last week lena, abby and i went to kharkov to share thanksgiving with all our friends in "the armpit of ukraine" as we affectionately refer to it as, along with the hoffs coming up from dnepro. it was a great time and good to be there and get to visit vanessa in the hospital (we are so glad you're home now, nessie!) well, while we were there visiting vanessa, on our way out of the hospital i had to use the bathroom. i went into the public one on the first floor (for visitors as opposed to patients) and the trash can next to the pot was overflowing with paper covered with fecal matter, the toilet was leaking around the base with some rancid, old rag mildly containing the flow and general squalor. now, having lived in ukraine for almost 6 years, i am used to these kinds of bathrooms. you learn to pee while holding your breath after a while (i personally think they should make it an olympic sport :). but what made me laugh was that in this restroom was a brand new, shiny, polyvinyl "euro-window". now, for those in the states who don't know, this is like a status symbol in ukraine that you're moving up in the world. as i held my breath and did my thing, i thought about the people that will walk by that window outside and think "hey! i bet this is a nice place inside!"what struck me about it all is how representative this little toilet-room is of how we often live our lives. we invest lots of effort and resources into making sure that people walking by us think we've got it together, that we are on our way up. when in all reality, inside there might be a smelly load of.... well, you get the picture. 
we want to make sure people see us as those who are always at church on time, carry a large Bible with us... whatever it is that we feel will give the outward image of godliness, when in reality we neglect the real issues in our hearts. on the inside we might be reeking. Jesus used a similar illustration about the pharisees "you are like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones". i know its too easy for me to get sucked into the game of making the exterior presentable while the inside continues to rot. may our first concern be always what's inside, what God sees. i heard a quote a while back that i think sums it up well "much of the misery in the world would be alleviated if people were more concerned with being rather than seeming." in addition to my last post: it seems that many people who've commented and others i've talked to lately about the health care issue are all for a universal system and see the benefits.... well, the fact is, its not gonna happen by wishful thinking. now, i'm not advocating picketing dc unless that's your thing, but if you're interested, take 30 seconds to fill out the petition info at this link that will automatically be forwarded to your congressperson expressing your support HR676 - the universal health care act. if you wanna see change, click here to do something about it. oh! and a huge praise report: we've FINALLY got a facility for our church to meet in! we are working on renovations now and hope to have the first service there in a couple weeks. i'll try to get some pics up soon. tom has a few small one's up at his site. click here to see them. keep praying for Jesus to lead us through this process and to be glorified in even greater ways!and here a couple pics of abby trying on my winter boots... she hopped in them herself.
imagine a place and time where if your house caught on fire a call to 911 would not be enough to give you hope. imagine that one had to purchase "fire insurance" for one's home (and i don't mean to replace lost goods). imagine if firefighting was a competitive business market with different providers. and imagine if upon arriving at the scene of a fire, before letting even a drop of water fly, the firemen would first stop to check if you were insured by their particular brigade, and if they discovered that you were not insured or insured by another company, they would simply hop back on the truck and drive off into the night as your possessions roasted to a crisp and loved ones writhed to an agonizing death. does that sound like a world you'd like to live in? to us in the 21st century such a tale seems cruel and impossible. allow human beings to suffer a miserable death simply because they haven't signed up for the right company's services? to put the dollar above the worth of a human life? for-profit emergency rescue? "absurd!" we cry. quickly we recognize the attitudes and ideas involved in such a scenario as inhumane, mercenary and down-right evil. but in fact, that is the way that things used to be in the not-so-distant past, both in the US and many other western countries. until the late 19-th century and early 20-th in some US cities, fire brigades were a paid service that one had to buy insurance for. as different brigades formed and competed for business, there were even cases where one brigade would obstruct another brigade's arrival to the scene of a fire. soon people began to see the dangerous road they were headed down and cities began to make firefighting a government service, a basic provision of life for each and every citizen. but have things really changed in america? now imagine a different scenario: a man who discovers he is dying of cancer walks into a hospital. his situation is indeed life-threatening, but before a doctor will even step within 10 ft. of him, he must prove that he is a subscriber to an insurance company. and if he is subscribed to a company that particular hospital does not accept, he is sent out. and if he has no insurance? will he be left to writhe to an agonizing death at home in his bed as the victims of a fire in less enlightened days? protect and save human life... for profit!?!? yet, where are the cries of "absurd"! how come americans have come to accept this as a perfectly normal part of life? ah, but let's go back to our original story: what if that same fire brigade upon arriving, finds that the house ablaze is indeed one of its clients. yet, before expending any of its energy or water it discovers that your house had hazardous electric wiring before you bought your insurance policy. imagine then that despite the fact that you are its client, the brigade still turns around and drives off into the night because your house had a "pre-existing condition" that you did not warn them about before purchasing their insurance. thankfully things never got that bad with the fire dept. but in the states people are all too familiar with that excuse from health insurance companies. is it not just as mercenary that the insurance companies are willing to sacrifice human life to generate more profit? is it not sickeningly ironic that places with names like "good samaritan", "st. luke's", and even "holy redeemer" are ready to turn away a dying man whose life they could easily save, simply because he cannot cough up the ridiculous amount of money they ask? somehow i don't think that's the same "good samaritan" Jesus spoke about, who gave out of his own pocket to care for a wounded fellow human being. the US is the only country of the industialized nations that does not supply health care to its citizens as a basic human right. US citizens pay the highest per capita average for health care IN THE WORLD, and yet in a 2000 worldwide study by the World Health Organization, the US ranked only 37 out of 191 countries in overall health care; beat out by even columbia, morocco and costa rica. (read the article here) you may have noticed on my "currently watching" michael moore's sicko which is about the health care system in america. now, i'd like to give the caveat that i do NOT agree with the huge majority of mr. moore's political stances and generally lop-sided, partisan rhetoric. however, the information in this movie is VITAL for every american to stop and think on. (and he takes a swing at hill as well as george w. in the film) if you watch it, try to forget the other things he's produced and just take it as-is and weigh it in your own mind. the information about the fire dept. is not mentioned in the movie. that was my own research. this documentary simply made me interested to find out about the situation. i think its interesting that i've not not heard one single american evangelical christian i know talk about this issue. plenty about prayer in schools, abortion, immigration laws and other such hot-button issues. but doesn't callously allowing men to die, denying them the treatment that could save their lives just to make one's wallet thicker seem a crime on the same level as abortion? if Jesus were a doctor (and indeed He is the Great Physician) would He let that happen? there are ways to get involved and find out more. if you're interested, google: "US National Health Insurance Act" (also known as HR676 - read full text here) - a bill in the House of Reps. now that has gained much momentum in the last few months which proposes health care for every US citizen as a basic human right provided for by the government.i live in a country with a "universal health care" system and though there are flaws it is pretty great to be able to go to the pharmacy and know that i can purchase just about any kind of drug i need for under $6. its nice to be able to go to the hospital whenever i feel i need to without worry about if my insurance company will cover the cost. when we first moved to svitlovodsk i got sick with something crazy and had a fever of 104 (40C). my wife call the "ambulance" and they came within 20min. and administered the shots i needed to bring the temperature down and gave me a prescription to get.... for FREE. ukraine's flaws with its health care system are largely a result of lack of resources and rampant corruption in the government in genereal (both problems which are absent in the US). and even with all its problems, the concept itself is pretty great. watch the documentary, check out the subject matter, take a stance. peace out.btw, i'd be very interested to hear people's thoughts on this.
