Life Goes On

The US and many other countries have activated numerous sanctions against Russia.  The people who are being hurt by those sanctions are not the oligarchs or Vladimir Putin.  They all have their money well hidden.  The general population of Russia is taking the brunt of these actions.  When I was in Russia in 1993, the exchange rate was 1250 to 1.  That meant that one American dollar bought 1250 rubles.  The impact was visible when we walked into grocery stores and saw one loaf of bread and one box of cereal on bare shelves.  People on the street were doing whatever they could just to get enough food to eat.  Some had set up makeshift grills on street corners and were selling who knows what.  Others were selling vodka by the shot from a bottle they had somehow gotten.  When we flew into the airport in Rostov after midnight, we were surrounded by people who had cars who wanted us to "rent" them to take us to our destination.  Our delegation had rented a bus to take us to our ho

I just finished writing a sermon from Matthew 8 about the faith of the Roman Centurio in Capernaum.  Here was a pagan who had more faith than the "Chosen People" who lived in the area.  Here was a man of authority approaching one over whom he was given authority by Rome.  It would have been understandable if he had demanded that Jesus heal his servant.  Instead he approached Jesus humbly. (Luke said that he didn't even come himself, but some Jews came on his behalf.)  He called Jesus "Lord", which acknowledged His position, and he even said, "You can do this with just a word and not even have to come to my house."  Jesus was amazed. He had never encountered such faith even among the Jews.  As a matter of fact He had admonished those closest to Him on several occasions for their "little faith".  However, Jesus did teach that little faith could be effective faith.  He said that one with faith as small as a mustard seed could move a tree or a mo

My wife and I have a vacation club membership that we mostly use as a meeting place with our family over holidays.  We met there the week following Christmas.  We arrived on Sunday afternoon and made arrangements for the others who were coming in later.  About 3:15 a.m. my wife got up to go to the bathroom without turning on the lights.  She fell into the shower backwards (4th fall in a month) and was in extreme pain.  I got her back into bed, and later up again to go to the bathroom.  The second time I got her back into bed, the pain was extreme, so I called 911.  Long story short, she was transported to hospital where an MRI revealed a fractured T 12 vertebrae.  A surgical procedure was planned for Wednesday.  All went well, however her pain has never completely subsided.  She had some immediate therapy that afternoon and again on Friday.  She was released from the hospital on Friday and we drove 2 hours to our home.  Now we are learning to help her get into and out of bed.  I have r