Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,
but let God transform you into a new person
by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God’s will for you,
which is good and pleasing and perfect.
(View from Charles bridge tower in Prague)
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge!
How impossible it is for us to understand
his decisions and his ways!
(Clock tower in old Prague, Czech Republic)
And I am convinced that nothing
can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither our fears for today
nor our worries about tomorrow—
not even the powers of hell
can separate us from God’s love.
So you have not received a spirit
that makes you fearful slaves.
Instead, you received God’s Spirit
when he adopted you as his own children.
Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
For his Spirit joins with our spirit
to affirm that we are God’s children.
The Spirit of God,
who raised Jesus from the dead,
lives in you.
And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead,
he will give life to your mortal bodies
by this same Spirit living within you.
Romans 8:11
(St Barbara’s Cathedral, Kutna Hora, The Czech Republic)
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature.
You are controlled by the Spirit
if you have the Spirit of God living in you.
(And remember that those who do not have
the Spirit of Christ living in them
do not belong to him at all.)
(St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, The Czech Republic)
So now there is no condemnation for those
who belong to Christ Jesus.
(St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, The Czech Republic)
But God showed his great love for us
by sending Christ to die for us
while we were still sinners.
(St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague, The Czech Republic)
Therefore, since we have been made right
in God’s sight by faith,
we have peace with God
because of what Jesus Christ our Lord
has done for us.
(The Czech Republic)
“LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.”
And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you.
