Sarita in her new journey in Life

Relentless Love

2010-02-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans." (Hosea 3:1)

No human can comprehend God’s love for His_children! Our limited experience of human love hinders us from understanding God’s unconditional love for us. We can see a picture of this love in the life of Hosea.

Hosea was a righteous man, but God told him to marry a sinful woman. Hosea obeyed and took Gomer as his wife. He cherished her and treated her with dignity and respect. Never before had Gomer experienced this kind of love, but she soon grew dissatisfied. She began giving her affections to other men. She became so involved in adulterous pursuits that finally she abandoned Hosea altogether. Other men used her until she had nothing left to give. Then they sold her into slavery. After this, God gave Hosea an amazing command: “Go and buy her back.” Despite the intense pain and hurt that Gomer had inflicted on him, God told Hosea to forgive her and to pay any price to bring her back into his home.

God’s message is clear: When we reject Him and turn our devotion elsewhere, our rejection carries the same pain as an adulterous betrayal. After all God has done for us, it is incomprehensible that we should reject Him. It is even harder to fathom that God could love us even after we have rejected, ignored, and disobeyed Him. Yet God’s love is completely different from ours. His love follows us to the depths of our sinfulness until He has reclaimed us. His love is undaunted when we run from Him, and He_continues to pursue us. What incredible love He has demonstrated to us!

Praying, Building, Waiting, Helping....

2010-01-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

Right now, Wade and I are building our marriage foundation and enjoying each other as we do. We are praying and waiting for God to lead us to where He wants us to go and work with His people. Wade and I both know that we needed this time of building, waiting and praying before we get into the mission field.

This is my time of rest, refreshing, and adjusting to the new life that I have with Wade. I have many things to adjust to and I know that it will take some time. I am taking my time as I go through adjustment and enjoying it in the process. Wade is very supportive and understanding about it and I thank God for him on that.

As we are building our marriage, praying and waiting, we are helping in the church here in WV. We were asked to be in-charge of the Missions in our church (Boothsville Methodist Church). The Pastor (Michael Richards) asked us to be on the Missions Board, and we agreed while we are here in the US.

Being in-charge of the Missions, we started to invite everyone that is involved in any form of outreach to join us in the missions department. We then started a prayer group that will be praying for the Pastor and the ministries of the church, especially God's leading.

We also starting a discipleship group for those that are willing and wanted to do any outreach ministry. The plan is to have a local missions conference this year, and to have a national missions conference next year. These program is help people focus and makes them aware of going or doing missions locally or internationally. Basically to mobilized them to get involved in outreach and missions work.

A couple of the outreaches that the church is been doing for years is the Potato/Banana drop and feeding lunch to the college students at Fairmont University, in which the church is working together with the Wesleyan Foundation Center. There's much potential in these ministries and we are thinking of ways on how to use these outreaches effectively to share Christ truth and love.

Please pray with us as we work alongside with the Pastor here, and mobilize the people to get involve in missions. Pastor Mike's heart and vision is about mission and we pray that we can be of help to him at this time as we wait on God.

God bless!

As One...

2010-01-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

Finally the BIG day - it was on the 26th of September 2009 that Wade and I tie the knot. It was (as every couple says) one of the happy and beautiful days of our lives! Finally, the BIG day that we waited and prepared for came.

We had many guests than we expected, but God took care of it all - making sure that everyone was taken care of. We thank everyone that came and witness our union on that special day, YOU all made it special by being present.

As I have said earlier, God used the wedding ceremony to touch the lives of the people that was present, especially the non-Christians that was there. God answered our prayers, as we prayed and want our wedding to be of some form of evangelistic wedding, as we knew that many of the guests are none Christian. God is good and faithful!

That day was the beginning of our journey together as a couple. We believe that God brought us together for a purpose (besides loving each other), we believe that God ordained our lives be together for His purpose and He will accomplish those purposes in ways that He knows best.

May you pray with us as we learn to live our lives as godly couple. And to be mindful of the reasons and purposes that God has for us as we continue to obey Him everyday as a couple.

Our hearts is to do missions, where God is at work and where we can be used as God's channel of His blessings to those that are lost and in need of Christ and His love, hope and peace.

God bless you all!

Preparation for the BIG day and new life...

2010-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

September of 2009 I came back to the US, this time not to attend any class or training but to attend our pre-marital counseling in preparation for our BIG day. Pastor Chuck & Sherry Quinley did our counseling. I told Wade that I wanted Pastor Chuck to do our wedding ceremony, and God is good as the Quinley's were still in the US at the date that we want to have our wedding. God made everything possible. The whole preparation of our wedding is all blessings and favor from God.

All the details was taken care of before I arrived in the US. God is good and faithful, He answered our prayers. He blessed us with people that took care the details of everything about the wedding.

God blessed us with a Ukrainian lady and who is a Christian, she works at David Bridal Store in Pittsburgh. She (Vera), found me a beautiful dress. She worked on it in a week's time notice. She worked on it beautifully and it fitted me well. Vera did a great job on the wedding dress. She was so happy to meet me and so do I, we talked in Russian every time we come to David Bridal Store. She also found me the shoes that goes with the dress, the veil, etc. She took good care of me like her own daughter that is going to get married, bless her heart!

Thank you also for the labor of love of Tess Straley for the lovely veil that we used for the veil ceremony. Tess did a great job on making our veil beautiful, its a gorgeous veil. Thank you again Tess for all your help and presence in our wedding, we appreciate you!

God blessed us through the women of the Methodist church. They took care of the food preparation. When they found out that Wade is planning for our wedding and looking for someone to cater the food, the Methodist women told him that they will take care of it. And that they did, the Methodist women prepared delicious food!

The reception place is provided by the Eldora Methodist Church. When Wade was looking for a place for our wedding, he was also looking for a place for the reception. When Eldora Methodist Church offered the church for our wedding, they also offered their big dinning place that is inside the church and with a big kitchen. The Methodist women used the kitchen in preparing the food. And we used the church dinning as the reception area. It was very convenient and practical. Thank you again, Eldora Methodist Church for letting us use your Church, the dinning area and the kitchen.

Our thanks to Scott and Linda Patterson for letting their beautiful daughter, Lauryn to be our Flower Girl, she is adorable! Thank you too for taking care of our Wedding Cake, we appreciate you so much, thank you for taking part of our special day, YOU made that day special!

The music was provided by our Pastor, Mike Richards. When Wade talked with Pastor Mike if he can play during our wedding, we didn't expect him to play through out the wedding ceremony, but he did and we are grateful to him. Pastor Mike Richards played all the music beautifully in our wedding ceremony, bless his heart. Thank you again!

And of course, the wedding without photos is not complete. Wade and I would like to thank Sherry Quinley, Kat Stowe and Cy Bagwell for taking turns in taking photos during the wedding. We will not have those beautiful photos if not for them. Thank you so much, especially to Sherry Quinley for taking lots of photos. We appreciate and thank you all so much!

God used the wedding ceremony to touch the lives of the people that was present, especially the non-Christians that was there. God answered our prayers, as we prayed and want our wedding to be of some form of evangelistic wedding, as we knew that many of the guests are none Christian. God is good and faithful!

Preparation and getting into a new life...

2010-01-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

Last August of 2009 after Wade and I got the approval of the US Immigration of our application for Fiancee visa, I started packing the rest of my belongings (books, clothes, etc.)in my flat. I have posted several boxes of my books to the US ahead of time. I was just packing my chosen clothes. The rest of my belongings (furniture, kitchen wares, appliances, etc.) in my flat I sorted out and given to the families in our church in Donetsk. The rest of my belongings (board games, clothes, etc.) I gave to the youth and other people that needed them.

September of 2009 I've got my visa and spent most of my remaining days and time visiting my church family in Donetsk. Most of them came and dropped by at my flat while I was packing and sorting out my belongings. It was a bitter-sweet time for me as I packed and said good bye to everyone. I know that I can always come and visit my family in Ukraine, but I will miss my time with them everyday. Knowing that I will not see them often and will not get to spend time with them for a while.

God's Gift Church people is the family that God gave me when I went and lived in Ukraine for seven years. And they are always be a part of me, they will always have a soft spot in my heart. They are always be a family to me wherever I go. One of the many blessings that God blessed us with is new family in Christ wherever He sends us to do His work.

God's Sovereignty

2010-01-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

The year 2008 is been an eventful year for me!

First, during and after the Summer Kids Camp, me and two of the leaders in our church in Donetsk, Ukraine(a Ukrainian couple)was working on our US visa application, to attend a three months Community Development Training/Practicum at SIFAT in Alabama, USA. God was blessed us with partial sponsorships with the training (which I believe I have already posted earlier).

