Sasha the Teacher

It has been a month now since Sasha and Nastiya had to go back to Ukraine. They taught me lessons this summer. These are lessons I quickly forget, so I am writing this down to help me remember.

This lesson is from Sasha.

We were on vacation at a family camp in the redwoods near Santa Cruz. A train ride down to Santa Cruz was planned one day. The train had open cars. The train would stop at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, on the beach. Had the girls ever seen the ocean?

I tried to tell Sasha all the things that were going to happen, but she was in a rebellious mood. "No sleep. No eat." She was telling me she did not want to do anything. How could I explain to her in a way she could understand? My Russian was poor, her English was poor, pantomiming seldom got across the correct idea.

I could not let her miss this opportunity, so I picked her up out of bed, grabbed a bag with a change of clothes, and started walking to the place where people were gathering to catch a ride to the train. For half the distance, she struggled and fought to get out of my grasp. She finally realized I had enough strength to force her to do what I wanted. She then decided that she did not want to be seen in her pajamas. I found a place for her to change into her clothes.

We rode the train. We ran on the beach, and found shells, and big clumps of icky sea weed. We ate fresh fish at a restaurant on the pier. We saw sea lions. We rode many rides on the boardwalk. We gave both girls disposable cameras so they could remember their day on the beach, and the pictures were quickly used up. It was a very good day.

The lesson? How often does God come to me and say, "I have something great planned. We don't communicate well, so I can't begin to make you understand just how great it's going to be. But it will be awesome. Come on! Let's go!" And what do I usually say? "I'm comfortable here. I like this routine. I don't want to do something unfamiliar. I don't trust you." Unlike my story with Sasha, God usually lets me stay where I am, where things slowly becomes less enjoyable, and I miss the great thing God had planned. Just as Sasha did not trust me, I do not trust God.

If we can get Sasha and Nastiya back, there will many more opportunities for learning trust. And I hope that my eyes can remain open to the lessons these girls are teaching me.

I Cor. 2:9 - "... 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him'"