Blessed is he that considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth, and you will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. (Psalm 41:1-2)
‘Начальнику хора. Псалом Давида.’ Блажен, кто помышляет о бедном! В день бедствия избавит его Господь. Господь сохранит его и сбережет ему жизнь; блажен будет он на земле. И Ты не отдашь его на волю врагов его. (Псалтирь 41:1-2 Russian Synodal Version)
Almighty God, our Eternal and Generous Father in Heaven ~ Thank you for the abundance of blessings that we enjoy on this new day that dawns with increasing evidence of you supreme kindness toward all creation. Give us wisdom to discern the true needs of the poor that are living in all societies – often surrounded by people with great wealth. Help us to realize the constant benefit of helping those who are poor and beaten down. In Jesus name, Amen.
The vast fruit and vegetable markets around Ukraine offer an abundance of fresh produce for those with available cash. Not all people have ready and available money when they need food, so they go around looking for scraps. We witnessed two young men in pitiful clothing at a well known restaurant where diners were enjoying themselves at sidewalk tables. These boys would watch from a distance, and when a group got up to leave they would rush over and grab the leftovers and drink what was left of the sodas and eat the remainder of the fries and pieces of the burgers. It was disturbing, and we approached them and bought them something fresh to eat. They were so accustomed to this kind of poverty that they were very suspicious of our attempt at kindness. We think we might have eventually got through to them. Some elderly here and in other parts of the world are often forgotten or ignored by those with the means to help. Often the only thing we can do is to offer some small kindness since many of the elderly resent people looking at them with a pitiful attitude. Last night at our Wednesday night service, two young female students who recently moved to Nikolaev to study at the Nikolaev State Pedagogical University showed up for our meeting. They were looking for a church to attend while living here as students. Both came in with their own Bibles in hand. This is an obvious sign that they are from good homes. We hope to get to know Nadya and Anya better in the days ahead. Thank you for the many prayers!
No comments:
Post a Comment