During the course of study in SIFAT (Servants in Faith and Technology), I met students from different countries (students from five Continents). There was sixteen students in our class. There are American students as well that are taking the course, these students have a heart for missions and wanted to be equipped to do missions to the third world countries. Some of them have been doing short-term missions already. And one of the American students is, Wade Robinson, he's been doing missions to different countries (South America, Africa and Russia).

Wade and I got know each other very well during the training at SIFAT. We both have the heart for missions and passion to reach out to the people that doesn't know Christ. We spent much time talking during our breaks from our class and after classes. We became very good friends, and later on that friendship bloomed into a relationship as we continue spending time with each other during the training/practicum.

We both decided to pray and fast about how we feel towards each other. We want to know that this is from God, and that we are not only attracted physically because of spending much time together. We are aware that after the training/practicum, I will go back to Ukraine with my two Ukrainian friends and will continue my works in Ukraine where I am working with a church as missionary.

Before the end of our training/practicum, and before I went back to Ukraine, Wade and I got into a relationship. We asked the whole class to pray with us as we seek His guidance wisdom and leading with our new found relationship. I introduced Wade to my Spiritual parents and friends that are in the US after our graduation at SIFAT. He then introduced me to his family and friends before I left for Ukraine that year (2008).

I went back to Ukraine after Christmas of 2008, and we continue to talk and communicate with each other regularly through email and Skype, thank God for technology! Early January of 2009 when we both felt sure and decided to get engaged. We both knew and agreed that God ordained everything for the two of us to meet in Alabama after much prayer and fasting.

Wade did mission work in Africa before he went to SIFAT and planning to go back to Africa after. And I was in Ukraine doing mission and planned to go back to Ukraine and continue doing my mission works there. And in God's sovereignty, Wade and I ended up at SIFAT in Alabama in 2008 where we met. God is amazing and sovereign, He will make things happen in His own perfect time!:)

God bless you all!

Kids Camp in Ukraine '09

2010-01-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

I know that its almost a year since i have last updated this web blog, and i do apologize for the delayed. My life was been a whirlwind since late of 2008. I will try to update and blog everything that happened since i last visited this web blog, please be patience with me as i try to get everything and everyone updated, thank you!

As you all know, we have the yearly Summer Kids Camp in Donetsk, Ukraine and i want to update you all of that event last 2009. We did have 150 campers last year (2009) and the locals that prepared, organised, and worked in the Kids Camp did a great job once again, kudos to the team!:)

But as much as we are happy that there are lots of children that came (regular campers and new ones), we are also sad that we have to say NO to the other children that came to join the camp. We turned them down because of our tight budget, we are working around our budget for the Kids Camp, and to let more than 150 children means that some of them will not have a meal and gifts (small gifts, which we give to all the campers at the end of the camp) and we don't want that to happen. As much as we want everyone to be in the camp, we have to say NO for that reason.

The kids enjoyed (as always) the camp. They enjoyed the games, sports, bible stories, crafts/arts, the gifts and most of all, they enjoyed the time that they had with the professional football player (Sonny Kingsley) that came and play with them in the camp. Its always a treat for them to play with Sonny Kingsley. And we thank you Sonny for giving your time and financial help to these children, they are so happy and looking forward to see you and spend time with you!:)

God is always been faithful and good to us. He provided us the finances and people that helped and worked with us in the Kids Camp. One of the volunteer last year was Lisa Chmelarova, she is from Czech Republic. She stumbled upon my website and through email we get to know each other. She volunteered to help on the Summer Kids Camp in Ukraine, which we all happy about. Lisa is a graduate student (International Law student). She wants to practice her Russian language, and volunteering to help at the Kids Camp made it possible for her to do so. It worked well both ways, she helped us in the Kids Camp, and we were able to cater her need to practice her Russian language by spending time with Russian speaking people. Thank you, again Lisa!:)

God willing, we (my husband and I) is planning to go to Ukraine this Summer to help at the Kids Camp in Donetsk. We plan to bring some school supplies and other things that can be of used at the Kids Camp. If you are interested to join us or give for the Kids Camp (financially or in kind), please send me an email at: sladios@gmail.com or leave a message here on my website.

God bless!

Time of Reflections and Turn-overs....

2009-03-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

We all don't know what's the end of the flowing river or under the calm water..

I was just reflecting on my years and time here in Ukraine and the thought of leaving (that is, not using Ukraine as my base) makes me sad. Ukraine (Donetsk) is been my home and base for seven (7) years now. Got use to live here, love the family and friends that God has given me during the seven (7) years of working with the locals here.

The change of plans and everything that I will do here in Ukraine will take place this year, due to the new phase of my life, that, I believe part of God’s will in my life. I recently got engaged and that will change a lot in terms of my work, my base and life in general.

After telling the core leaders of the big news, I’ve been spending more of my time in doing visitations with the church people. Part of it, is because I was gone for awhile (5 mos) attending a Community Development training in the US (SIFAT) with a couple of Ukrainians with me. I am trying to get connected again with the people after being away.

The thought of me leaving Ukraine makes me sad. Sad that I will not get to see and talk with them everyday and not to do more than I wanted to, if I am in another country. There are still lots of things that I wanted to do here in Ukraine, but I know and I believe that there’s time for everything, as what the book of Ecclesiastes says in in the Bible.

This time maybe the time to change my role here in Ukraine (in regards to ministry/work). And I know God has other plans for me that needed me to be with a partner to accomplish whatever that is. I trust God completely with my life and whatever it is that He has for me, I will obey and trust Him that, it is the best for me.

Turn-over of works/ministries was done three years ago. I’ve been doing it slowly, as I believe and think that my part is to train leaders and established ministries and then let the trained leaders take over the works after. When I arrived here in Ukraine, I know for the fact that, I don’t know how long I will be here in Ukraine. My goal is to assist the pastor and leaders by training and helping establishing ministries. And for the last three years, the locals are the ones that’s been doing the works and I know and believe that they are capable of continuing what we started together.

Of course, there’s a mix emotion right now as I prepare myself and prepare to leave, but I also know that my involvement with the Ukraine ministry will not end here. It might not be like it was before but, I will still be involve by helping them in Summer Kids Camp by bringing a group of young people to help them in the camp and to organise people, churches that wants to get involve in this work or to help the church in general by doing leadership/discipleship trainings/seminars whenever in Ukraine.

I always believe that; healthy things grow, growing things change, change brings pain, and pain brings gain. Progress always brings change, and to gain something, it will cost something. I also read somewhere that "Change is the only things that doesn't change"...:)

Will keep you updated in the coming days of what’s happening and will definitely share with you the new adventures that I will have with God in the coming days.

Blessings!

Ukraine's Drug Pushers...

2009-03-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Drug Pushers
Yesterday, 20:19 | Yuliya Popova, Kyiv Post Staff Writer

Experts say that consumers end up paying more for medicines they do not need because pharmaceutical companies pay doctors to promote their brands. - Oleksiy Boiko

Some doctors act in the interest of pharmaceutical companies, not patients.

If your Ukrainian doctor prescribes medication for an ailment, at least two questions are in order: “How will this help my health?” And, sadly, the other all-too-logical question for patients is: “How much are pharmaceutical companies paying you doctors to prescribe this pill?”

Ukraine is proving to be a wonderland for the aggressive pill-peddling common around the world, a compromised circumstance in which doctors prescribe certain medications in return for financial favors from drug firms.

Ukraine’s health-care industry is considered to be a mess wherever one looks. The fast-growing pharmaceutical trade, until recently one of the healthiest sectors in the sick industry, has lately been under stress as well.

Importers were shaken up after the government last year restricted mark-ups to no more than 20 percent. Meanwhile, a declining domestic currency has nearly doubled the cost for imports. The result may mean lower profits.

Stepping into the void to rescue profits, health-care watchdogs say, are increasingly aggressive and desperate pharmaceutical sales representatives racing after doctors. “They are like locusts in hospitals,” said Victor Yatsyk, deputy head of the Romodanov Institute of Neurosurgery in Kyiv.

“They arrange personal meetings with medical staff and shove them their products one-on-one instead of a civilized promotion like a conference.”

The consequence is that patients often walk out of the doctor’s office with more pills than are clinically warranted.

“In the West, doctors don’t prescribe two or three antibiotics like they do here,” Yatsyk said. “[In Ukraine,] they recommend a few [extra] drugs just in case, and no one cares that it’s like using a sledgehammer to crack nuts.”

Ukraine’s pharmaceutical market was worth $2.6 billion in 2008. Domestically made drugs took up only a quarter of these sales. A non-governmental professional union, the Association of Pharmaceutical and Microbiological Industry’s Employers, estimates that 95 percent of foreign drugs have Ukrainian clones. Valery Pechayev, head of the association, thinks that Ukrainians overpay Hr 9 billion – more than $1 billion – to buy more expensive foreign medication.

