The New Year

Living in Ukraine and being from the USA, one must reorient ones thinking regarding the celebration of holidays, particularly those holidays with special traditions such as Christmas.  In Ukraine December 25th is just like any other workday, with Christmas not celebrated until January 7th according to the Orthodox Calender.  New Year’s Day is sandwiched in between but allows two full weeks potentially for reflection on what it means when “unto us a Savior was born.”

This time of year is indeed full of reflection of what we have done and what we plan to do.  All too often my focus is look and see what I have done.  God offers His perspective on our reflections in Jeremiah 9:23-24.

This is what the LORD says, “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, ” declares the LORD.

So as the New Year approaches let us use God’s  measure of the past, present and the future.  Let our focus be on Him!   Retrospectively, we can marvel at what God has done through us.  Introspectively, we are thankful for all God is doing in us.  Prospectively, we can look forward to what God has planned for us. 

 Finally, we can ask ourselves two questions.  First, do we understand and know God better this past year and do we have a plan to accomplish this in the coming year?  Second,was, is and will God be delighted in how we exercise kindness, justice and righteousness?

May God grant us the grace and the ability to follow Him.

Victory Day

In Ukraine on May 9th is celebrated Victory Day.  It is a combination of Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day rolled into one.  This day 62 years ago the Great Patriotic War or World War II officially came to an end.  A good reason to celebrate and a good reason to remember the 40 million people, 20 million from the former Soviet Union alone, who lost their lives in this conflict. 

As you walk the streets of most cities in Ukraine you will quickly come upon a veteran.  They are easy to spot because they are wearing their uniform proudly and usually have a chest full of medals.  Whether in America or Ukraine, I just want to go up to these men and women to say thank you.  I often did this when I lived in the USA.  What unspeakable horrors these men witnessed.  How strange to be living now on the other side and wanting to thank Ukrainians for their bravery. 

America and the Soviet Union fought on the same side during that conflict, but history records our relationship turned cold soon thereafter.  For much of my life, those we now consider our friends were indeed called the enemy.

For Ukrainians the name of this conflict makes sense because they were fighting on their soil, for their homes and their families.  For Americans we were fighting more for ideals.  We romantize our history probably to hide the horror and reality of war.

It is easy to say that freedom is not free but bought at a price.  But are we willing to pay the price?  There is a freedom however we cannot earn, our freedom from sin.  It too was bought at a tremendous price, the death of our savior, Jesus Christ.  On the final day of judgement will you be able to celebrate for eternity the victory won for those who place their faith in Christ?

Flowers Everywhere

What combines’s Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Secretary’s Day and any other day celebrating women and their role in society and you have International Women’s Day.  This tradition was first started, believe it or not, in the United States, but few Americans, including Hallmark, know of this celebration.  In Ukraine it is a national holiday. 

This holiday is taken very seriously in Ukraine.  On the day before schools have special programs to honor their mothers.  It was a privilege to attend the “ootranik” or morning party at “Life” School for the Unteachable in Kyiv.  This is a school for children who have some mental disability such as autism.  The program was filled with music, singing, dancing, and skits.  The proud parents and grandparents were with cameras clicking away.  Some of the kids were dressed in traditional Ukrainian costumes or dressed as different animals.  Songs were sung about Spring and how important our Mothers and Grandmothers are in children’s lives.

While returning to the office I asked Nika, my assistant how her family observes this day.  Of course, they sleep in, but when they first get up Nika and her mother exchange gifts.  All day long her Father waits on her Mother.  He loves to cook. So he usually prepares a special meal.  It is a real family time.

Later that night at the medical bible study I presented the female physicians with special candy.  They presented Nika with flowers and a book.  I received flowers to give to Marianna in appreciation for letting me spend my Wednesday nights teaching.

On the way home I have never seen so many women with flowers.  The people watching the escalators in the Metro had flowers.  Women had not one, not two, but typically several bundles of flowers in their arms.  The flowers can be purchased at kiosks near the entrance to almost every metro stop.  There were flowers everywhere!

Today, Marianna and I celebrated the day with a special luncheon with another couple at a restrauant on the Dnipro River down the street from us.

May we remember tomorrow the respect women deserve as God’s unique workmanship and the role they play with us in accomplishing God’s purposes.

What day is it?

Part of living in a culture other than the one you grew up in is learning how other people celebrate life.  In Ukraine every day is cause for a celebration whether it is someone’s birthday or a national holiday.  During the Soviet Union, groups of people, instead of individuals, were recognized on particular days for there contribution to their country.  I always thought Hallmark was the one that invented special days. 

So today, February 23rd is the day we celebrate Men!  During the Soviet Union, it was the Soviet Army Day.  All day the shops are filled with women buying small tokens of appreciation for the men in their lives whether they are their husbands, bosses or any significant male figure in their lives.

The International Faith Initiatives Ukraine office, home of Ukraine Medical Outreach and Ukraine Family Institute was no exception.  At lunch time we all gathered to share a common meal.  At the end of our meal the ladies came together behind Inna their spokeswomen and presented us guys with a scroll and a gift.  The scroll unrolled  and read by Artyom, our executive director said ,  we pray for the men we work with and for God to enable them to hit the bullseye in their lives as they lead their families and perform their work by following Christ.

Accompanying the scroll was a dartboard.  I taught Artyom how to play baseball with darts.  The ladies took turns too, tossing darts which had the American flag and the British Union Jack as fins.   We now have a great way to relieve stress and do a little team building.  Thank you ladies for helping us remember why and for whom we work and live.