One way to understand ‘pray without ceasing’ is just the ability to remain in the fathers presence as each different moment of the day unfolds. Always coming back to the quiet place internally immediately after a moment of unrest or even after the mundane moments of life. We may think of it as the process of going out into the world for a duty to be performed or interactions with others and then quickly retreating back into the secret meeting place where God lives in us. This process may be played out dozens of times in a given day depending on our schedules and how tightly we have packed them. Depending on how well we manage this process throughout the day will determine the vitality and steadfastness of our peace, joy and ultimately our faith. When I fail to accurately perceive my going out and then not returning to my secret place where God lives in me, I inevitably end up feeling lost, frustrated, impatient and at a loss for hope. If I had a dime for every time I ended up here I would buy all of Slovakia a cup of tea. There is tremendous difficulty in accurately perceiving and assessing our internal spiritual condition in a world that is so loud and fast paced. This is especially true when we don’t put limits on how much we expose ourselves to the chaos. And the journey goes on…
And here is my Slovak of the week. This is my friend Riso (pronounced Reesho). It's a nick name for Richard. I believe he is 16 years old. Riso lives in the town of Zilina which is about 2 plus hours by car from Bratislava. Riso speaks great english and enjoyed his first baseball camp this summer. He is a natural at baseball and has learned to love the sport. As a matter of fact he is hoping to start a baseball club at his school which would be the first one ever there. I am attempting to get him some equipment to get them started. Riso was in Bratislava recently which gave us an opportunity to hang out. Good man that Riso!