Perspective

Just up the hill from us is Slavin - a Communist monument to fallen Russian soldiers of WWII. To me it's kind of a strange thing to celebrate since the Liberators quickly turned their coats to become Occupiers. Of course they would call it being good Big Brothers...but that's another story. History is complicated, emotional, and shifting from age to age. It's not as enduring as the stones we write it upon. Regardless of your view, the view from Slavin on the city is always good.

SNAP! // Spiders

SNAP! // Rush

SNAP! // Babel

Drive By Shooting

Well, we shot the Queen... yes, the Queen of England.

Long live the Queen!

Apparently, she is doing a whirlwind tour of Slovakia. Obviously, she brought the blustery British weather with her!

Part of her tour of Bratislava included a visit of Devin Castle...which is in the neighborhood of my work. So, although we didn't actually get to sit down and have a proper cup of tea with Ol' Lizzy, we did get a good glimpse of her as she sped by the school. We "shot" her on film(see below).

The guys were a bit surprised that there would be a real, live Queen in Devin. Gabie asked - “you mean like a King? A King’s princess? like a real Queen?”

This is now our 2nd "queen sighting" we have had. The first was Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands last year.Both seemed like nice, well dressed grannies. But still, very much ‘proper ladies.’



The guys were for sure more impressed by the police escort then the Queen herself!

A 5 minute walk

"Do you want to be happy?"
"Do you want to be successful?"
"Take this 20 second scientific test..."
"Do you have a minute..."
"A New Start..."

Everyone's got a line these days. An introduction. A way into their secret world.

These are a few of the common things I hear or read the moment I step out of my flat in downtown Bratislava. It's Spiritual Propaganda. Apparently I live on the north end of a religious buffet table with every kind of strangeness served up.

Someone rings my doorbell. The voice on the other end of the phone asks "Do you want to be happy?" My first thought is - who are you and what makes you think I'm unhappy? Who is this? - Jehovah Witnesses.

I walk down the stairs. Two girls hand me a booklet entitled - "Do You Want To Be Successful?" Jehovah Witnesses, again. Who let them into our building?

I go to my car and find advertisements plastered on the window. "Take this 20 second scientific test" it reads. Scientologists.

I walk down the street only to be stopped by a shaven headed young man in orange asking me, "Do you have a minute..." Hare Krishna...I just keep walking.

A few steps later I pass two older gentlemen offering Watchtower magazines - Jehovah Witnesses, again. Actually, they are always there. I view them more as statues or permanent fixtures to the local environment.

I look up and see a poster - "A New Start..." This is an advert for a "Revival" meeting that took place last week. They were actually well meaning Christians. I visited the meeting for about 30 minutes but left after hearing too much about handling snakes, stomping on scorpions, casting out daemons and the like. I was a bit concerned when I tried to leave and the door was locked (an honest mistake?)... obviously I escaped to tell my tale. Christians, but strange. (Possibly it was just the gust speaker, not the church?)

I approach the crosswalk and wait for a green light. Across the street are two young men that look like businessmen, but somehow not. Their little "elder tags" give them away - Mormons.

Well, this is a typical 5 minute walk from home.



Here is a little clip of a "praise parade" that almost danced over me on my way home from work... they are everywhere!

SNAP! // Going home

SNAP! // Dry

SNAP! // Way Out

SNAP! // Devin

Devin Castle is about 25min bus ride from our home. It's basically just ruins, but is one of the oldest fortifications in Slovakia. This little tower towers over the Danube & Morava rivers - a strategic point looking out across to Austria's Hainburg castle. Also, Devin is where the guys go to school and I teach at...so a daily sight for us.

SNAP! // Cool Ride

On the way to school

SNAP! // Salvatora

Gabie took this one! The location is kind of cool, because the building he shot was an old pharmacy, called Our Savior, with a statue of Christ with outstretched hands. The signage of the place is in Slovak, German, and Hungarian - as Bratislava was a tri-lingual city up until WWII. The Cathedral reflected in the window is a nice touch.

Acorn

SNAP! // LandMarx

SNAP! // 40

Snap! // Listen

You Are Here

We were walking down Panenska street the other day and quickly approaching one gallery which always has some interesting, but very 'progressive' window display. Of course I was not alone. Little David was with me and basically at the end of his day. His mantra was "I don't want to be here." Interestingly enough the gallery had plastered on its windows this simple message: YOU ARE HERE. Ironic timing.

YOU ARE HERE. What a relevant message for us, especially me, today. Life is sometimes so busy, hectic and fast. Most of the time we are either coming to terms with where we have been or stressing and striving to get where we are going. Rarely are we quite and still enough to simply realize that YOU ARE HERE. Life is happening right now..and now...and now. We don't have to live in rewind or fast forward. There is a play mode and sometimes even a pause button on this thing called life.

