There Is a Season … (March 2019 Update)
In our devotions, Katya and I have been reading through the Wisdom literature, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is especially challenging unless we remember that life “under the sun” is basically a life that does not account for heaven. How empty life is without accounting for God. It affects our morals, our perspective and even our joy. It also affects our patience. When we only see life “under the sun,” we see pain and suffering and injustice. And it causes stress and discouragement. But when we see life “under heaven,” then we have a proper perspective, which gives us patience, which results in joy – even in the times of suffering. Because we know that life “under the sun” is not all that there is (Eccl. 3:15-17).
Ecclesiastes also reminds us that there is a season for everything. We see this most clearly in the change of seasons around us. But it is also true about life. Things change. God alone does not change. And what God is doing in our lives in one “season” may be different from what He wants to do in our lives in this season. There are different tasks for different season, but they are all beautiful (and important) in the eyes and plan of God for “He makes all things beautiful in his time…” (Eccl. 3:11).
Teaching Ministry
My class for Ukranian Baptist Seminary in Lviv on the Doctrines of Man, Sin and Christ is nearly complete. This week, students will be submitting their final papers for the class. I have already received 12 early papers that I graded this week. I’m glad some students completed their work early and sent me their papers. That means I will only have 44 more papers to grade when the deadline arrives on Friday! The students are doing a critical review of John Piper’s book, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. I highly recommend this book to you if you have not read it.
This month (March), we will be involved in evangelistic outreach on the National University campus in Kiev. Each year, we have two weeks of outreach where we teach university students for 3 hours. The first hour, we focus on an English topic. The second hour, we read and discuss a Bible passage in English. The third hour, we have games and various activities to help the students use English skills. The following week, we will be meeting one-on-one with as many students as possible to share the gospel directly with them. From there, we will invite students into various Bible Study and discipleship groups that will be continued throughout the semester.
This week, we had interviews to select the students who will be participating in next week’s English Clubs. We interviewed nearly 400 students and we can only take 150-160. The interviews were held in the new Campus ministry center that Campus Ministries opened last fall (some pictures are below). Be praying for the Campus ministry team as they sort through the applicants and make decisions. Also be praying for us as teachers as we prepare to teach the classes next week. This is an important “season” for us as we reach out to university students with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Family Times …
We are enjoying being back home even though we wish we could stay longer in the states. It is nice to be back in our own beds, eating our preserves of fruits and vegetables and burning wood in the stove to keep warm in our below freezing temps. Since I had a short break between classes (no classes in most of February), I was able to work on building some more furniture. I built some book bins for the growing number of children’s books and a much needed bookcase for my books in my office. I will have another short break in April and I am hoping to build a wardrobe (I will need to build a 2nd one in June) during this time. Plastic bins have been our dressers and closets for the last 4-5 years so we are looking forward to completing these furniture projects. We cannot afford to buy them – they cost over $1000 each. I will be able to build one for about $100-200.
The girls are enjoying home school. They are learning letters and sounds and about God’s great creation. Katya is enjoying teaching them. They are learning in English so Katya often says she is learning more than the girls! 🙂 It is fun to listen to them working on sounds and words and doing math. They are also playing dominoes and learning math concepts too. Kristina has also taken in interest in sewing. Katya is teaching her basic sewing concepts and she is sewing little stitches and designs by herself.
Their lessons include learning various classical songs and composers and they are often humming these tunes or making their own words to the songs. They have enjoyed pretending to be bees while listening to the Flight of the Bubblebee. One recent song was Rossini’s Finale to the WIlliam Tell Overture. For me, this brought back memories of the Lone Ranger TV series. So we have started watching some old episodes (their first question was, “Where’s the color?”). Now they even play as the Lone Ranger – although Nadia often says she is the Stranger instead of the Ranger.🙂
We are looking forward to warmer weather soon. We have already begun to see some daytime temps above freezing. Soon we will start our seedlings indoors and hope to have them ready for planting by May. Our growing season is short here (sometimes we have frost in early May) so we try to get a little head start by starting seeds indoors. The girls are looking forward to being outdoors more but even the cold weather has not stopped them from having fun. This is a wonderful “season” of life for us all – the girls are learning and growing and we are enjoying being participants in planting seeds in their hearts that will spring up to salvation!
Praying for Ukraine
March and April are critical months for Ukraine. At the end of March, there will be presidential elections. Usually, in our system, there will be a run-off election between the two top candidates in April to determine the final winner. Right now, there are three major candidates (there are nearly 70 minor ones!): the current president (Petro Poroshenko), a former prime minister who was imprisoned under the former pro-Russian government (Yulia Tymoshenko), and a popular comedian (Vladimir Zelenskiy). Many people in Ukraine believe Poroshenko, the current president, has not done enough. But he has accomplished much in the last 5 years and he has stood up to Putin. This is why Putin and the Kremlin’s cyberwars have focused on defeating him. He has brought stability to a very shaky Ukraine. And his defeat would be a victory for Putin according to many analysts.
But, right now, Zelenskiy, the comedian is leading in the polls. Two years ago, he created a TV series called “Servant of the People” in which a history teacher’s complaints about the government are captured by a student and placed on YouTube. The post is so popular that he is elected president. The show accurately shows the problems of Ukraine and also shows how he attempts to correct the problems – not an easy task. The show is a comedy, but it is pretty accurate in its analysis of Ukraine’s problems. The question many people have (rightly so) is whether he has solutions to these problems. It is an interesting program that Katya and I watch on Netflix. (You can watch it too with English subtitles).
But the biggest concern is how Putin and Russia will react to these elections. It is already clear that Russia is “meddling” in the election on many levels, just as they have in many Western countries, including the United States. Analysts think that Putin is waiting to see the election outcomes to decide on his next move. Others think he might attack or create some other diversion during the elections to create chaos. We have no idea what he will do next. But we know God will bring all to judgment one day (Eccl. 3:15-17).
Most of all, pray for the people of Ukraine. So much has been accomplished in the last 4 years that it is hard to imagine what Ukraine would be like if it was still under Russian control. But there is still much to do in reforming Ukraine. Pray for people to elect leaders who will continue on the path of reform so that Ukraine will not fall back under the influence of Russia. We have already seen in Crimea, Eastern Ukraine and even in Russia, that religious freedom is greatly threatened by Putin’s Russia. In the occupation areas, evangelical churches were closed or harassed on a level similar to Soviet times. Russia’s closure of the Moscow Baptist Seminary last month is but one of the indicators that Putin wants to restore a Russian culture where state and church are one. This means the elimination of other religious groups who will not submit to Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church. So pray for Ukraine that the religious freedom we currently have will continue.
Please remember to pray too for those defending Ukraine. Russia is still holding the 24 Ukrainian sailors that they captured in the Black sea nearly 5 months ago. Also, every week, 1-2 Ukrainian soldiers are killed in the war that the world has forgotten. But it continues. Pray for our students who are serving as chaplains in the army and also for those serving as pastors near the frontlines. These are difficult times and the servants of the Lord in those areas are sharing the gospel and providing comfort and hope in hopeless situations. If all we have is life “under the sun,” then there is no hope. But we know that this is just a season and that one day, the Lord will judge and that gives us hope and teaches us patience even in this difficult season (Eccl. 3:16-17).
Thank you for your support and for your prayers as we continue to minister during this season here in Ukraine.
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya
Kristina and Nadia
Teaching Resources International 