Doing God's Work in a World Full of Need
Not long ago, I was traveling into Romania and began to feel like I was coming down with the flu, but didn’t think much about it. I was in bed for a day and symptoms lingered for another couple, but I went about the work anyway. It wasn’t until later, that I found out that I had gone through a bout with covid. It was humorous to me that I waited until the disease had practically run it’s course to get it, and then, when I did get it, I didn’t even realise it. I tell you that story because it has been amazing to me how little I have heard about or cared about covid over the last three months. Except for the occasional old, used, mask I find in a pocket, I don’t even own one anymore. When I, from time to time, see a person wearing one, only then am I reminded that there was a day, (which now seems like long ago), when the biggest problem facing mission work for us was that pesky pandemic. As frustrating and as harsh as covid19 was, it did not impact me nearly so deeply as this war. There is a sense for me, as strange as it may sound, that those lock down times were the “good old days”.
Since February 24th, when Russia crossed into Ukraine and killed the first innocent person in this peaceful country, the world changed forever. It will never be the same…for me, for you, and especially for the Ukrainian people. I have lived closer to death and suffering in the last 3 months than I have in all the other years of my life combined. It has been a time of extra deep emotion from my side because of the quarter century we spent ministering in the very country that is being led my the evil tyrant who is the cause of all this suffering. (I consider this his war, not the people’s.) Yet, for all of that, we have a new sense of worth and ministry that has come from taking our place on this line the war has created. I think president Zelensky expressed it best when asked not long ago the simple question, “How are you doing?”, he responded:
“My life today is wonderful. I believe that I am needed. That’s the most important sense of life, that you are needed, that you are not just an emptiness that breathes and walks and eats something.”
That is what we should sense as God’s people, doing God’s work, in a world full of need. This is how we feel as we shoulder the work together in what has become the centre of the universe these days for all the wrong reasons. It is the sense that we are where the church, His soldiers, ought to be. We were not made to be idle and to let governments take responsibility that God has designed for His people. I believe that you have sensed the importance of this task as you have lifted these hurting people in your prayers, thoughts, and support. It’s the most important sense of life, not only that you are needed, but that you are meeting the needs of others. I send you continued thanks on behalf of those you care for here and challenge you to not be weary in well doing. Embrace the worth that comes in being needed and supporting those who are humbly and gratefully looking to His people in their time a distress.
It is hard for me to know what you are hearing at home, but from here the big events of the week concern Mariupol. The Ukrainian people do not feel that it has yet fallen and will not cede the city, until the last person leaves or is murdered. Even then, they do not feel it belongs to Russia. The Russian propaganda machine is magnificently evil. The Bible lets us know that satan is the father of lies and it has never been more evident than in the blatant lies coming from Moscow. It seems that the more panic Putin feels at the embarrassment of his situation, the greater his ability, and that of his circle, to build an entire history of lies. There is a whole lot of fight left in these people and it will do us well to continue to aid and defend with them. Moldova seems to be the next target if Russia were to somehow stumble and succeed, and from there retaliation against the Poles. That is the thinking, though no one here is nearly as shaken by the Russian military anymore. I challenge you to be wise and to filter everything you read and hear through your own good sense and confident resources. It is harder and harder these days to find news that is reliable, so ask God for wisdom.
We continue to find more and more areas of need within Ukraine and search for better and more efficient ways to get the supplies and help to the needed places. We have been working from Poland this week as we continue to try to partner with others in the effort. In the weeks to come, and as long as the war continues, we will seek to make our way closer to the greatest need, wherever that may be. Thanks to those of you who have sent words of encouragement and have shared what we are doing with others. I am thankful for you all. It is good to partner together with you and we are blessed by your goodness.
I share with you a few more of the faces of the people you have helped in Ukraine. The faces represent hundreds more who are going through the darkest days of their lives.
Hug your babies and your loved ones and be grateful. Blessings.
