Unlike their American peers, most European students prepare for cumulative, mostly oral, exams during their last year of high school.  Each country has a slightly different system.  In Germany it is the Arbitur; in the U.K., Leaving Certs; and in the Czech Republic, Maturita.  It marks a cultural first step as an adult, an entrance into the ranks of society.  Student prepare for months and such is the fearful and respected place these exams command in the national psyche that they will remember their grades and topics as long as they live.

In the Czech Republic, four subjects are chosen in advance by each student. Czech Language and Literature, which includes a written component, and a foreign language, usually English, are compulsory.  Two additional subjects are required and can be in any course offered at the school.  Most students at BMA choose from among history, social science, geography, chemistry and math. ( Two chose Information Technology, exclusively taught by me!)  Students receive a list of twenty-five topics in each subject and spend most of the winter preparing for exam day when they randomly select one of the topics and make an oral presentation before the commission, a board of teachers which includes an external examiner.  Needless to say, the pressure is on.

The pressure was on me too, as the homeroom teacher for this class.  My responsibility has been to usher this class of students through that perilous trench that divides students and scholars, children and adults.  During past Maturita exams, I simply sat with my colleagues and to administer the English and I.T. exams.  This year, I observed every exam, my Czech language facilities roaring, and played the role of student advocate while the commission deliberated over marks.  I left the week exhausted, mentally and emotionally.

The students shone, perhaps more than any class before them.  They presented themselves with creativity and professionalism in every subject.  Their command of English far outstripped the external examiner, an English teacher at another high school.  I taught my first year at BMA the same year this class arrived.  The transformation, though nearly imperceptible in transition, is stunning when viewed as two extremes.  Upon arrival, they were almost too terrified to speak a word of English with me.  I have just related their departing state.  In the beginning, they were children.  Now, they are competent, accomplished adults.  The list of universities to which they have been accepted is highly respectable, including both international and Czech institutions. This is the academic success of which we are so proud.  This is why we now, in our sixth year of operation, have twice as many applicants as places.  This is excellence.

Yet, for all the excitement over that pillar of excellence that seems to define our school, there is another ballast that is more deeply affecting BMA students and Czech society: social and spiritual development.  In preparation to deliver the closing Maturita speech at the town hall in front of my students, their families, friends, and my colleagues, I considered not only the academic progress over four years, but the enrichment of kindness, compassion, and vision for the future.  The most important investment we make at BMA is borne out in the character of our graduates after they have been challenged by a loving community pointing to a loving God.  With this in mind, I prepared the following speech and delivered it in Czech:

The year was 1940.  Hilter’s blitzkrieg flattened everything in its path, including France, the once proud British ally.  Britian’s new prime minister knew that soon German Luftwaffe bombs would be raining down on his people’s heads.  Rather than fearfully try to appease the Nazi leader as the previous prime minister had done, he stood and stoically gave his people hope.

“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.”

Winston Churchill.  Was he destined to be the savior of the modern world?  He was a child with parents who didn’t care, an academic failure, and a failed politician.  Yet, he was a gifted and intelligent man who recognized and took hold of the hour for which he had been destined and shined the lights of vision and hope when there was none in the darkness at the coming despair.  Destiny?

Many people would look at this group of talented students and tell them that if they just believe in themselves, anything is possible.  They can achieve their dreams!  I believe this.  The talent and ability of this graduating class may surpass any previous class at BMA.  They have raised the academic standard to an unprecedented level.  Their natural ability will certainly carry them to achieve whatever the wish.  Yet, I believe there is more.  I believe that these st

udents were created for this hour and that there is a plan for each one that surpasses personal achievement.  Recognizing and taking hold of that plan, that destiny, is the challenge for each one.

This year we read Paul’s letter to the church in Emphasis.  He wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…”

There is a God who loves you, wants to know you, and has a plan for your life.  I am praying that you will know him, know his love, and take hold of his plan for you.

We no longer face the threat of a raging dictator with Panzers.  Instead, we face a more sinister darkness of apathy and cultural erosion.  The heart wrench of broken families, corrupt government, visionless youth, plague our society and threaten to swallow our future.

