why Ukraine?

This morning I woke up feeling really rough. I’ve had a cold for the last week+ and haven’t been getting any sleep. With the cold, I haven’t been exercising & my body can tell. I lack energy & I crave rest. I decided to go into work for half the day and take the afternoon off. On the way into the office, I stopped at Starbucks {because I have a gift card}, just to get through the morning with my eyes open. The line & the wait were absurd, I mean really, just ridiculous. But I waited because… I need my coffee, right?

ENTER: Perspective shift.

Earlier this week I finished the incredible podcast Serial, so now my morning commuter ears have turned to NPR. This morning was a story on the fighting in Ukraine that led into a story on the economic state of Russia. I became broken as they described the continuous shelling of peoples’ homes, the fleeing of families who were lucky enough to get on the few buses they could send to the area, and the townspeople who have chosen to stay and not flee, because the little they have is in their home, and outside of home, they have nothing. 

I began to weep in my car. I wept for people whose lives have been turned upside down, for mothers who have been separated from children and for men who have died for their freedom. I wept for the desperation of our world and the sin that leads mankind to destroy beauty and life. And I wept for the state of my own heart, comfortable in my home with heat and a bed, protected by a husband who falls asleep next to me at night safe and sound, spoiled by the blessings & indulgences that I’ve begun to consider necessities. 

I wept for Ukraine, and I wept for myself, because my fortitude of spirit is NOT like the spirit of Ukraine.

So… why Ukraine? Why am I writing about this nation here on my blog, a place where I post things that are personal and intimate to me? Why, if you follow me on any social media, do I sometimes post about the situations going on there? Why am I affected more by the death & destruction of this place in Eastern Europe more-so than other places around the world?

It's because 10 years ago, and again 9 years ago, I had my first perspective shift by the hand of Ukraine. Quite honestly, my time spent in Kiev and briefly in Odessa was more of a life shift, one in which I was forced to forever abandon the notion that the world existed for me and that families took care of each other like mine did and that countries created opportunities for youth like mine did. Here I encountered a people who viewed freedom as a new and precious and delicate treasure instead of as a right to which they were born into, a people who had just recently stood peacefully against corruption in the Orange Revolution to see to it that democracy got its chance.

And while these big ideas and general concepts drew me to this place, more intimately my answer to “why Ukraine?” is this:

Because the children of Ukraine are hurting and are thirsty for relationships that matter, relationships that are grounded in the love of Christ. 

Because they are yearning for a Savior who can free them from more than just a communist regime, but from the corruption of their own hearts and the brokenness of this world.

Because the day we {the American camp counsellors} left camp, the Ukrainian children chased our bus down the road with tears streaming down their faces, because for some of those kids, that week of camp was the best week of their life.

Because I watched the 2006 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals with over 100 kids crowded around a 10 inch box TV, filled with national pride and chanting for their country {& for Shevchenko of course}. And because when I got tired of standing like everyone else & sat on the ground, my Ukrainain co-volunteer, Daniele, went to his car, got the backseat out of the car, and brought it to me to have a chair. {In Ukraine, they believe sitting on the ground will make you sick.}

Because I was there when hearts turned to Jesus and Ukrainian lips sung the words “let everysing sat has breas praise se Lord,” because the “th” sound is really difficult for them.

Because the Ukrainian campers were thankful for the food that I heard the Americans on my team complain about every day. 

Because a 14-year old girl, Tanya, told me goodbye that first summer, and gave the sole birthday gift she had received that year, a ring from her mother, as a gift for me.

Because it is where my friends live: Ukrainians & Americans.

Because of the pastors who stood in the gap while the fighting took place in Kiev last year.

Because Veronica was told she would almost certainly die from the radioactivity of Chernobyl, and yet she lived and spent many summers sharing Christ with Ukrainians.

Because Radooga, the organization I worked with in Kiev, is passionate about orphans’ safety and salvation.

Because my friend Madison, who shared a room with me & 8 Ukrainian girls in 2006, has brothers & sisters adopted from Ukraine, and this sparked my initial passion to one day adopt, a passion I still have. And because her life now in the States with her Ukrainian husband is one where she is constantly giving of herself and loving others – opening her home to foster children and loving them as Christ loves all of us who wander this earth yearning for our true home.

And because of the countless others whose paths have crossed mine and whose lives have changed mine and others’. 

I write about Ukraine here at little seed because it is intimate to me, and although I don’t expect it to be as intimate to you, I encourage you to read the stories and pray for Ukraine. And maybe, you have your very own “Ukraine,” a place or a people group who have touched you & become dear to your heart. I encourage you today to remember them and pray for them, in poverty & in prosperity, in war & in peace… because we are all broken and needy regardless of the state of our bank account or home life or government. Because we are all Ukraine.