Training

FINALLY CAUGHT with up to date with the BLOGGING!!

Training is going over so very well. The mountains up here are beautiful and these last few mornings spent with the Lord and hearing his whisper was unlike anything I could experience back home, so I am grateful for that. Spending time with the other interns, laughing, sharing, and worshiping has been an amazing time of fellowship as well.

WORSHIP

These last 2 nights of worship has been a thundering and tender sweetness. Just to know that the Holy Spirit is working in every single person in that room is such a different experience. I can hear there their hearts cry out and it has been humbling to be used by God, and to trust His Spirit to lead through me. I was so encouraged when people would not compliment on my vocal abilities or guitar, but how their souls were nourished. Praise God. I will truly cherish these next 4 nights!

DEVOTIONS

Every morning aside form our own personal devotional time, we all gather to read a few verses from selected passages. First we hear the passage. Then we read it ourselves. Then we take note of things that stand out to us. Then we read it a second time. We pray about what God wants to show us. Then we read it again and pray how God wants us to respond-Thanksgiving, repentance, challenge, etc. Then we share with each other.

CAMP TRAINING

Every morning we go through 3 hours of English Class/Discussion Group training. We prepare for English lessons and those times of discussions. It was so helpful to see lesson plans and actual examples of lesson plans. *Czech team from NCC, if you want to see those manuals or lesson plans let me know. I feel so much more encouraged and even excited to begin planning these lessons. JV values excellence so much that I am really encouraged to hear all the amazing stories of how English has been a means to the Gospel and changed lives. We went over things to do, what not do, resources, themes, lesson plans, and activities. We brainstormed some great activities to facilitate English speaking. Some funny and innovative ones people thought up of were -Make your own inventions, fashion relays, infomercials, make your own super-hero, Reinterpret pop songs, Showdowns(debates: blonds vs brunettes, denim vs khaki), Make your own ransom notes. These activities would coincide with a particular theme each day.

Discussion Groups

This is the Spiritual focus of the Evangelistic camps. In our Czech camps, our English groups are our discussion groups to maintain the intentional relationships. Every night we will here a redemptive story from the Bible. Then in our groups we will share and discuss them. It was really challenging to prepare for that environment. One of the elements in leading these groups involve not answer the questions...to leave room and time to process. Czechs have grown up in classrooms led by old school teachers grown up in the communist era who lecture, where one way is the only way. No discussion. As a leader in that, I will have to be able to read the environment and ask good questions that will allow the students to process. This will be interesting with a theme like redemption.

Moreover, my team and I are growing. Yesterday was refining day. Painful but good. We debriefed about the race and the platform was staged for edifying. We encouraged each other with things we saw in each other and it was a really warm time. The platform was also staged for confessing the internal struggles and the confronting one another. This was tough as I fought my tendency to sacrifice confrontation for peace and said some hard things to Sean and Kim. I knew I was really messed up inside and I wasn't willing to see the goodness they bring and the strengths they possess. Confessing and seeking forgiveness for being messed up sucks. It was also tough to hear hard things. Others shared with me my unwillingness to listen and let others lead. The wounds always sting when you clean it out but thats the only way they will heal. That night, we committed to praying with each other every night. Thank you for your prayers, they are being answered in every fashion....Please stop praying for humility though...its getting old....JUST KIDDING!!!!! No really praise God and Thank you that I get to share this experience with not just myself and journal, but with a family I love.

I love you

Kha

PLEASE PRAY FOR:

1. Training to be well absorbed and utilized. That training is Spirit led and wisdom for the leaders of JV

2. Growth with believers here not just on superficial terms, but on a deep level. Willingness to be transparent and confront all issues/internal conflicts here and now.

3. Rest. Still not feeling all the way there. Sleep is difficult. Still congested.

Amazing Race: Day 3

Our final tasks involved finding a school in the middle of Brno. Remember my theory early about asking young people because they know English? Well on the tram, there a dozen little kids- 5 to 8 year olds. So of course I asked them if they had ever heard of the name of the school. And from amongst the kids, a 7 year old boy stepped up and in wonderful English gave us exact directions there!

