. We went to the zoo, found the Lennon Wall, walked along the river, and visited a couple of new cafes. You can see some pics from the weekend here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013341&id=142700074&l=430bd8de87

On Easter Sunday I went on a hike in the morning in a big park close by with a friend from church and then went to our church service in the evening. We've been talking about the parable of the Lost Son for the past couple of weeks which has been great. This week we talked about how Jesus is our true "older brother" who, unlike the older brother in the story, came to our rescue and sacrificed his life so that we could be reunited with our Father. And how God rejoices and invites us in to relationship with him saying "Here is my Son! He was dead but is alive again! Celebrate with me!" And that's the reality that we live with every day! It's good to be reminded of that.

Our women's Bible study has also been going well. I think I mentioned before that we're studying the book of Colossians. It's definitely a loaded book (as are all of Paul's writings) and honestly, I've struggled a bit with feeling almost silly for thinking we could just sit in our living room and unpack it, and learn the truths from it on our own. But the truth is, that's what God longs for us to do. To sit at his feet and dig deeper. And I just have to trust that He can and will show us new things about himself. There's just so much there!! It makes me wonder too, how much do we go through life missing?? But again, it just about focusing our heart and mind and saying Father, I want to know you more, and trusting him to reveal himself. I'm sure that's one of his favorite prayers to answer. :) This week we focused on the end of chapter two. One of the verses that stuck out to me was verse seventeen, talking about focusing on religious rules and celebrations, etc. it says... "These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." The reality is Christ and what he did for us on the cross. That's what's important. That's what matters. Everything else is but a shadow. Make sure you're focusing on the real thing today!! :)