You are gifted men and women.  You are not longer children who need to have excuses signed by your parents.  You are no longer the scared first years who did not want to talk with their English teachers. You have taken your first step this week as adults.  I believe you were destined for greatness at this hour.  Many of your generation are afraid to lead.  You will be the leaders in your families, your communities, and your country.  What will you do with the time that was given you?  Will you live for yourselves or will you give compassion to a hurting world?  Will you complain about the corrupt leaders, or will you lead when no one else will?  Will you walk on your own, or will you answer the call of a God who loves you?

My hope is that generations of Czechs will look back and say that this generation was the finest hour!

As soon as the Maturita festivities ended, I joined a group of thirty underclassmen at Drop It, the weekend retreat.  The minority of Christian students at BMA planned this as an outreach to their classmates.  It look place at a mountain cottage and included loads of games, activities, and spiritual presentations.  Building on their successful prototype retreat last year, the organizers invited students from the local youth group and from another high school.  High school students working hard to accept and love each other is an aberration in the Czech Republic.  At BMA it is routine!

The weekend was a blast.  We played ultimate Frisbee and an insane night game where teams had to search all over the surrounding mountainsides for clues and be the first to reach the goal.  I especially enjoyed just being part of the group without any responsibilities as students completely ran the show.  There were some beautiful moments as the group discussed what the hands of God look like and what that means for us.  The entire weekend embodied the holistic social and spiritual development that makes BMA unique.

I’m more excited about BMA than ever and, though I am going to miss the student who have just graduated, I’m expecting great things for next year’s first year class, for whom I will be the homeroom teacher!  Twenty-five new, scared students will arrive without an inkling of the transformational experience ahead.

1st Year BMA Students at the "Drop It" weekend retreat

Students at the "Drop It" weekend retreat

Although I won’t be teaching at school today, I will be doing some studying of my own. I have been taking an online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course, both to learn how to be a better teacher, as well as to make the government happy. Having the certificate will make it much easier for me to get approved for my work visa each year. It will also (hopefully) make teaching easier and more enjoyable for me as well as make learning easier and more enjoyable for my students.

This morning Jonny had to don his rain gear and pack his suit in a garment bag, covered by a garbage bag, because he doesn’t have an umbrella. Jonny normally doesn’t wear a suit to work, but today is the first day of the big “maturita” exams. Since he is the class teacher, Jonny has to, or gets to, sit in on each of the four formal, oral exams that all 17 students will take this week. That translates to a long week for Jonny, but it is encouraging for the students to know that he is there routing for them and supporting them. The week will end with Jonny giving a speech (in Czech!!) at the graduation ceremony. I hope the rain will let up a bit before then…

Czech men vigorously commemorate the Monday after Easter by quaffing copious quantities of hard liquor while roaming the streets in search of women to beat with sticks.  The alcohol binge isn’t that unusual here; Czech consume more beer per capital than any other nation.  The stick whacking ritual, meanwhile, is a once-a-year event (to the relief of the female population), allegedly designed by ancient Czech pagans to chase out the evil spirits of winter and usher in a new season of fertility and prosperity.  I’m not sure what family life was like back in the olde tymes when holiday designers still roamed the earth, but I can’t imagine that a special day set aside for domestic abuse was a catalyst for a romantic evening even then.  In any case, it seems that Czech women collectively lock their men out of the house for the day.  This necessary, but effectively unsupervised, concentration of testosterone is likely the impulse for ensuing alcohol consumption.  Even as I write this, I can see groups of disgruntled males staggering through the mud and rain, looking for victims.

The Easter weekend here is a pretty big deal.  Monday is a national holiday, for the merits outlined above, and many people get the preceding Thursday and Friday off as well.  Taking advantage off the long weekend, our church youth group planned an all night prayer meeting starting at 10pm on Saturday evening and ending at 6am on Sunday.  I waffled for a while last week about going, thinking I would be too exhausted to function on Sunday when I was to play on our worship team and share a testimony at church.  Then it dawned on me what an awesome opportunity it was.  Here were Czech teenagers, many of them BMA students, ready to spend an entire Saturday night before their creator.  I would be crazy to pass up the chance to wait and pray with these future Czech Christian leaders!

