Red and Yura

Deb and Red, 2001

On June 7, 2003, Ricky Garcia, a/k/a Red, went home to be with the Lord at age 22. He was one of those kids whom people loved instantly, who was a leader and who was as complicated as they come. He had been an addict for many years, but he never lost his humanity. A couple of years before his death, Red's faith had come alive and that gave him hope, a hope that he shared with others. He was one of Deb and my "keepers" who was always close, at least in heart.

When Red passed, it seemed like a lot of my heart went with him. But just a month later, I was back in Ukraine with our band, Svuki Bostona, even though I was still in a fog. As usual, we did a concert for the guys at the juvenile colony in Kremenchug. After the concert, a tall, tough looking young man was standing on the stage by himself. I got one of those, "go over and talk with him" nudges and so I went.

His name was Yura and he had been there for about a year. He was not a believer, but something was stirring within him. Yura shared about his life: he didn't know his father and he and his mother had come to Ukraine from Russia when he was 5. When he was 6, his mother sent Yura for a bottle of wine, which he dropped and broke. When he came home, she beat him and kicked him out. Yura lived on the streets and when the police would bring him to the orphanage, he would run away. His mother died when he was 9. When he was 13 the police arrested him and Yura thought that they had caught him for stealing food. They charged him with murder, held a kangaroo court, and he was sentenced to 10 years for a crime he didn't commit.

Me and Yura, June 2011

I can't remember much about the rest of our conversation, but I remember sharing about Christ's love and praying with Yura. Yura later told me that on that day, his faith and hope came alive; in a way, my hope came back alive too after it had been pushed down with Red's death.

Last week, on June 7, 2011, Yura called me. He had been released from the adult prison after serving the rest of his sentence. He was living in Kiev and wanted to meet as soon as possible. I was happy, but I was also apprehensive as I hadn't seen Yura in the 6 years that he had served in the adult prison system, a system that often breaks people.

We met and it was great. Yura looked healthy and he was enjoying life. He had a good church and was living in a hostel until he could afford a room someplace. Yura asked what I saw in his soul and I told him that I was happy to see that he was full of life. I also shared that I had worried about what I would see. Yura smiled and said, "I am a believer and Jesus never left me." As we left, Yura told me that he loved me and that he was thankful to God that I was his "spiritual" father. I told him the same and we made plans to meet again over the weekend, with an interpreter so we could talk more in depth.

When I contacted Yura the next day, he had decided to go to another city a few hundred miles from here as his friend had a place for him there and he could live for two months on what he could live on in Kiev for just a couple of weeks. Part of me was happy for him, but part was bummed that he would not be around. That is pretty typical with the guys and girls with whom we work. Then again, I guess that's part of "spiritual" parenthood.

Life is full of comings and goings, but what a blessing it is when we get glimpses into the connectedness of it all. 

Please keep Yura in your prayers (and Pasha, whom we still have not heard from since he left the house in Zolotonosha) as he works through his freedom for the first time in ten years.