Task#1: English Test. After the average, for every percent wrong is minute penalty. There were teams that were penalized for 69 minutes...40 minutes... The test was a gruesome 10 multiple choice! In the end we averaged 46%..leaving us 56min of penalty.

Task#2 Gummy Bear challenge in the downtown district. There, the teams gathered in the square to separate 300 individual gummy bears by color from one end of the square to the other! Without using our hands, teams picking up gummy bears with their mouth, running to the other side where several bowls laid, and spat it out with the right colored bowl! The task was....a bitter/sweet one to say the least. I suppose it promoted some sense of bonding, especially when one would slurp up a few gummy bears by accident and had to spit out all but one back into the team bowl, only waiting to picked up again by another team member. There's nothing like brining unity by unifying spit.

Task#3 Complete final goals at the training center

We needed to find a train that took us to the Beskedy Mountains to the JV Hotel. The only sense of direction we had was my memory that the hotel was located in "Malenovice." Apparently there were several "Malenovice's".... I've included a few journal entries to explain. But this was another time of conflict and problem solving. Again we were confronted with language barriers and the sense of lostness at the train station where no one spoke English. We couldn't communicate how to get to a Hotel we didn't know the name of to a town that stations and cities have the same name to. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking and trains were leaving. Teams were coming and teams were going. In the end, the train station figured out what we were asking and sent us on our way( the longest imaginable way fyi). We finished 11th out of 13 teams. But we were not discouraged. It was an Amazing Race with much learned and unforgettable memories made.

Here are two journal entries from that day:

5/28/10

After a night of sweet slumber I was awoken by the overtly bright shine of the EARLY Czech sunrise. It was so bright, it even alarmed me to think we were late for our departure. At a quarter to seven am, the teams gathered and awaited for our clues. After placing 2nd last night, with the previous night's 3 unsuccessful challenges, we were now in 4th place. The first challenge of the day was a clue to a school in the city of Brno. We asked passerby surveyors. They spoke English and we found ourselves for the first time as a team sprinting in competition for the next tram. We found a school of children and began asking them for help. One 7 year old stepped up and in well-spoken English gave us directions to the spot where we were 4th to arrive to a classroom. It was an English test. I scored a 30% on my test (Who really knows was a predicate is?????) So now we are waiting 54 min until our next clue. Some teams had to wait 69minutes! This does bring us closer to the race. We are really pulling together in the spirit of competition. God greatly answered prayers for encouragement yesterday. We are all growing in our confidence, leadership, and unity. Physically, I know I am tired. My legs are tired and weary. My clothes are putrid. My stomach is shrinking. But my spirit is awake and ready.

5/28/10 Later that day

Isaiah 61. The Lord brought his passage as a source of comfort and encouragement to me today. A few times today I felt the sting of discouragement. I want so bad to be a good leader, to make good decisions and to be a blessing to my team and those around. In the times of navigating blindly to a destination that involved a race in time and budget, I feel tremendous pressures. We were deciding to head to the training center; My only hint of direction was the name, "Malenovie." We were buying tickets to that city. The lady behind the counter did not speak any English. So I said "Malenovice" and she began printing the ticket to the cit of Malenovice. Daniel and Kim then made the remark, "You are going the wrong direction." At that my heart sank. Apparently there were several stations, small towns, and cities with that name, and where were headed was not the right one. We were lost. And to know that Dan and Kim knew where to go but could not say was adding loads of pressure. I had a mad but could not figure out were to go. My other teammates were lost. The lady had no idea what we wanted. It was so frustrating. Other teams were running in buying tickets and taking off. Time was running out. How were we suppose to find a hotel with no name, no destination, in a country we don't speak the language! I was ready to give up. I threw everything down..tickets..bag..and had to pace around. Problem solving has never been something I was accustomed to. I always had solutions to problems figured so that problems would never arise. I planned. Our leaders pitied us and they gave us tiny hints to figure out a city and a general location With another lost team, together we figured a route and here we are 3 trains, 2 hours later we were on our way. Having your weaknesses or breaking points revealed is an awful experience, but I thank God for the refining. This passage shows me that that God will point out the weaknesses of Israel so that the end goal of that is make the nation amazing and blessing to to others. It is hard to rip the scales off you, but its necessary and in the end its worth the pain. Thanks, God.