Most of the time we are just like David crying - "I don't want to be here!"
Why is it so hard to be 'fully present' at times? Why is our attention on a million things and absolutely nothing at the same time? Why can't we seem to be content in all situations... or at least the one we are in at the moment? Possibly there are many answers, but the simple one is that I'm not in tune with God. Somewhere along the journey we have gotten off track. The reception is getting fuzzy. The Spirit's guiding footprints made a right turn two blocks back.

I would like to get back into step. Join in the rhythm, movement, motion, and momentum of Jesus. Keeping in step with the Spirit. Following the cloud and the flame on grand adventures. Part of the process is just to pause... wait ... listen... and remember that HE IS HERE. And when HE shows up, know that YOU ARE HERE for a reason. It's not a mistake. Where ever the Spirit has you, it is the right place. So live fully in the space & time He has given to you. Today. Now. Here. Don't worry about tomorrow... live in Him right now.

Now why does it take oversized window displays to knock the simplicity of the Spirit-filled reality into our over-iPoded minds? I guess we all need a shock from time to time. For some it's a burning bush. For others it’s a smart mouthed donkey. Whatever God uses to get your attention - it doesn't matter what- just pause, listen and wait. Then respond.

YOU ARE HERE and its good.

Zoro vs. Gladiator

SNAP! // BA

We have all heard the cliché - 'a picture is worth a 1000 words'. This may or may not be true. But for sure pictures do inspire, arouse curiosity, and sometimes fill in missing details that words fail to express.

I've decided to launch an informal photo project called SNAP! // BA. Basically, its just a collection of random, low-tech snapshots documenting life here in Bratislava. All Snaps! will be shot on via my mobil phone and should capture the moment, motion, or memory of BA. Hopefully this will be worth at least 500-999 words. You be the judge.

All Snaps! will be posted on this blog. So lets get Snapping!



UpTown

Bumble Bee

Part of our Story of moving to Bratislava is simply how good God is at providing for our needs. As some of you know, we didn't move back to BA partially because of finances (it's expensive to be here). God had a lot of wisdom and reason for the delay, but that will be for another blog entry. Back to Provision.

Chuck Smith is famous for saying, "where God guides, He provides." Our move to BA is simply that reality working itself out. We felt the OK to look for a flat, He provided it for the right price and all conditions were good. We signed the contract, and then... my main clients canceled theirs. For me that meant a huge loss in income. The obvious question was - so do we back out of this move to the 'big city'? NO. Where God guides, He provides. The next day I received an offer to teach English at a international school! BTW - I didn't look for this job and I'm not sure how they got my CV! The cool thing with the job is that it's 1/2 time with full-time benefits and our guys get to attend the school for free! (which is about a $1000 a month bonus). How good of a God do we have? Very good!

Too often we live like busy little bees. Work, work, work. Strive, push, make ‘it’ happen. But with God it doesn’t have to be like that. Sometimes we can simply receive from Him, and then we are in the position with work with Him.

Here is a little video clip of Gabie reciting a new song he learned at school. Enjoy!

TramRide

Woodchips

One of the cool things about Slovakia is that there is this keen interest in folk tradition, which now seems so long forgotten. The costumes, music, dances, foods, and crafts are amazing. One of the more interesting aspect (for me) is how people used to make things. It’s sometimes seems like artisans were more skilled, smart, and generally cleverer then today’s. Here are the guys trying their hand at shaping wood shingles used for traditional roofing.

Storm the Castle

Here is David having a bit of ‘time out’ on the Castle Hill overlooking Bratislava. We were checking out a cool folk festival held there, but he wasn’t interested. So, we did a little Nokia low-tech photo shoot.

Big 3

Well, it happened. Little David is not little David anymore. He is BIG 3. And he knows how to show it. Express it. Let you know. And he loves it.

Eva & Betka opened their home up for a birthday bash in celebration of little..oh, I mean BIG David’s third birthday. BBQ, tons of cakes/sweets and lots of craziness.

Enjoy the few ‘documentary pics’. I didn’t take them, so I won't claim their cool blurred effect. However, I think the blur really captures the mood, motion, and speed of that evening. It could also easily represent our 3 years with David - a blur of excitement and activity. It’s been fun. I know he is “big” now, but he will always be just our little boy.

King of the Mountian

So...I am so "behind" in this blogging stuff...anyways, here are some more pics from our adventures on Kalvaria with the adventure dudes...







A snapshot taken by David...artsy... Gabie has also recently started taking up photography...