teaching from john 15

i was finally able to upload a teaching (my connection is faster now but still not that fast).  this is from when i shared at cc in east albuquerque, nm this jan. while back in the states (no, not the "big one" but another one there that is involved the work here).  its half testimony about the church here and half sharing out of john 15 on Jesus as the true vine.

the works of His hands

the Word talks about how God's glory is visible in creation around us.  after my trip to the states in january and getting the awesome blessing of seeing some of God's natural wonders, i'm so reminded of that.  i was able to go to carlsbad caverns in new mexico (thanks, loque!) and death valley in california (thanks, fenya!)  i just wanted to share some photos of those places and a couple of one of the most wonderful creations of all, little abby.

the first set of pics is from carlsbad caverns.  unfortunately, you can't tell from the pictures how massive it was.  there were rooms that were multiple football fields in length and width (and at one point something like  300 ft. floor to ceiling).

an empty cave pool



looking back at the entrace we came down into the first chamber



gypsum crystals catching the light



sunset at newport beach, california



mosaic canyon, death valley, ca







a lizard in death valley



a joshua tree (yeah, like the U2 album)



zabrieskie point, death valley



badwater basin, death valley - lowest dry elevation in the western hemisphere



desert plant in bloom



moon rise over death valley



salt crystal formations at the devil's golf course, death valley



amargosa chaos, death valley



daniel and janette carter and me in a tux!
(i was a groomsman at their wedding jan. 19th)



beautiful winter mo-mo



she is so much fun now!

well, that's that.  hope you enjoyed the pics!

mo-mo's first blog entry

adoinweoiwepowe... just kidding.  were not actually gonna let her type.  we just thought we'd write down some of the things she's saying at 15 months old.  granted, this will probably only be interesting to our relatives and other young parents.  so here goes...

da/yeah - she says both pretty efficiently
no - just started saying it.... wish she didn't know that one quite yet.

eyes - sounds like ice
ears - sounds like eews ... and ushi (russian for ears) - sounds like ui
hair - sounds like care (only the r is more like a w)
nose - sounds like no (with a long o at the end)
toe - sounds like it is
pupik (russian for bellybutton) - sounds like poopa
sisya (russian for "boobie" or the equivalent thereof) - she's good as saying that one... especially when she wants to drink.

close - sounds like kwoze
open - sounds like opay
up (when she wants to be picked up) - sounds like hhhap (really aspirated)
down (when she wants down) - as is, sometimes without the n
help (when she needs it) - sounds like hewp
cuckoo (the russian version of "peekaboo") - sounds like cakoo
more (when she wants more of something) - says it like she's british (just say it like you're british and you'll understand)
vot eto (russian for "that thing"... when you are asking what someone wants) - teh to
hello (specifially when answering the phone) - awo
bye-bye - pretty much as it is.  in russian (poka-poka) it comes out like "ptaka-ptaka"

cheese - sounds like chees (with an s sound at end instead of a z)
chai (russian for tea) - sounds like kai
kashka (russian for cereal) - sounds like katka
banana - usually comes out as nana
waffle - comes out like dapple
chicken - sounds like chicka
vitamin c - usually sounds like minamina or just C
cookie - sounds like cooky (with a long oo like in moon)
juice - sounds like chooce

light (the kind you turn on) - sounds like aight
car - sounds like she's british
phone - sounds like pho
mama - got that one
papa/daddy - daddy (sounded like daduh) was her first word!  papa came a bit later
poo-poo - she's got that one down... and touches her heinie and says it when she's done it
kolyaska (russian for stroller) - sounds like kaka
ball - sounds like baw
shoes - shoo
bible - sounds like bye-bow
multik (russian for cartoon) - sounds like mooti
lopatka (russian for paddle) - sounds like  WAAHHHH!!!  just kidding.   sounds like "wapat"

she can also do some animal sounds:
barks like a dog "woof woof!"
trumpets like an elephant - don't know how to write how that sounds... just turn on the discovery channel
meows like a cat "neow!" (that's not a typo... she says neow)
used to roar like a lion (only small and cute). 

way to go, abby!  you can say over 40 words!  here's a picture of the sweet little monkey for the new year.  happy holidays to all!  (i seriously hope to put out an update on us before i leave for california next saturday).

thoughts from a public restroom

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.

what would Dr. Jesus do?

