Archive for August, 2010

How much do you know about Ukraine?

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Ukrainian Flag

Ukrainian Flag

How much do you know about Ukraine? Try the quiz and find out!

1. Ukraine means

a. Land of birds
b. Land of fields
c. Border
d. No one knows

2. Which of the following have fought for control of Ukraine?

a. Poles
b. Turks
c. Cossacks
d. All of the above, and many more

3. The bands on the Ukrainian flag stand for

a. River water and golden sun
b. Blue sky over golden fields
c. Blue sky over gold mines
d. River water and fields of sunflowers

4. Ukraine has been knows as

a. The breadbasket of Europe
b. The battlefield of Europe
c. Genghis Khan’s folly
d. None of the above

5. According to legends, Christianity was first brought to Ukraine by

a. Vladimir the Great
b. The Cossacks
c. The Apostle Andrew
d. Cyril the Monk

The correct answers are 1. C; 2. D; 3. A; 4. A; 5. C. Kudos to anyone who got them all right!

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Unshaking Trust

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

Psalm 125:1

I try to give my trials over to the Lord, to “cast my burdens” on Him. I really do. But somehow I keep taking them back, worrying over them, re-living the pain or anticipating grief. Then I wonder where the joy of the Lord has gone or why the peace that passes all understanding seems to be missing. Sometimes my world seems to be crumbling like an old shack in an earthquake. Inside, I feel shaken to the core, unable to look beyond the present pain.

Yet God promises that those who trust in Him will not be shaken. Trusting Him means to trust Him to resolve the situation, to work good in all circumstances, and to give the strength needed to endure the trial.

I can look to the example of those who have gone before, those who have endured persecution and want, poverty and loss, life-threatening illness and chronic pain. How did they endure so much?

It comes down to a decision to trust God, even when the proof of His goodness is not before our eyes. Faith, after all, is the substance of things hoped for, not always what we see or touch. I make the decision to trust Him, because He has been faithful and kept His promises, to Abraham, to millions of martyrs, to the Brynza family. His promises are the same for me: He has kept them and will keep them always.

Worrying about the problem isn’t trusting God. Nor is rehearsing what I would say to a person who has offended me, or manipulating circumstances to get my way. Trusting God is searching the scripture for guidance, praying through the pain and confusion, and resting in the knowledge that He will give the faithful believer victory. Then I know that I am standing on firm ground, secure in the knowledge of God’s sure help.

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Wisdom from Beyond the Grave

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Up until his death, Alexei Brynza’s children sought his advice, looking to him as a source of wisdom, like Daniel the prophet. When they would tell him that the situation they were facing was too difficult, that they couldn’t go on, Alexei would encourage them to use the trial as a tool. “What is God trying to teach you here?” he would ask.

Though his is no longer alive, Alexei’s words illuminate my own struggles. Faced with a difficult and painful trial, at times I have felt I can’t go on, I can’t cope with it anymore. But I have tried to take Alexei’s advice, and discover what God was teaching me.

It hasn’t been that simple to uncover the lesson. In fact, it’s been a bit like peeling back layers of wallpaper. My first thought was that God was teaching me one more lesson in patience. After a few months I realized that while I was sorely lacking in patience, He was also teaching me about forgiveness. Then I realized that added to forgiveness was a deeper understanding of grace and mercy, and how costly it can be to extend them to people who are so very undeserving. I have gained a new appreciation for God’s forgiveness of me, how I rebel and sin willfully, and yet expect His grace.

Lately I’ve begun to see there is still yet another lesson, that God is in control, and I am not. Part of the painful nature of my trial is the fact that I am completely powerless to resolve it: the solution rests on other people. There is much I would like to say to the others involved that I think would be helpful, I cannot. All I can do I pray and trust God for the outcome. Very difficult for someone who likes to be in control, to manage, to plan. And leads to the problem of discerning how long I must wait, keeping my heart from growing hard towards those who have hurt me so much, and knowing when the has come to speak or act.

