My first week of ministry has officially
come to an end and it was certainly filled with both highs and lows. Ministry
is difficult. The language barrier is frustrating. Fatigue is ever present. Feelings
of inadequacy and home sickness have started to attack. God and I wrestled all
week, but even when I was blinded by my struggles God remained faithful in
showing himself to me. I am still sorting out my struggles, but I would like to
share a story of God working from the past week.
This past Friday we were given the
opportunity to administer an eyeglass clinic at a local church. This was a
chance for people in the community to receive an eye exam and free pair of
prescription glasses. It was also an opportunity to get them familiar with the
local church and to experience the church loving them for no reason other than
Christ. Nothing is free in the Ukraine,
nothing at all. So when something so valuable is distributed for free, people
begin to ask questions. This opened many wide doors to present the gospel.
Meet Sasha. Sasha is a fifty something year
old man who lives down the street from where our eyeglass clinic was held.
About fifteen years ago Sasha was in a car accident killing all of his friends
in the vehicle. He has been hit with an axe in the head three times. He has
multiple stab wounds across his body. A blow to the head by a steel bar has
left a scar across his face. He has been to jail more times than anyone else in
his town. He has no wife. He lives alone in a small house with no electricity because
the money he earns is used to feed his alcohol addiction. This is Sasha and
this is his life. Last Friday my teammate Garrett got a chance to meet Sasha.
Sasha is well known in the community and
has had many encounters with the local pastor. He attends church every so often
and is presented with the gospel quite frequently. He has heard it all and
makes quite an effort to reject it whenever it comes up. After receiving his
free pair of glasses last Friday he ran into Garrett on the way out. With the
help of a translator, Sasha poured out about his life to Garrett. The local
pastor saw this openness and took the opportunity once again to present the
gospel to him. Unlike the past times, it was received with a more open heart.
Garrett then remembered a verse that changed his own life and wanted to share
the power in these words with Sasha. Out of the message he read Proverbs
14:12-13 which says, “There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough; look
again – it leads straight to hell. Sure, those people appear to be having a
good time, but all the laughter will end in heartbreak.” Sasha stared into
Garrett’s eyes for a good 10 seconds with a look on his face that will never be
forgotten. God spoke to him through that verse. He thanked Garrett for his word
and proceeded to say goodbye as he walked out the door.
Garrett told me this story later that
night. He told me how much that encounter affected him and how much Sasha was
on his heart. He said Sasha is someone that he will never stop praying for. This
hit me really hard. Garrett will never stop praying for Sasha. What a cool
thought. Have you ever heard of the saying “there’s nothing like a praying
mom”? Sasha doesn’t have a mother praying for him. Sasha probably doesn’t have
anyone praying for him. But Garrett traveled to Ukraine, met Sasha, heard his
story, and is now praying fervently for his life. There is now someone in this
world praying for this man. My question for both Garrett and myself was what if
that’s all that comes of this whole trip? What if all we do is meet people
around the world, hear their stories, and make sure there is at least one
person in their life praying for them? Are we going to be ok with that? Will
the sacrifice of leaving our lives back home still be worth it?
These were difficult questions for us to
stomach, but we came to the conclusion that yes it would be worth it. God has
called us both on this trip for a specific reason. If the reason is to bring a
thousand people to Christ, then that’s awesome. If the reason is to plant a ton
of seeds and never see the fruit, then that is great too. Or if all we do is
pray for the lives that we come in contact with, then that is cool because that
is God’s plan. Our expectations are just that, our expectations. We are
learning more and more to throw these out the window and to be thankful for how
God is using us each day.
