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Strike a Light

IMG-1162It’s Monday the 30th.

I’ll dispense with all the hackneyed words we’ve all been using to describe the times and use my good old-fashioned go-to phrase: “Strike a light!”

Hasn’t God allowed something fascinating in our lives!!! No doubt, some of us will experience loss on a different scale than others… but we are all experiencing it. And we have all entered a phase of uncertainty.

Might I suggest that uncertainty concerning the pleasantness of our near-term future is such a healthy thing for us to experience. A “compare” for you: Taking omega-3 capsules. The burps can be vicious. The swallowing can be a challenge. Forking out the money to buy them is “ugh”. But the good they do is impressive.

In His Word, we see God pulling the rug out from under the feet of His people time and time again so that they sensed their need of Him… and in so doing, He recalibrated them so that they worshipped Him. He humbled them. Sometimes, He even had mercy on those who were not His people by sending major problems into their lives so that they turned to Him.

I don’t care if the truth about this virus is that it is man-made or that it came about by what are called “natural causes”. I do care to keep in mind that this is in God’s plan… and I hope that two of the billions of reasons for it are 1. to call His people out of our contented slumber and 2. To call the lost to Himself. We have heard about localized revivals over the years, but wouldn’t it be incredible if during the next year, God would be glorified by introducing 1,000 million souls to the Lord Jesus Christ in a life-changing way! May God take away our sense of security through these strike-a-light times… and call men and women to Himself!

Our church is on holiday for the rest of the year. (Somehow I don’t think too many churches could made that decision!) In truth, like the majority of churches, I guess, we have moved to having online teaching and gathering in small groups and family groups. I’m actually even excited at this opportunity. For the majority of our members, we will have a renewed appreciation of worshipping together going on into the future. We also see fathers gathering and leading their families in worship – something that can only be healthy. Despite some expectations reaching into next year for an end to quarantine, I’m bunting for a Summer closure for this thing. That means that for a bare minimum of three months, we’ll be in some sort of quarantine… hindering us from worshipping the Lord in one building all together. Great! But if it stretches out to more than six months… I think I will look upon it as a burden to bear rather than a blessing to celebrate. As I type, church members are joining “Zoom” so that we can meet online in a group meeting. I’m interested to see if that is practical.

IMG-1180Today is the first day of me implementing more restrictions for our family. (I understand that we are setting an example for others and we need to do that.) While it’s likely still early for this step to be extremely practical here in Ukraine, we are no longer entering people’s homes. Actually, I stopped shaking hands with people today, as well. I feel very responsible and very pedantic… ugh.

Just about everyone is wearing masks right now. The proliferation of fancy homemade masks has been notable. At a guess, one in 20 people are mask-less when out and about. Mitya and I went to a city that still had a bulk buy warehouse open late last week and it was as if we had entered another country. People seemed excited at the change.  (Weird lines though!)

While we were there, we visited Kostya who is a guy who came to rehab whom we ended up sending off to a TB hospital.  He’s been there for about 6 months now… and has real itchy feet.  He desperately wants to come back to us… which is a real good sign.  He’s still reading his Bible and praying… another good sign. :)  He no longer seems like a shell of a man… one more good sign!  May God continue to lead Him and protect him from temptation.

IMG-1183Talking about being excited at the change… rehab still goes on, with change occurring in the lives of the men. We’ve not taken any more ladies into the ladies rehab due to a lack of volunteers. Marie is still in Australia busily earning so that she can come back. The men’s rehab has been going real well. Several men have graduated and encourage me so much! We have five still living in the rehab home and I see real good changes in them, too. Today, I was amazed to see Max, who lived in a daze for a month after first arriving, digging in the hothouse and working up a sweat as he helped. Maybe God will heal his right arm!

One nice blessing we have is that we’ve been selling some of the things we brought back from Europe. Theoretically, we could truck freight to Europe and back right now and it looks as if it would be profitable. There are serious questions though about the driver getting stuck in Germany or Poland or at the border for some reason… so we aren’t pushing that green button.  Last we checked, the lines at the border were expected to take at least 5 days to get through. 

Pris and Elle are fine. Elle has just brought in several loads of firewood in the little cart. Pris has been cooking.

Oh! We expect the Lord to admit Pris’ Grandma into the eternal state this week. Because God has allowed her mind and body to degenerate quite severely, we expect to experience a little sadness but more thankfulness when this actually occurs. She has worshipped the Lord with her life for a lot of years and will be delighted to look into the face of Jesus and understand completely Who her Savior Is.

Pris has been experiencing some lessening of the pain she’s been experiencing the last few months on her right side.  She has tried some new exercises which seem to be helping and is going to be the fittest one of us in the house by far!  We are thankful.

 

May God bless you. May you enjoy being salt and light during this strike-a-light period.IMG-1197IMG-1194