Ponderings

Hello, Kristen here! I have not had the privilege of posting on here in quite some time and have lately been pondering on life changes.
I've read numerous books that should change my life, but only recently have I realized that this has not happened. Well, lasting change has not occurred anyway. I've started reading Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero. In the first chapter he says, and I loosely quote, "be prepared for a radical reformation in your life." This makes me excited! Ready to read the book, ready to make changes, ready to be a new person living expressly to serve my Savior. But I must admit I've felt this before to no avail. What will make the difference? Turning my life over to Jesus. Reading it prayfully, reading it humbly, reading it realistically; knowing it is not in my strength that change can be effected. I invite you to join me on this journey of radical life reformation and I ask you to ask me how it's going!

On the journey!
Kristen

Hello. We are still alive.

Well I haven't posted in a little while and I thought it might be good to give you an update on our plans for this fall.

As of right now we have officially raised 78% of our support. We have a trip out to Grove City in a few weeks and some other small meetings in October. We're hoping to leave sometime after that. We also need to attend a month-long training seminar in Brussels, Belgium in January. It sounds like it will be helpful and it will be great to live in Brussels for a month too!

Hopefully in the next week or so we'll have some good news about our support level as well... Till then!

Politics in Ukraine

Well, it looks like the government in Ukraine is coming apart once again. The governing coalition in the Parliament has fallen apart and now the 3 major parties (and other smaller parties) are negotiating to form a new governing coalition. If they can't agree then The President, Victor Yushchenko, will call new elections. Again.

You can read about it here in this BBC news article.

Ukraine and the Russian-Georgian Conflict

I thought I would recommend a few articles on the recent Russian-Georgian War in the Caucasus. Obviously since this took place near Ukraine I have been pretty interested in it's developments. In many ways this conflict involves Ukraine as the article by Victor Yushchenko (The current president of Ukraine) discusses.

Article #1 is by George Freidman and gives some good historical background to this conflict as well as analysis from an American foreign policy perspective.

Article #2 is by Olga Ivanovna. She is a Russian student studying here in the States and claims that the American press has been biased and has not told the entire story.

Article #3 is the one by Victor Yushchenko in today's Washington Post. In it he talks about how this affects Ukraine.

Just so you are aware all three articles paint different pictures and reflect different views of what is happening. But I think there is something to be learned and some truth in all 3 articles.

Kiev Apartment

Jon Eide(our team leader in Kiev) has recently been looking for apartments for us in Kiev and he sent us a video and some pictures of one. I thought I would post the video so you can see what a typical apartment in Ukraine looks like. It's not much different than here except that there are two rooms for all the bathroom amenities: one for the shower and sink and one for the toilet.

Presenting our Ministry

Today Kristen and I are going to Knoebel's for the day to celebrate my nephew's birthday. We're looking forward to spending time with family and having fun at the park.

Also, on Sunday Kristen and I are giving a presentation of our ministry in Ukraine to our Church during Sunday School. It should be fun! We'll let you know how it goes.

Spurgeon on Grace and Faith

I thought I would share with you some Spurgeon this morning. I've been reading his little book All of Grace which can be found at this infamous Spurgeon Archive. If you've never read Spurgeon before, you should. He was a Baptist minister in London at the Metropolitan Tabernacle during the middle of the 19th Century. Here are his thoughts on grace and faith:

Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit pipe. Grace is the fountain and the stream; faith is the aqueduct along which the flood of mercy flows down to refresh the thirsty sons of men.

Still, I again remind you that faith is only the channel or aqueduct, and not the fountainhead, and we must not look so much to it as to exalt it above the divine source of all blessing which lies in the grace of God. Never make a Christ out of your faith, nor think of as if it were the independent source of your salvation. Our life is found in "looking unto Jesus," not in looking to our own faith. By faith all things become possible to us; yet the power is not in the faith, but in the God upon whom faith relies. Grace is the powerful engine, and faith is the chain by which the carriage of the soul is attached to the great motive power. The righteousness of faith is not the moral excellence of faith, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ which faith grasps and appropriates. The peace within the soul is not derived from the contemplation of our own faith; but it comes to us from Him who is our peace, the hem of whose garment faith touches, and virtue comes out of Him into the soul.

See then, dear friend, that the weakness of your faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may receive a golden gift. The Lord's salvation can come to us though we have only faith as a grain of mustard seed. The power lies in the grace of God, and not in our faith. Great messages can be sent along slender wires, and the peace-giving witness of the Holy Spirit can reach the heart by means of a thread-like faith which seems almost unable to sustain its own weight. Think more of Him to whom you look than of the look itself. You must look away even from your own looking, and see nothing but Jesus, and the grace of God revealed in Him.