Amazing Race: Day 2

We woke up at a quarter to 7am. Teams left in the order of there placing. We were one of the last ones, if not the last one, I wasn't observing. As we left the hostel, I asked if the team could just pray for a second. We asked for encouragement from the Lord, strength, declared that no matter what, it was for His glory and purpose that we grow.

Clue#1 Kaliba Hill in Slovakia.

We found a train station to Brastrava in Slovakia, thanks to a tip from a woman behind from the front counter of our hostel who had the internet. After 2 hours on the train, we arrived in a new country, with a new map in our hands, and a new attitude. The clue led us up a mountain, about 3 miles from the station. We had new boldness, and now adjusting to the new culture, as a team, we found it more comfortable to ask for locals. We soon discovered that the younger they are, the more likely they will speak English! Also, if they have a new phone, the better chance they are to give us decent directions. Just our luck, we found a man with an English shirt and an Iphone. Jackpot! We found the hill so quickly it brought us up to 6th place! The Hill was a bobsled course that led about 500m down the hill; it was very steep and intense to climb back up. The task was to name JV's 5 core values, for every one we get wrong, a person had to go down the hill and climb back up. We failed 2 times, but it was awesome to see Sean step up and dominate that hill! The guy can run!

Clue#2 UFO skyline

We were getting so good at navigating through the trams and city. Completely night and day from the previous time. We were asking the right people, and were beginning to understand the system and worked together in navigating. I would make decisions, and Heidi would double check and wasn't afraid to tell me I was wrong. Several times, it saved us hours of digression. We arrived at the skyline to find our task was another test on our knowledge of JV. Our team was at such a disadvantage because we were all new to this internship. I felt handicapped, but we pressed on. We had to place 60 pictures of missionaries that JV supported to their correct countries on a map that had no country names on it. For every picture we got wrong it was a 2 min penalty. Some teams stuck there for 2 whole hours!! We got 38 wrong, but as we were getting our penalties, a rule change was in order and we only got penalized for half of the pictures! Had Sean not been so good with geography, we would've been in big trouble. I was truly impressed with him, especially since I had really no contribution in this challenge. This was really encouraging. After our penalty, the next clue could only be found on the top of the skyline with binoculars. When we reached the top, it began to rain cold, thick drops of rain. 20 minutes had passed, and no one was able to locate the next clue. One by one, teams went up ...looked over...and with mischievous smiles, ran down to their teams to proceed. We decided to team up with another team and together we found a JV REDEEMED logo on a boulder about 400m from the skyline!

Clue#3 Mall Challenge

Our next challenge involved finding JV staff in this 4 story mall in the city and doing mini tasks. Literally, in a matter of 30 minutes, we found all 5 JV Staffs and completed their tasks. We arrived at a time all 5 of them had circled on the 1st floor. Teams had been there for over an hour and a half searching. After ridiculous tasks that involved buying a McDonalds cheeseburger and getting a national to eat it, carrying each other up a flight of stairs, and dressing up as the 4 seasons in a clothes store, we made it out so fast we were bumped up to the top 4. This was amazing especially when there teams that left ahead and hour to half an hour to an hour earlier than us. And trains only go every hour so when a train is missed, it adds huge gaps in between teams.

Clue#4 Dinner in the 2nd Largest city in the Czech

We found out from information that Brno was the next stop. With only an address we got on a train just 2 minutes before it left and found ourselves with 3 teams heading to the finish line for the day. We only had an address to go from, so I began surveying the train, while the teams sat in their booths. Car after car, no one knew the address. Before I was about to give up, I really wanted to contribute to my team, and so I went up to one last car, and there I found a very nice business man. We began talking, and it turned out that he was turkish, but living in the US and in the Czech for business. In fact, his hotel was right in the street where the address was! The gentleman was so nice. He was calling his friends to get locations, hotels, googling. In the end he actually bought us taxis to the restaurant. The moment the train halted, and teams ran out asking for directions and exchanging euros to crowns, we hopped into a taxi and in a matter of minutes scurried across Brno to a small restaurant. Our task was to eat a traditional Czech dish- Cow stomach stew! Thankfully, my childhood in Vietnamese cuisine helped me in this task and after helping my teammates eat their tripe, we finished in 2nd place, only 15 minutes behind 1st place! We were so amazed! Consider that the 1st place team was on a train an hour ahead of us, and from last place we rocketed to the front!

