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I met Sasha on one of my first trips to Ukraine, I knew him then as the taxi guy. He has always made himself available to folks coming and going from Ukraine. Owning his own private vehicle, he uses it to be a blessing to others but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Over the past two months I have come to know Sasha as one who is passionate about reaching out to the disabled young adults I work with and bringing them to the saving knowledge of Christ through the counsel of parents in a godly home where they can flourish and grow. The pivotal time in January came as each of us understood that God was placing the other together to work on this project. The Lord made it so clear to me that Sasha is the one best qualified although I never would have asked him if he had not shared his desire to serve.
I could not have asked for a man more qualified, though I don’t need to tell you this, his life speaks for itself.
I continue to be amazed how God answers the prayers of His children! Matthew 18:19 says “Again, I say to you that if two of you on earth are in agreement about anything for which you make a request, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.†Christians, through the Soviet era, could not even begin to imagine the freedoms we now have, it was only the answers to the prayers of faithful Christians from many other countries that provided us this freedom.
I was born in 1958 and three years later the Chairman of the Communist Party, Nikitia Khrushchev, stated on public television that “now was the final fight against Christianity.†The promise was made that 10 years later the last remaining Christian would be put on public display on TV. That set my mother’s husband against her and made her make a choice “me, or your God?†He kicked my mother out of the house and us three children with her, so we went to live with my grandparents on another collective farm. In 1962 the chairman of the collective farms called my mother in and said that there were documents stating that she was to be deprived of her parental rights. He told her it was because she could not raise and educate children in the doctrine of Christianity. We were to be moved to an orphanage, but we all prayed together that it would not happen and God answered our prayers. There was persecution and ridicule from that time on, especially later in school. Atheism classes were taught exposing me as stupid and backward, a downtrodden boy calling me names like “devout shtunda-an insult given to Christians in Germany, Devotee and Baptist.â€
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