Belarus
In Spring of '07 the Lord began speaking to Brent about Belarus,
particularly with regard to the children and people suffering from the
scourge of cancer and physical deformity from the fall out from Chernobyl.
As the Lord pulled us deeper into the tragic story of Chernobyl, the thing
that most stood out was that the extreme severity of this situation has
become so much put on the back burner of the world stage. We have heard
so much about Darfur, the rest of Sudan, Ethiopia, and other parts of Africa
that are hurting so badly along with North Korea, Myanmar and other
oppressed regions of the world. (AND WELL WE SHOULD HEAR of these
places) So we hear quite a bit about the suffering in so many other places,
but it is as if Chernobyl incident has been largely forgotten, and much more
so its victims.
This is what, to us, makes the quiet severity of Belarus' suffering so
stunning.
It
broke our hearts to watch one very graphic depiction of the horror in one
internet slideshow by Paul Fusco, this
the horror of TODAY, not so many years ago, but Today. For two or
three weeks we were transfixed, delving deeper and deeper into this story.
During that time, Brent said to the Lord, "Here am I - send me! If you
need someone to believe that you could heal these children, these people,
their bodies as well as their hearts, and that you could heal that land,
I'll go if you send me, but only if you empower and send me." After
that time, the issue seemed to "go to sleep" for some months until
very recently when we
received confirmation that it had indeed been the Lord stirring and planting
something deep within us.
Cancer has become the next door neighbor of many Byelorussians. It
seems that everyone knows someone who has died or is dying. They say
that the genetic
deformities
will take up to 1,000 generations to wash out of the people - to put that
in perspective, there have been about 100 generations since the time of
Christ. What else can heal this people? Nothing but the blood of
Jesus.
It is our desire to see the Lord take someone, if not us, to share the love
of the Father with these dear, beleaguered people. If not us, then we
will do what we can to support someone who can. It will require a greater
power than any human can muster. Only God's hand can heal on such a
vast scale. The parents and caregivers of these destroyed children
need a shoulder to cry on and to know that God hasn't forsaken them and is
very, very touched with their pain. The God we go to for healing of a
pain in our shoulder, for example, is just as able to handle this level of
trauma.
Throughout scripture the Lord speaks in endearing, almost loving terms about
land, at times as if it were a living creature. The land is very
important to God
and
is very connected to the mankind living upon it in an almost mystical sort
of way. When Chernobyl melted down, the cloud of radioactive debris
blew north, over Belarus, and they took the brunt
of the disaster - 80% of the fallout
to be exact. The land has become polluted on a scale that would make
the least environmentally minded person cringe. 20% of the land
remains corrupted to this day. Land once rich in agriculture now lies useless.
What can heal the land? Other than 500 years of time and weather,
nothing - again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. We are willing to believe God
for that miracle.
In addition to all the problems created for twenty years by Chernobyl, things remain tough in other ways. In a nutshell, when the Soviet Union broke up, Belarus began their first experiment with self-determination in over two hundred years. Very shortly, their first president, Alexander Lukashenko did away with his term limit, extending his stay indefinitely. He has since "reformed" the constitution to the point that the country has moved steadily backwards toward Soviet-style authoritarianism. Another issue that is close to our heart is that only the Russian Orthodox church is considered legitimate and all other religious groups are harassed. There is the usual "we are such a good government" with the typical actions to the opposite. Protesters are not tolerated and are beaten up, harassed and detained.
There is way too much history, culture, statistic and story to go into here, but we have found the following sites useful for learning more for any interested:
U.S. State Dept. - - http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5371.htm
Belarus Embassy, Washington, D.C. - - http://www.belarusembassy.org/
http://graphicmaps.com/webimage/countrys/europe/by.htm
http://www.belarusguide.com/main/index.html
Chernobyl:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/apr/26/guardiansocietysupplement7
http://todayspictures.slate.com/inmotion/essay_chernobyl/
We have three Byelorussian friends. If you read this, please lift them up in prayer with us. We believe and are sure that one day God will use them mightily in that country for its good and for His kingdom.
