ThePilgrim
13th November 2007, 03:31 AM
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
When I was in Ukraine, I met some people from an Orthodox volunteer organization (Zhiti zavtra - Live tomorrow) of people who visit children in cancer wards, most of whom are dying, to comfort them and their mothers, and who blog about the work and the children's progress, as well as about needs that the children have. I even was blessed to go with one of the volunteers in the city near where I lived to one of the cancer wards.
Today, reading the blogs, I found out that in another city, two of the children passed away within this past week. Evgeny, who was 17, always wanted to police officer, until he died. Please pray for him and for his parents. He was their only child. (For those of you who can read Russian: http://donor.org.ua/index.php?module=arnews&act=show&c=7&id=1827)
Also, Valera, another teenager from the cancer ward in Zaporozhye, passed away a few days before. Please also pray for him and for his parents. http://donor.org.ua/index.php?module=arnews&act=show&c=7&id=1807
And last of all, please pray for me. Reading what the volunteer wrote about the passing of Zhenya and Valera reminded me of all that I've just seen and experience in the orphanage during the past few months. Those experiences don't really fit with our culture.
I've been sort of seeing and realizing how much of our culture is built around "me". From the time that we're little, we hear "You deserve a break," "Have it your way," and in so many other ways, we're taught to follow our own will and desires, that we deserve to have everything we want, or at least everything that the person next to us has. And now, I'm starting to return to that.
What room is there for the Gospel or the Cross in our society where we think primarily about ourselves? How can I reconcile weeping at the death of a child to living in a consumerist society where almost anything we want can be bought or ordered immediately, with very little waiting or patience?
In Ukraine, by God's grace, I began to understand the very beginnings of love, self sacrifice, self-denial, the will of God, humility, etc. Now that I'm home, I'm not sure what to do with that all, and I'm becoming who I've always been.
Pray. Pray for the servants of God Evgeny and Valera, and for their families who are missing their beloved children right now. Pray for the thousands of children who desperately need parents to love them, since without that, they will likely die young by their own hands. And last of all, say a prayer for me, the unworthy servant of God, John.
In Christ,
John
When I was in Ukraine, I met some people from an Orthodox volunteer organization (Zhiti zavtra - Live tomorrow) of people who visit children in cancer wards, most of whom are dying, to comfort them and their mothers, and who blog about the work and the children's progress, as well as about needs that the children have. I even was blessed to go with one of the volunteers in the city near where I lived to one of the cancer wards.
Today, reading the blogs, I found out that in another city, two of the children passed away within this past week. Evgeny, who was 17, always wanted to police officer, until he died. Please pray for him and for his parents. He was their only child. (For those of you who can read Russian: http://donor.org.ua/index.php?module=arnews&act=show&c=7&id=1827)
Also, Valera, another teenager from the cancer ward in Zaporozhye, passed away a few days before. Please also pray for him and for his parents. http://donor.org.ua/index.php?module=arnews&act=show&c=7&id=1807
And last of all, please pray for me. Reading what the volunteer wrote about the passing of Zhenya and Valera reminded me of all that I've just seen and experience in the orphanage during the past few months. Those experiences don't really fit with our culture.
I've been sort of seeing and realizing how much of our culture is built around "me". From the time that we're little, we hear "You deserve a break," "Have it your way," and in so many other ways, we're taught to follow our own will and desires, that we deserve to have everything we want, or at least everything that the person next to us has. And now, I'm starting to return to that.
What room is there for the Gospel or the Cross in our society where we think primarily about ourselves? How can I reconcile weeping at the death of a child to living in a consumerist society where almost anything we want can be bought or ordered immediately, with very little waiting or patience?
In Ukraine, by God's grace, I began to understand the very beginnings of love, self sacrifice, self-denial, the will of God, humility, etc. Now that I'm home, I'm not sure what to do with that all, and I'm becoming who I've always been.
Pray. Pray for the servants of God Evgeny and Valera, and for their families who are missing their beloved children right now. Pray for the thousands of children who desperately need parents to love them, since without that, they will likely die young by their own hands. And last of all, say a prayer for me, the unworthy servant of God, John.
In Christ,
John