Dust Storm--and the Heaviness of War

Tuesday during our week in New Mexico, wind kicked up and brought a big weather change, complete with a dust storm and then snow.

Out by the water pump where the chickens came for water, I just couldn't resist taking this picture of chicken feet (and boots) in the sand! 

(This was after the dust storm was over!)

 As you can see, there was practically nothing but dirt around the mission ground in Navajo land.

 The only thing to mark the dirt road onto which we had to turn to get to the mission was a bent orange barrel on some kind of post.

A very barren land.

  Wind blew dust into the crews' faces if they were working outside, and through the window if they had it open to work on the new windows.

Inside the temporary schoolroom (i.e. the missionary's mobile home) the school children and Melody and I sang while we watched dust billowing for miles around. 

 It was "The Lord Knows the Way Through the Wilderness."

"All I have to do is follow." 

 But does the Lord know the way through the wilderness of the war beginning in Ukraine?

The war that has already hit a kindergarten and orphanage?

Already inflicted many casualties on both sides?

Does He know the way? 

I messaged our dear pastor Roman in Kenyazachee, whom we last heard from last Sunday,

one week after Sunday evening in this little New Mexico chapel, 

that is heated with wood heat.

And my phone doesn't show that he has read my message many hours later. I wonder if phone service has been shut down.  

Jonathan was in tears over and over reading articles and posts from friends and others in our beloved Ukraine. 

While we got a little school ready for Navajo children, Ukraine was preparing for they knew not what.  

Hanging on the wall of the New Mexico mission home was this picture of the Navajo code talkers who helped make the difference in World War II. The monument to their honor is only about 25 miles away from the mission. Who will make the difference in this war in Ukraine? The church people who spent Sunday a week ago fasting and praying? The ones down in their church basements praying this weekend? The ones accepting guns and learning to use them? The ones confronting R u s s i a n tanks which have run out of fuel, and drivers who don't know where they are going?

While Navajo school children helped carry flooring into the new building, children in Ukraine were having their last few days of peaceful school. 

While our sixteen-year-old Danny showed a Navajo boy how to caulk cracks in the wall, sixteen-year-old boys in Ukraine had no idea that only a week or so later they would suddenly be called into military service for their country.  

While young Navajo children eagerly stood in line to help carry flooring in to the new school, little children in Ukraine enjoyed a few more days of peace.

  While Jonathan drove down the road a little ways to check out the damaged roof of a dear old grandpa who lives near the mission, people in Ukraine had no idea how much damage would soon be happening in their nation.

The man's roof was a mess, and Jonathan tried to estimate roughly what he thought a reasonable price would be for the man to have someone fix it. 

But who can calculate the cost to fix a broken world and broken hearts and damaged people?

Does the Lord really know the way through the dust storms in the wilderness? 

Is it really safe to follow Him?

The believers in Ukraine are saying "Yes."

All you need to do is follow. 

Jesus, I pray that our fellow brothers and sisters in Ukraine, young and old, men and women, rich and poor, will be given clear direction as to how to best follow You through this tragic storm called war.