Trigger Warning: While not very descriptive, this blog contains references to: Air Raid Sirens, War, Rape

“Sometimes we can look at what’s happening and only describe it with one sentence: It seems that the Devil’s arms are untied.” -Martin

Martin is a man I’ve gotten to know quite well over the past two years. A Baptist minister, he is a father to two sweet little kids (5 and under). Martin has been instrumental in spreading the Gospel in word and deed, despite the war that has raged on.

I’ve sat with Martin over many meals or cups of tea/coffee, where he’s updated us on the harsh realities that he and ‘his people’ endure. In contrast, when I bid him adieu, I return to my home in Budapest where life is normal in all its ways (reliable wifi, consistent electric, take-out/delivery food services, you know, ‘normal life’ in the modern world).

What Martin shares, though, stays with me.

How do you make sense of it all? So many things that are not propaganda, that are not exaggerations, but are the lived reality of so many people. I pray that these are things that nobody in my family ever has to endure.

Most recently, Martin shared what he heard from a military chaplain, someone on the front lines, ministering to wounded people of all types (soldiers and civilians).

I know that Chaplaincy work is gritty and raw, providing access to real people and real situations. As a ‘man/woman of God,’ you are invited/welcomed into their lives when their lives may be hanging in the balance. You are given the opportunity to hear their unfiltered thoughts/longings (sometimes spoken on a deathbed, almost always spoken through palpable levels of pain). And you are given the opportunity to encourage them towards Hope in a Loving God, no matter their situation.

Martin shared what his chaplain friend told him: how he has offered counseling for so many men, women and children. People who have experienced all manner of torture and rape…

Let me ask you something. Do you believe the victims?

“Sometimes we can look at what’s happening and only describe it with one sentence: It seems that the Devil’s arms are untied.”

This was what Martin said after a moment of silence, and before many more moments of silence.

When you attempt to realize the destruction that has occurred and is still occurring, words fail you.

So much devastation has occurred in the previous two years. Really, so much!

I saw recently a two-year anniversary post (on 02 April 2024) about the liberation of Bucha (a town near Kyiv). When Bucha was liberated a little over a month after the invasion began, 9,000 cases of war crimes were documented. Nine thousand!! In one town. Which had been occupied for only one month…

Multiply that across a nation about as large as the state of Texas. Multiply that over two years time (and counting).

It is unimaginable the pain and trauma that has been endured. Even for ones geographically distant from the routine bombings and invasion… Even for ones physically sheltered (so far) from the loss of life and limb…

…There is the incessant psychological trauma.

What does it do to a person to hear air-raid sirens every day?

What does it do to a person to hear regular accounts of destroyed towns?

What does it do to a person to discover names every day of people you’ll never see again?

Video LINK of Air Raid Siren from a recent delivery of humanitarian aid.

Martin wrestles with the psychological trauma of his nation. He wonders how they will ever recover, once the war comes to an end.

There is so much that so many have experienced that so many of the rest of us truly cannot fathom (thankfully!!).

One way we can all offer hope is through helping to provide humanitarian aid. Here is a link to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund. Money given there, earmarked ‘Ukraine’ will go towards providing food and medicine to people in more need than hopefully any of us reading this ever will be. I will personally load the products into our church van and deliver them to Martin in Ukraine. Martin has proven himself to be a man of deep integrity, a man of deep humility, and a man of intense unshakeable faith.

Link: https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/

Martin is in a position similar to mine. He is far removed from the daily bombardments. However, he is much more closely involved in providing help than we are. He is the next link in the chain. He receives the humanitarian aid sent by the Church of God. And he sends it on to places where it is needed. For reference, check out THIS LINK TO AN EARLIER BLOG.

Further, though, Martin is much more closely involved in that he is Ukrainian. He speaks the Ukrainain language, as well as Russian. He has personal connections and relationships with so many men and women that I’ll never know.

In contrast, I have a personal connection and relationship only with Martin. What little information and few stories I receive is filtered through him.

Meanwhile, he has heard an infinite number of stories. I cannot imagine how he stays sane, as the few stories I hear are overwhelming and exhausting enough.

Additionally, through all the stress and tension, Martin has his own personal stress and tension.

See, Martin is a prime candidate for military conscription.

He’s a young able-bodied Ukrainian man. Until now, Martin has been exempt from military service on the basis of his work delivering Humanitarian Aid, passing along what we deliver to him!

Even with this exemption, Martin does not leave his home without his children being in the car with him. He knows that even with exemptions, desperate times call for desperate measures and he could be stopped at one of the multiple military checkpoints that spring up all over the place. His children don’t necessarily prevent him from being conscripted, but they do prevent him from being immediately conscripted (If he were alone in the car, the car could be taken off the road, or left on the side of the road. But not with small children.).

Recently, Martin told me that they don’t make plans anymore beyond the next day or two. ‘We don’t make plans because we don’t have any idea what the situation will be. Will we be alive still? Will we have more people living with us that we need to care for? Will our town be reeling from missile strikes?’

As the war continues, please pray for PEACE.

Please pray for an end to all this suffering and destruction.

Please pray for all who have lost a loved one.

Please pray for all families separated because of fleeing and/or military conscription.

Please pray for all who are forced to live day-to-day, not knowing what tomorrow may hold.

Please join us in praying for Martin and so many like him, who tirelessly work to bring help and HOPE, despite all the incessant stress and uncertainty.

Also, please consider making a donation to the Church of God Disaster Relief fund, earmarked ‘Ukraine.’ Here is the link:

https://www.jesusisthesubject.org/disaster-relief-and-restoration/