Author: David

I love shish-kabobs. I particularly love Ukrainian shish-kabobs (called “shashlyk” here in Ukraine). Usually the only thing that goes on them is pork or chicken and onions. The marinades are often a special family recipe that’s handed down from father to son through generations.

At my bachelor party, a bunch of friends and I got together to have shashlyk. We all gathered around a fire out in a field one afternoon, hung out, threw a frisbee around, and watched the meat cook. I particularly enjoyed that last part of the activities. 😀 There’s not much better than fresh meat, a fire, and friends. As I was poking the fire and adjusting the skewers, a friend of mine told me to “pereklady” them, which means to turn them over.

I followed his instructions and noted the word he used, because that’s the same word for “translate”. So, in a way, when Ukrainians ask you to translate a word, there are literally asking you to turn it over and let them see the other side.

Another thing that I love is reading my Bible. I love to take the Bible and share it with other people in a way that is enjoyable, sensible, and practical. That way, they can take the Word of God and apply it directly to their lives. It’s a lot like being able to cook shashlyk for a bunch of friends and watch their eyes glisten as they enjoy the savory meat before them.

One of the things that I’ve noticed with reading my Bible is that, when I read it in Ukrainian, it often allows me to “see another side” of what the Bible is saying. I love comparing the different languages (English and Ukrainian) and trying to get the most of the rich meaning that I can out of them. The way Ukrainian flows is a lot closer to Greek, so there are some scriptures that I didn’t fully understand until I read them in the Ukrainian translation.

That translation, that “pereklad”, helped me to “turn the Word over” and see it from another perspective. It’s the same Bible, but I’m getting to see it from another cultural side in another language.

What do you love? Have you ever been to another country? How has that changed your perspectives, your paradigms?

When was the last time you threw away a piece of bread? Have you ever though about what it means to do that? We as Americans have a very interesting perspective on food, clothing, etc., and I didn’t realize how different it was until I threw away a piece of bread one day here in Ukraine.

My friends an I were out one day playing music in downtown L’viv. No surprise – I got hungry. I went to go buy a hotdog. Now I like hotdogs, but I don’t like hotdog buns, so, after I was don’t eating half of the whole thing, I slurped out the dog, and threw away the bun.

Now – my first mistake wasn’t throwing away the bun but not noticing two grandmas sitting next to the trash can. They started to yell at me like you wouldn’t believe. I had no idea what they were saying (I’d only been in Ukraine for a few months), so I simply figured they were talking to someone else and walked away.

A friend of mine finally explained to me what was going on, and I went back and apologized to them. It was a lesson to me in waste and in culture.

The culture here has, in many ways, been shaped by the events since the Communist Revolution in 1917. In the 1930’s and 40’s, there were a couple of forced-famines here in Ukraine, where the government took everyone’s food. I know people here with stories of digging moldy potato skins out of trash cans to eat them, and much, much worse that I won’t describe. From that time on, food was basically holy to them.

When a grandma sees you throw away bread, guess what her mind goes to?

All that to say – that changed a bit the way I look at food. I try not to be as wasteful. Even of bread is beyond me eating, I try to give it to the birds. I confess, I don’t always do this, but I think it’s a good thing.

We waste a lot of things in America. We throw away things that could be fixed. We spend money to buy things that we already have.

Let’s pray about the wastes in our lives, and ask God to show us how to be better stewards.

(The picture is from a piece of bread that I accidentally left in my backpack for a few days… It was still good so I ate it! :D)