Recently I was awakened in the night by the mournful wail of a siren followed by a voice saying, “Attention! Air raid alert! Proceed to nearest shelter. Don’t be careless. Your over confidence is your weakness!”
I turned on the light and shut off the air raid app in my phone. Thanks to technology the alert was in real time from Ukraine and about incoming Russian missles or drones. They were aimed to kill at a city in Ukraine.
We thank God this new “alert” technology allows Ukrainians to take cover. Some of my kids and grandkids live in those cities (Odessa and Kiev). Alerts are part of life there…and now here also. This is what war is like half a world away. When an alert goes off at home we are reminded to pray about the war in Ukraine.
Friday, Feb. 24th 2023 is the anniversary of Russia's “Special Military Operation.” Even the soldiers and their generals didn’t realize it was war. Ukraine fired back—surprise! In that first week many Russian soldiers were killed according to Ukrainian military estimates. A year later the war goes on with massive numbers of causalities on both sides.
This war actually began Feb. 20th 2014 when Russia came across the eastern boarder of Ukraine to claim that territory. Later I visited that area with my son Caleb and son-in-law Mike. It was an experience I won’t forget. The Ukrainian forces at the time had begun to strengthen their small military after years of peace since the collapse of the USSR. But now things had changed. We traveled by train as far as it went; it was not safe to get any closer to the enemy line.
While in Druzhkivka we met many pastors and did an outreach to a Ukrainian military base. A chaplain led us to the compound as military trucks loaded with soldiers were coming and going to the front lines.
The commander was gracious to allow us to sing Christian songs and testify in a service. I told of my salvation and my Coast Guard years in the Bering Sea following Soviet ships. The soldiers liked that since it meant we were on their side. As a result they wanted a picture taken with us. It was great to encourage them then. This war zone soon became a “hot war” in Feb. 2022. But today is 2023 and a whole year of hot war has gone by with no end in sight. Recently I read about 200,000 troops on each side have lost their lives (Russian or Ukrainian). Pray for Ukraine. Pray for the spread of the gospel during this war..
Pastor Mark