Sleep that night was sweet. God answered prayers of encouragement and unity. There was a strong sense of accomplishment and even the spirit of competition that made that day truly amazing. Not that 2nd place was the ultimate goal, but that I felt I had given to my team, and that God allowed me to put myself out there and to come back with something. There was a sense of redemption, in closing that day with celebration, when we began the previous day with me struggling...darn that tomato. Sadly, that cow-stomach stew was our first meal since I arrived, aside from crackers and chips. My legs will be as strong as an ox by the summer's end. God is good.

Amazing Race: Day 1

My plane arrived on a cloudy day in Vienna, Austria. It was 11am local time. I had slept a total of 2 hours on the plane. The rest of the time was filled with hours of Tim Keller, Francis Chan, and my inflight playlist. Oh and Monsters Inc. With the interns from the plane, we were greeted by the JV staff. After an hour waiting outside the terminal, all the teams for the summer assembled. Thirteen total teams composed of 4-10 interns around the world. These teams were going to sports camps, music camps, and english camps to Slavonia, Poland, Czech, Ukraine, and Croatia. There I met Daniel and Kim Johnson, our camp leaders for the summer, as well as Sean Smith and Heidi Gingerich. Dan and Kim are two very sweet people. Daniel is quiet and softspoken, but every word is kind and intelligent and profound. He has been living in the Czech for 2.5 years, and learned the language in 5 months! (Czech is one of the hardest languages in the world!) Kim reminds me of Valerie du Mee. She is very sweet, very bubbly, and makes every effort to encourage you. Sean is very reserved and introvert. He's a star runner in a small Bible college in Indiana. Heidi also goes to school in Indiana with a mennonite background, so I am looking forward to some delicious bread soon here! I had no idea what to expect as far as personalities and cohesion. I was soon to find out.

The race began!

Our first task began with a scavenger hunt in the airport. Talk about extreme culture shock. I volunteered to go first, and one at a time, one from every group ran into this flowing airport asking around and looking for different items. I was given the task of finding a TOMATO! ...A TOMATO IN AN AIRPORT!? Not only was I lost in culture shock, there were issues with BUYING a tomato. I found a bakery that sold tomatoes. I ran to exchange money to buy it but I could only by 100 euros from the atm (that's a lot of American dollars, but I did it in the heat of the moment). Sadly, the bakery refused to take the large bill! I was left to go buy something from McDonalds. I bought some stupid apples, and still the bakery wouldn't accept my large bills. By this time, teams were soaring through, going on the 6th items, while I was stuck with my first, and my team waiting idly for me. I was immediately confronted with pressures of first impressions and fear of rejection from my team. I didn't want to be that guy. Finally when I got change, the bakery was so upset with so many Americans running in to buy tomatoes they shoed me away! I was left to find another source, with time running out. I ran around the entire airport, frustrated and irritated. When 2 flights up. And it wasn't until two flights down I found a supermarket (yea i know, these airports had everything!). I found a tomato and got in line to pay. After a few uneasy minutes, the cashier, in a language I could not grasp waves her hands to me to tell me I needed to weigh the tomato to get a price! GAH! I ran back to a foreign machine and yelled at the first worker I saw to help me. I got a receipt and ran back in line, dismayed to see the line got bigger. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I paid for my tomato and ran back to the team!...distraught...embarrassed...We went on to get other items-cookies, chips, random european bread...Now, undoubtedly in last place.

