After a month in motion, feels nice to name parts of our recent journey into europe.
After visiting our friend Kerstin Hack, who runs a publishing house and is an amazing human being in Berlin, we journeyed towards the south of Poland.
We visited Poland on this recent journey in order to attend and participate in an arts festival called “Slot”. Often in the summer festivals are the best way for us to converge with our friends in europe. Everyone is equal when camping and God offers unique blessings in that setting.
Poland sings in accordion rhythm like a rusty opera of bumpy roads and wild chickens. We love Poland–it’s song is uninterrupted. At night, at this festival, accordion sounds mix with techno music echoing throughout the monastery grounds in a song of old and new europe. It is refreshing to feel the two in dialogue.
We participated in Slot Fest this year which is held in an amazing abandoned monastery in the south of poland about two hours from Krakow. Nice to be with the Poles and also to taste many other nations through a gathering within the festival called Kaliediscope. This group was hosted by Debbie and Andrew Jones and brought together many leaders globally to name some of what they see God doing in their nations.
The Brazilians were so alive, passionate and inspiring as were the Portugese. It was interesting to see what each nation was focused on spiritually as well. In brazil, the couple who came minister into the gay and transvestite communities as well as have an arts education program. The church is very alive in brazil and it was fun hearing a younger nation speaking into europe and thanking her for all she had given in history. We made many new friends at this festival.
On our last night we hosted a huge banquet in a fully restored baroque ballroom. We had everyone wear a costume and did “last supper” photos, twelve at a time of course, with the entire group. We were about seventy in the end. Despite the fact that it was difficult to imagine how the monks afforded such a lavish banquet hall, it was truly remarkable to eat with seventy amazing people in a very heightened and lavish environment.
Also had deep talks with Denny Hurst who, with his wife Maureen and kids live now near Lisbon, after serving with YWAM in italy for the past twenty years. They work with musicians and throw festivals, and are just great solid grounded people of life. A real honor and joy to get to camp with Denny and glean his insights into sheparing artists.
After Slot, we went to Prague and got to attend our friend’s Sasa and Katka’s twentieth wedding anniversary. Moravian wine, fire and deep talks of marriage and family in their orcharded house. Also that night got to meet the guys from “The Violet Burning”–nice exchange with these guys who were playing festivals in europe and had just played Slot.
We then went camping with our dear friends the Jones and got to cap it off with a shared few days in Karlovy Vary.
Often, we forget, or at least i do–all that we do, and the places we go. So i wanted to write up the sequence on this summer’s journeys. Three months ago, i was in Prague attending and performing in the Bible21 launch, then to be back last week at our friends anniversary in the city were we were married was a special bookend for us. Our friends are so spread out that when we do actually get to share the same geography for moment it is dear to us, and rich.
So we are thankful.
In a few weeks, i return to switzerland to shoot a video with our friends Bryce and Sam Wagner who work with Mercy Ships. I was over last month to prep the shoot, and am looking forward to the actual filming. They are a very creative family and their music is bringing life into some heavy spaces. We are glad to be collaborating with so many alive and kingdom forward people in our lives. People living out their callings and passions keep us inspired to live out ours! Thanks everyone for sharing your lives with us, we hope we also left a lingering smooth taste and a pleasant fragrance in yours!
We continue to enjoy being artists and linking them with communities globally, and getting to know leaders who are working in creative frontiers. It is a joy to taste what new things are birthing around the world and to be co-inspired by others who are living out their dreams and callings.
We like being part of facilitating a local, creative and authentic expression of the Kingdom coming from who we are; but also need to continuously behold the multifaceted jewel of His uniquely shaped expressions around the world. God has allowed us to do this through a very organic and real network of global relationships.
For us the joy of just visiting our friends and sharing in their lives is the deepest motivation for travel. We have tried to live in and out this pilgrimage of becoming God’s global family, for His Own pleasure. To be the joints and sinews between so many parts of His Body and the art world is always a cultural challenge, but also a great pleasure in getting to know and love more and more of Him through our journeys. Peace and life to you wherever you are, and may your road in Him rise up to meet ya!
