I’m posting this after crossing the Ukrainian border back into Hungary but I wrote it before leaving on our trip For security reasons (really just so my family wouldn’t worry more) I did not want to let many people know I was going to Ukraine instead of Hungary.
Three weeks before we were supposed to leave for Hungary on mission, I received an email from the missionary who we were going to serve with asking our team to change our plans. God had seemed to close doors in the location where we were planning to serve in Hungary, but an opportunity had opened up to go across the border and serve in Ukraine. We would be doing the same work by putting on Bible camps for school children but would be able to reach more kids. Our team would split in half and serve at two different locations. She wanted to know if our team would be willing to do this.
As you know, Ukraine is currently at war with Russia, who began an invasion in late February. A trip to the U.S. State Department’s web site instructs potential travelers to Ukraine that it is under a “Do Not Travel” advisory with a big red warning banner. Not only should U.S. citizens not travel to Ukraine, but citizens currently in Ukraine should leave immediately. The information on the web site is very sober and frightening. While some on our team were excited about the possibility of serving families that had been affected by the war, others were very uneasy about the safety and security conditions we might experience there. I told our team that each of them should pray and seek God’s will as to whether they were still going to go on this trip. We needed to try and have an answer within 48 hours.
The morning after our team meeting to discuss this change, God put Psalm 46:6-7 on my heart: “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.” It reminded me that no matter what sort of political strife or turmoil might be going on, God is the one who is more powerful than all of it and sovereign over the nations and the safety of our team. I shared this with the team to encourage them.
It was another part of this Psalm that spoke to my wife, Jeana, however, and ultimately convinced her to go. Verses one through three say, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” In my emails with our missionary, she had told us that a pastor who was ex-military had recently worked in the area we were going to and commented that the nearby Carpathian mountains provide good protection for the area. An army would have to take time to navigate the mountains and this would give plenty of advance warning for a team to retreat back out of the country. God had created a fortress with the mountains. You can see how the mountain range curves around the area of Ukraine where we will serve in the picture that accompanies this post.
After much prayer and discussion, every member of our original team recommitted to the trip. [I asked them before we left how many of them would not have signed onto the trip originally had they knew it was a trip to the Ukraine. A number of them raised their hands.] What an indication of the gracious way God works in our lives. When God called this team, we thought he was calling us to serve in Hungary, but he knew all along that he was calling us to serve in Ukraine. But he called us to Hungary first because he knew some of us weren’t able to commit to go to Ukraine. Once he had us trusting him to go most of the distance, he gently called us just a little bit farther. Like a father who gets his child to swim to him and then backs up a bit to prove to the child he can make it even farther, our heavenly Father meets us where our faith is and gently pulls us deeper into relationship with him.
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
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