Once we completed those tasks we were given 6 clues in German of locations in Vienna where challenges awaited! The purpose of the Amazing Race was get to know the team we will be working with. To awake in each other leadership, cohesion, and confidence in times of conflict and problem solving. We had no translator, and were left with nothing but the clues. Our leaders could not assist us, but follow idly. It was so difficult. The challenge in approaching strangers was conflicted with barriers and self-consciousness. It was miserable. We asked random people in train stations that hopefully spoke English and trusted that they gave us good directions. I would come to find out later, that many people we came into contact with gave us horrible directions. But the first clue we solved led us to a historical building in the downtown square of Vienna. We took the longest route ever, and trying to navigate on a map with nearly impossible. We did not understand the system and I had no sense of North. When we arrived to the first challenge, it was a puzzle called bridges. Teams filtered in and out, but we could in no way, solve the puzzle. It was devastating. We were there for an hour and half trying with everything that we were to solve it. After an hour and a half we pitied and moved to our second mission. It was a park where our challenge was to carry our team mate through a "web" without touching the ropes. This challenge too took us over an hour to accomplish. The sun was beginning to set and other teams had already accomplish 4 or 5 challenges already. Our third challenge was a riddle at a government building which was fairly easy. But the time we were done, the sun was set and it was 8pm. No food. Still two hours of sleep. Frustrating. Wishing for home. We were called in, only finishing half of our tasks. Before finding our hostel, we had to compete a balloon challenge with the other teams. Losing team stayed behind while the winning team moved on. We lost three consecutive games, and the one we won was by default. I fell on my bunk at the hostel at 11pm. Filthy. Tired. Defeated.

What I struggled with that day was trusting my team. I did not want to lead. My thought was, I would never do this. I always plan. I was so focused on our teams weaknesses, and no recognition for any strengths. I was discouraged to say the least, not knowing how we could make it in the next three days. With that, I fell asleep.

5.25.10 into 5.26.10

Love, Yesterday

Fly over me, over my troubled waters

sing your new song of sweet release

Fly over me, over to her

To the uncharted arms of tomorrow

Empty of me, all left at the gate

sing your new song of unwavering peace

Empty of me, to be filled with a new lover

to the unexplored forever

Wake up from me, the past you once slept next

sing your new song of brighter dreams

Wake up from me the evening is gone

Arise, sunrise, the light has dawned

working the cut-off shorts...classic foreign traveler look!...

JV INTERNS UNITE! (guy in the green looks like an American PETR!)

Meeting the new team: Sean and Heidi

Meeting old friends again! SARAH!

5.25.10 shots from the Airport

I thought of Emily Bryant....

Connor posing for some profile extravaganza!

Airport in Frankfurt

PAUSE 3.28.10

I am alive!!!!

It has been an amazing, grueling, weary, blessed three days. I have stories to tell, but not enough time to tell it! After getting off the plane on Wednesday in Vienna, Austria at 11am local time, I met the other 13 teams, including mine, and we began the Amazing Race to our training center in the mountains of the Czech Republic. I can't tell you in full details of this journey, because ONE blog entry will simply not do it justice. I will say that it was a difficult one. The beginnings were welcomed with awkwardness, culture shock, and frustration. Upon traveling with my team I struggled with connecting with them, I was faced with my own fears, comforts, and personal trust issues. The journey demanded group cohesion and was intentionally placing into chaos. I was traveling with 2 leaders and 2 other interns. The leaders were not allowed to help, translate, engage at all. They simply just were along for the ride. For three straight days, we journeyed by foot, trains, trams, and buses from Vienna, to Bratislava, Slavonia, and Brno, Czech Republic. We had to find our own ways, with only certain amounts of money to these destinations and complete challenges. Personalities were clashing, friction grew, frustration and confusion drove me personally to the point of wishing to go home.

But the Lord was faithful. I prayed and prayed, and I know you all did too. And the next two days the team grew. We began to ease into the culture and started finding our way through. We began getting competitive cohesively. Three days later we made it to where I am blogging now, in Malenovice!

I am tired. I have traveled in the same clothes I wore since I left on Tuesday. My gums are sensitive to the foreign touch of my toothbrush. My stomache is reacting convulsively to the taste of food, strangely enough, for the first time since Wednesday, aside from pieces of bread, granola bars, and snickers. But my spirit is alive and ready. I led worship tonight and to hear the voices of these people who God will use this summer was a sweet and tender moment, like nothing I have ever heard.

