Ukraine

As I write these words the headlines are blaring. “Russia Invades Ukraine.”  In the Atlanta paper, the first eight pages of the front section are filled with stories about this tragic situation. 

            I’ve been to Russia and Ukraine. In 1993 I traveled there with a group of pastors from Indiana.  We flew into Moscow, and took a train to Kiev.  From there most of our group went to Donetsk, with two of us going to the city of Mariupol, on the northern border of the Black Sea. All of these places along the eastern border of Ukraine are now in trouble.

            Though it has been 29 years, I still think about the good people I met there. Pastors who had been faithful to the Lord and their people in the midst of communism.  Older saints of God who had suffered much under the Soviet regime.

            But what struck me the most on that visit was the vibrant faith and optimism of so many younger Christians. Most had been forbidden to attend church services prior to the age of 18, but under the careful teaching of their parents and grandparents at home, they had learned of Christ, and were following Him with joy! And they wanted to share that faith with others who had not been so blessed to hear of Him in their homes.

            I wonder what has become of them since that time. I wonder what might happen now.  Those “young people” are now in their forties and fifties. I pray that they have remained faithful, and that their children are also serving the Lord today. And I pray that somehow God will care for them, and for all of the people involved.

            Let us remember to pray for the people in Ukraine. Let us pray for the Russians as well. And let us pray that the day will come when we will experience true peace, the kind that passes all understanding, and that is available only in Christ.