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.

bruised reeds and profit yields

i was reading in Matthew 12 today where it quotes from Isaiah about Jesus saying, "a bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench."  those lines really hit me as i read them.  i thought to myself, "how often is that not the attitude i have, that Christians in general have?"  its so easy to relate to people with what i'd call a utilitarian christianity; a cold, mechanical and morbidly logical approach to others.  see, utilitarianism (for those who are unfamiliar with that idea) says "the greatest good for the greatest amount of people with the least amount of pain".  sounds nice, right?  but it stresses the actual "utility" or usefulness of an object, action, or person to the exclusion of other assets.  it is the basic law employed in economics and business today: an object/action's intrinsic worth is measured by its "profit yield", how much money it will make you.  and if it is an endeavor whose yield doesn't outweigh the risk of failure or justify the time/resources put into it, the endeavor is canned. 

"gee, i didn't expect to get an economics lesson out of Matthew 12" you might be thinking.  you're right: you won't.  see, that is the way that this world thinks.  it is the way that we think, whether we realize it or not.  we've been taught it since grade school and its only gotten worse from there.  especially in the profit driven, corporation-ruled 21st century in which we live it seems near impossible to even consider another approach.   but Jesus' way of thinking is decidedly different.  i'm not trying to debate one economic system/philosophy over another here (i actually hated economics in school).  the issue that  concerns us as Christians is when we allow this utilitarianism to leak over from our wallets and infect our relationships with other human beings; when this philosophy begins to dictate not merely where we put our savings (albeit also an important spiritual question) but how we treat our neighbor.

so now we come back to the words written to describe how Jesus relates to people, words spoken by the Father Himself to describe His Son: "a bruised reed He will not break and a smoking flax He will not quench."  think about those pictures in your head for a minute.  a "bruised" reed - that is, the stalk of a plant that has been crushed.  some careless passer-by has trampled it in his rough haste, or perhaps it has been rolled over by a cart carrying what some merchant thought to be more precious... or a number of other scenarios that could have damaged the tender plant.  and then picture a man coming by and seeing this bruised reed.  now, i know if this was me my tendency would be to simply, without hesitation, take that limp, crushed, barely-hanging-on-to-life stalk and snap it clean off.  after all, its highly doubtful that the reed will recover from such a blow, and to try and nurse it back to health would take an immense amount of attention, time, care.... and in the end it'd still be possible than nothing would come of it.  wouldn't it be easier to just go on to the next reed and try to do a better job of protecting that one?  really, what kind of man would go to all that trouble with such a great investment of himself and such an unsure chance of success?   Jesus, that's who.  with each of us who has been trampled, crushed, beaten aside by those who are too busy, too greedy or just not watching Jesus does not snap us off, but slowly, patiently pours over us His love and care to nurse us back to health.

the "smoking flax" - the smoldering wick of a candle or oil lamp.  it was burning bright at one point, but for one reason or another that fire has gone out.  there is now only a faint, phantom hint of what used to be.  perhaps the wind of a storm has picked up and extinguished the flame.  maybe the flame was smothered by something set on top of the lamp, or maybe its just come to the end of the wick.  now, think far back in your minds to the days before bic lighters...  even further back to days before matches.  it was not a simple task to get a smoking flax burning again.  the person who set himself to this had to blow and blow with all his might till he was blue in the face.  again, why not just let it go out?  why expend so much for what seems like such a little (and unlikely) result?  but Jesus is that Man who came and comes to each of us as the weight of the world has smothered us, as the storms of life have diminished our blaze to weak glow, when we are at the end of our wick, and He lovingly works on us, pouring out His own life till we find ours again. 

