“..I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you invited  Me in; I was in prison and you came to Me.”  Matthew 25:35-36

The war in the Ukraine is still very much in the news!  It amazes me to hear the stories of hope in the middle of the carnage.  The United Nations estimates that more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine for safety and more than 2 million others have been displaced from their homes.  We see their pictures on TV and in the news and our hearts go out to them in their suffering.  One pastor said he was “convinced that if the church is not relevant at a time of crisis, then it was not relevant in a time of peace.”  This pastor remained in his village.  Another pastor from Kyiv said, “We will shelter those who need accommodation, serve the ones needing help and encourage the scared.  And as we do this, we share with them our hope in Christ and in His Kingdom.”  It reminds me of the chapter I have been studying in my BSF class, Matthew 25.  “I was hungry, and you gave Me food……… “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”  Matthew 25:40.

Amir Tsarfati reports from a Christian in Mariupol, the besieged Ukrainian city by the Black Sea:

“Good evening, friends!  Please pray for us!  It is impossible to believe what’s going on here… My family and I are in the church, by the grace of God we are alive… The city is simply being wiped off the face of the earth… It is completely destroyed, no electricity, all the wires are on the ground, no gas, the gas line is blown up, people go outside on the rocks to cook their food, no water… There is no gasoline we have a well in the church, salt water, and we drink salty tea.  Thank God at least something.  People on the streets are hungry, stores are broken and looted, guns, aircraft, bombs just fall around a few meters from the church.  God controls these, and we only have windows blown out.  But we are alive!  The generators are on now, and we have charged the phones and for a time, there is WiFi and I hurry up and write this before it disappears….  Pray for us!!  I wanted to go out with my family when there was a corridor, but our car broke down.  The Lord didn’t let us go far… Even if it’s over, there’s nowhere for people to live.  Entire entrances are burned out, houses have holes in them, everything is broken!  Schools are smashed.. They say don’t be horrified, it’s not over yet.  There are corpses lying in the streets, they don’t have time to collect them… It’s very scary and difficult!  Pray!  By the grace of God, they feed us twice in church.  Yesterday was the first time I washed the kids… in all this time!  Pray for us!  May God give the leaders wisdom and they will agree… We do not know how to live!  We don’t know what to do next…. God is with us, He is strong!”

The Slavic Gospel Association reports that “evangelical churches in Russia and Ukraine enjoy warm fellowship with one another.  There is great unity and a strong bond between the pastors and their churches.  An example of God’s perfect Kingdom and man’s broken one.”

What can we do?  Christians in America have not had to experience the horrors of war, but we as a Church, the Body of Christ, can pray, we can give and open our homes and hearts to the refugees!  “…inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”  Matthew 25:40. 

Your friend, Jean