In Yatsyk’s workplace, the Romodanov Institute of Neurosurgery, it is easy to see why doctors and the hospitals where they work need money.

Nurses draped in not-so-white robes over woolen sweaters rushed through chapped and cold corridors. Some medical equipment looked fit for museums. Yatsyk’s office resembled a set from a post-war Soviet film, with a single chair and desk, against toxic blue walls.

“Some companies buy furniture for the clinics in exchange for promotion. Others help with equipment,” Yatsyuk said. Some doctors, however, take payments and gifts which grow proportionally to the amount of medicine they sell. “They don’t approach me personally as I showed them the door from the start,” he added.

But if wolves are fed, the sheep don’t come out as well. “In best case scenarios, people lose financially,” Yatsyk said, referring to the alarming trend.

But financial consequences are not always the most troubling ones.

Pensioner Lidia Bilyk from Kryvy Rih lost her husband in January after a doctor’s alleged malpractice. “He had a knee injury. They injected him the type of medication which was forbidden and taken out of production,” Bilyk said angrily. “There was a strong side effect. They killed his bone marrow with an overdose of these shots.”

It all happened within six months after a workplace accident. Before that, the late Petro Bilyk turned 70 last summer in great health, his widow said. But she contends that after being prescribed with the wrong medication, Bilyk – struggling to draw breathe – fatally shot himself in January with his hunting rifle.

“I am afraid to take it to court,” Bilyk said. “My husband was a stubborn man. He wrote to health authorities seeking justice. But they replied saying that he could have [prescribed] this medicine himself. I don’t want to pursue it. What if anything happens to my son?”

Before taking his own life, Bilyk approached the All-Ukrainian Council for Patients’ Security and Rights, a non-governmental organization in Kyiv. It has no resources to work outside the capital.

But Victor Serduk, the lawyer and doctor who heads the NGO, said of the abuses going on with prescribed medicine and conflicts of interest with health-care personnel: “It’s genocide against the nation and a medical experiment.”

In Ukraine, a person's ethical code is often the only check on unethical behavior. “Personal greed makes doctors get royalties from pharmacies,” Serduk said. “In Ukraine, we are governed by situational ethics. If no one is watching over your shoulder, do whatever you want.”

Timur Bondaryev, a senior partner from Arzinger law firm, said that there is little chance of winning cases on patients’ right in Ukraine.

“To prove doctors’ lack of professionalism, there is a need for an expert assessment which is also carried out by their colleagues in white robes,” Bondaryev said. “Because of solidarity and the so-called ‘union’ factor of their profession, these experts refuse to testify against their co-workers and soften their conclusions considerably, which makes it impossible to hold a quack responsible.”

The Association of Ukraine's Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, which represents 80 percent of domestic producers, admits the industry lacks regulation. Such lax oversight opens the way for unfair methods of competition, said association president Petro Bagriy.

One psychiatrist quit the profession mainly because of the intrusive pill marketing. But she didn’t want to be identified because she was thinking of returning to the fold and didn’t want to face the wrath of colleagues. Of the seamy prescription practice, she said: “Doctors in charge of the asylum would advise persistently what brand of medicine to prescribe. I felt restricted in treating my patients and it was repulsive.”

She said that pharmaceutical representatives were frequent guests in the clinic and even had keys to the asylum, which is off-limits to the public.

A Kyiv representative of a leading multinational pharmaceutical company also refused to be quoted by name. But the representative refuted accusations of unfair dealings.

With more than 500 pharmaceutical firms working in Ukraine, each follows its own rules. “I don’t give bribes to my doctors,” this representative said. “I convince them with my knowledge." The sales representative said pharmacies and sales representatives print their own prescription forms to track doctors’ performances.

In America, two members of the U.S. Senate have been pushing a bill requiring drug manufacturers to disclose all payments and gifts made since 2007.

In Ukraine, however, the only policing of “the medics on the pill” appears to come from private insurance companies, not government.

“Practically every day we have to restrain doctors in their prescriptions,” said Oksana Artamonova, deputy head of the medical services department of the European Insurance Alliance. “Very often, either because of lack of knowledge, little experience or some other reasons, some doctors advise medication of the same type to strengthen the effect. That’s when we step in and argue.”

Once again, business trumps ethics, Yatsyk said, and may continue to do so until physicians start earning decent salaries and working in adequately equipped hospitals.

Facts about Vodka

2009-03-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

Vodka facts: All you wanted to know and never bothered to ask
Yesterday, 19:26 | Alexandra Matoshko, Kyiv Post Guide Editor

Vodka facts: All you wanted to know and never bothered to ask Konstantin Klimenko
Drink up: Such an incredible variety of vodka brands can be encountered in Kyiv's supermarkets, making the choice of brands tricky.

Vodka (“horilka” in Ukrainian) stands high among the top stereotypes used to describe Ukrainians. What do Ukrainians like above all? Vodka and salo, of course. We have already done an article about the lard. However vodka proved to be a much more extensive topic.

Anyone new in the country can tell that vodka is indeed a highly popular national drink, simply by viewing the vodka section at any supermarket – it runs several meters, showcasing an amazing variety of vodka brands. There are no less than 40 of them produced in Ukraine, while an average supermarket holds as much as 20. Besides, most brands offer a number of different kinds each. Naturally, Ukrainian vodka is one of the common souvenirs any tourist tries to take home. And that’s where he faces the difficulty of choice. Unless there is a vodka connoisseur around to give coherent advice, inscriptions like: “honey with pepper,” “on milk,” “rye” and “on birchtree buds” on the labels can easily confuse not only a foreigner, but even a Ukrainian, who is not an experienced vodka drinker.

A classical definition of vodka is “a drink of water and ethanol, containing a small amount of impurities, sometimes with berry or fruit flavorings as well as spices.” The alcohol content may range from 40 to 56 percent. But there is much more to know about the beloved drink of the Slavs.

History

One of the widespread myths is that of vodka as an original Russian/Ukrainian drink. In truth, the first to obtain liquid similar to vodka was Persian Doctor Al-Razi – in the XI century he managed to extract ethanol by distillation. But of course with Persia being a Muslim country which prohibits alcohol entirely, the new liquid was used only for medical purposes. The first to distill alcohol in Europe was an Italian monk-alchemic, Valentius.

Using Arab methods to distill grape must and turn it into ethanol, Italians obtained “aqua vitae,” which later gave birth to all modern spirits – brandy, cognac, whiskey, schnapps and of course, vodka.

The history of vodka in Russia began in 1386 when Genoese merchants first brought “aqua vitae” to Moscow. Instead of grapes, Russians used rye to extract ethanol, thus the Russian called vodka “bread wine” at first.

Back then vodka was frequently flavored with herbs, berries or spices, and in 16th-17th centuries anise vodka was very common. It lost its popularity long since, but anise is still used in many world-famous spirits: Turksih raki, Greek ouzo, Italian sambuca, and French pastis.

Vodka production was one of the first businesses to be controlled by the government in Russia. It started with tsar monopoly on vodka production in 15th century, which allowed only tsar-owned factories to produce it and sell it exquisitely in Tsar kabaks (taverns). As a result, vodka lost in quality. And corrupt buisness of greedy kabak heads led to more crime. Because a lot of vodka was sold on credit, it led to “kabak debts” and consequently to the enslavement of those who couldn’t pay up. In 1765 Catherine the Great granted the privilege of making vodka exclusively to noblemen – the richer they were, the more they were allowed to produce. Because of serfdom, the landlords had plenty of free workforce and concentrated on improving the quality of vodka regardless of the cost and lengthy production time. In 1863, the government monopoly on vodka was abolished, which caused the prices fall dramatically. The drink became much more popular with the population.

In 1894, Tsar Alexander the Third introduced the first vodka quality standard that is used until now. The first patented vodka “Moskovksaya Osobennaya” (“Moscow Special”) contained 40 percent alcohol, which was said to be an ideal alcohol content by the great Russian chemist Dmitriy Mendeleyev.

Ever since its first appearance vodka was widely promoted, and it was only in 20th century that its dangerous qualities were recognized and the attempts were made to prohibit drinking. In 1914 Tsar Nikolay the Second announced prohibition for the time of war. The prohibition was “inherited” by the Soviets and abolished only in 1924.

In Soviet Union, attempts to limit vodka consumption were taken several times. The last one was 1985’s prohibition announced by Gorbachev. However, such measures lead to peculiar results. Plenty of individuals used self made devices for making samogon (self-made vodka), a lot of which was sold illegally. Also, at the time of the most serious restrictions when you could only buy a bottle or two a month by producing a special coupon, aclohol addicts would succumb to drinking cologne and other chemical liquids with high concentration of ethanol. Needless to say, this frequently led to fatal consequences.

The world of gorilka

Overall, Ukrainian vodka is considered high quality and many of its brands are exported worldwide. Also, counterfeit is quite rare nowadays, though it’s still best to buy alcohol in licensed shops and kiosks.

