kingdom travelin'

These views captured my attention last week as I visited ministry partners in Ukraine.

Kyiv in the morning

fast train to Vinnitsyia

too many signs

wide open spaces

a well among blocks of flats

puppy among shoes

sunset on a farm

About 30 social workers, psycologists and other workers with at-risk children gathered today to hear from Ronda Webber who was a great resource for them as she brings wide experience to the conversation. I was present for the beginning of the conference and heard her tell folks that she counsels mothers whose daughters have issues with their view of themselves to work on how they view themselves. This really hit a button for me. In my words, she told these folks not to try to pour out of an empty cup. Here’s a shot from the beginning of the three day conference as I sat for the first few minutes in the back of the room.

This raises an important question: are you trying to pour out of an empty cup? I have invested in one of the guys I work with here talking about his schedule & priorities. We talked about how to maximize time with God and family and then how to think about how he could organize and be intentional about his time. I begin this conversation with an excercise of drawing boxes on a sheet of paper to represent time and priority commitments… it looks like this:

I’ve gone through this excercise with quite a few leaders and their reaction is always the same. “I need to think afresh about the priorities of my life.” Is your cup feeling like its running dry? Maybe you need to get someone to help you walk through some questions about life priorities.

one of the guys who works for Ruslan took this shot of Oleg, Ruslan and me all working face down on our laptops in Ruslan’s office conference room, I felt like I was in a school computer lab…

What are you dreaming about? Some couples dream of the happiness and having a family. We dream of a Ukraine Without Orphans. You don’t need to read Russian or Ukrainian to get this powerful message about the possibility of a Ukraine Without Orphans… WATCH…

Consider:

There are still 30,000 children in Ukraine who need parents.

Your prayer can change the life of a child.

November 6th is Orphan Sunday.

The video was written and directed by a young man who was once, himself, a street kid. The boy in the video was an orphan, but has now been adopted.

Please support our cause at http://www.ceokids.org

You may give toward this effort in Ukraine by indicating: “Abandoned Children’s Fund” on your donation. Learn more about how to give to our cause HERE.

I’m travelin again, and am writing this post from the airport. Over the next six weeks you’ll see my journey via tweets and blog posts. Over on http://www.ceokids.org, you can click a link to my TRIP plan and see what’s comin, what to pray for and how prayers are answered.

Hopefully I’ll be asleep before we are airborne. Next stop Heathrow for a nice 5 hour layover where I’ll be reading _God Space_ when not dozing.

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