Picture Perfect

This view of the Old Town Square was one of my favorite places to take pictures in Prague. Here is a very, very small percentage of the pictures I took from the same spot!




I waited almost an hour for this shot with my tripod set up. I had to guard my camera from being knocked over by passing pedestrians. The sun has set already but the sky had not yet turned pitch black. I found this blue sky quite astounding!

Charles Bridge

I'm now back home from my trip to Prague. I had some trouble creating posts the last few days in Prague and then had to deal with a week of jet lag. What will now follow for a while will be the after affects of my trip.

The Charles Bridge spans the Vltava River in Prague and was built in 1357. There are about 28 statues located along both sides. The first was a crucifix constructed in 1683. This bridge was the site of the last battle of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Today, people stroll leisurely across the bridge and the only fighting I saw was between the seagulls and the pigeons.

St Vitus Cathedral

I'm going to post a few blogs with some pictures of Prague...finally!

St. Vitus Cathedral is an amazing Gothic structure that watches over the city of Prague. It was began in 1344 and not completed until 1929. It was named after Vitus, a Roman slave. You can see the scuplture on one of the doors of people bringing his arm as a relic to the cathedral. I guess you can say that he had a hand in building the cathedral!

Postmodern Prague

It's been a while since I have last posted a blog. Part of my loss of creativity has been due to having a broken camera for over a week. The inabilty to take pictures has been quite traumatic! However, there was one place in the city which fixes cameras and so now I am back to normal.


Here are two examples of postmodernism in action. Gil, you will appreciate these!

Museum of Communism and McDonalds!

The Dancing House

Voices and Faces

As I travel in buses and on the subway; as I walk the cobblestone streets; as I peruse shops selling wares…I understand only the voice in my head. It is a strange experience to be surrounded by voices that express words and thoughts which I cannot understand. I hear sounds, mostly Czech, occasionally German or Russian, which enter my mind without any recognition of meaning. And so the only voice I hear is my own.

But I see faces…young faces, old faces, men and women, a few children...all of them strangers. Virtually no one smiles. I wonder why. Are they happy? Do they have hope? We stand side by side…together…alone. As I hold open the door for the person behind me, a cautious smile extended in thanks reaches out to grasp this small act of kindness. Can God be seen in the conscious acknowledgement of another’s presence? Can kindness open eyes to see more than my face?

Prague Old Town Square

I went for a walk around Prague this afternoon. The first stop is, of course, the Old Town square. Here again is my attempt at another "panoramic" view of this wonderful place.

Do you know your African Christian history?

On Thursday we heard a presentation from Jonathan Bonk, executive director of Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut. He was on his way to Africa to work on a very special project. He shared with us that western Christians have virtually no knowledge of Christianity in Africa. It is the invisible continent when it comes to books about Christian history, yet ironically, it is the place where Christianity is growing the fastest!

The Dictionary of African Christian Biography is starting to fill in this gap of awareness. It is an online dictionary that is gathering the oral history of African Christians and putting it in written format. Educational institutions in Africa countries are taking responsibility to gather the stories of influential and significant people in African Christian history.

You can find this dictionary at www.dacb.org

To start with, I would suggest that you read the stories of Hakalla Amale and Kizito. You will be amazed at what God is doing beyond our small circles.

IBTS Courtyard

Here is a "panoramic" view of the IBTS main campus. This was orignially a 17th century estate, which has been completely remodeled as a campus!







Of course you noticed there is no snow and the grass is green!

What is a Research Colloquia?

I have been in Prague 5 days and for 4 1/2 days I have been sitting in the same chair from 9:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. attending a research colloquia. So what is a research colloquia? It is the opportunity for Ph.D. students to share the present state of their thesis research. There are three kinds of reports: proposal reports, where students present their idea for a thesis topic for the first time; upgrade reports, where students present about two chapters to be assessed for quality; and progress reports, where students present what they have completed over the last year (this is what I did). The reports range in length from 15 minutes (proposals) to 30 minutes (progress) with the same amount of time for discussion and feedback.

What is very exciting about being a part of this research colloquia is the delightful diversity present around the table. The following countries were represented this last week: Czech Republic, Russia, United States, Moldova, Belgium, India, Croatia, Liberia, Belarus, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Lithuania, Latvia, and of course Canada! This doesn't even cover all the students who attend here. I am very thankful to be part of this Body!