When it comes to choosing the right Ukrainian vodka, it depends a lot on an individual taste, and it’s hard to say which brand is the best. Hortytsya, Nemirroff, Stolichniy Standart, Soyuz-Viktan TM SV, Prime, Tselsiy, Klibniy Dar and Medoff are considered to be among the top brands. Boasting different awards, they are often included in international vodka ratings. It certainly doesn’t mean that all other vodka brands aren’t worth your attention. However if you’re seeking high quality classical vodka (with no flavors), those brands are a sure bet.

In general mid-range vodka costs around Hr 15 per half a liter, while fancier kinds can run up to Hr 20 and more. The price largely depends on the quality of ethanol or “spirt” as it’s called here – “spirt extra” is used for cheaper vodka and “luxe” is for pricier types. Other important elements include quality of the water and purification methods, as well as exclusive recipes.

One thing important to know when choosing a vodka is what those various signs on vodka labels mean. “Klassychna” (Classical) on a vodka label indicates a common type and “Osoblyva” (Special) may be slightly softened or spiced up but without any special flavor. There is also “Light” vodka with 35 percent alcohol.

While the majority of vodka is distilled from grain, some producers make bread the main ingredient. The main bread vodka brand is “Khlibniy Dar,” others offer bread vodkas in their lines – “Zlatogor,” “Bilenka,” “Vdala,” Olymp,” and “Holodniy Yar” among others. They also indicate the type of grain used: wheat ("Karat," "Bilenka") or winter wheat ("Bayadera Klibniy Dar"), rye (Gorilochka) or barley (“Khlibniy Dar”).

Some labels also specifiy that vodka is made of spring water; the other labels say: “Na Moloke” (on milk) – “Mernaya,” “Bilenka” – which means that this particular vodka is purified by dry milk – a technology known since 19th century but unused for a long time. “Na Berezovykh Brunkah” (on birch tree buds) is another widespread type of vodka, which means that vodka contains aromatic spirit infused on birchtree buds which softens the taste. There is also vodka with special healthy flavorings such as ginseng extract (Kozatska Rada) and acacia blossoms (Zlatogor). Blagoff’s green apple, pear and mandarin vodka – sweet with strong flavor – will be mostly enjoyed by women.

Historically, honey and pepper are the top popular ingredients for Ukrainian gorilka. There are even specific brands specializing in honey-smoothed vodka. “Medoff” offers several kinds, including the one with cayenne pepper and “Medoff Gold,” combining aroma of slovenwood and basil. “Medovukha” brand is called after an ancient strong Slavic drink and offers six kinds according to different types of honey used – Carpathian or Poltava blossoms honey, May honey, wild honey and buckwheat honey. A highly popular honey-and-pepper combination “Medova z Pertsem” is offered by Nemiroff.

For special occasions you can choose between luxury brands like Tselsiy for Hr 40 per half a liter, “SV Luxe Premium Vodka,” Karat Khlebnaya Sleza (Bread Tear) in handmade bottles (Hr 100 per liter), LEX vodka and Nemiroff Premium, among others. For gifts, you can get vodka in special fancy bottles and sets with shot glasses, as well as custom-made vodka vessels in a shape of a sword, a Cossack, or a girl in a traditional outfit. Chernihiv factory produces vodka in phallic-shape bottles, calling it “Harmata” (Cannon). However the quality of vodka in original bottles, especially the ones that are made of not transparent materials, may be a miss, so it may be best to keep it as a souvenir, rather than drink it.

Drinking tips

Ukrainians mostly drink vodka cold (but not frozen) at one draught in 0.50 ml shot glasses. Therefore, if you’re ordering a vodka at the bar, don’t expect it to arrive with lemon on the rocks in big glass – you would have to ask for it specifically. Many pro vodka drinkers consider sipping on vodka quite nonsensical, unless it has any peculiar flavor. Washing vodka down with water or juice is also considered bad taste, though there is an old Moscow tradition of following vodka shots with sweet tea. On the other hand, drinking vodka at one draught has its side affects – that way it’s easier to overdose. Quickly consuming a liter of vodka is potentially lethal, so it’s good to make pauses between shots, chat and help yourself to appetizers.

In classical fashion vodka is drunk with appetizers and in general it’s good to drink with a full-scale dinner, as it washes off the taste of a previous dish and makes your palate senses more acute.

In Ukraine vodka is still often drunk at lunch – a shot of this appetitif followed by a spoonful of hot red borscht is quite usual.

Products that best combine with vodka are salo, veal and ham, herring and salmon, pickles, boiled potatoes etc. Red and black caviar are widely known as the deluxe vodka appetizers and they indeed go really well with it. On the other hand, watery products (such as caviar and pickles) dilute ethanol essence, increasing the “high” effect from vodka. Therefore, some like Professor Preobrazhenkiy from Mikhail Bulgakov’s famous novel “Dog's Heart,” claim that hot appetizers are the best – the make you feel euphoric but don’t affect your ability to walk.

SIFAT Alumni 2008 - Wonderful and Unforgetable

2009-03-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

SIFAT (Servant in Faith and Technology) is one great opportunity and experience that I had had in the US.

God gave me an opportunity to live among His children from five different continents! It was amazing to realize how we SIFAT participants come from different cultures and backgrounds, yet we share the common love and passion for Christ.

All of us got to taste a 'bit of heaven' while we lived in the campus and attended our classes everyday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Living and teaming up with other believers from other countries is amazingly exciting and humbling. We all learned from each other and accepted our differences, letting the love of Jesus be manifested in our lives everyday.

One of the things that I will never forget and will always remind me of this 'taste of heaven' is when we, as a class, sang "God is So Good" in 13 languages. It was awesome! It was like God was allowing us to experience heaven on earth. That wonderful worship experience made me realize anew that no matter what language we speak, we sing praises to one God!

I will always remember my class in SIFAT. My classmates became my instant family during the practicum and training. God just binded us together with His amazing love.

On this note, I would like to thank you all for partnering and supporting to have this SIFAT training/practicum. Your prayers and financial help allowed me to experience unique Christian moments while on training in the US, and yes, equipped me to do more as I continue to reach out and minister to others by sharing the love of Christ in practical ways.

Indeed, there are so many needs everywhere. Having said this, I know that we cannot do everything. We can only do as much, and let God multiply it and do it effectively. I believe that even the smallest things that we do for God will impact the lives of people around us -- just like the ripple effect.

There is an interesting meaning or explanation for the word "ripple" (capillary wave) from Wikipedia. As I was thinking about this word and how significant it can be, I made some research and found this out:

A capillary wave is a wave travelling along the interface between two fluids, whose dynamics are dominated by the effects of surface tension. Capillary waves are common in nature and home, and are often referred to as ripple. The wavelength of capillary waves is typically less than a few centimeters.

A gravity–capillary wave on a fluid interface is influenced by both the effects of surface tension and gravity, as well as by the fluid inertia.

The Sacredness of a Broken Heart

2009-03-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

The Sacredness of a Broken Heart
by Stephanie Voiland
January 7, 2009

We all know it hurts to have your heart broken. And now they finally have the scientific data to back it up. Recent research from the University of California, Los Angeles, indicates that emotional pain may be more closely linked to physical pain than scientists previously realized. According to Naomi Eisenberger, lead author of the study, the distress from rejection registers in the same part of the brain that responds to physical pain, triggering similar sensations to, say, a broken arm. Which is just affirmation of what we've known all along: heartbreak hurts.

If you've had any prolonged exposure to other human beings, chances are pretty good that somewhere along the way you've had your heart broken. If not, hang on—you will soon enough. Maybe someone who promised to stick with you left with little warning. Maybe a close friend betrayed your trust or let you down when you needed her most. Or maybe you have that awful feeling in your gut that the person you love just doesn't love you back. When our hearts are broken, we limp along, wondering how we ended up here and if we'll ever make it to the other side of the pain. And perhaps worst of all, we feel utterly and helplessly alone.

But what I've been noticing lately in Scripture is that we aren't alone in this. God himself—powerful and holy as he is—knows what it is to have his heart broken. He isn't sitting up in the clouds somewhere, watching with detached interest as if we're some daytime TV show. He's fully engaged with us, pouring out his love on us and longing for us to love him back. When he made us, he could have created beings who were automatically loyal to him, who robotically returned his affection. But instead, he designed us with the will to decide how we'd respond to him, and in doing so, he opened his heart to profound love—and profound heartache.

So when we endure these heartbreaks ourselves—rejection, betrayal, abandonment—we don't walk through them alone. God has walked that road himself. And in some mysterious way, when our hearts are broken, we're given new insight into the very character of God.

