How are you doing?
One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 3. David is perhaps at his lowest moment in life. It was written when the king was chased into the desert by his own son, Absalom. David made a lot of mistakes prior to losing his throne. The most egregious of his sins was perhaps his adulterous and murderous affair with Bathsheba.
He is an utter failure as a king, as a father, and as a husband. He is utterly destroyed, and his enemies cannot help but gloat. Yet David praises God in one of his most difficult moments in life. Moreover, he calls God “his shield” and that is one of my favorite images in all of Scripture because David uses a special term. It is a very particular kind of shield. It is one that is used when one is attacking a fortress. In essence, David is saying that in the middle of crisis I am not going to shirk back but rather will push through and God will lead my charge of the enemy’s stronghold.
I often thought of this image during the fall of last year which was not easy at all. As you may remember, Russian president Putin called for a partial mobilization of the Russian troops amid an escalating war with Ukraine. Suddenly I was reminded that as an “active reserve officer,” I was in the first category for the draft, meaning that I could have been called up to serve in that first wave in the fall. It was by the grace of God that I did not receive draft papers during that time. But it also meant that a lot of men from our church could also be called up. Many of them did not want to wait until they received draft notices, and so left the country on a trip that lasted close to 2 months. The church leadership was decimated. Most of our small groups were left without leaders and so were many of the ministries. We had to scale down and cancel some long-awaited projects like our first annual “Youth Conference.”
The temptation to go into hibernation mode was very real to me. That is why I was reminding myself of Psalm 3 and of the Lord who was my shield. God was not protecting me in scaling back and shirking from challenges. He was protecting me while He was leading me forward and onward in ministry.
One by one the men came back and brought back with them resolve and commitment to the church and its ministry. The images that came to mind time and time again were of the crew on a ship that was threating to break apart. We are called to be the last ones to leave the vessel in times of emergency, and we are the last ones to leave the church in times of crisis. Obstacles that could have driven us apart as a leadership team brought us closer together. That became our foundation for pushing through during the very busy Christmas and Lent season.
- It is easy to forget about the war and it is very easy to get used to it. Please continue to pray with us for peace between Russia and Ukraine.
- Easter is around the corner. Please pray for our special outreach on Good Friday (which is today), and for our friends, colleagues, and neighbors not only to come to this special service, but to commit their lives to Christ.
- We have begun planning our camps for this summer. As usual, we will have youth camp and kids’ camp. Please pray that we will have a strong team of volunteers and a very fruitful season of outreach.
GIVING THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES OF EURASIA (ICC-E):
You can donate to the Lysakovs’ ministry via ICC-E by check or autopay from your bank (see address below), or with your credit card via the ICC-E web site http://icceurasia.com/
Website: http://icceurasia.com
Email: icc.eurasia@gmail.com:
Mailing Address:
ICC-Eurasia
P.O. Box 34035
Bethesda, MD 20827-0035
Phone +1 (301) 514-7433
GIVING THROUGH CRYPTO CURRENCY
It's a new age and a new dawn, so why not use this simple method if you are so inclined and you have etherium or bitcoin that you want to use to support our ministry. You can use our Metamask wallet that was set up for these purposes (0xE021dB34F65C0F5B1F0ccF4Def059233B67891DB)