Each hour had a special theme and was led by two teenagers.  A typical approach was to start the hour with worship and singing, then read a passage of scripture, discuss it briefly in groups, and then pray about it.  It varied by the ability and style of each set of leaders.  One hour, for example, we spent some time worshiping by meditating on God’s attributes by drawing.  In another hour, we each composed our own short Psalm of praise.  I especially enjoyed a time of sharing and praying about our deepest fears (after snakes, of course) with a young man from the other high school in Frydlant who is applying to law school this year.

My Czech language was stretched beyond its normal limits and, by the wee hours of the morning, I was completely exhausted.  I grabbed a few hours of sleep before church, then fumbled through a testimony about Jesus alive in my life, during which I made up at least one new Czech word.  I didn’t follow much of the Czech in the Easter service either, but I came away encouraged.  Jesus is alive and he is at work in the Czech Republic!  Good thing he doesn’t whack us with a big stick.

American universities, while having some of the best reputations in the world, are extremely expensive for international students. Scottish universities, on the other hand, offer free tuition to European Union citizens while also consistently ranking highly among the top universities in the world. For the first time in my career, I helped Czech students prepare college applications in English.  This included training for SAT and TOEFL tests, crafting multiple essays, ordering translated transcript copies, and meeting deadlines.  The road was plagued with disappointments when, for example, standard test scores came back lower than we had hoped or when several students dropped out of the running for the University of Chicago because it was just too hard.  Yet, in the end, it has all paid off.

Three students, all girls, have been accepted at several Scottish institutions, including Aberdeen, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling, and Glasgow Caldonian.  While they mull their choices, we are celebrating success as a relatively young school.  We see that we can open doors for students to change communities and be changed by exciting educational opportunities in ways that other local schools can’t.  This, coupled with our vision for being a spiritually challenging, family environment, is what we believe can make a massive positive impact on our region.

I’m so proud and am cheering for the students who put in the effort to go above and beyond in achieving what seemed impossible.  I’m also thrilled at the results, both academic and spiritual, that God continually blesses BMA with.

We met a lot of great guys who are ready to be a “faithful presence” in their families, communities, and churches.  It was inspiring to hear about what men in business are doing to serve and reach out all over the world.  The NCS guys were hilarious, as usual.  Skip Bowlinski took his antics to new lows and hilarity ensued.

One conference highlight for me was personally meeting Luis Palau, who gave a stirring message at a Promise Keepers meeting I attended with my dad fourteen years ago.  I was convicted and responded with tears in my eyes by deciding to follow Jesus.  I was twelve year old at the time.  Luis was all smiles when I told him about it this weekend. He told Lisa, “You owe me one!”

Another memorable experience was having breakfast with Graham Kendrick, an amazing and experienced international worship leader.  I asked him loads of questions about leading worship and balancing family life with ministry.  He and Paul Baloche led some awesome times of worship at the conference.

The weekend with family and NCS “brudders” built me up spiritually and refreshed me emotionally.  I’m motivated to be a “faithful presence” in my family, community, and church and will be meditating on “Christ in me and through me,”   Luis’ theme on Saturday morning. Here is the video recap of the conference:

Thinking about Mom and the tremendous work she did as a mother is sad, of course, but inspiring and wonderful.  She was passionate about raising a godly family, especially as she sacrificed her career to stay home with the siblings and homeschool us.  She also changed many lives by working as a nurse at the Alpha Pregnancy Care Center in Albany and with Moose River Outpost Christian Camp in Maine.  She gave her camp salary each summer to pay the way for Czech BMA students to attend the camp.  We are going to set up the Cindy Lobel Memorial Scholarship to continue this special ministry.

We are going to miss Mom dearly, but know that she lived according to God’s purpose and completed his work for her.  We praise Jesus for everything he did through her!  He is faithful.

The Netherlands
I took a couple days off, traveled to the Hague last week, and stayed with my extended family there.  My dad emigrated from the Netherlands to America when he was about one year old.  He still speaks fluent Dutch, though he never spoke at home with us.  We maintain a fairly close relationship with our extended Dutch family.  My sister, Mandy, even spent a summer there learning Dutch a few years ago.

