adam starts walking!!!

wow! our youngest son just took 4 small steps BY HIMSELF! man! these are some groundbreaking moments.. like the first step.. the first word.. the first night without waking up (man, how much we miss that kind of night..).. 

it always makes me think that i’m happy to having never missed these days in my kids lives.. as flawed parent as i am i could say with all honesty i tried to always be present in these moments, one way or another.. BE PRESENT – that’s the rule i’m going to keep, no matter what..

so help me God.

walk on, adam!

csi and the office..

so.. i have never thought i can become sucked up in the world of tv shows, left alone tv series.. but lets face it – csi (las vegas and ny, miami should be cancelled) and the office have changed the way we view a tv show.. developing a series out of forensics material where a piece of hair may lead you to a murderer.. inviting a la documentary camera into office room(s)..simple but profound if you think about it..

and the characters.. the office makes me laugh my head off.. csi on the other hand scares me big time..

yesterday i made a comment about my wife accidentally leaving a toilet cleaner bottle in an easy-to-reach-by-a-kid place in the bathroom >> have you seen ‘a thousand days on earth’, episode 13, season 8 of csi? if you have you know what i mean..

and if you watch the office you cannot be the same person at work.. you just assign dwights, oscars, angelas, pams and michaels to specific persons.. do you not? i’m guilty as charged..

funny how things like that shape our view of reality..

coming back..

..after 2 months.. hope it’s not going to be a habit.. blog.. stop.. blog.. stop.. 

am i the only one that finds it hard to stay persistent in my actions? i mean, sometimes it almost seems as a curse.. how many times you can start all over again?

so.. i do not start over.. i continue.. so be it..

mark – r u happy? 🙂

it’s not about me..

this sunday at tomy we will kick off our advent series and will be unpacking one of 4 reasons why Christ came to the earth.. we will focus on the first and primary goal of Jesus’ coming and this one is to bring  glory to His Father.

we get so caught up in thinking that christmas is all about us – our joy, our family, our presents, our carols.. and even, when we try to scratch the surface a little bit and get to the heart of the matter we find ourselves celebrating the Saviour coming down to the planet earth to save US,  to rescue US, to show US his love, to redeem US, to forgive US, to reconcile US.. or ME, ME, ME, ME.. and so we make christmas / advent more ME-centered than GOD-centered..

we cannot forget that the first and ultimate reason for Christ to come down to this planet and redeem us was really to BRING GLORY TO THE FATHER.. in john 17 Jesus prays: “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” as max lucado puts it: it’s a Copernican shift in our thinking. “when God looks at the center of the universe, He doesn’t look at you” – says lucado in “it’s not about you”. – “God does not exist to make a big deal out of us. we exist to make a big deal out of him. it’s not about you. it’s not about me. it’s all about him.”

would your christmas change if you started thinking this way?

would your whole life change if you started thinking this way?

i know mine would..

if you don’t fight for your family..

.. someone else will.. that’s just a simple fact from looking around and seeing how many marriages are shaken and how many families are broken because we do not take it seriously to really fight for our closest ones.

the stats are outrageous – every second marriage in the us (43-50%) and almost every third in poland (27%) ends in divorce. approximately 31% of your friends, aged 35 to 54, who are married, engaged, or cohabitating have already been previously divorced. and what’s most terrifying – children from broken families are 4 times more likely to divorce in the future. 

i believe that God will protect His church against the enemy and thus it will not be destroyed. but i also believe that the church of today and tomorrow will lose its influence not because of false doctrine, financial struggles or sexual abuse by the clergy, but first and foremost because of the breakdown of christian families. the numbers show that the divorce rate among the christians is THE SAME as among the non-believers (the us stats). how then shall we be the salt and light of the world if we cannot be the salt and light of our own little worlds? 

yesterday at tomy christian fellowship we challenged husbands and wives to never ever give up on the family.. to stay committed to one another even if the easiest way out would be to go in 2 separate directions. i believe that God is glorified when we do that – and not just for the sake of our children..

although not to hear my son or daughter say ‘i love you, dad’ ever again would break my heart..

so.. fight for your families.. ’cause if you don’t – someone else will..

they are the reason..