The Sacredness of Being Rejected
The Old Testament is more than merely a historical narrative or a set of rules. Woven into the lining of each book, each story, is a common thread that reads more like a romance novel: God pursues his chosen people; they reject him and turn to less worthy loves; he keeps loving them anyway. Time after time, he does whatever it takes to win his loved ones back.

Ever since the beginning, we humans have been breaking God's heart. Adam and Eve had the unparalleled opportunity to walk in unbroken closeness with God, yet they rejected the relationship he offered in exchange for a hollow promise (Genesis 3). Since then, people have continued to turn our backs on God's love and faithfulness. Jeremiah recounts the way God aches over our rejection of his love: "They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife" (Jeremiah 31:32). If anyone has felt the sting of rejection, it's God.

The Sacredness of Being Betrayed
Our God is not a stranger to the pain of betrayal, either. In one of the most heartbreaking illustrations recorded in the Bible, the prophet Hosea lived out a devastating parallel to God's relationship with his people. God instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman who was compulsively unfaithful to him. Time after time she betrayed him, yet he consistently took her back, loving her against all logic, and, no doubt, the advice of his friends. God's message to his people was clear: By giving their affection to false gods, they were breaking his heart. Their betrayal was a slap in the face of his unconditional love and forgiveness. And perhaps we aren't so different today. We flirt with less worthy loves and continually break God's heart with our betrayal. And still he takes us back, his love as fierce as ever.

The Sacredness of Being Abandoned
When we find ourselves left alone by someone we love, there's comfort in knowing that God has endured that kind of abandonment too. At the end of Jesus' time on earth—arguably the darkest hour of his life—he was abandoned by his closest friends, the men he'd spent the bulk of the last three years with. As he was pouring out his grief to God, they were off napping. When he was being arrested, they were high-tailing it elsewhere to save their own skin. And when Jesus was on the cross, even God himself turned his face away, prompting Jesus to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Matthew 27:46). Yes, he knows the agony of abandonment.

A Glimpse into His Heart
The past few months have been marked by some unprecedented heartbreaks for me, as I said good-bye to a particular person and a particular version of a dream. I don't know what your heartbreak looks like—if you're barely holding the fragile pieces together or if everything has shattered in so many places you don't even know where to begin. Needless to say, this isn't a road we would have chosen. But along the way, we cling to the hope that God just may redeem this heartbreak and, in the process, give us glimpses into who he is.

When you feel like your heart is broken beyond repair, remember that nothing about this place is ordinary. You are uniquely poised, at this very moment, to share an intimate part of God's character. It's the place of the broken heart, and it's sacred ground.

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Don't stop doing good...

2008-08-14T01:27:00.001-07:00

2 Thessalonians 3:13

"And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good."

I was reading this morning the book of 2 Thessalonians 3 and this verse spoke into my heart and reminded me about doing good.

We just had another successful Kids Camp. And once again, the children enjoyed it and was happy. And even before the last day of the camp, the children were already asking about the next year Kids Camp!:) The children were actually asking why the Kids Camp is only one week and not longer!:) I have to tell them that the workers/volunteers can't get longer off from their work, as all them are working, except the youth that are having their summer break from school/university. But one of the other reasons, is that we don't have enough funds for longer camp, even if we want to, unless God wants us to do it longer then I/we know that He will provide for it!:)

Which brings me to another amazing things that God did for this camp. He not only provided additional volunteers/workers but He also provided additional finances for the Kids Camp. We (the team) as we met every week before the camp, talked about how many people (the ones that used to volunteer) can't help during the camp as their summer holidays from work was either before or after the camp. Sergei (the pastor) was concerned about how we (15 volunteers) will handle 100 children during the camp!

First day of the Kids camp, there were more than 20 volunteers that showed up!:) And as the Kids camp progress there were 4 more people that showed up and helped in the camp, there were more than enough kids camp workers that helped during the kids camp. God knows what we need and how He will provide for that needs!:) The team worked well and I felt that this Kids Camp was easier to run than the last time. The whole program just run smoothly. And everyone knows what to do and what to expect everyday. They were ready and prepared. It was just amazingly great team work!:)

Another blessings that God provided for the Kids Camp is the football player that I've randomly met 2 weeks before the camp. He stumbled upon my website, sent me an email to encouraged me in what I do here in Donetsk and expressed his desire to help with my work. After sending me an email, he rang me on my mobile and told me the same thing that he wrote on his email.

He (Kingsley) is a professional football player. He just came to Donetsk a month ago from Cyprus where he used to play as well. He was offered a better pay to play in Ukraine, that's why he came and joined the Mettalurg Donetsk Football Team.

After expressing his desire to help me and my work, I said that he can help me by helping the upcoming Kids Camp. He readily agreed and we decided to meet up that evening and talk about it. I asked Sergei (the pastor) to join us in the meeting that evening, since he wants to get involve its just right to meet with the pastor as well. He contributed financially and agreed to come and play with the children during the camp.

The highlight of this year's Kids Camp was the time that the footballer spent playing with the children. Football is a big thing here in Ukraine. The children were so happy and enjoyed their time with him. They enjoyed the McDonalds treat that he brought to the camp for all the children and workers. Have their photos taken with him and even asked for his autograph!:) The children asked him to come next year's Kids camp.

What amazed me with all of these is the way how God met our needs in wanting to do good for others even if we don't have enough. Even before we know that we will be needing more funds and volunteers, God already working and preparing those needs and will send it in His right time. He is never late nor advance, He is always on time. We just have to learn to wait and trust in Him!:)

I believe, what matters the most is what's our heart's desire, and God sees and knows that. And He will make the way for us to be able express that desire to do good for others. He is looking for people that is willing to be a channel of His blessings and He will take care of the provision to make it happen.

I believe that what we've doing in this community (Mine 12/18) is making a positive impact in the lives of these young children and gives them hope for a better future. We just have to continue to do good for them. We saw positive changed in the lives of these young children since we started doing kids camp in that community 5 years ago and it will surely affect their family and peers.

The First Real Mission....

2008-08-12T06:29:00.001-07:00

FROM RELEVANT MAGAZINE

The First Real Mission

Beth Guckenberger
It’s almost the end of the week, and we’ve run out of projects, supplies and motivation.

For the past few years Todd and I have sponsored our church’s youth mission trips to Queretaro, Mexico. In general, we know what to expect. A little paint here, a little polish there, some late-night tacos, an evangelistic drama—all in the name of the Lord.

The truth is, no one really cares. As I unpack the paints, I think, “Haven’t we painted this wall before?” We are frustrated, the students are uninspired and, worst of all, the nationals we have come to serve are unaffected.

One of the men from our group comes up to us and says, “About two more hours, and we can clean up here and head for dinner.”

“Two hours, huh?” I sigh.

I close my eyes and try to think how to fill that time, until Todd interrupts my thoughts: “Remember the orphanage we visited in Albania?” he asks, his back to me, bent over, cleaning some paintbrushes.

“Sure. Why?”

“You think there are any in this town?”

Even before he can stand up and turn around, I’m gone. I dash over to where our teens are talking to some of their Mexican counterparts.

“Orphanage-o? Orphanatorio? Orphanagorio?” I try every combination with my best Mexican accent to get a reaction. “Aquí?” (“Here?”)

“Sí. Sí.” They look at me, laughing, either because the answer is obvious or because of my funny words. I don’t know which.

I wish I could say that Todd and I sat down right then and made a plan, but we didn’t. The truth is, within 10 minutes of his question, we leave the students with the other adult sponsors, and we’re in a taxi trying to find an orphanage.

Looking back now, it seems foolish. We didn’t speak much Spanish, didn’t have much money if we got into trouble, and were in a city where we could have easily gotten lost. An hour later, we’re standing in front of a children’s home on a dusty road, knocking at the door as we wave goodbye to our taxi driver.

We hear a series of locks, bolts and chains being unlatched, and the door swings open. Have you ever heard the expression “his face is an open book”? Well, the title of the book on the face of the man who answers the door is Who the Heck Are You? Even though he’s sitting in a wheelchair, he seems eight feet tall. Seeing him makes us wonder if all those locks are to keep people out or keep children in. While he waits for us to explain ourselves, I catch a glimpse of a child over his shoulder.

We struggle with our bad Spanish for more than an hour but don’t get far. Finally, frustrated, Todd gives up and starts playing basketball with some of the boys, leaving me to continue the conversation. For a while we watch Todd in silence, our host with a blank expression on his face and me hoping we really are on a holy errand.

The thought crosses my mind, Has this man already asked us to leave in Spanish and we just didn’t understand? Or is this something that You planned, Lord?

Finally, the man turns to me and says, “I can understand you. I’m an American.”

I can’t believe it. Why did he pretend? I know I should be mad—but my first thought is gratitude that we can now communicate.

