Food for Thought

My life is influenced quite heavily by food. That is not a surprise to many.

Food stuffs in Ukraine are largely similar to my experience in the States, but there are some exceptions. Take ketchup for example. It often comes in packages like you see at the left, and the design is quite efficient. You can easily squeeze the last remaining drop out via the spout on the corner (which also reseals the package very well). Why don't we have those in the US of A?

Then there is milk. Yes, this item that does the body good is always refrigerated in America, but it doesn't have to be! The box at the left is sold on shelves and keeps a long time. How handy is that?

On my second visit to our new church home this morning, I was pondering and realized that some types of food can't really be processed unless they are acknowledged and understood - at least to some extent. My extremely limited Russian vocabulary and aging ears were keeping me from taking in spiritual food on almost ANY level between 10:30am-noon. This scenario is new to me though not to many folks around the world. It's a sort of starvation, I'm thinking. A starvation that can drive me to work harder at feeding myself in this venue and also to work harder at finding food from other sources in the meantime. It's a starvation that makes my soul ache a bit, but a starvation that can be a motivator to seeking what truly satisfies. A starvation that made a familiar Christmas tune resonate inside my heart today.

I guess you could say soul food is coming in different packaging for me these days.

Genesis

I guess it's time to begin.

We are officially now in Kiev, Ukraine, and we're glad we are here.

Welcome to my attempt to write/journal/process life in a new culture, with a new language, with a new job, and with a new outlook.

As the saying goes -- so far, so good. God has been gracious in numerous ways and we are making a good initial adjustment. It's been exciting to almost literally watch Him provide for attitudes and energy and stamina right when I knew I'd be needing them. He is amazing.

And we are grateful to be here -- wanting to begin this new "race" slowly and patiently and knowing well that we'll need water stops and rests along the way.

Thanks for reading along.