Uncle Jim was the center of the family.  He was the last surviving sibling in my grandmother’s family.  They were born in Indonesia just before the Second World War and four out of five of them survived a Japanese concentration camp. As an adult, Jim became a politician and member of European Parliament.  His outgoing, gregarious personality charmed everyone he met.  One of his last big trips was two years ago to Chicago for our wedding.  He passed away quietly at the age of 77.  You can read about him in a Dutch newspaper, which I have translated into English using Google Translate.

The funeral was a sad time, but also a celebration of life.  We sang his favorite hymns and ate his favorite food (Indonesian) together.  I believe it was a special time of closeness for the family where Jesus was able to quietly speak about hope and comfort.

BMA
The endless cycle of teaching, learning, and developing the white and grey matter in students’ skulls continues as usual.  I’ve felt recently that I am seeing good developments in myself as a teacher.  The students we have at BMA also may be the best crop (on average) we have ever had, in my opinion.  I’m expecting amazing results from my homeroom class on their oral exams in a few months.  They are all currently applying to various universities around the Czech Republic, and some around the world.

I am overseeing the application process of two students applying to Moody Bible Institute.  These are the last overseas applications this year, and I am glad because I am exhausted!  I am so proud that BMA students step out into the unknown and apply to universities around the world.  They have also applied to several universities in the United Kingdom this year.

Family
Lisa and I travel to the States next week to visit with my family.  We are thankful to have a week off school for the spring holidays!  Mom Lobel hasn’t been improving much over the past two months.  She has been in the hospital for the last week, though should be home soon.  We are eager to spend time with her and the whole family.  Please keep praying for a miracle.  You can follow her progress at http://cindylobel.blogspot.com/

Lisa will also be stopping in to see her family for a few days.  She has some little nephews and nieces who don’t see their aunt nearly enough!  During that time, I will be at the annual conference of the New Canaan Society, a group of hundreds of Christian men who want to see God’s life in their families, jobs, and communities.  I’ll be doing some fund raising and getting quality time in with my dad and brother.  After a few days, both Lisa and I will return to Albany to be with Mom and the family.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Jonny

If you are here to skim, not read, here are the important links: http://cindylobel.blogspot.com/ and Lisa’s photo gallery.

Despite the jovial tone above, I write with a heavy heart.  Cindy Lobel, my dear mom, has been diagnosed with serious, advanced stomach cancer and is currently fighting through chemotherapy and the life-altering events that rocked our world.  We rushed home for Christmas and have two more trips to America planned for this year.  We are desperate for your earnest and regular prayers (see James 5:16), for a miracle is the only hope.  To keep up, visit http://cindylobel.blogspot.com/.

Despite the challenge of being faithful in light of God’s difficult goodness, we are enjoying a true outpouring of his blessings and Spirit.  Beskydy Mountain Academy is growing stronger each month, students are connecting with Jesus at every turn, and our small church is finding its feet. Lisa continues to blossom as a teacher.  I caught myself secretly taking notes as she related the effectiveness of an inventive new class exercise she used today.  As the only native English speaker in her school, she is currently editing term evaluations for each student in every class, which piles up to about two hundred evaluations!

You might remember that I am the homeroom teach for this year’s graduating class.  The responsibilities of guiding eighteen students through their final year in a Czech high school sometimes overwhelms me.  For example, it will be up to me at the end of this spring semester to sit in on the final, terrifying oral examinations.  I should act as an advocate for my students and ensure that the board evaluates them fairly.  That is a tall order for someone of my Czech language ability!  Yet, there are bright, even delicious, moments, which solidify my faith in how right God was when he called us here.