He continues, “I’m a Vietnam War vet. I came to work with abandoned children because I know what it means to be tossed aside. Like them, I’m trying to forget the people who failed me. I don’t always trust outsiders.”

I say nothing.

Todd, who has overheard everything, walks over from the court, with the ball under his arm, and says, “We have $200, 25 eager students and a whole day left in our trip. Is there anything we can do for you if we come back tomorrow?”

The man shifts his eyes and says softly, “The children haven’t had meat in a year, and that window up there is broken.”

Sometimes just talking can cost you. His admission costs him something, and our request costs us as well. We all overcome our fears and say things that are uncomfortable. But we do it. As we sit there on that bench, sipping our lemonade, I know what’s happened: Our first real mission has begun.

The next day, with a much clearer sense of purpose, we set out for the children’s home. On the way, we stop at a market to buy food and toys. When we get to the front door, the children are waiting, laughing and asking if “Michael Jordan” has come back.

We have 200 hamburgers, a new window, and our crew of teenagers.

The orphanage is built like a bullfighting arena, with a large open area in the middle. Steep stairs go up to the dorms on the top layer, which encircle the courtyard below. We set up the grill in the courtyard and begin serving the meal.

After all 40 of the kids receive their hamburgers and second helpings, we find ourselves still flipping burgers. From behind the grill, Todd whispers, “What’s going on? These kids can’t still be hungry; go see if you can figure out where all the food’s wandering off to.”

So I mingle with the kids, who are holding napkins full of hamburgers. Some are carrying them up to their rooms; I follow one little preschool girl up the stairs to the dormitory, and with each step, it’s almost as if I can feel her leading me, wanting me to see something. When we reach the top, she hesitates only slightly as she enters and leaves me standing in the doorway.

She’s hiding the hamburger patties under her mattress.

When I walk into the room, some of the other girls are startled and one of them starts to cry. Why? Do they think I’ll be mad? Yell at them? Hit them? Take the hamburgers back? I don’t know, but none of those things even occur to me. I simply help the little girl I followed lift her heavy mattress.

After we carefully hide the girl’s hamburger, I take her hand, and we head back out the door. Then I stop and send her down to get Todd. After he bounds up the stairs, we stand together in that doorway, and something happens to us, right there, that we don’t even realize at the time. But when I chart the events of my life that followed, they trace back to that moment in the doorway.

We walk slowly down the stairs, trying to think of how we might be able to buy more hamburgers. At the bottom, the director is watching us skeptically, waiting for our reaction, and he explains that the kids often save food for later. Even though we know the hamburgers won’t keep long, none of us has the heart to stop them.

That day Todd and I had a defining moment—an experience that impacted our thinking, touched our hearts and compelled us into a new course of action. It changed our lives. I used to be afraid of that word, change, as if it implied, somehow, that I need to be corrected. But now I have a different view of change. It is a shift in perspective, and not the Extreme Home Makeover kind of change we see on television. It is a shift in what we think we are capable of. In where we want to see our life heading. In how we are willing to spend our time, talents and resources.

When people tell me about how God “moved” them, it is that kind of shift, I believe, they are talking about. It’s a step in a new direction that we couldn’t have taken on our own. Sometimes defining moments result in immediate and complete life transformations, like it did for the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus; but more often, such moments are more subtle, things we can only see in hindsight.

For me, the hamburger incident was not a defining moment that lit up in neon lights. Not at all. I flew home the next day, went back to work, headed to the grocery store, called my friends—but there was a difference. I have since described it as being like a burr under my saddle. I knew I would never feel quite comfortable again. Something inside me had shifted, and after the supernatural pleasure of that “defining moment,” like an addict, I knew I wanted another hit.

Before that trip to Mexico, I was not a bad person. I wasn’t doing anything wrong that required major discipline in my life. But that trip was more like a big wooden marker in the shape of an arrow pointing to someplace I couldn’t see—a place I was nervous about, but excited to explore. Just a week before the trip, the path I was on in my life had seemed fine, but now, in light of that experience, I didn’t want fine anymore. For a year afterward, I moved around on that saddle trying to get comfortable again, but there was that silly burr, always reminding me that I had changed that afternoon in Mexico. That is what reckless faith does—it propels me faster and harder toward God’s true plan for my life.

Todd and I talked hundreds of hours in the following year about those hamburgers and about all the people we knew who could buy food for orphans if they only knew there was a need and how important they could be in meeting that need. It became clear that the arrow was pointing us back to Mexico, and so, without much guidance other than a vague sense of the rightness of the decision, we moved to Monterrey.

Today, when people look at our organization and ask about strategy, vision casting, projection and planning, we just smile. It would be tempting to spin it all so it seems more polished.

But the truth is, it started with a little girl hiding a hamburger under her mattress.

Taken from Reckless Faith © 2008 by Beth Guckenberger. Used by permission of Zondervan.

Joy that last....

2008-08-01T14:48:00.001-07:00

The word happiness evokes visions of un-wrapping gifts on Christmas morning, strolling hand in hand with the one you love, being surprised on your birthday, responding with unbridled laughter to a comedian, or vacationing in an exotic locale. Everyone wants to be happy; we make chasing this elusive ideal a lifelong pursuit: spending money, collecting things, and searching for new experiences.

But if happiness depends on our circumstances, what happens when the toys rust, loved ones die, health deteriorates, money is stolen, and the party's over? Often happiness flees and despair sets in.

In contrast to happiness stands joy. Running deeper and stronger, joy is the quiet, confident assurance of God's love and work in our life - that he will be there no matter what. Happiness depends on happenings, but joy depends on Christ.

The book of Philippians (one of Paul's letters) is Paul's joy letter. The church in that Macedonian city had been a great encouragement to Paul. The Philippian believers had enjoyed a very special relationship with Paul during his stay with them, so he wrote them a personal expression of his love and affection. They had brought him great joy. Philippians is also a joyful book because it emphasizes the real joy of the Christian life. The concept of rejoicing or joy appears sixteen times in four chapters, and the pages radiate this positive message, culminating in the exhortation to "always be full of joy in the Lord, I say it again...rejoice!" (4:4)

Although Paul was writing from prison, joy is a dominant theme in this letter. The secret of his joy is grounded in his relationship with Christ. People today desperately want to be happy but are tossed and turned by daily successes, failures, and inconveniences. Christians are to be joyful in every circumstances, even when things are going badly, even when we feel like complaining, even when no one else is joyful. Christ still reigns, and we still know him, so we can rejoice at all times.

Believers of Christ can have profound contentment, serenity, and peace no matter what happens. This joy comes from knowing Christ personally and from depending on his strength rather than our own.

We can have joy, even in hardship. Joy does not come from outward circumstances but from inward strength. As Christians, we must not rely on what we have or what we experience to give us joy but on Christ within us.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word "comfort/comfortable?"...

2008-07-17T06:21:00.001-07:00

When you hear the word "comfort or comfortable" what comes into your mind?

Here's what Collins Gem English Dictionay says about the word "comfort/comfortable:"

Comfort is: (noun) physical ease or well-being; consolation; means of consolation; (verb) soothe, console.

Comfortable is: (adj.) giving comfort; free from pain; informal well-off financially.

During one of my reading times, I encountered this word and it made me think. I stopped and just thought this word for a while and meditate on it. Checked the dictionary what it says about comfort/comfortable.

Did some checking as well what the bible says about comfort/comfortable. And found that they varies with their meaning.

The world (means us, human beings) think what the dictionary says when we hear the word comfort/comfortable.

But the bible says that, comfort/comfortable is not about being well-off, free from pain, being physically fit, or being soothed or consoled.

Comfort is being at peace and content of who and where you are no matter what. Knowing your situation (good or bad) and having that inner peace, joy and contentment knowing that even if you can't do anything with your situation. there is someone that can and that is Christ.

Trusting and having faith in Christ gives us that inner peace and joy and make us content in our lives, even if things seems bleak or hopeless. It's like a steady flow of a river or a brook, even in the midst of strongest storms. Knowing that it all will come to pass.

I believe that having that kind of assurance is the one that gives us comfort and makes us comfortable to face and deal with any storms (problems) that comes into our lives.

Love...the greatest of ALL....

2008-07-17T02:48:00.000-07:00

This morning when I was doing my morning readings part of chapter that I was reading just reminded me once again what Love is:

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

It speaks about what Love is and what it is not. I just want to share the verses that spoke into my heart while I was reading this chapter in 1 Corinthians 13.

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstances."

"There are three things that will endure - faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love."

In chapter 12 Paul gave evidence of the Corinthians' lack of love in the utilization of spiritual gifts, chapter 13 defines real love, and chapter 14 shows how love works. Love is more important than all the spiritual gifts exercised in the church body. Great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice, and miracle-working power have little effect without love. Love makes our actions and gifts useful. Although people have different gifts, love is available to everyone.