Yet I know that in all things God works for the good of those who trust in Him, that He gives wisdom to those who ask for it. The challenge here is to behave as if I really believe it. Alexei’s life was living proof of God’s faithfulness; may mine be the same.

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Barriers to Obedience

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

I writhed, I squirmed, I procrastinated. I knew I should make the phone call. I just didn’t want to. After the way she treated me the last time I saw her, I never wanted to talk with this person again. But I had some information that she needed to know, and the right thing to do was to pick up the phone and start dialing.

“There’s no need to call,” I told myself. “She can find out another way.” I convinced myself that she either wouldn’t answer the phone, or worse, be rude and obnoxious when we talked. Within a few minutes, I had a lengthy list of convincing excuses why I didn’t need to be obedient to God’s prompting.

How many times do we know what God is calling us to do, but find reasons to delay obedience or ignore His commands? Even Alexei Brynza struggled with this. When asked to move to Kiev to start the Irpin Biblical Seminary, he and his wife didn’t want to move. They didn’t want to leave the city they’d lived in most of their lives, where three of their four children still. And now that the Soviet Union was no more and Ukraine was enjoying religious freedom, serving as pastor was no longer the battle it had been. Alexei was looking forward to some years of ministry when he could focus on preaching and teaching, not fighting with government agencies. In the end, he realized that his objections were “light and momentary troubles” that he should not worry about. God’s call was clear; his role was to obey.

Alexei’s ministry as president of the seminary yielded a great harvest for God’s kingdom, and great reward in his personal life as well. The results of obedience truly outweigh the little barriers we put up in our own path.

As for me and my phone call? I dialed the phone, and had a cheery, chatty conversation with one who had been so offensive and rude, and she even thanked me for calling. God is at work in that situation; I just need to keep my eyes on Him and remain faithful to His word. What I thought was a horrible mess, He had already begun to straighten out and smooth way before me.

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Eyes of Wonder

Monday, August 16th, 2010
Raspberry Pie in process

Raspberry Pie in Process

I can be task oriented, I admit it.  If I set out to do something, I focus and get it done.  When my niece and I attempted making pie last week, I was on a mission.

She wasn’t. 

She rubbed the flour between her fingers, commented on its softness. She spent five minutes experimenting with a tiny ball of dough, exclaiming over its “squishiness,” testing how far she could pull it into a string before it broke.

All this was stretching out how long the job was taking.  I wanted to keep moving, accomplish the goal.

Her wonder overflowed when we added brown sugar to the raspberries.  I almost missed it, trying to measure out the second tablespoon.  She was giggling to watch the small mound of sugar melt into the berries, quickly dissolving on its own, overjoyed that there was a second spoonful to watch disappear.

To me, a routine task.  To her, a wonderful adventure.  She took delight in the smallest things, and bubbled over with joy.  How much of our Father’s world I miss, dulled by how familiar it is.  Caught up in the need to accomplish, I overlook the joy and wonder of God’s creation, joy and wonder that can be found even in simple things in my kitchen.

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Zaporozhe Heat

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

For two days in a row, we scorched ourselves in 100 degree heat. It’s not much cooler in Zaporozhe, Ukraine: the high there was 99.  All this heat brings back memories of sweating through a particularly hot week in Zaporozhe (think high temperature of 122) of summer camp put on by the Khortitsa Baptist Church, with help from a short term team from my home church.  The arts and crafts room had windows only on one side, and when filled with 20 or so children, it resembled a smelly sauna.

There was a door to the outside opposite the windows.  I asked the woman in charge of the building if she would unlock it so we could open it.  “Oh, no,” she responded in horror.  “That will cause a draft and the children will all get earaches.”

After I stopped laughing, I realized that in that culture, this was not such an absurd statement.  When the government-run medical system doesn’t have the medicine to cure an earache, prevention by any means can become an obsession. 

Food for thought.

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