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Vlad

161098_100001153130628_666247_nI’ve talked about Vlad before.  A facebook page has been set up: Justice for Vlad Schaslyvyi.  I encourage you to join.  Nearly 100 people have joined already and are praying as new information comes up.  Not everything can be shared online, but I can assure you that the story we will share when he gets out will astound.

Bruce has set up an account which accepts donations to help with support for Vlad.  Read more about this here:  www.missionsnetwork.com/node/31

Vladislav is a great bloke, close friend and brother who has an opportunity not many of us have to be a light for Christ in a very dark place.  It is possible that God wants him there for an extended length of time.  We will support him with prayer, food and literature for as long as he is there and we are able.  Thanks.

As an aside to this, my sister Keren is in hospital with a pretty serious condition following an operation last week.  JP and Keren would love for God to step in and bless their situation, too.  Again, thanks.

Snowed in

I have never in my life been snowed in, but when the temperatures reach –30 at night, it limits what you can do rather severely.  I went down to the market Friday with a list from Pris to buy some fruit and veggies.  One lady was selling fish.  The other was selling carrots.  (In retrospect, I should have bought the carrots.  Surely that lady was desperate for money.  Normally, there are hundreds of people there selling produce.  I’ve never seen just two.)  I wandered around before deciding that it was too cold to muck around standing in line outside a shop with the other poor husbands and headed home.

As I type, Pris is putting more wood on the fire.  It has been an enormous asset in keeping the inside temperature bearable.  In fact, today it seems hot because the temp warmed up to –10 outside.

Saturday, we went into Kiev for the monthly Bible school session.  It was actually the coldest day of the year and we struggled to keep the windscreen clear of ice-buildup on the inside.  The heaters don’t work properly, but we made it there and back with a couple of stops to heat the radiator up a bit.  (The “water” heats up because there is no wind blowing at 80kmh through the radiator.  The cardboard in front of the radiator makes a difference, but not enough to produce heat above 50 degrees C.)  It was good to again be with the young people as they study hermeneutics. 

Minus 20

  The thing dominating our lives right now is the weather.  Right now, with temperatures reaching –25 C, the living area of our home gets down to 13.  Our water pipes have frozen in the ministry center.  And IMG_0025our heating pipes which contain water have frozen on the first floor.  (This is the first year that has happened.)  It means that at full heating capacity, we are “holding”.  There are a number of people who are watching the temperature and keeping an eye on their furnaces.  If you lose your heating, you lose your pipes and your toilets and radiators when the water freezes.  It is… not exactly convenient.  This is a photo of Marie and Elle snuggled while Marie tests her new ipod.

I just went for a walk with Elle and Clarke and discovered that in the sun, it is quite pleasant… assuming all of the appropriate body coverings are in the right places.  We are not expecting any let-up of these temps though.  Thursday night we are meant to drop to –30.IMG_0013

God is ok with me.

Four times I’ve heard this statement or one similar over the last month or so.  It just challenged my position yet again… and in hopes that God is the reason behind me being faced with this flurry of stupidity from different sources, I write:

If God is the Unfathomable, Almighty, Creator of the Universe, Jehovah - revealed in Scripture… then the thought that God is ok with me SINNING A LITTLE BIT, or ok with me WALKING THE FENCE A LITTLE BIT, or ok with me BEING A BIT REBELLIOUS, is just plumb stupid. 

I think I know what it is with people who want to make up their own God instead of believing the God of the Bible.  It isn’t as if it is something new, even for Christians.  But four times in one month verses 1 time in the last 40 years… is it the start of some new pandemic?  Are we about to hear this statement FROM CHRISTIANS more and more?  I think so.  And I hate it.  “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”  This verse comes to mind.  Today, I rebuked someone for using the Name of Jesus lightly.  He didn’t understand how it could be wrong to sarcastically say that doing such and such would make Jesus cry.  As a generation, we have lost a lot of respect for the REAL God… and it is definitely not because He has become less or more worthy of criticism.  We have become BIG in our own eyes to the extent that we twist logic and truth to make it be what allows us to keep on being good Christians while doing exactly what God hates.  God is not mocked.  We have reaped what we sowed years ago as the church.  And we will reap what we sow now as individuals. 

May I encourage self-deception never.