I have been journaling at every chance so in these next few days I will try to post those up so you can get some good stories...at my expense..haha

PLEASE PRAY FOR:

Growth and training as we being training for English Classes, Czech culture, Discussion groups, Evangelizing, etc.

Pray the I personally confront everything that would hinder my effectiveness this summer, in self-awareness, confession, and repentance as I meet the Lord one on one

We grow as a whole body with all the teams for the same goal, and within my own intern team in unity with the same spirit and love

The Holy Spirit would work through me in times of worship, picking songs, utilizing other musicians, and leading

This summer the Lord will show me what He is calling me to and what He is NOT calling me to

THANK YOU ALL!

I LOVE YOU!

BLESSINGS!!

Itinerary

Hey, real quick, I just got a SKYPE account. Khado.ncc

If anyone wants to skype, we can arrange a time and I would love to see some familiar faces this summer! :D

Okay, so I my departure is 8:09am from Sky Harbor Airport. why 8:09am? I don't know! So checking in probably around 6:00am :(

I will fly from Phoenix internationally straight to Frankfurt Germany. Its a 16hour flight. And then a two hour layover and then continue on to Vienna, Austria (1.5 hours). There I will meet up with all my other team mates and interns from around the country who will be serving in the Czech this summer. There, as a team, we will back pack all the way to Prague, Czech Republic. Its a 3 day journey that will be designed for team building. We will be playing amazing race with all the intern teams and I want to impress my teammates so pray we win! (just kidding...but seriously..)

I will be traveling with my camper backpack, my camera bag and a guitar. I will also have the luxury of flying with another intern from here locally.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1) Pray that traveling will go smoothly with luggage transportations and flight schedules (There's been a lot of international traveling problems with the volcano eruption in Iceland)

2) Pray for physical strength and energy. Flying and jumping into new time zones will take its toll.

3) Pray that the Holy Spirit will really unify me with the other teammates and we will really grow in love and fellowship in the first few weeks of team building.

Blessings!

Kha

Kha Do Thanks....

5 Days and COUNTING!!!! PREPARING... PREPARING....

I was reminded by a good friend of the story of Elijah before the drought. The Lord brought Elijah to a place of rest where the Lord fed him. It's been a great few weeks resting, spending time with you all, and spending time with the Lord. Your zeal and excitement for me is what really is getting me excited for this summer, so thank you all!!!

I will ask for your forgiveness later if you did not want to be recognized, but I really want to let you know how grateful I am for your friendship and love and support.

Thank you Zach and Caitlin for the backpack!

Thank you Pathways class for the adapter! Now I can use good ol' technology!

Thank you Crossroads of Life bookstore (Kary Family) and Downcast Fable for the gifts to give to Czech students!!

Thank you to Debbie Carter for the haircut! Now I can be free from the heat...but still look hott!

And finally thank you to all of your encouragements and prayers! God knows I don't deserve such love!

Almost ready!

My Testimony

What was I like before I met Christ personally? At the time I thought I was the greatest thing on two legs. Looking back I realize I was a really insecure, angry kid with no sense of direction. I was passionate for sure. Passionate about about me. My mother grew up in the church while my father did not. He became a very successful lawyer really early and since the day I was born until now, I always had this picture of my dad in a suit and tie. The day my parents got a divorce, I was three. I remember it vaguely except a few fragments and scenes. One in particular, I remember my dad dragging me and my sister into the car and wrestling to buckle me in, while my mom was crying hysterically as she was on the side pulling us out of the car. The scene ends with me being pulled into a house with the door closing behind me in front of my dad.

Since then, my life can be defined as this endless search to find manhood. I was lost in the world. I was raised by my single mother, and though I am forever grateful for her love and provision, I was so scared and so lost. I grew up bitter, hating my dad. The times I would see him, once a year, were times I put up this facade, but upon getting on the plane at the end of it all, I reflected on the abandonment, the neglect-ultimately what a terrible person he was. I spent hours in my room writing hateful letters I never sent. I journaled my resentment. I wrote songs and stories about committing suicide so that he would be stabbed with shame and regret being the cause. At an early age I found an escape through the mediums of drugs. It was a path to numbing pain, disengaging with the realities of my darkness, a superficial gateway into popularity with certain people, and a way to cover up my insecurities.