Some weeks before Christmas, my class staged a celebratory dinner, called stužkovák, for their teachers, classmates, parents, and friends.  My part in this mysterious Czech tradition was to knight each student with a massive sword and give them an official ribbon which signifies my approval for them to proceed on to the aforementioned, terrifying oral examinations. The scrawny kids I remember hazing as first years were suddenly before me as adults, ready to graduate and continue on to university, community building, and the full lives we always aimed to equip them for at BMA.  (The hazing comment was a joke, Dad…)

Family time has been precious, as you can imagine.  My youngest sister, Erica, dropped in on us for three weeks on her return trip from Uganda.  We had a blast and she made quite a splash with my class at BMA.  She hung out there, went to classes in Czech, and helped a couple Czech students study for the SAT. I was so sad to drop her off at the airport in Prague.  I thought it would be until the following summer before we saw her again.

The call from my parents came as Lisa and I were decorating our tree a week before Christmas.  We were shocked by the news of cancer and quickly arranged to fly back to New York for Christmas.  Yet, we finished our work at school and even threw a Christmas crêpe party for my class before departing.  The mix of emotions as home was intense.  It was our first time together as a family since my wedding with Lisa two years ago. We enjoyed some sweet times of prayer, worship and games together.  As an added bonus, Lisa and I spent an afternoon with our old friends from Frydlant, Ken and Andrea Pitcher, who have since moved their family to Rochester.

Now back in our cozy apartment, we are thoroughly entrenched in our work and ministries.  I’m guiding our church’s worship ministry, only by grace from Jesus.  Every other week, we hold a Bible study here at home for any BMA students who are interested.  Last week we had a record thirteen students in our living room, studying John 14 and 15!  More than twenty BMA students show up voluntarily for prayer twice a week at school.  Many students have connected with Jesus for the first time or in new ways this year.  One student summed up why I am so excited about BMA in a sweet facebook status update: It´s nice to feel, if anyone ask you a question: How is your school? And you can say: I pretty love my school! I am just happy about that!!

Finally, you might enjoy sharing some pictures from our second year of marriage.  Check out Lisa’s photo gallery.  Thank you so much for reading, praying, and faithfully supporting us here in the Czech Republic.

Christmas Party with (most of) my BMA Seniors

Bible Study with BMA Students

Our local mountain, Lysa Hora (1323 M, 4340 ft), in the January snow.

Erica, Lisa and I visited Prague together.

Psalm 86 (New Living Translation)

A prayer of David.

¹ Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer;
answer me, for I need your help.
² Protect me, for I am devoted to you.
Save me, for I serve you and trust you.
You are my God.
³ Be merciful to me, O Lord,
for I am calling on you constantly.
⁴ Give me happiness, O Lord,
for I give myself to you.
⁵ O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive,
so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.
⁶ Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord;
hear my urgent cry.
⁷ I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble,
and you will answer me.

⁸ No pagan god is like you, O Lord.
None can do what you do!
⁹ All the nations you made
will come and bow before you, Lord;
they will praise your holy name.
¹⁰ For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.
You alone are God.

¹¹ Teach me your ways, O Lord,
that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
so that I may honor you.
¹² With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.
I will give glory to your name forever,
¹³ for your love for me is very great.
You have rescued me from the depths of death.

¹⁴ O God, insolent people rise up against me;
a violent gang is trying to kill me.
You mean nothing to them.
¹⁵ But you, O Lord,
are a God of compassion and mercy,
slow to get angry
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Look down and have mercy on me.
Give your strength to your servant;
save me, the son of your servant.
¹⁷ Send me a sign of your favor.
Then those who hate me will be put to shame,
for you, O Lord, help and comfort me.

Everything was (for the most part) on time and simple. We did have an incident with a student getting the meeting time wrong when we left Frydlant, but we were able to get him on time. And one student had trouble getting off of the metro in Paris quick enough, but thankfully got back to the right stop quickly and without problems. Everyone seemed to have a really great time and thanks to the fact that, in Paris, citizens of the EU under 26 receive free entry to most museums and sights in Paris, we were able to see so much! The 3 days there gave the class  a chance to have fun, experience something new and bond.  The family atmosphere that characterizes BMA was very real for our class on this trip!  We got to chat with them, have fun with them and get to know them better.  I think they really enjoyed being together as well.

We are excited to have the rest of the year to spend with these students before they go off to college. They are a great group and have the potential to make the year very exciting! For more pictures, check out the album on Jonny’s facebook page, or click here:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071472&id=17507425&l=669a504bad