Our society confuses love and lust. Unlike lust, God's kind of love is directed outward toward others, not inward toward ourselves. It is utterly unselfish. This kind of love goes against our natural inclinations. It is impossible to have this love unless God helps us set aside our own natural desires so that we can love and not expect anything in return. Thus, the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others.

In morally corrupt Corinth, love had become a mixed-up term with little meaning. Today people are still confused about love. Love is the greatest of all human qualities, and it is an attribute of God himself. Love involves unselfish service to others, to show it gives evidence that you care.

Faith is the foundation and content of God's message; love is the action. When faith and hope are in line, you are free to love completely because you understand how God loves.

When the Going Gets Tough...

2008-07-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Have anyone of you watched the soccer game last weekend? It was the 2008 European Championship, Spain and Germany was the top and tough teams that played against each other.

I watched the game (that's right, I did watch soccer game!) and as I was watching my two favorite teams, as much as I want both of them to win - there's only one team that can bring the trophy and the title back to their country!

I was watching the game and the going gets tough - both teams are trying to make the ball into the goal, but each team didn't make it easy to do so. Each team tried their best to defend their goal, protecting the goal from their opponents from scoring by getting the ball into the goal.

Both team tried their best to score and tried their best to keep the ball out of the goal. Some of the players tumbled down, rolled over, got hit by each other or by the ball, bruised, got kicked, beaten down (accidentally), bleed (have you seen Germany's team captain and midfielder Michael Ballack bleed from the head collision with the Spanish midfielder Marcos Senna?! bleeding and all, still he got up and got back in the game!) other players got broken bones and pulled muscles from their efforts!

Bleeding, beaten, bruised as the game gets tough, still the players gets going! The players showed perseverance, determination, passion, and focused on their goal - to win the game! And in the end one of the team won and reached their goal in winning the game, by keep on going even when the going gets tough, they didn't quit, instead they persevere to the end.

As I was watching the game in action, my mind went on thinking and comparing the whole thing to our lives. There are times in our lives that we will experience being beaten, bruised, tumbled down, got hit, got kicked, rolled down, bleed, broken and get tired.

But just like the Germany & Spanish soccer players, we have to get up, press on and focus towards our goal in life - to win the battle from daily problems that comes into our lives. That, even if we got beaten, broken, bled, rolled down and tired - we have to keep on getting up, press on and get focus towards our goal, which is to overcome every problems that comes into our lives. To come out victorious from the battle inspite of beating, rolling, kicking and bleeding from it.

I read somewhere that says; winners don't quit and quitters don't win. It's up to us if we want to be winners or quitters, the choice is there - i do hope that we all choose to be winners and not quitters!

What is the Purpose of Life?

2008-06-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

Incerptions from Rick Warren's interview

Interviewed by Paul Bradshaw:

People ask me, what is the purpose of life? And I respond: in a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up-act-the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems; either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys-you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that its kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." but one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, 2Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up a foundations to fund an initiative we call "The Peace Plan" to plant churches, equip leaders, assist poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? guilt? bitterness? materialism? or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, "God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better." God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do-list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.

That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Rick Warren is the Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church; He is also the author of the book: The Purpose Driven (www.purposedriven.com)

"De-cluttering"

2008-06-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

Do you have clutters in your house? closets? work room? I thought so! I believe we all have clutters to sort-out or tidy-up in our homes or work place, that is waiting to be sorted out or tidied up. The clutters are just there waiting for us to give it some time or to sit down and plan a "de-cluttering goal!"

Yes, it is a goal, as most of us just have the tendency to say it can wait or I'll do it later (procrastination) - we all are guilty of this. No matter how organise a person is, he/she has clutter to sort-out. As the days, weeks, months or years passed by we added more clutters to our homes, closets or work place.

I was "de-cluttering" my place the other day. I usually do it twice a year. First quarter of the year and third quarter of the year. But I haven't done any of "de-cluttering" - I was hoping to do it early this year but was not able to do so - in short, I procrastinated!

As I was going through my closets and work place, I realised that I had so much "clutters" that needed sorting out, so I did! I was going through all of my "clutters" and I realised that more of the "clutters" that was in the closets are just junk and was just taking so much space in my closets, that made it full and just muddled with stuff!

Spent hours doing some sorting and tidying up and guess what? yes, you are right - half of the stuff that was in my closets are just "junk clutters" that needed to be thrown out! Papers, documents, old clothes, etc., that is been sitting there and taking so much space that can be thrown-out and free-up some space and get the closets more organise if I have given it some time to "de-cluttered" early on instead of procrastinating.

As I was "de-cluttering" my closets and work place, my mind went into comparing our hearts and thoughts to our homes or closets. In the same way that we gathered or accumulated "clutters" into our homes/closets - we do accumulated "cluttters" as well into our hearts/thoughts everyday.

Most of us (if not all) has too much "junk clutters" in our hearts/thoughts, that we've been carrying for ages that instead of "de-cluttering" our hearts/thoughts with pain, hurts, bitterness, pride, immorality, etc. - we keep on dumping more of these negative emotions into our muddled hearts and later on we find it hard to carry-on with life.

Then life became too heavy with burdens, things started to look bleak, hopeless, unhappy, and later on depression and discouragement started to sit-in and leads to isolation and hating life and everything around us. It's 'coz of the "junk clutters" that we are carrying in our hearts/thoughts that we wouldn't let go of, or keep holding on, life later on became meaningless.

I believe that, if we regularly take some time do some "de-cluttering" of our hearts/thoughts then we will find out that life is beautiful and we will have lots of room to learn and experience new things, happiness, joy, relationships, etc. - and may also find out that, life can be a source of life itself, if we only do a regular "de-cluttering" that gives freedom, lighten the burdens, gives new space for experiences, relationships, and other things that we will enjoy.

Right now, I am happy and enjoying the space that I freed from all the "junk clutters" that I have thrown out and was able to organised my closets and work place well. I am happy whenever I open my closets and I see how organise and neatly piled up everything are inside! It gives me a feeling of joy and fulfilment.

I have peace and can think more clearly and I am more productive when everything is in order and organised around me - it does have that effect on me or my thinking!:)

Dew Drops

2008-06-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

I just want to share this sweet and warm musing of a dear friend that she wrote and sent to me.....

Thank you so much Joms, I love you too!:)

dew drops...

i know for a fact that every snowflake is unique, not one ever the same. i thought of rain and i mused that every pouring is called for as the heaviness of the grey skies could bear but one more. and the bareness of the dry land awaits every trickle that may have been born a name. you think a rain drop is unique from another? what could this name be? the skies are dark and dreary, the winds howling calling forth each name.

a joy to step out after past a storm. dew drops always abounding, gentle and fresh in the morn. sending this to a dear sister who's played with them snow balls. who's probably thought of each snow flake's little but majestic life, freezed on somebody's nose so tall. yes we just had the latest typhoon news back here at home. but i'm glad our Father placed you where snows are by a heap to share them blessed heart warmed from a land of tropical heat. so tell each snow flake her unique name, a beauty beyond splendor called forth by the Name.

so tears ever flowing never ever escape, the One who has the time to stop & pause, bend over a Heart so great to spruse the skies with stars to twinkle on those eyes that needs to see how awesome things can be and would be beyond the rains, the winters, the storms; and how gentle dew drops are on quite new mornings.

i love you ate sarita. a note penned just for you out from my tired musing. would you share this to your study group girlfriends there who may need a little warm smile today over those empty cold vodka bottles. a happy distraction may not hurt.

much love,
joms :)

Time of Trouble...

2008-06-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

"The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9

"In times of trouble." The word "times" is an indication that trouble is not a "one time thing". As we go through the journey of life, we will face many "times" of trouble. Sometimes trouble will come back to back with no time to even catch your breath before the next one comes- as was the case with Job. Then at other times it seems as though trouble takes a break and leaves us alone for a while, but before we know it--- it's back.

Trouble also comes in many forms and invades many different areas of our lives. It can attack us in our health, our finances, our personal relationships and in our relationship with God. They also come in different sizes. They can be as small as the little foxes or as big as a giant. The Bible says that "man is born to trouble and his days are full of them". If I stopped here with that statement it would seem that life was hopeless, we could never expect anything but trouble- no happiness, no joy, no peace, just trouble, trouble, trouble. But thank God we don't have to stop there. When we have "times" of trouble there is hope, His name is Jesus!

Jesus sticks with us in times of trouble- He does not run out on us, He does not leave us to handle it by ourselves, He does not forsake us. In times of trouble He is our refuge, our hiding place, our security, our safety. When facing times of trouble we don't face them alone- He leads, guides and directs us so that we can safely navigate through them to the other side.

Are you facing one of those "times" of trouble this morning? There is hope and help for you. Look to Jesus. He is big enough to handle whatever trouble comes your way and however many times it comes.

