Schools, cinemas, and public gatherings closed for 3 weeks! Students, now free from classes for these 3 weeks now flock back to their home villages. More and more people use masks, scarves, hats, whatever they have has masks! Inter-region travel restricted for non-urgent travel! Swine Flu has broken out in Western Ukraine! And yet, God is still on His Throne, and He is still in control! Psalm 118:6 “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Think that includes diseases, too!)
Today, I was invited by Jessie and Teresa Beal to go to Metro (kinda like Sam’s or Costco) with them. I was excited, because Metro has some of the things that other store don’t. I met them in Center, by Shevchenko’s statue. As I was waiting, I noticed some strange things. A few people were walking around with surgical masks on. A few others were covering their faces with their scarves. I really didn’t think anything about it, till I remember reading a tweet or FB comment about 30 some possible swine flu deaths in Western Ukraine. I smiled to myself, and thought nothing of it. Caution is good for some, I guess. Spent the rest of the time staring at the beautiful American flag hanging in front of the Grand Hotel. When we got to Metro, almost all of the employees were wearing face masks! Oh well, caution for them is good too, I guess… Got a bunch of goodies (salsa, tortilla chips, Heinz spaghetti sauce, special spices, etc.), checked out, and headed home. Since it is Friday, I only had about 15 minutes before I had to head out to go my language lessons. Got the groceries put away, grabbed my lesson books, and headed out the door. Saw more and more masks…
My first lesson was with my Ukrainian teacher, Veronica. We try to talk in Ukrainian and only fill in the gaps with English (so I can fully understand the conversation). Of course, the topic of today kept going back to the ‘outbreak’ of the swine flu. Since Veronica is also a college teacher, she was filling me in on what was happening with the schools. This entire time, not even a bit scared of the dreaded ’swine flu!’ In fact, as I was walking up the street to Veronica’s building, I was laughing to myself about all the cracks I could make in this post 
We finished our lesson, then I headed over to my speech therapist, Dara. She speaks no English, and as I speak Ukrainian much better then I understand it orally (neither is that good), or conversation is sometimes limited. Dara is a grandmotherly type Ukrainian who is always trying to make sure I bundle up when it’s cold outside 
Anyway, we get through our session, and we talk a little about the ‘outbreak,’ but not that much. She makes sure I use my scarf to cover my nose and mouth when I leave her house 
Get on the bus, and notice how empty it is outside. Yes, it’s cold out side (high 30’s F), but not much colder then normal. On the way back to my apartment, I see people using turtlenecks, hats, scarves, and a few masks to cover their faces. All I do is make sure I breathe through my nose (mostly ’cause the cold area is not doing great things to the back of my throat). Again, I’m slightly surprised at how unaffected I am. I know I am where God wants me, and I know that nothing can happen to me without His approval, and nothing will happen to me that He will not turn out for His good (and mine in the end 
). I’ll stop rambling about the day now
So, now, due to the current crisis, I want to present a short devotional. Thanks to David Grice and Alex Keeler (and who ever else posted it on FB) for the idea a few months ago. The title of the devotional will be: ’Swine Flu!’
Er… Meant to say ‘Swine Flew!’ Sorry, it would have been better with audio
In the beginning of Mark 5, we read a story many of us are familiar with about Jesus casting legion out of a man into a ton of pigs. Go ahead and read verses 1-20. There are so many things we can learn from this story. One thing that I always see is how much smarter then humans swine can be. What happens when these 2,000 swine are possessed by demons? That’s right! Those swine flu er… flew into the sea! (Had to get that in there ) Seriously now, as soon as those pigs saw what was coming their way, they ran! Even though it cost them their lives, they ran! What do we do when faced with similar situations of temptation? We run, but too often we run the wrong way! And some times temptation doesn’t even have time to find us, because we are looking for it! We should never take pleasure in the things Christ died for! ”Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 We can always be victorious if we rely on Christ and follow Him! ”Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” James 4:8 So the next time you hear about the ‘Swine Flu,’ stop and check yourself. Are you being smarter then the pigs?
We’ve had a GREAT week for the Correspondence Bible Course this week! We had 29 letters in the PO box on Monday (that was from last week as well, though), 8 on Monday, and 9 today! We have at least 5 new people that are being added to the course this week, with at least 2 Good and Evil Full Request coming in as well! (I haven’t gone through today’s mail, so the numbers aren’t fully accurate, yet. They could still go up! ) And with the swine flu break out, more people will be staying home, and that means we’ll have a lot more lessons coming in for the next few weeks! (There’s blessings in everything!) I know this will be slightly old news, but it’s exciting nonetheless! We got a note back from one of our students a few months ago, that told as that because of the Bible teaching and the questions we ask in the Bible course, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour! AMEN!!! That’s awesome!! Please keep this aspect of our ministry in your prayers. We will never fully know the impact of these lessons, till we’re in the Promised Land! We’ve experienced several technical difficulties lately with the lessons themselves (misprints and the like) and with lesson development (future lessons), so I ask that you spend a little extra time in prayer about this the next time you are on your knees! As Paul says, We are laborers together! God bless!