 … for me to impatiently wait to get home..

woyteck, agatha, adam.. my precious ones.. and my lovely wife..

it’s been 2 weeks since the last time i saw them and my wife.. good time, but long time in the us is coming to an end.. 

it’s been great to meet with some friends, get refreshed, orangefied and inspired again.. but it’s time to go home..

polska, here i come..

pulled into His presence..

 

sojourn church

so.. 8 years ago me and my wife went to this church downtown louisville.. very artsy, met in an old church on sunday nights.. maybe 50 people attended.. 

today the church is about 2000 people on a weekend, 4 services, owns a building (old school) with the art gallery and a gym inside.. but what’s most important – is reaching out to new and new people, not just young, not just from downtown louisville..

sojourn is an example of where the church should be headed if it wants to be more than just a survivor.. strong biblical teaching, simplicity, community, family, mission.. check them out at sojournchurch.com

i was really encouraged yesterday by the teaching from romans 15:4 – how important it is for us to commune with God thru His Word.. one of the things that struck me was a comment by Daniel Montgomery, the sojourn pastor, that God wants to PULL US INTO HIS PRESENCE THRU HIS WORD – that every time we read the Bible it is as if God was trying to reach out to us, hold us in His hands and give us a big hug, saying: ‘you see, this is who i am, this is how much i care for you, this is how much i love you’.

thanks, God..

to write love on her arms..

i heard about them over a year ago but only recently i was able to check out their stuff and website.. if you don’t think that people are messy just read these statistics:

-121 million people worldwide suffer from depression. (The World Health Organization)

 -18 million of these cases are happening in the United States. (The National Institute of Mental Health)

 -Between 20% and 50% of children and teens struggling with depression have a family history of this struggle and the offspring of depressed parents are more than three times as likely to suffer from depression. (U.S. Surgeon General’s Survey, 1999)

 -Depression often co-occurs with anxiety disorders and substance abuse, with 30 percent of teens with depression also developing a substance abuse problem.   (NIMH)

 -2/3 of those suffering from depression never seek treatment.

– Untreated depression is the number one cause of suicide, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers. (NIMH) 

i bet each one of us knows at least one person struggling with depression today, as an adult or as a teenager.. i appreciate twloha people for raising our awareness of the problem in a global scale.. something that started as a way to pay for their friend’s treatment has become a growing movement of people willing to step into somebody’s life and get dirty with their problems.. 

it’s a great example of the power of one both on personal and global level.. 

http://twloha.com 

don’t pass by

getting ready to teach today @ a young adults’ service @ indian creek cc (thecreek.org).. luke 10, the story of a good samaritan..

reading this story it struck me that both “good guys” in the story simply PASSED BY a dying man.. it wasn’t like they hated the guy.. wasn’t like they had any bad feelings towards him.. they simply PASSED HIM BY – ignored him, left him behind, didn’t care less.. treated him like another stone on the road.. didn’t want to get dirty in a mess of somebody’s tragedy..

just like the people in one of the convenience stores that i just read about.. people passing by a dying woman, taking pictures of her bleeding on the floor.. read more @ http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22016370-5006003,00.html 

it is my biggest fear that i will be PASSING BY broken people and God-given opportunities to be His hands and feet to the ones who hurt.. my fear is that i will try to stay clean so much in my Christian bubble that i will not reach into messy relationships of others.. i fear that more than anything else.. 

so.. don’t PASS BY! stay PRESENT!

well, the world didn’t stop and wait for me..

… until i caught up with this whole blogging thing.. don’t remember how many times i have asked myself and promised myself to start a blog.. why? maybe simply just to let things go.. curve out your own piece of cyberspace.. be able to meet new people in the most unexpected ways.. anyway – here it is, my blog.. 

thanks for stopping by..

enjoy..