I lied and stole from my family to facilitate these lusts. I hated my sister. Though we were only two years apart and she experienced everything I had with our family, I had complete ill-will against her. I engaged in every thing that you had to keep a secret in order to do. By day I was perfect student who got straight A's and went to church. By night, I was living a nightmare with a smile.

How did I come to know Christ personally? This happened over a long period through my teens and college years. God began chipping every numbing source to get to the core of me. I found him in my bed, so angry, I couldn't sleep. So I decided to read the Bible to wear my eyes out and hopefully fall asleep. I read all of Genesis. I was hooked. For the next 4 months I read a couple of chapters, going from cover to cover. For some reason, though I had read, memorized and was quizzed on these texts my whole life, it wasn't until then, I began to see this immeasureable amount of love saturated in every word. I was experiencing who God was through His Word. I wanted to know Him more, and I knew the only way to fully know this love, this God, was through Jesus, the incarnation of love and God! I prayed and prayed for days, asking for God to show me love, asking Jesus to take my life, show me how real He was. Suddenly, all the hate began to go away, replaced with love- like, truly a desire to show affection to those I once hated. I forgave my dad. That summer I told him everything. I told him that I really did love him.

Who am I now? I am a man, not yet a man, but knows what kind of man I am called to be because of Jesus. My sister is my best friend. I love my family. I am going to a Bible college, desiring a future in vocational ministry. My love for music has allowed me to encourage Christians through leading worship. I work with youth. I use my story to reach out to youths with the same story. I mentor high school guys. I still struggle with feelings of rejection, insecurity, and much of the internal wounds of the past, but there is so much healing thanks to God. I have found a father in Him. And what am I doing now? Well...I am blogging about this story God has allowed me to be a part of, in preparation to share that story with hundreds of people in a country thousands of miles away.

God is great!

Cogito, ergo, sum

In preparation for this journey, I have been meditating on a lot of hard questions the secular world present upon exposure to the Gospel and faith. Let me begin by saying, to prove the existence of God is a futile endeavor. (It is only by divine enlightenment and divine revelation and unfathomable grace that one can believe in such a baffling phenomenon)

Can you prove God’s existence? And If I’m a good person, why do I need God?

I was walking down first fridays and I saw I guy with a blue neon sign of a cross upside down with the glowing inscriptions: Let LOVE evolve. I went home that night confounded by the very statement. It sounded heroic and bold. To say, let us throw away our dogmas, forget religion, and let us evolve our understanding of love, and love each other. But then the thought occurred. How do we even know what "Love" is? By what standard or unit do you measure a concept, emotion, existence- of this thing you call, love? I mean I believe in this thing called love, and empirical knowledge would tell me it is worth chasing and fighting for. It is beautiful. It is captivating- the different degrees and facets of this thing called love. So I would presume to measure Love by my understanding of GOOD. But then I am confronted with the same question. By what measurement do I measure "good" or "evil"? Where did this internal consciousness come from? What would allow me to perceive somethings nature to be of goodness? For me to value family, or see goodness in the nature of someones life, or simply to qualify a cup of hot tea on a breezy day? I conclude that it comes from my perception of morality. See, morality by definition is a standard. It is the qualification of somethings goodness. Having a sense of morality is like having a sense of gravity where everything is pulled into it. But to have an absolute force to hold everything up, that itself grounds upon the reality of truth. Here we find ourselves at a crossroad. Because isn't truth relative? One could argue that a persons beliefs, this includes morality and what they perceive as reality, is socially conditioned. If this is so then morality, good and evil, and thus LOVE is a socially conditioned reality and can only be defined by the individual. But that is a problem. If there is no truth, and morality is relative, then a pedophile can presume to consider his abuse of children to be good, and ultimately society must accept it as LOVE. Is this what we mean by letting our LOVE evolve? Or really we mean let it mutate? Another problem arises. If you infer from the social conditionedness of all belief that "no belief can be held as universally true for everyone," that itself is a comprehensive claim about everyone that is the product of social conditions- so it cannot be true, on its own terms. "Relativity relativizes itself." Or, if there is TRUTH in saying there is "no truth" in the universe we immediately disqualify that statement. I propose another path- that there IS absolute truth in this life. That internally, no matter what social background, tribe, language you exist in, there is a virtue and praise for a man to humbly give his life for another. There is in every culture a universal disproval of tyrannical arrogance and boastfulness. This is what C.S. Lewis refered to as the universal law. This is truth. We are bound by it. Like gravity, it is real, whether we externally reveal it in our lives. Internally it keeps us from jumping off a plane without a parachute. Therefore, a realization of truth in the universe, we have to at least accept there is a God. The final question of how we measure truth founds upon the reality of an infinite God, one who has set the standard of life. For there to be absolution, the complete absence of falsehood, and an ultimate reality, there has to be an archetype of ultimate reality, whose word and essence is the complete absence of falsehood, by which we can absolutely discern what morality is, by which we can determine what is Good, and thus truly, TRULY experience in fullness, the entire capacity of LOVE. This is why 1 John 4:16 says, "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."

