Sharyn (Leadership Team Ternopil)
This year our family, like so many others in Eastern Europe, comes into the season of Easter as a country at war. And it’s the first time that I have truly experienced in such a way the horror of humanity and the hope of humanity with a impact that I still have not found words to describe.
The wounds of war, these wounds that we carry, are so overwhelming that it’s hard to know even how to pray, where to start in the healing process, if Ukraine and the world will ever recover. We look for hope to sprout, and see it ultimately in the overall picture of our faith as Christians, but in the day to day at times it feels that hope sprouts only to be smothered by the agony and awful of war crimes against the very humanity of the Ukrainian people.
Hope and Horror. It’s the dichotomy of this awful war, and it’s the dichotomy of the cross.
Evil has struck such a blow to my world, and yet at the same time I am overwhelmed each day by the goodness of God I see in people pouring out whatever they can to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Hope comes with funds donated from an isolated church in the Jungles of New Guinea. Hope comes from a brother in Singapore, churches in Korea, drivers from all over Europe who bring in humanitarian aid and bring out refugees.
Hope comes from small towns and villages, the Amish community, chocolate chip cookies made for refugees, and the simple act of Polish mothers leaving their baby buggies at their local train stations.
And hope comes from the spirit and the strength of the Ukrainian people who are fighting at this very moment for their freedom and liberty.
Isn’t this the very message of Easter? Horror and Hope. The pinnacle moment of evil being completely dismantled by a empty tomb.
Easter is the darkest moment of human history, being rescued and redeemed in this bright brilliant moment of hope through the resurrection power of a empty tomb.
Horror and Hope – It’s the story of humanity.
Tragedy and Trauma undone by the power of God to make beauty out of ashes. To bring life out of death.
He has risen!! He has risen indeed!
Here is a need on the U.S. border where many Ukrainians have come to seek asylum.
Jill Bills
We need a consistent flow of cars to transport Ukrainians to: San Diego airport, homes for sleeping for the night or a few nights, drop offs at church hubs.
It’s a 24/7 need. Please message Wayne Little if you can help.
Please pray for Mariupol today, many people and Ukrainian soldiers are trapped in the city and they have been given an ultimatum to surrender or die. At this time they are choosing to die. Please pray for this situation. Pray for the many hundreds that are still stranded in basements across this city. Pray for a miracle!
Pray for the hope of Easter to fill the hearts of people in Ukraine today.
Al Akimoff and the Slavic Ministries Team