Last Sunday I got to preach at Volodia's church in Kiev. Many were not there, so it was a small gathering last week, and this photo is of the church family that did gather for the morning. The one I want to talk about this morning is the man at the bottom right, Serge. I mentioned him in an earlier entry, but I want to tell you more about him. You see, for me this trip was not about landmarks, countries and buildings, but it was about people. As I thought about the trip it was the people that were the best part of the adventure. I also realized another thing. The Bible talks of a day when all of the cities, buildings and countries will finally end, but the people we meet in our travels and adventures will last forever. They are, for me, the highlights of this adventure and Serge is one of the remarkable "landmarks" of my trip. Until this photo, in all the time I spent with Serge, I never saw him smile. He seemed a very serious, stoic fellow. He was our "driver." I discovered, after we arrived at the airport, that although Volodia had said he would pick us up, he didn't have a car. Volodia had called the only church member in their little church family who owned a car to help him, Serge. As we walked from the airport to the car waiting for us was this large Russian wearing a bright yellow baseball hat with the words across the front of the hat "Jesus Christ" (you can see his hat on the coat rack in the back of the photo, although I wish I had a photo of him wearing it.) He didn't understand English, so was very quiet, but he drove us wherever we needed to go. What I later found out is that this was Serge's brand new car. He had just recently purchased it to do his work, and we were his first "customers" but for us it was a gift he was glad to offer. The problem for me was knowing that gas in Kiev is over $8.00 a gallon, and here is a guy driving us all over town....without any complaint at all. It's always fun to see who God will bring across your path, and here to serve us was a big Russian teddy bear of a man with a Jesus baseball hat and his new car. Through our entire two days in Kiev Serge was there to meet our transportation needs. What I found out later is that he is also a great bible teacher and leads a home group in his part of town. He had been a captain in the Russian army and now was an active part of this church family and our "wheel man" for our time with Volodia. He had even taken our luggage to our final destination for the day and carried it all up four flights of stairs for us so we could go to another event and not worry about our stuff. He was an amazing servant to us. The thing that worried me was all the gas he was using, but he never complained, and took us wherever we needed to go. I am glad I got to see him smile....even if it was just in a picture....because I knew he was a nice guy, you just wouldn't know it by his serious Russian composure as he took care of us. As I left them to catch my plane I gave Serge some money for gas. He graciously took it, and I was relieved that I hadn't burdened this quiet servant who had served us so graciously. Servants are often overlooked, but I don't want you to forget about Captain Serge. He's the guy you want to take care of you if you ever find yourself in Kiev. You might not see him smile, but he's a great servant of Christ.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Captain Serge
Last Sunday I got to preach at Volodia's church in Kiev. Many were not there, so it was a small gathering last week, and this photo is of the church family that did gather for the morning. The one I want to talk about this morning is the man at the bottom right, Serge. I mentioned him in an earlier entry, but I want to tell you more about him. You see, for me this trip was not about landmarks, countries and buildings, but it was about people. As I thought about the trip it was the people that were the best part of the adventure. I also realized another thing. The Bible talks of a day when all of the cities, buildings and countries will finally end, but the people we meet in our travels and adventures will last forever. They are, for me, the highlights of this adventure and Serge is one of the remarkable "landmarks" of my trip. Until this photo, in all the time I spent with Serge, I never saw him smile. He seemed a very serious, stoic fellow. He was our "driver." I discovered, after we arrived at the airport, that although Volodia had said he would pick us up, he didn't have a car. Volodia had called the only church member in their little church family who owned a car to help him, Serge. As we walked from the airport to the car waiting for us was this large Russian wearing a bright yellow baseball hat with the words across the front of the hat "Jesus Christ" (you can see his hat on the coat rack in the back of the photo, although I wish I had a photo of him wearing it.) He didn't understand English, so was very quiet, but he drove us wherever we needed to go. What I later found out is that this was Serge's brand new car. He had just recently purchased it to do his work, and we were his first "customers" but for us it was a gift he was glad to offer. The problem for me was knowing that gas in Kiev is over $8.00 a gallon, and here is a guy driving us all over town....without any complaint at all. It's always fun to see who God will bring across your path, and here to serve us was a big Russian teddy bear of a man with a Jesus baseball hat and his new car. Through our entire two days in Kiev Serge was there to meet our transportation needs. What I found out later is that he is also a great bible teacher and leads a home group in his part of town. He had been a captain in the Russian army and now was an active part of this church family and our "wheel man" for our time with Volodia. He had even taken our luggage to our final destination for the day and carried it all up four flights of stairs for us so we could go to another event and not worry about our stuff. He was an amazing servant to us. The thing that worried me was all the gas he was using, but he never complained, and took us wherever we needed to go. I am glad I got to see him smile....even if it was just in a picture....because I knew he was a nice guy, you just wouldn't know it by his serious Russian composure as he took care of us. As I left them to catch my plane I gave Serge some money for gas. He graciously took it, and I was relieved that I hadn't burdened this quiet servant who had served us so graciously. Servants are often overlooked, but I don't want you to forget about Captain Serge. He's the guy you want to take care of you if you ever find yourself in Kiev. You might not see him smile, but he's a great servant of Christ.
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3 comments:
Maybe i missed this but when you did the sermom, what were the verses you preached on and what was the message?
They have been studying what it means to grow in your faith, so I focused my teaching on Romans 12:1-2 and it's implications as the starting point for Christian growth. I also quickly outlined the rest of the chapter so they could see the progression of what and who to focus on to grow. That is a great question. Thanks.
$8 a gallon? YIKES!!! What an amazing servant-story. I pray that my heart is so generous like Serge. Sometimes I cling way too tightly to the vast amount of stuff that I have (vast in comparison to someone living in other countries).
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