i am so thankful that Jesus does this, is this.  if He were not so nurturing and patient, i would be without hope.  but here's the question: do i pour over, pour out to others in the same way?  or in a utilitarian fashion do i just say "he's too much trouble, forget it"?  am i snapping off bruised reeds, brothers and sisters who are barely hanging on?  am i ready to just let those whose fire's gone out lose the last glow of life, or will i breathe what life is given me into them and pray they might ignite once more?  it costs much, the result is unsure if not unlikely, and if successful, the outcome is not something that will impress most people in our utilitarian society, even the all-too-utilitarian church.  not one for the economics textbooks.  but that is who Jesus is.  that is what it means to walk like He did, to experience Him working through me.  God, give me a heart to neither break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. 

"mo-mo"

... is a mutated form of "monkey" which became our pet name for abby after she passed the "krotik" stage (if you don't know that russian word, i'm not gonna bother explaining it).  she is just over a year old now.  i figured it was about time to put up some pics of her and time to post in general..... sorry.  i've been traveling for what feels like all month to different cities and countries for reasons as varied as a being in a wedding, buying curry paste (okay, so i also did my required ukrainian registration on that trip.  i was blessed to have some sweet travelling-buddy-time with my bro, nato.  thanks dude!), and MMR vaccinations.  i'm leaving tomorrow to go up to kiev for a 3-day leadership conference that the calvarys here are doing and next weekend to teach at the church in poltava that sunday.  so PRAY FOR MY WIFE! as she is with our sweet lil ankle-biter all by her self.  here's some pics of abby.  they're from a little post-bday celebration we had with a couple from our church.

thoughts on prayer

God desires to speak to us, to meet with us at all times, in all activities.  He wants us to experience His presence in every little thing we do, to be led by His voice.  but so often we have trouble hearing amidst the racket of a noisy world.  it is not that we don't want to hear Him, but that we cannot pick out His voice amongst the myriad of other, lying voices we are bombarded with.  how can we escape this cacophony to find the One Voice which we truly thirst to hear?

God speaks to us at all times, but i believe it is in the quiet place of prayer that God tunes our ears to the sound of His voice, so that when we are amidst the noise of the world, we will be able to pick His out of the crowd.  Jesus did promise that His sheep know His voice.  a flock of sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd even amidst a crowd of other shepherds because they have come to know His voice as they roam the pastures with him, listen to him talk with them and call them in the still grasslands when there is no one else around.  then when they are brought into the city, even among all the noise, they can still recognize him. 

so often the Bible exhorts us "keep silence before the Lord", "be still".  yet how often do we pass by this frequently repeated command?  as if because it is a command to cease doing, it is any less worthy of our obedience?  and when we do come to the place of prayer, is it often with so much noise of our own.  somehow we've been led to believe that unless we are saying something during our time of prayer, rattling off some need or request, then we are largely wasting time.  i would challenge you that the truth is actually the opposite: unless we are keeping silence before the Lord in prayer, listening to His voice, we are largely wasting time. 

sometimes i think we are just afraid of what He might say if we gave Him the opportunity.  perhaps our machine-gun prayers are more evidence that we do not trust the goodness of our God, or what He might say (or not say) given the chance.  i think we've all been in a situation where we are with someone we are not entirely sure if we can trust and the conversation suddenly hits a lull.  usually we start to frantically search for some topic, ANY topic to alleviate the awkward silence.  however, contrast that with a true friend - you are totally comfortable, even happy just to sit in that person's presence without trying to force any conversation.  you could sit for minutes or even hours without a word and feel no hint of awkwardness because you are convinced of that person's love for you.  are we convinced of the Lord's love for us?  and if so, why do we deal with Him as with someone whom we are not sure about? 

we need to learn to keep silence and listen to the Voice of Love which desires to speak words of life into our hearts, to refresh, encourage, strengthen and bless us.  that Voice is speaking constantly if only we would listen, but before we can listen in the crowd, we must come to the silent grasslands and learn its sound.  anyway, just some random thoughts on prayer on Rosh Hashanah.

