Grace upon Grace … (May 2017 Update)
John 1:16 says, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” This is a difficult passage to translate. It literally means something like “grace in place of grace.” It emphasizes one grace coming in succession after another. The idea is that through Jesus, we receive grace after grace after grace. In other words, an endless supply of grace! I like to translate this as “grace piled upon grace!”
In a sermon on this passage, John Piper hits the nail on the head in his exposition: “He could have said we received “truth upon truth.” But he said, “grace upon grace.” In fact, after this verse the word grace will never turn up again in this Gospel, but the word truth or true or truly will occur 55 times. In other words, there is no minimizing of “truth” in this Gospel. Truth is the way grace works: “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). But here, at the outset, the emphasis falls on grace.”
We can never minimize the importance of truth in the gospel. Without truth, we have no gospel. Without truth, we have no confidence in that gospel. But without grace, we miss the whole point of the gospel. It is good news, not simply because it is truth but because it is grace – grace piled upon grace! That’s what we have in Jesus!
Last month (April), I had a break from teaching but not from working. I spent the entire month working on the house, building furniture and moving us into our new house. As we watched the building process week by week this last year, we were continually reminded of God’s grace upon grace for us. Now that we are living here, we can see His grace piled upon grace. This month, we will tell you more about our new home, but first a few ministry updates …
Teaching in May …
May will be an especially busy month of teaching. Normally, we only teach one session per month because we have so much to do with preparations and grading pre-session and post-session assignments. But because many students needed Research and Critical Thinking 2, I will be teaching 2 sessions this month. So be praying for my preparations and my teaching time.
First, I will be teaching Research and Critical Thinking 1. This is a required course for all 1st year students. It covers using logic to develop clear thinking and communication skills. It teaches students how to research and analyze everything. Through the years, many students have told us that this was one of the most helpful courses they had while at the seminary. Usually I team-teach this class with Natalie Tereshenko but she is still on maternity leave. This is always a large class and we have to work one-on-one with the students to help them formulate their ideas. Oksana Pros (who has helped us with this class for years too) will be translating and also helping me with the students. Pray for us as we teach this important class!
The week after that class, I will be teaching an elective class, Research and Critical Thinking 2. This class deals much more with applying the research and writing and logic skills learned in RCT 1. It includes a lot of biblical applications and many points for daily discussing various theological and social issues. It has always been one of my favorite classes to teach and we only offer it once every 4 years.
Home Sweet Home …
Almost all of April was spent working on the house and moving. We have included some pictures for you to see what we have done. We have been able to build a really beautiful house for about half the normal cost. We did this by incorporating many natural elements into the design that leaves bricks and beams exposed rather than covering them. We also designed everything to keep energy costs super low. We have radiant heated floors for our heating system. Through the winter, without insulation (see below), the house stayed at a very comfortable temperature at a cost lower than the house we are renting! Also we designed the house to take advantage of the sunlight so that, even on cloudy days, we have natural light in every room. (I often find myself trying to turn off lights when none are on!) For interior rooms with no exterior windows, we added interior windows so natural light would light them too. Finally, we used all LED bulbs in the house to further lower costs. So far, our electric costs have about ¼ what our small apartment cost!
In addition to working on the house this month, we had a small barn built and painted it red and we are working on painting our fence white (very American – we have been told). We also prepared our garden that we will work on planting in May. Our growing season here is much later – spring planting usually begins after May 1st. We have planted some more fruit trees also as well as blueberry, strawberry and raspberry bushes that will take a few years before we have fruit. So, what little time we have in May will be devoted to getting vegetables planted so we can preserve much of the harvest for winter.
Also, because of a lack of money (and a lot of left over wood!), I decided to try to learn to build some furniture. I have found that I really enjoy woodworking! I’m still learning but really have very good results so far. I have built the benches for our entryway, a media hutch for TV, 2 window seats, a coffee table, pantry shelves, laundry room shelves, window frames, two beds (for the girls) and some bookcases (whew!). Outside, I also built a picnic table and benches and a serving hutch too. I am also working on a number of ideas for using pallets for building playground places for the girls. It’s been fun and I look forward to building more after classes in May.
