top se7en moments of oh-se7en

|seven: blazers, niners, and giants...oh my!|

oh-se7en marked the first time that i've seen all three of my favorite sports teams play in the same year! living in czech makes it tough to watch sports at all, so to be able to attend these games was such a blessing.  it was extra special considering i got to see barry bonds' final game as a giant (and maybe ever) with my dad.

|six: concerts|

oh-se7en also marked the year of the concert for me.  without sports in czech, music and photography have become that much more important to me.  czech also isn't a hub for the type of music that i like, so i had to travel (chicago, portland, and london respectively) to see some concerts, but it was well worth it.  the new pornographers (name taken from a jimmy swaggart comment: rock and roll is the new pornography) are fabulous live.  it was also great to see some up and coming british bands at nme's indie rock fest as well as new band, grand archives, in portland.

|five: tat|

it means, 'i have redeemed you' in hebrew.  i've wanted to get the word redeemed on my wrist for over two years, so it was quite a great experience to finally get it.  and it totally didn't hurt as bad as everyone said it would...

|four: weddings and engagements|

it is amazing that despite of how i look people continue to ask me to be in their weddings! it was awesome to be the best man in jared, one of my old disciples, and jordan's wedding as well as being second best (!) man in daddio's wedding.

also, a few weeks ago, my best friend proposed to tereza.  joe and i have walked through a lot of life together and have spent endless hours discussing girls.  i am so thrilled for them and am excited to see how God uses them to advance His Kingdom!!

|three: inner city chicago|

one of the highlights of my time to the states was being able to spend two hours at an inner-city christian school in chicago.  i got the opportunity to speak to third-sixth graders about life as a missionary.  it was so much fun to share with them, hear their questions, as well as play games.  one of the kids even rapped for me!

as i drove away praying, i realized what a significant impact my time there could've had. kristen, the teacher, told me before hand that these kids have very few male role models and most of them have no concept of education past high school.  for me to be there and to have fun with them, share about my life could've had a serious impact on the lives of these young boys and girls.  to think that God could've used my time there to inspire some of these kids to go to college or even if God were to use me to get these kids thinking about missions is truly humbling.

|two: passion07|

i opened the new year in hotlanta for passion07.  i had always heard great things and loved the music, but my time there was exceptional.  from hanging out with ondra, representing jv in the mission mobilization area, meeting young men and women passionate about serving Christ, worshipping with 20,000 people, talks from john piper and francis chan, and just participating in the entire global awareness area.

it was a brilliant way to start the year!

|one: 50!|

before the summer started i felt that God was calling me to pray that fifty students would come to know Christ this summer.  that number may not sound like a lot in american terms, but considering we had twelve the summer before, it was a huge step of faith to pray for that big of number.  i guess i knew God could do it, but as camp after camp went by and more and more students began to begin relationships with the living God, i began to realize that it really was possible.

now, upon final count (which is always a difficult task), we had 48 students who we could count.  i really believe that God was calling me to pray for 50, so i am choosing to believe that somewhere in the counting we missed 2 students!