This Man Just Left His Family

This man’s name is Dima. He’s my friend, my student and my brother in Christ! Last year he got married, last month he had his first child and last week he left his family!

He left his family because of all the fighting!

No, there’s no fighting in his family, the fighting I’m talking about is in Eastern Ukraine. He left his family because he was drafted into the army. He left his family because his willing to risk his life to protect his country and the lives of his dear little family!

Things here happen pretty quickly. He received his draft notice in the mail on Monday and by Wednesday he was gone!

I called him up as soon as I found out that he had been drafted to see how he was doing and to let him know that we were praying for him.

This is what he told me:

“Caleb, don’t worry about me, there are lots of possibilities for ministry here!”

He’s got his spirit in the right place and I’m trying not to worry about him! Isn’t it ironic that I should even say that after writing a book about how to stop worrying with one entire chapter about how to stop worrying over the safety of loved ones?

God seems to have a way of testing your faith and making sure your heart and your words match up!

The contrast

In world where all too often the only fighting young men do is with their wife, Dima’s example of faithfulness and sacrifice is inspiring.

We need more young men who understand the marriage isn’t about getting their needs met but rather about meeting the needs of your spouse.

We need more young men who act on principle despite the fact that it means traveling the road of hardship and discomfort.

We need more men who are willing to fight for their wives instead of with their wives!

A lesson in sacrifice

War has helped me to understand a lot of things in a way I never saw them before. Perhaps one of the greatest lessons that war teaches is the lesson of sacrifice!

When life is good sacrifice is about letting your spouse watch the movie she picked out instead of the one you wanted or maybe it’s taking an hour or two to fix that leaky toilet valve or doing the dishes after dinner. That’s all well and good but more and more that type of sacrifice seems to lose its glory when compared to the sacrifices of wartime.

The sacrifice in war is two sided, there’s also the side of the wife and children who are left behind. Sometimes their sacrifice is the greater one! Our family experienced that in 2006 when my sister’s husband was killed by a sniper in Iraq. These are painful sacrifices that will never completely heal in this lifetime.

One thing is for sure

It’s wartime that forces us back to those truths that we can know for sure no matter the situation, no matter the condition, no matter the loss, no matter our emotions!

All hope outside of Jesus is temporary!

All hope in Jesus is eternal and can never be taken away!

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
(Rom 5:3-5)

Question: Will you please pray for my friend Dima and his family?