When we find time to sit and reflect, we continue to be amazed at God’s grace to us! The house is beautiful but most of all, it is functional. And it will enable us to minister here for a number of years and avoid having to keep up with the rising rent costs here. We are so grateful for all your prayers and help. Every time we got to the end of our finances, someone sent a gift that enabled us to continue building and we were able to move into the house on schedule.
We are not completely finished. We have a couple of major projects at the end of the summer that we are saving money for. We are living mostly out of boxes now until we can buy some wardrobes. Closets are almost non-existent in Europe! So almost everyone buys (or builds) wardrobes. Also, we mentioned above that we went through the winter without insulation. We chose to wait on the insulation and use the finances for the interior so we could move in earlier. We realized that we would not need insulation for the summer so we decided to insulate last. The insulation will be on the outside of the house, covered by a façade. This is expensive so we are saving each month to have enough to do this before the cold temperatures return. We also have to buy a high quality wood stove this summer too. So we are trying to save up around $5000-6000 to finish the house. So we still have some work to do, but most of the work on the house is finished. Again, we see God’s grace piled upon grace!
Family …
The kids are really enjoying the new house with all the space and nooks and crannies to play in. Kristina loves to clean and organize. She sometimes gets frustrated with Nadia. Kristina will clean up and put everything in a proper place and Nadia will pull the toys out and play with them. Kristina says she wants to be like Cinderella and clean the house! The girls love watch ballet (on YouTube), especially “The Nutcracker.” Kristina says she wants to become a ballerina!
Both girls love to be outdoors, not only playing but also planting things and watering flowers and trees. They love to sing all kinds of songs, but especially nursery rhymes. Nadia’s favorite songs are “the ABC Song” and “Joy to the World” and “Chim chiminey, Chim chim cher-oo.” The girls love “Mary Poppins” songs, especially “I love to Laugh.” Nadia’s vocabulary has exploded with her saying lots of words and short sentences. Kristina serves as a tutor sometimes prompting Nadia, “Nadia, say ‘green’.” Nadia usually cooperates and repeats whatever Kristina asks.
Finally, we are really looking forward to June. Sean and Meredith and Haven will be coming to visit us here in Ukraine! Meredith is pregnant and so they decided that now would be a good time before their second child arrives. It will be much more difficult for them to come after that. So they will be with us for a few weeks in June! We are looking forward to their visit!
Pray for Ukraine …
Please don’t forget to pray for Ukraine! The conflict in the east continues with Russia still sending more military supplies daily and now even offering Russian passports to the people there and recognizing the territories as separate nations from Ukraine. It is clear that Russia does not intend to end the conflict soon. Please be praying for the gospel to go forth in this difficult time!
Be praying for our finances too. We are doing well but we had 3 supporters who had to cut back or stop giving due to job and family situations. So it would be really helpful to add 2-3 new families to our regular support team. Pray with us about this need. If you want to become part of our financial team, let us know.
Again, we are amazed by God’s grace – grace piled upon grace! And we are grateful for you and your support for us. We could not do this ministry without you and your prayers! Thanks for being part of God’s grace given to us!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya
Kristina and Nadia
Some downstairs pictures. We designed the house to be open with everything flowing from LR to dining room to kitchen. We wanted an extra large kitchen because we love to cook and have friends over for dinner and fellowships!
Upstairs pictures. We kept things simple and only painted the bricks white rather than covering them with drywall. First is the girls’s room and the beds Jim built. Then the upstairs bath room. On the bottom is the Master Bedroom and finally our hallway upstairs. We have one more small bedroom that is just full of boxes now.
Here are pictures from other areas of the house. First is our entryway (with barn-metal wall!). Second is my office. Third is our pantry. On the bottom row, is our laundry room with a fold down drying rack Jim made. and finally Jim’s work room with fold down work benches to save space.
Finally some outside pictures… First is our front entry. You can see the original outline from the barn/garage. this will be covered over with insulation and facade at the end of the summer. On the top right is our veranda with the picnic table and hutch Jim built. On the bottom left is our vegetable garden area. On the bottom right is our barn and play area for the kids.
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