It’s Friday.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling as lighthearted this week as I was last Friday.

Earlier ideas of what to write today have dissipated as the events overseas of the past few days have unfolded.

Here and now in midwestern America, daily demands don’t disappear.  Kids go to school and keep up with homework, households continue to take care of internal needs and routines, weekend plans are in motion, and we go on in the country of peace we live in.

But there’s a BIG elephant in everyone’s living room, and his name is War.

Just the sight of this big guy seems surreal and makes most people’s stomach begin to knot.  Wow – do our eyes deceive us?  Unfortunately no. The current activity of War is not on our shores, however, that doesn’t mean we are unaffected.
Many of us just recently began to get a whiff of “normalcy” as the unprecedented pandemic we’ve been fortunate enough to live through recedes.
The mood is dampened as we watch the disturbing goings-on in Ukraine.
How are we to process this?
The common temptations:  denial or a blind eye or fear/anxiety or obsessing over the news.
Instead, let us consider:

~ As I told my kids, God has been God through all of the world’s wars thus far.  Our faith in Him includes trust that He will prove Himself just and WILL somehow avenge all injustice.

Psalm 9:16-18 NIV
[16] The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. [17] The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God. [18] But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

Romans 12:19 NIV
[19] Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

~ Let us pray.  For the President and leadership of Ukraine, for their people who have to decide to arm themselves and fight, take refuge underground somewhere, or try to flee.  Pray for those mamas trying to protect and comfort their children.  Pray for our US military – those who are in bordering countries of Ukraine or who are still in country with bags packed and on high alert to be called to active duty any moment.

Pray to and trust in our good God.
Encourage one another with truth.
Come together and seek ways serve side by side as opportunities to provide aid come to light.

Meanwhile, friends, remember Jesus’ words:

John 16:33 NIV
[33] “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”