WordPress mixed up the order of these pictures pretty badly, but each one of them represents a special moment from 2024. This has been a hard year, but I think I would summarize it with the word “growth” or maybe “hope”. Thank You, God, for hope and for the growth that You gave to us this year. May next year bring more of the same, peace for Ukraine, and victory, so that my friends and family can return to their homes in areas temporarily occupied by the enemy.
Here are some photos of the Follow students retreat that I got to speak at this month. Please keep praying for the youth in Ukraine, that God would continue to work in their hearts!
If you guys would like to see more from Follow, the students ministry at our church, you can check out the Follow instagram page here. Please keep praying for God’s work in the youth here in Ukraine!
Last week, I had the amazing honor and privilege of taking part in leading worship at a conference for youth and youth leaders here in Lviv. It was wonderful to see one thousand participants come together to learn and grow in their ability to serve young people and lead them to a greater understanding of God, His Word, and life with Him. The worship team is actually coming over this evening to our apartment to celebrate how God worked in and through that conference in our own lives. One of the crazy things that happened—all of the singers felt sick at some point in the week leading up to the conference, and a couple either had a temperature or felt nauseous the day before. However, on the morning of the conference, we are all healthy and ready to rock!
This was a real growing experience for me, as I’ve never had the opportunity to work with a vocal coach and have every song with a different part (we had four part harmonies for each of the eight songs we sang). That’s just a completely different level of vocal music than I’m used to. It was powerful, though! God used it and many people were roughed by the songs we sang.
I’m also really proud of our church. It was the main organizer of this national event, which is a testament to what God has done and will do in the future through our church.
Thank you to all who prayed while we were preparing for the conference! May God continue to work in Ukraine!
Today was a hard day… this blog post is a way to process it. I’m just going to be word dumping, so this may be unstructured, unpolished, and even unspiritual. As I speak, the cities in eastern Ukraine are being pounded with high explosives, and we may have missiles coming at us again in a few hours. This morning (technically yesterday morning, as the clock has already struck midnight… I’m talking about September 4), Katya and I heard 8 explosions, hypersonic cruise missiles hitting our city. One of them blew the windows in of a friend’s home. One of them cracked the windows of the seminary where Katya is working this week. One of them blew up an apartment building and a whole family died… except for the husband / father.
How do you deal with that? What’s he feeling? Why does life have to hurt this badly? God, why is life so painful? Why is life pain?
I saw on a friend’s facebook page that there was a mass shooting today in GA. Terrible. I’m sure there are a few of those folks feeling like us today. Numb. Stressed. Distracted.
I talked to a guy that used to live in Zapporizhia. They are hit just about every day with the kind of shelling we saw for the first time since New Year.
God, why does life hurt so bad?
I wanted to blame Him for some pain yesterday. Life is hard, and things can seem so random sometimes. However, the worst hurts in life are always caused by people. People, real physical people that cause so much pain and suffering and destruction and hell on this earth.
This year it’s Putin. For someone else at a different time it was someone else.
We are the problem.
Why does God keep us around?
I guess that could lead me to the idea that He actually does love us. He cares and wants to find a way to redeem us out of this mess.
It still hurts, though.
It still hurts when little boys and little girls pay for Putin’s wars with their arms, legs, and family members. It still hurts when mom and dad have to bury their son or daughter that died. That’s true regardless of any war or other circumstance.
I’m having trouble processing all of this stuff today. Tonight. Right now… It’s 12:23 am. I can’t sleep.
Let’s check the missile radar…
Suicide drones in eastern Ukraine. Guided bombs in the northeast… nothing coming to Lviv… for now.
I don’t know how folks can live in those places…
I guess you guys reading this are probably thinking the same thing about me, about us in Lviv.
Honestly, most of the folks that could’ve left to have a “better life” somewhere already did. If you’re still living in Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, or Zapporizhia, you may be there because you feel like you don’t have anywhere else to go.
Folks flee to our city because we get bombed less.
I heard from some of them today that they got flashbacks this morning from their home towns.
I’m glad Katya is asleep. She has work in the morning.
This is like trying to sleep after a car crash that you woke up to as a passenger last night thinking, “Man… I wonder who is going to hit us on the next leg of the journey,” and you’re pretty sure it’s actually going to happen.
Should I sleep at all?
Here’s one that I come back to often when I can’t sleep…
Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
Selah
But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
Selah
Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:1-8 ESV
Thand God for peace that surpasses our understanding.
And thank you all for going through these emotions with me.
Love you all. God bless.
It’s been pretty crazy since I (David) got back from the USA. 2–3 days after I got here, we served at a summer camp in northwestern Ukraine that was put on by our church for college students. I know that sounds funny—aren’t they too old for camps? Nope, not in Ukraine! College kids like to spend their summer vacations outdoors, hanging out with friends, and doing something new, and that is what we do at camp!
One of the coolest things that happened at camp was getting to know all of these different young adults and building relationships with them. There were folks from all different walks of life—actual students, former military, refugees from eastern Ukraine, etc. Several of them have continued to hang out with our church at our “Follow Up” meetings (the young adults ministry at our church is called “Follow”). Here are some pictures from times that we have hung out after camp:
Please continue to pray for these relationships. Katya and I are starting a new home fellowship soon and will be hopefully hosting several of these folks every Wednesday, getting to know them and digging into the Word with them. While I was in the States, one of the churches there recommended a book for us to go through with them that covers the entire story of the Bible in 16 short lessons:
I did try to get in touch with Crossway, the publisher of this book, and, unfortunately, they refused to allow me to translate it into Ukraine—however! I am still using it as a resource and adapting it for our home fellowship, even though I can’t translate it and send it to them directly.
The school year is gearing up, which means we’ll have a lot more work to do until the end of spring. Katya is translating at UBTS this week, we are moving into a different apartment (where we’ll have our small group), and we are taking classes at seminary, along with all the other regular stuff. Please pray for strength and provision for all of these things. Thank you for praying!
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God bless you all!
David & Katya 