God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV)Ибо не знавшего греха Он сделал для нас [жертвою за] грех, чтобы мы в Нем сделались праведными пред Богом. (2-е Коринфянам 5:21 Russian)
Бо Того, Хто не відав гріха, Він учинив за нас гріхом, щоб стали ми Божою правдою в Нім! (2 Коринтяни 5:21 Ukrainian)
O LORD, Great and Mighty God beyond our ability to describe, as children Father, we humbly come into your presence ~ Thank you for the mysterious gift of life that lives within our earthly bodies. Give us greater faith in our precious Lord Jesus Christ, who by offering himself on the cross, makes it possible for all people who truly believe in him to be acceptable in your sight. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Please excuse so many pictures in today's message. However, it was such a day of excitement at the Boy's Home. In the morning, we contacted our vendor who had made the trip to Odessa. As it turned out, Irina was only able to return with 3 additional pair of shoes. That meant we still only had 8 pair and our appointment with the 17 boys was at 3.00. So we went across the street to the very large bazaar area that covers the equivalent of several football fields. We had to start our search all over again. God was with us as always, and we were able to find Larisa's stall again. She specializes in sport type shoes for men and boys. She was a little bit high on her prices last week, but yesterday she agreed to come down to what we offered to pay based on the price we already got from Irina. After we looked and looked at the sizes she had, and she and Galina went over the list of sizes several times, Larisa had to go find a few more shoes from some of her "partners". While she was gone we manned her store and sold one pair of nice shoes at a regular price. After all the looking, we were still one pair short. We brought what we had back home and Galina put a pair of my socks in each shoe. Yes, I always have many pair of socks with me! This goes back to my days of bachelorhood in Khabarovsk and Magadan when I never found time to wash socks and underwear, so I would carry many pair and wash once a month. It was the only time I could find to hang clothes all over the apartment when people would come for baptisms and Bible studies. Anyway, we always leave socks and other items with someone in need. We informed Margarita that we were on the way and she said all 17 of the boys were present and anxiously waiting for us. We arrived at our regular time of 3.00 which was a little late for us since we normally have time for some visiting before the class begins. Some of the boys met us to help carry our big shopping bags inside and they could only run to show the others. We began with our character study about the quality of compassion. But first we let everyone who was prepared recite their memory verse. Several of the boys had even added some verses from the context. It is so rewarding to see the work they put in each week in preparation for our classes. One young man wanted to define what it meant to be a caring person. He said it was like a little boy who has a brother and they don't have parents or anyone to care for them, so they live on the streets anywhere they can. One day a kind policeman picks them up and takes them to the orphan's home and caring people give them food and clothes and help them learn things. We could hardly speak after that. The mood quickly changed whenever we finished the lesson with all of them participating by reading Bible verses and giving their perspectives on the meaning of the passages. As we began to pass out the new shoes their eyes grew wide when they realized that we did not bring some second hand shoes, but brand new. We are very thankful to those who helped with this gift of love. Vladimir, the Director came by to thank us for what we are doing to help the boys and invited me to be on their board. He had asked before and I didn't give a direct answer. So, we agreed that I will do that as long as it doesn't interfere with the time with the boys. Today we must find the one extra pair of shoes that is comparable to the others and get it to the one impatient boy who really needs new shoes. Margarita, gave them some advice that they should only wear their new shoes when they are in class and not while playing outside. This was after they were already running and jumping in their new shoes. There are many other needy boys at this home and we expect to learn more about their needs soon. Thank you for your many prayers.
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