the serpent's trap

we all know the story of eve's temptation in the garden of eden: how satan twisted God's Word and got eve to doubt what God had said, how eve misquoted God's command, etc.  but here's something that we possibly don't often think about: what was he tempting her with?  paul writes in 1 Tim. 2 that eve was deceived and so fell into transgression, whereas adam was not deceived and chose sin willingly.  that implies that there was not a full consciousness of sin in eve's poor decision, and certainly not a desire for it.  it follows that satan could not have been tempting her with something evil or sinful, as she had no sin yet.  so what was the temptation?

satan's temptation to eve was contained in the phrase "in the day you eat of it, you will be like God".  now i think we often read that and think that satan was tempting eve to "be her own god", to cast of the shackles of the Lord's rule and rebel.  i used to assume that was the meaning.  but that doesn't fit with the idea that eve was deceived.  the deception implies that what she was doing she thought was a positive thing!  the temptation was for eve to be like God - in the sense of being god-like, or we might say "godly".  surely it is a good thing to be like God!  i believe eve's desire was not to rebel and be her own lord, but to be become more like God. 

but here is the problem, here is the serpent's subtle trap: he says, "you can be like God, and all you have to do is eat the fruit".  but the fact is, eve was already like God!  she was created in his likeness and image!  the trap was to trick eve into believing there was something else she had to do to be like God, when God Himself had already made her like Him!

satan's ways have not changed.  today he still tempts us with the same deception, one which exploits our good desires (only present by God's Spirit in us) to be more like Him.  satan slithers up and says, "yeah, you can be godly, more holy, and all you have to do is add this fruit or that fruit"  "you just need to bear this fruit in the ministry or have the fruit of doing that work, THEN you will be holy, godly, like Jesus".  the deception in this is that Jesus has already made us like Himself by the blood shed for us on His cross!  we are already made anew in His image by His grace.  we have been made the holiness and righteousness of God in Him!  but satan would have us (mind you all the while with good intentions) mistrust God's completed work by making us think we need to add something to it for it to be complete.  don't let the serpent speak his lie into your heart today.  simply be still and know that Jesus has already made you holy, godly by His great grace.  as paul wrote to the corinthians, "lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."  (2 Cor. 11:3)  so enjoy the simplicity of Christ and the beauty of His completed work!

new creations in Christ Jesus!

hey, just wanted to post pictures from the baptism we had last week.  its so awesome to see people expressing through baptism the truth that our old man is dead and we are living anew in Christ!

l to r: ben, kristina, marina, dasha, sergei, nina, alyona, tom

(and no, tom and i did not plan to wear matching shirts! )

- please pray for marina and dasha who are going off to university at the end of this month.  they are young believers who have been filled with the Spirit and are taking in the pure milk of God's Word.  pray they stay rooted and grounded in Jesus' love and make a priority of being in fellowship in their new cities (its a blessing that in both the cities where they are going, kharkov and kiev respectively, there are calvary chapels)
- pray for nina and her husband sergei (who got saved a couple days after nina!) - their son is under serious oppresion from the enemy (drug addiction, hallucinations, etc.)  pray for him to be set free.  pray also for nina and sergei as they are trying to decide where to fellowship.  after learning that they gave their lives to the Lord, an aquaintance of theirs is very forcibly trying to convince them to go to another church that has some serious false teaching.  pray for the Holy Spirit to guide their decision and not be pressured by man, but led by Him.
- pray for alyona's dad.  he was once on fire for the Lord and led a Bible study at their old church, but he is now on a drinking binge and was just taken to a state detox clinic.  pray for his restoration and God's peace in the family (who are all believers) during this time.
- pray for kristina - she is actually an orphan from the internat we go to.  she started coming earlier in the summer and actually prayed to receive the Lord at our service Jul. 15 (thanks for the bday present, Lord! )  the orphans are a very tough group and its very hard to not be influenced by the ungodliness there, but kristina desires to live for Jesus.  pray for her to be filled with His power and especially for battles with anger and help quitting smoking.


thanks for praying!