Hi, my name is Joe. I am an American, originally born and raised in the state of Indiana. Up to this point in my life, the main hobbies I have are travelling and hiking, and having a relationship with God. I have to say they are all very addictive. Once it gets into your blood, you just want to do it more and more. I feel lucky having lived in places like North America and Europe where there are so many great opportunities for doing all of these things. I first came to Prague rather unexpectedly about five years ago. I had spent the previous year living in southern Germany, and was travelling during the summer and decided to visit some friends I knew in Prague. I ended up liking it very much, found a job, and decided to live here. During my stay I began looking for outreach and mission opportunities. So, I decided to stop by PCF and ask about such things. I quite liked the service and already knew a few members from work, so I decided to stay. I have to say, I did not come from a ‘charismatic’ background, but I began to warm up and have continually been warming up to such a tradition. It was comforting to find one of the overriding themes again and again to be that “God loves you”. I would like to share a few things about being a Christian that I find to be noteworthy. First we need to love God with all of our hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves. There are many ways to love God, through prayer, through praise, through worship. Another way we can love God is by simply loving his children in the way he loves us. Galatians 5 :22 says ‘but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith and self control’. What a great joy and also challenge it is to know that we can love others and be loved by Christians in this way. And what encouragement it is to non-believers that they may also receive this kind of love. Another important aspect about being a Christian to me is the idea of emptiness. By emptying ourselves, we make ourselves available to God. This is one of the ways we are called to discipleship. Often times, or usually, if not always, we are too easily getting caught up with work, details, and the things of this world that really eat up our time, mind, money and energy. Learning to let go of our distractions, releasing the cares of this world and setting aside time to spend with our father requires discipline. This is my constant battle to continually let go of my cares and to ‘empty’ myself so that I may receive more and be filled with more of him. The theologian Henry Nouwen once wrote “When we enter into solitude to be with God alone, we quickly discover how dependent we are. Without the many distractions of our daily lives, we feel anxious and tense. When nobody speaks to us, calls on us, or needs our help, we start feeling like nobodies. Then we begin wondering whether we are useful, valuable, and significant. Our tendency is to leave this fearful solitude quickly and get busy again to reassure ourselves that we are "somebodies." But that is a temptation, because what makes us somebodies is not other people's responses to us but God's eternal love for us. To claim the truth of ourselves we have to cling to our God in solitude as to the One who makes us who we are.” Last but not least, one other thought occurred to me just the other night. I was at home group and we had a lesson starting with the beheading of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. Upon hearing about this, Jesus continued with his ministry, healing the sick and feeding the poor, without much time to grieve over his cousin. Often times ministers are called in the same way to neglect their own feelings and needs in order to attend to those of others. But this is not always a healthy way. We all are called to be givers as well as receivers. Sometimes we think it is more important or noble to be givers, or that we do not need what others have to offer; or sometimes we feel that we have nothing to offer to others. But this too is an unhealthy perspective. Instead God calls us to a two way street. We need to receive as well as give as a reminder of our dependence on God rather than any notion of self-sufficiency; we also need to know that all of us have something we can offer to God. We have this two way street with God as well. We receive many things from God, but he also likes to be praised and worshipped, to be communed with and not neglected. Another passage occurred to me along this thought line of giving and receiving – one about Jesus healing others. Of course the lame received a lot from Jesus, but what is it that the poor and sick, the cast down, what is it that they could possible offer to Jesus, the Son of God? And again, later, the words of Henry Nouwen remind me, “The poor have a treasure to offer precisely because they cannot return our favours. By not paying us for what we have done for them, they call us to inner freedom, selflessness, generosity, and true care. Jesus says, "When you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again" (Luke 14:13-14). The repayment Jesus speaks about is spiritual. It is the joy, peace, and love of God that we so much desire. This is what the poor give us, not only in the afterlife but already here and now.” I returned to the states after a year in Prague. I still spent some time travelling around America, and then returned to Indiana University to finish my studies in the area of mathematics and physics. A main interest of mine is the area of environmental science- alternative energy, climate change, etc. Before returning to Prague I was working at the university as a math instructor and research assistant in Atmospheric Science. I had several offers to work towards a Ph.D., but I wasn’t sure what it was that God wanted for me. In early May I decided to return to Europe, rather unexpectedly, as my brother invited me to come with him for a vacation to Germany. I stayed for the summer and then in August, I returned to Prague; and for some reason, I felt called to be here .. so I decided to stay.