Have a great day. Each time that trouble comes, He will always be our refuge.

Excerpted from Coffee Break by: Lorraine Ezell

Combating with Self-Discipline

2008-06-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

Have you experienced combating with self-discipline? I have, many times and I say it is not an easy task at all!

There are times that I succumbed to my flesh and do what it wants but there are times that I successfully denied myself of its desires to do what it wants, and that took lots of courage and working myself out to the point of literal exhaustion (emotionally, physically and spiritually).

Learning different languages is not easy task and it requires lots of self-discipline, especially when you are doing a self-study of it. I have to force and discipline myself to do a language study at least an hour everyday for the past few years. But there are times that my flesh just don't want to spend that hour in studying instead spending that hour infront of computer blogging! I have to literally drag myself out infront of my pc and make myself get my language books and workbooks and painstakingly make myself focus on language study.

For those of you that is studying languages, I am sure you can relate with me on this. And its not just studying languages that needs self-discipline. It's just one of many things that I need to do and make myself discipline to do so everyday.

Everyday we combat the need to stay disciplined and keep our focus to the things that are priorities versus important. First things first though, we have to know which are priorities and which are important, as those two are not the same. Learning and knowing the difference will help us a lot in tackling the issues that are infront of us everyday.

I am sure each one of us has different issues that we need to combat with self-discipline everyday. In my experience, self-discipline will not be instilled in our lives if we don't take hold of our daily activities and control our desires to be laxed in self-discipline. Knowing priorities from important will help us a lot in tackling everyday issues. We have a choice to make a better and focused life if we have self-discipline, but to do so, we have to combat self-discipline daily and purposely.

Having a discipline life makes life easier to deal with, as we are focus and we know the difference of priorities from important. This save us lots of confusion, headaches, stress, etc. Saying "NO" is an important factor in combating self-discipline. Learning to say "NO" can simplify our lives.

Question:

Have you learned to differentiate your priorities from important issues in your life?

Action:

Take sometime today and get a pen and a sheet of paper and list down the issues or concerns that you have. Make two columns and write down on each column which you think or feel are your priorities and which are important.

Then make sure to stick with your list and discipline yourself to work on them accordingly.

Fatherless Generation: coming to terms with the loss...

2008-06-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

With Father’s Day right around the corner (that’s right, don’t forget to drop that card in the Outgoing Mail slot sometime this week), we decided to tackle one of the prevailing issues of our generation: fatherlessness. Whether it’s a father who’s physically absent, or one who is emotionally distant or hurtful, the lack of a father has left a noticeable mark on our society. RELEVANT talks to Rick Johnson, author of Better Dads, Stronger Sons and founder of Better Dads, a fathering skills program designed to equip men to be more engaged in the lives of their children, about the impact of fatherlessness and what the Church can do about it.

Do you think fatherlessness is a big problem in our society?

As a culture, we tend to think the physical absence is the only form of fatherlessness, but a father can be emotionally distant, uninvolved in their children’s lives, workaholics, abusive or addictive. I believe fatherlessness is a huge problem in our culture. In fact, I believe every problem our culture has can be directly or indirectly traced to fatherlessness in one form or another. Kids from fatherless homes are five times more likely to be poor, and 10 times more likely to be extremely poor. Kids from fatherless homes are twice as likely to be high-school dropouts, girls are three times more likely to be unwed teenage mothers, 90 percent of runaways come from fatherless homes, and three out of four teen suicides come from fatherless environments. About 70 percent of men in prison come from fatherless homes. I speak a lot on the prisons, and when I talk to men, I survey them. When I ask them not only if they came from a home without a dad at all but if they had a poor role model for a father figure, it bumps that number up to about 90 percent. If you look at just that—the consequences, devastation and destruction that men in prison have caused to our culture and families—that’s pretty significant.

Why has fatherlessness become so prevalent today? In your experience, what are some of the major reasons or symptoms?

One of the reasons I think has to do with our culture’s mentality in general. Our culture now has more of an instant gratification kind of mentality. When I talk to young people, they’re frankly a little bit hopeless that marriage can last for a long time. It’s because they’ve experienced growing up in a culture of divorce. Why we’re seeing more of it now is because clearly, the role models we have growing up are things that we tend to emulate. When people have been brought up in a broken home, or a fatherless environment, boys tend to model that behavior, sometimes unconsciously. A lot of men vow to never leave their wife or children, yet because they’ve kind of been programmed that way, they’re almost helpless to be able to stop a chain of events that leads to that kind of conclusion.

The same with young women. For a variety of reasons, they tend to make choices where they end up in a situation where they’re either pregnant and not married or in a broken relationship. Just having had that model, we tend to imitate that. We see generational cycles. I know families where the great-grandmother was a single mom, the grandmother was a single mom, the mom was a single mom and now the daughter is a single mom. Those generational cycles are hard to break sometimes, especially if we don’t recognize that it’s contributing to the problem.

How has this affected the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket? What are some characteristics that define this generation that stem from father issues?
I think there are some specific things that affect the younger, up-and-coming generation, because a lot of them have been raised in environments without a father. When I talk to young men, I feel a real eagerness and need. They want to be good dads and good husbands, but haven’t had that model for them. A lot of them grow up saying, “I’m a dad—now what do I do? I know what I don’t want to do, but an older man has never shown me what I’m supposed to do—what my role as a man, a father and a husband is.” There’s a lot of confusion, and I think a lot of times, especially in males, it manifests itself in anger. I think there’s a lot of angry young men out there, and it’s not because they’re necessarily angry as much as they are afraid. Males typically are reluctant to do the things we possibly are going to fail at, because it’s humiliating to fail. Either we leave, rather than face potential failure, or we become angry to cover that humiliating feeling of failure or fear.

For females, I think there are certain things that manifest themselves in the younger generation as well. I think the way a lot of young women view themselves can be directly related to how they perceived [the way] their father viewed them. If they had a loving father, they tend to feel good about themselves, are more confident and have more self-esteem. If they didn’t have a man growing up, they tend to not have that self-esteem and that kind of self-assessment that they’re worthy and valuable. The common theme of women and girls who did not have a father is an inability to trust a man. It’s a leap of faith for them, because a permanent relationship with a man is kind of theoretical. These women tend to test men who are in their lives by starting fights, finding flaws, expecting to be abandoned—things like that that are pretty destructive to relationships to begin with. We all have cravings for affection in our lives, and I think the women who didn’t have that in a father have a void in their lives. They search for that, not having experienced healthy, masculine affection. Sometimes they’re willing to replace that need in some destructive ways, like confusing sex for love.

How do you think it affects people spiritually? Do you think there is a correlation between the way they view their father and the way they view God?
Studies have proved that people’s perceptions of their earthly father is how they perceive God. There’s a lot of confusion, anger and maybe even turning away from God because of what’s been modeled by their earthly father. The other day my wife and I were driving in the car, and we were listening to Angela Thomas [on the radio]; she wrote My Single Mom Life. She was talking about how her husband left her with four kids. It was really tough, as you can imagine. She was exhausted and was praying to God that she just couldn’t go on. She heard God talking to her, asking her what she could do, encouraging her like a father would do. He called her His sweet baby girl, and my wife teared up, and I asked her what was wrong. She said, “I grew up without a father. I can’t even imagine a heavenly father calling me [that].” I never even thought about that, but she was right. Because she didn’t have an example of that growing up, it was hard for her to believe that there’s a loving, heavenly father that would have that kind of unconditional love for her, because she had never experienced it.

What are some short-term and long-term steps we could take, as a Church, to combat the trend?
There are so many opportunities for the Church to reach out to the hurting community out there. One of the things we do a lot of work with is on single moms raising boys. We have mentoring programs for fatherless boys, and we pair them up with college-aged men to hang out with. We have camps for single moms and their families, where they come out and we just serve and honor the single moms while teaching and letting the kids play with men so they can get a healthy example of what healthy masculinity looks like, for both boys and girls. These are great, nonthreatening opportunities for the Church to make a difference as I believe God would have us do as Christians, particularly to reach out to the widows and orphans in our community. My frustration is that I see very few churches who are willing to do that. In fairness, I think the Church is recognizing the problem of fatherlessness, but I think they’re a little overwhelmed by the whole thing and tend to be paralyzed and not do anything. There are a couple of churches that are doing some significant things to reach out to the fatherless community, and I think they’re going to make a huge difference in the world. I think churches could very easily host and encourage ministries like ours that have nonthreatening outreaches to the community that introduce biblical principles in a nonthreatening way, while getting into areas of the community that would never even set foot in a church. Because we’re reaching out and giving them something that they need without any expectations in return, they are going to be much more open to hearing the good news of the Gospel than they might normally.

Author: Sarah Moore

Sarah Moore is an editorial intern at RELEVANT Media Group