Gosh!I haven't been here for so long!The time is flying, I am tellin ya! But honestly, you haven't missed anything! There is nothing going on in my life right now. August was pretty dead and September is just waking up. Seems at least a little bit busier than August so far. Let's hope for that cause I hate when there is nothing going on in my life. I like to be busy, you know me - run from one place to other. But I didn't come here to complain! I actually have something I would like to share with you. Tomorrow I am in charge of Sunday school for children at our church and I am going to talk about Naaman and how he got healed by God. When I first saw this name, I had no clue who this man was and I had never heard this Bible story before. So I thought: "This is not good!" But then I was thankful for that cause I learnt something new. Besides the fact that I still have a lot of stuff to read in the Old Testament, of course. :) So let me tell you something about Naaman. You can find the original story in 2 Kings 5:1-27.

Naaman was a commander of the army of the king of Aram, a great man in the sight of the king, but he suffered from leprosy. During one of many battles between Aram (Syria) and Israel, a little girl was taken captive and she was brought to Naaman's house to serve his wife. She knew about God’s prophet living in Israel through whom God did many miracles. His name was Elisha. She told Naaman's wife that this prophet could cure Naaman of his leprosy. Naaman went to see his king and told him what the little girl said. The king of Aram told Naaman to go and see the king of Israel, sending a letter with him. In this letter, he told the king of Israel to cure Naaman. So Naaman went to the king. He also took silver, gold and some clothes as a reward for his healing. When Naaman gave the letter to the king of Israel, the king read it and got very angry. He said he wasn’t God who can heal. He also thought that the king of Aram wanted to start a fight with him. He didn’t think of Elisha at all. When Elisha, the man of God, heard that Naaman was in the country, he asked the king to send Naaman to him. So Naaman went to Elisha’s house. Because Naaman was very important and proud man, he expected Elisha would come outside, pray to his God, put his hand on him and he would be healed. But he got a surprise! Only Elisha’s servant came to him with the message from Elisha. The message was that Naaman should go and wash in Jordan seven times and then he would be healed. However, Naaman got angry and left. He expected Elisha to come out, it hurt his pride. Naaman’s servants stopped him before he got very far. They told him that if he had been told to do some great thing, he would have done it, and he agreed that he would. So why not to do such an easy thing? So he went and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times and his skin became clean. Naaman was very happy! He knew then that God was the true God and this true God was in Israel. He decided not to worship false gods anymore. He went back to Elisha and he wanted to give him the gifts he had brought. Elisha refused to accept them. Elisha knew God had done the healing.

This is very nice picture of salvation. It was God's grace that healed Naaman from leprosy (by the way, the disease of leprosy in the Old Testament is used to represent sin). The same is true for us today - only God's grace through the death of Jesus Christ can heal us from all sin. It is connected with the obedience too - only after Naaman obeyed God and didn't listen to his own pride, he was healed. This story also shows that the grace of God cannot be bought with silver or gold or power or position or even works. We must come to God in faith. Moreover, God is using other people, even little children and also circumstances, such as the disease of leprosy, to bring one person to the knowledge of the Lord and get them healed.

"This is what the LORD says—

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

"I am the LORD your God,

who teaches you what is best for you,

who directs you in the way you should go.
If only you had paid attention to my commands,

your peace would have been like a river,

your righteousness like the waves of the sea."

Isaiah 48:17-18

So I am back...back to life when I have time to update my blog, read, study Spanish, etc. The camps are over and I am happy cause now I am not so busy but I am also sad cause I enjoyed spending time with people I love but mainly I enjoyed doing things that please God. And I am sure that the camps belong to this category. This year we had four camps - Work Week, Xtreme Week, Junior High Camp and Spacince Camp for the youngest children. Each of them was different and each of them was good in its own way. In the midts of the camps, I had a chance to visit Prague for few days. I went there with my brother and my niece. We basically visited the most famous places in Prague and also a castle outside Prague called Karlstejn. I haven't been to this castle before but I have heard a lot about it. We took a tour that showed the interiors of the castle. And there is something I would like to share with you. As I was inside the castle looking at the pictures of the kings on the walls and all the funiture that was left and as I was listening to our tour guide, there were interesting thoughts going through my mind. I realized that this was actually first time when I really listened to the tour guide and paid attention to everything she said (you know when you are younger or a child, all those historical facts seem so boring to you and you don't listen...I could see that on my niece:)). I looked at all those pictures and furniture and realized that what she was saying were not only fairytales about some kings and queens but that all these kings and queens actually existed and lived there long time ago. So I tried to imagine it. At the same time, other thought crossed my mind - it often happens that we hear about Jesus and what He did for us and we even have many historical proofs (what is the plural of "proof", by the way? :)) but we still take it as a fairytale. We can read about it in the Bible or other historical sources but we still forget that He really lived. Or we consider Him as someone who lived 2000 years ago and that's it. But it is not only that. I, personally, don't care so much about the historical proofs - like I would have to go to the Museum dedicated to Jesus and I would be shown a chair where He used to sit or a table where He used to eat with His disciples or even a cross on which He died to be able to believe. (And I am pretty realistic person - I don't like sci-fi movies. :-)) However, I do see the living God in my life and in the lives of people around me and I also see that what is written in the Bible is really true. For me, that's much bigger than all the proofs. To see man's heart to be changed by God's love and grace... So I am glad that the moment at the castle reminded me of that all. (And I was really listening, I promise. :))

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." ~C.S. Lewis

So I have made a decision!I have created this blog because I am so bad at keeping in touch with you all and also because I am SO bad at writing my own journal. I hope this will make me write here regularly and share with you all what's going on in my life (or what God has been doing in my life and in my heart).

So what's going on in my life right now?Hmm... Pretty much nothing and everything:) I came back from the States in the middle of June and since then I haven't been working at all (I mean like a serious adult - going to work every day and so:)). And honestly I haven't even tried to change it. And I am glad I haven't. I am thankful for this time when I have time to focus on the things I love - God, family, friends, reading, studying, etc. Besides that I have been helping out with the camps at the Building and that has been definitely the best part of it. So far we have had one camp for high school students called Xtreme week. It was a great week for many reasons - 1) we could see that the kids enjoyed it a lot and seemed to have fun, 2) God was obviously present in all of that and touched hearts and minds of some of them, 3) we, the staff, were a great team - worked together to glorify God and 4) I was amazed every day as I worked with my friends (Girls Klub girls and Marek and Dominik now called "LTP kids":)) and saw how they have grown into mature God's men and women during last two years. What a joy to see this! To see the Holy Spirit working in their hearts and to see that really everything is possible with God. Moreover, that God hears our prayers and answers them according to His will. All in all, it was very exciting week. Of course, a little bit tiring too ;) But with God's strenght we made it through. We still have two camps to go so please pray that God would be present again in everything we do, that He would give us energy, patience but mainly love for these kids and that He would be glorified.

P.S. If you wanna know more about the Xtreme week, Marek has written a lot about it on his blog. So check it out!