In conclusion, I believe that God exists empirically and logically because I empirically and logically believe in Love. There is no going around it. The bread crumbs lead unequivocally to a God, who created love, defined love, and is love. And also, if you are "good" why do you need God? Because you have no definition of "good" apart from God. You have no standard or comprehension of goodness apart from a God who is defined as "good". Nizche would cry at The existential notion of "Be good for goodness sake." Existentialism tells us that there is no meaning in the universe, therefore go and do whatever you want at whatever the cost to achieve the highest disposition of self-awareness and self-fulfillment. Nizche would argue that you must trample on whoever you can to achieve it. Only the most intelligent and articulate will survive. Everyone else is meat for worms. There is no concern for being "good" because "good" doesn't exist. It's a matter of achieving happiness and finding as much physical pleasure as possible. Therein lies the problem. What is the value in life? There is no goodness because there is no value. Value is non-existent because there is no meaning or significance in the universe. Only with God is there value. Because if He says there is value in today, how we live in this moment matters significantly. If He says there is value in a person because they are made in the image of God, then how we we view a starving child that in no benefits our disposition changes drastically. If He says something like creation is good, then we understand why a beautiful sunset gives warmth to our souls. If He says pursuing the affections of our beautiful bride is a good thing, then we can resonate in the glorious goodness in holding her in our arms. God is good, my friends. If we have any hopes of obtaining that which is truly good, and becoming good ourselves, our only chances of such an endeavor lies upon knowing God.

Count down...

Today a Czech (CHECK...get it!?) was made out to Josiah Venture as my last installment for the support of this trip! Thank you to all who have sacrificially gave and partnered with me to make this trip happen. As of a week ago, my total support raised was $250. This morning the final count was $1400! It's an amazing, humbling thing to experience you guys coming up to me with a check in your hand, or some cash, and just giving it away like it was nothing. God really does provide. So thank you thank you thank you! Many of you have also committed to praying for me and I am so comforted to know that two or more people will be interceding for me every day this summer! THANK YOU!

Phase 1 is complete. Now on to Phase 2 and 3. Mental and Spiritual preparation. I am currently reading two books: The Reason for God by Timothy Keller and Life is Vapor by John Piper. Amazing apology as well an amazing devotional to align me with how God wants me to serve. I will be spending some time this week to write out my testimony and trying to answer some difficult questions that Czech students might ask regarding God, Christianity, and faith. Please keep me in your prayers for that sense of preparation.

Current Playlist:

The Civil Wars

Autumn Film

Jonsi

GOD BLESS,

KHA

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS MAY 25TH.

This is where I will be updating some of the stories and prayer needs for this summer trip in the Czech Republic. I leave May 25th. If you would like to join me in praying for me this summer, please contact me at khado@nccphx.org. I am so excited to see how God will use the little that am to the magnitude of his Kingdom, and in so forever change me.

I love you

In matchless name

Kha