Today is Easter in Ukraine. They celebrate it according to the Orthodox Calendar. And I was privileged to be the one to deliver the Easter message at New Life in Armyansk, Crimea - Ukraine. The Church was packed – and I mean packed. Even when I arrived at 9:45 AM the auditorium was more than half-full. There was an excitement in the air as everyone greeted me with their traditional Easter greeting. No don’t expect me to tell you what it was, because I’ve forgotten. Why did I forget? Because I can’t understand their language! And because it has been a long time since morning. Anyway, if you will read this tomorrow, I’ll try to remember to tell you what the say.
And today completed this year’s ministry in Crimea. But it is also the beginning of many new open doors for ministry. Right now I am setting in a very nice hotel room on the beach of the Black Sea. I am the guest of a couple from Chernivtsi, Roma and Tanya. They are part of the owner team and special people. When they heard that I was going to be just two hours up the road on Easter they offered to drive over to attend the service and then take me back to their seaside hotel for the afternoon and evening – which of course included some of the best food you could ask for. And....I got to eat it in a gazebo along the seaside. Boy was that salmon steak delicious! (Hungry?) They will then drive us – Okana and I to Simferopol to catch our train to Khmelnitsky and meet the vehicle that will drive us to Chernivtsi.
We were then treated to a quick tour of the coast and some beautiful cliffs overlooking the Black Sea. I got to walk down the rocky cliff to watch a diving instructor giving a lesson to some students in the sea. Then back to the hotel and a walk along the beach. While walking I saw a mare and her foal – probably six months old and I decided – which was not a smart decision – that I wanted to make friends with a Ukrainian mare. As I walked up to them, the foal moved away and the mare started turning her hinder parts toward me. I knew then that I’d better get out of there before she ignited the power in her hinder parts and caused me to be elevated like a rocket out of a cannon. You guessed it! She was ready to let me feel the power of her rear hoofs! I have decided that I am not a “diplomat interested in horse-politics”.
Just before I came to my room, as part of the conversation around a late snack, I began to share an idea I wanted to propose to my hosts. You see, I would like to have an “Idea Exchange” in Ukraine for pastors. This would not be a preaching seminar of such, but a time for pastors to get acquainted, share their burdens, communicate what has been working for them, and what God has been saying to them. I asked my hosts what the first couple of weeks looked like for them business wise every year. Tanya began to smile and before I could finish she told me what I wanted to do. Then added that she had a vision of me leading a group of pastors in their facility and wanted to tell me about it two or three times during the time we have been together, but was not sure how I would respond. Roma looked at me and told me that I have one year to plan this Idea Exchange, so I’d better get busy. WOW!
This place is beautiful. It is quiet! It is peaceful! I’d like to stay several days and just rest. But it is onward and upward to Chernivtsi.
God bless,
Dr D
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