From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (700th day):
We have been living in the shadow of big war for 700 days now. It’s been tough, but we are not losing hope or resolve.
700 days ago Yuval Noah Harari wrote in his twitter: “if aggression triumphs, the whole world will be engulfed by a new era of war, and we might not see the end of this era in our lifetime. The future of all of us now depends on the bravery of the Ukrainian people. It is our duty to support them.”
What he said then is still true now. We are doing our part and we will continue fighting this aggression. We are aware of the danger because we see the ugliness of war face-to-face on a daily basis. It’s harder for our allies to keep the resolve since, to them, danger may not seem as imminent, and it may appear far. But in today’s world, nothing is far and the evil that is not stopped gets encouraged to move on spreading.
Voice of Ukraine 
2 responses to “1/25/2024 – It’s harder for our allies to keep the resolve since, to them, danger may not seem as imminent, and it may appear far…”
Dear Maia,
Praying for a complete victory for Ukraine !!!
And praying for God’s protection and for the gospel to be proclaimed and followed throughout Ukraine! This is our only true hope,
Jill
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From: Sergei Nakul (pastor of Big City Church in Kyiv and military chaplain): Today was the usual service, with the usual songs, with the usual sermon, with the usual reading of St. John. Letters, with ordinary prayers, with ordinary donations, with ordinary church members, with ordinary pastor. But in all this seemingly ordinaryness shone the unusual, incredible, inspiring, grand, breathtaking unusualness of our extraordinary God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Spirit! He chose our ordinary to fill it with his unusual! And this is the unusual beauty of the ordinary worship!
God can do extraordinary things. And He makes them. From time to time. When He sees fit. But, at the same time, He acts in ordinary things to which we may get accustomed to and which may not impress us, though in their ordinary power. This is what our fathers in the faith called ordinary means of grace (ordinary means of grace) – the Holy Scriptures, mysteries, prayer. Faithful use, on a regular basis, of these ordinary means of grace, in the context of Christian koinonia, in our ordinary everyday lives, is more than sufficient. We can admire unusual things and expect them. The main thing is that we do not forget to admire the ordinary means of grace, and to appreciate them.
Jan.7, 2024
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