Seasons

Frank Buckles

Frank Buckles just died at 110 years old. That in and of itself was amazing, but what made his passing newsworthy was that Frank was the last living American veteran from World War 1. Between 1917 and 1918, 4.7 million Americans joined the military. Frank Buckles was the last of those 4.7 million. My grandmother's oldest brother, Alfredo Valli, died in WWI of the flu. I have the letters that Alfredo wrote to my grandmother as he was dying and those letters, over 90 years later, affect me when I read them.

Today, Cheryl and I will go into Teamworks and for me it will be the first time I have been there since September. The very first time I went there was 21years ago this month and when I think of all that has happened in those 21 years, I'm amazed. One blessing that Deb and I have is that Shawn, the first "kid" I met at Teamworks (then Camp Squanto), has become a good friend over the years. For many years, Deb would visit Shawn each week and the impacts of those visits goes on today. Shawn was recently married and is involved in a great church. Seeing how his life has been transformed is a great joy for Deb and me. 

Please pray for Deb as she is undergoing tests this week after doctors have found a couple of tumors. Please pray for her husband Dave, their kids, family and the many friends who love Deb.

Whether we are 20 or 110, each one of us impacts the future by our presence and the Lord gives us the choice to make that impact one for the better or one for the worse. Lord help us to keep that in mind with each encounter we have today. Amen.

A Saint's Birthday

Pasha, who had been at the colony, me, and Lydia at her home.

On Saturday, Sergei and I drove a couple of hours to Kremenchug to meet with Lydia Petrovna. Since it was going to be Lydia's 86 birthday on Sunday, we stopped and got her 7 roses (I wanted to get 6, but Sergei told me that in Ukraine you only get flowers in even numbers for funerals. Note that). When we got to her house, Lydia was so happy and said, "how did you remember?" My question is how could we forget?

That is a typical thing for Lydia to say as she truly doesn't expect people to do things for her. Another was when we were talking about how the weather here has turned cold and wintry, Lydia said that it's hard for her to get to the juvenile prison colony to see her boys and she misses them. It turns out that she's still been going into the colony, but "only" once or twice a week, rather than the three or four visits she usually makes.

And Lydia gets such joy from sharing the Gospel and love in the colony. When Lydia and Sergei came back from there (I'm still waiting for permission to go in), Lydia told me that Sasha came up to her all excited as he had gotten a letter from his mother, whom he had not heard from in months. Just the week before, Lydia and Sasha prayed together for his mother and that he would hear from her. Her happiness for Sasha and her thanks to the Lord for that seemingly small gift was awesome to see.

So happy birthday Lydia Petrovna, may the Lord bless and keep you. And Lord, thank you for the gift that Lydia is to us.

A Healing Touch

For some reason, our electricity has decided to take a vacation-its third one this week. I don't think it likes the cold that we're finally getting.

Luda, John, Zhenya from a previous visit

Yesterday, Doug Stoddard (www.manaworldwide.com) and I went out to Kamarivka, a village where Doug has been ministering in the orphanage and in a local hospital that has become a de facto nursing home. A couple of days before, Doug had come to the Safe Haven House and had told me that he was heading to the orphanage and that Zhenya keeps asking when I'm coming back to see them. I met Zhenya, 12, and his sister Luda, 10, the first time I went to Kamarivka and right away they came over to me, hugged me and just wanted to walk around hand-in-hand. When that happens, I wonder what the kids have been through that leaves them so longing for affection.

As soon as I saw them, Luda and Zhenya came running over and greeted me with big smiles and hugs. We talked a little, but mostly just walked around, each of them in one of my hands. When Jesus was in a crowd, a woman who had been bleeding for years (making her an outcast, unable to meet with or even to touch others) just wanted to touch the fringe of his robe in the hopes that she would be healed. She was taking a huge chance that Jesus and the crowd would reject her and throw her out, but the desire to belong, to be removed from the ranks of the outcast, was compelling. She reached out in faith, was healed and was brought back into the fold.

Kamarivka

After we left the orphanage, Doug and I went to the hospital to see Baba Pasha and several others Doug has gotten to know. They all lit up when they saw Doug. In between her jabs about Doug's poor Ukrainian (it's not bad), Baba Pasha smiled as she looked at and listened to Doug. He had left her a booklet with inspirational Bible passages and when Doug tried to read it, Baba Pasha said she didn't want to hear it. But I saw that she had left an old photo of her and her sister in the middle of it, by a meaningful passage of Scripture.

A line from a song by Steve Wiggins says "All the darkness in the world can't put out the light of the smallest flame. I pray that many will be shown that light.

The Hills are Alive

The Alps

Living in Ukraine has been awesome, but when you live in a different culture or in a different country, an underlying anxiety can build up over time and it can get wearying. The cure for that-get away! And I had a chance to do just that thanks to friends Viktor, Caroline, Attis, Maris and Andreas. Last week, I visited them in Budapest and got to go skiing in Austria. We went to Austria with a group from 6 different churches from Catholic to pentecostal and everything in-between. Each evening, we would have a small devotional group, which was lead in Hungarian. When we were singing, the only word that I understood was "alleluia", but that was enough. When I was out on the mountain, I saw the majesty of creation and of the Creator. The scenery was amazing, the weather was great and seeing The Alps was a gift for sure.

John, Viktor, Attis and Maris

 Another gift was seeing how the Lord has given me such good friends in America and over here. At one point, I was sitting in Andreas' apartment in Budapest, looked around, and smiled as I saw our own little League of nations: Andreas from Sweden, Caroline from England, Viktor from Ukraine, Victor from Hungary, and me from America. All of us from different backgrounds and lives, but all of us having a common faith and a common love.

Andreas and Caroline cooking curry.

Four and a half days of skiing also gave me a new appreciation of Paul's admonition in 2 Cor.4:16: "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." My outer man's legs were hurting for sure, but good saunas, good food, good beer (I hope that didn't just cut out the funding from my Baptist friends) and good friends helped renew the inner and outer man for sure.