Comforting Those Who Mourn
Update from Russia, 9. July 2, 2007
Appoint a king for us, to judge us – like all the other nations! (1 Samuel 8)
6/26/07, Tuesday: A newer brother in The Lord, Vova, stopped by this morning wanting to ask for some advice. The Lord blessed us with a good time of talking, and I told him I’d pray for wisdom for him. His wife is pregnant, and their new baby girl should be here in a week or so. …Later went and visited w/ Valiko and Sveta. (Svyeta was a hostage during the attack, along with her and Valiko’s only daughter/child. Unfortunately, their daughter didn’t survive. Had dinner with them, and it was a really nice visit.) The Lord blessed me to share some truth and speak about God w/ Valiko, and he talked a lot and poured out his heart over the loss of his daughter, the lack of justice here, and so on and so forth. He shared about the demise of the Ossetians, and how his son (whom they adopted after losing their only child in the school massacre) has no future here in Besl-n. Valiko greatly wants to move his family, anywhere where the laws are real and enforced, where people must live by the law. At the end of the evening, he told how speaking of such things – speaking of spiritual things and so forth – helped him to feel a little bit better this evening. Glory to You, O Yah! This, again, is a confirmation to me that what these hurting families need most, in addition to prayer, is just people who will visit and spend time with them.
6/27/07, Wednesday: Stas came by wanting help in learning the names of The Old Testament Books in English. (Stas is a believer, around 27 years old, and he lost his younger/only sister in the terrorist attack.) Zalina dropped by to visit, and we talked for awhile. (Zalina is about 18 years old, and she lost several friends in the attack.) God blessed me to share with her what The Lord is teaching me – that we don’t need a king! YHWH Is our King. I’ve been reading through 1 Samuel and so on, and Israel’s story is so tragic. From the beginning, God planned and wanted the very best for them: God Himself would be their King. But in time, they wanted to be like all the other nations – they wanted a human being to look to, who would lead them out into battle. The Lord granted them their desire, but as The Old Testament so clearly shows, His people (the Jews) would have been far better off if they had stuck with His plan and not wanted to be like everyone else. How easy for us to say “Amen,” though we ourselves so often make the same stupid choices! How often I want to ‘fit in’ and be ‘accepted’ and ‘just be like everyone else.’ Saint of God, you will never fit in here… you are an alien and a stranger, and you will never be “just like everyone else.” This world hates God, and therefore it hates His friends as well. How absolutely stupid it was for the Jews to reject YHWH in order to have a man lead them. And how absolutely stupid it is for us to seek ‘kings’ in our life as well. What kind of ‘king’ am I looking for, and what kind of ‘king’ are you seeking? You can fill in the blank as it pertains to your own life. But oh, how much better off we would be to simply accept The Lord as our Leader and All in All, than to blindly stumble around in search of a ‘better’ king!
6/28/07, Thursday: Taught English and guitar. Later visited Alina, a teenager who survived the attack along with her older brother. She recently had a birthday, and so I brought her a gift and we visited some; she’s still hoping to become a singer someday, and to study in the US.
6/29/07, Friday: My English class called and cancelled, and so as Nahzee (the grandmother I stay with here) had asked, I worked in our yard and gathered raspberries, and then made jam. Sooooo yummy! …Later saw and talked with Emiliya, a mother who lost a young son in the school massacre. We talked some about the trial which recently ended in Bsln. Three local police officers were being tried for negligence relating the the terrorist attack, and the judge let them off with a blanket amnesty. Emiliya told how she was there the day the judge read the verdict – but she and others were greatly surprised and offended that the officers who were being ‘amnestied’ weren’t even present when the judge read the verdict! Several of the moms rioted, and broke windows and so forth. …Visited with my friends Valya, Karina, and Byella. In talking together, Byella told me how she’s ‘not a sinner.’ ! She, like oh so many, thinks that a ‘sinner’ is only someone who goes around killing people, or stealing things and so forth. Shared Jesus’ take on hating a brother in your heart being murder, and lusting after a woman in your heart being adultery. (Actually, I think that the only people who are honest are the ones who admit that they are sinners! Though not proud of the fact, I readily confess that I’m one, too.)
Please pray for:
*Claudia, a dear older sister in The Lord who is all alone (humanly speaking);
*Vova, for God to give him wisdom;
*Vova and Zipha’s new baby, for health - and that Zipha would have no complications with or from the C-section surgery;
*The many, many moms and dads in Besl-n who have an especially hard time during the summer months, as they see children running, playing, skating, and riding bikes, and are reminded once again of what their own children would be doing …had they not been killed in the school massacre.
Thank you all for your prayers, and for all your support and share in this ministry. The lives of the people of Besl-n are being touched by you as The Lord God works in us and through us – and what an awesome thing that is! All the glory be unto Him. May Jesus be increased, and may we be decreased!
In YHWH, The Very Best King,
jason, jalazone7@yahoo.com
Appoint a king for us, to judge us – like all the other nations! (1 Samuel 8)
