Dan and Pris Gollan

I’ve always had a deep appreciation for the beauty of eyes.  They are incredible!  The eye is the lamp of the body.  So if you eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  A person of great fame said those words and I’m still not sure I completely understand all that is insinuated by them.  The eye is the lamp of the body.  As a lamp pierces the darkness and attracts our attention, even so the eye acts as an attention-grabber on our faces.  I know that the eyes often reveal what is going on in the soul of a person.  I also know that moral or immoral images that enter the eyes and are projected onto the brain can deeply affect us.  I know that if you can’t see properly or understand what truth is, then it is much harder to figure out what the right course of action should be.  Yet when sight is crisp and clear, or when a person knows truth… confidence and peace are more often than not much more accessible. 

If my eye is healthy… my whole body will be full of light?  If the “lamp of my life” is burning strongly and is confidently taking in the things that glorify God, my whole life will reveal that truth in ways that are beautiful.  And that brings me back to the word “beautiful”.  Yes.  Your eyes are beautiful!

… not exactly a simple explanation, but one which I’ll leave as I have typed it.

Photos

After a beautiful day on the river, we just walked in the door to be greeted by a cool home.  Ahhh…

A family from another church in Rzhyshchiv had invited us to visit the island and “do shashlik” with them.  We left at about 11:00 and it’s now 6:00, so I guess we were out there for a good 5 hours.  I experienced moments of feeling like something was wrong.  You know when someone at a funeral seems like they are enjoying life and laughing and joking with different people… it clashes with something.  We passed a yacht with about 20 soldiers in camo lying or standing around on the deck.  There is a lot of suffering from war in the east of the Ukraine – a lot of fear and trepidation.  Will Putin attack on Sunday?  Will the men with guns kill someone close to me?  Will my home be safe?  Should I flee, as nearly 40,000 have done already?  In our society, there will always be people with fears, but during war, the number of people fearing increases exponentially.  Is it “appropriate” for us to enjoy relaxing on the river while so many others are facing acute hardship?  That was the strange feeling that came over me.

Presidential elections… rarely a “non-event” in any country, let alone in Ukraine, this country of turmoil.  We will again be meeting in our home this Sunday as a church because the polling station in Rzhyshchiv will be located in the central town hall where we normally gather.  I’m guessing that there will be a bigger turnout  for these elections than ever before.  Four days out from voting day, it looks virtually impossible for Poroshenko, supported by boxing champ, Klitchko, to lose.  We were talking around the table after breakfast this morning about the possibility of soon obtaining Ukrainian citizenship as Ukraine heads towards greater European integration and allows dual citizenship.  There is a general expectation that there will be “disturbances” on Election Day around the country.  Those seeking to align themselves with Russia have already made moves to stop the elections in their provinces and in general cause chaos.  Those blocking the roads around Kiev continue to amuse me with their futile efforts to block either terrorists or arms from getting into the city.  Naturally, only time will tell how many people die during these days due to pride and stupidity and the evil nature of man.  Over the next few days, there’s a nasty chance that we are going to see a lot of lawlessness and killing in this country of ours!