Redemption Gear

I absolutely love figuring out how to re-use things. Long before the whole "recycle, reduce, re-use" I was the Queen of Junk in our family, trying to make something pretty or useful out of the things that were more or less ready to be thrown away. I believe in redemption. (I even wrote an essay about it sometime ago for the NPR program This I Believe that you can read here.)

So, as I begin a fresh attempt at an old dream of mine - starting a coffee shop / bookstore / hostel in Kyiv, Ukraine...I started thinking about redemption.

My dream for my life - wherever and however I spend it - is to try to be a part of redeeming things, not least of which is this dream of mine that has kind of fallen by the wayside over the years. (Which only now I am realizing it hasn't really fallen away as much as it was off the main stage as it was being refined, waiting to be revealed in greater clarity).

One of the hardest things for me is to balance caring for people with keeping goals. Most of the time, I'm not ashamed to say, people win out. I just can't get away from the idea that loving people IS the goal. :) Whether I ever hit all my bullseyes or not, if I have had the most honest relationships that I am able to with people along the way, I will feel like a winner. For me that means endeavoring to receive with open hands all the love and grace God has for me (funny how you only really see - or need - grace when you've fallen flat in your own weaknesses and sin!) and letting that love overflow to others as much as they will allow.

So to do that, I am seeking to buy a house and start a home-based (meaning I would live there, too! ha!) coffee shop / bookstore / hostel that would be a vehicle for mentoring orphans through an intern program. (This is not so different from what I have been doing for the past 11 years anyway, just now it would be in a house - not an apartment, and with a formal program for orphans - not just whomever the Lord had brought around). Specifically, as I prepare to return to Ukraine in the spring, a few things I would like to help "redeem" / strengthen through this dream of mine are the:

• voracious Ukrainian appetite for reading
  

I would love to, among all the detective novels and what-not available in Ukraine, offer up (through publishing, distribution and selling) books of all genres that would help people "taste and see that the Lord is good".

• home-grown Ukrainian hospitality
  

Not so much redeem, as protect and expand, so that among the natural warm hospitality that Ukrainians are so rich in, I would love to offer an environment of grace, rest, good food and good company open to all, especially travelers and strangers; and that in that I could offer a place that would fulfill the charge to "welcome one another as Christ welcomed you " .

• amazing Ukrainian creative nature
  

Again, as with hospitality, Ukraine is blessed with a heritage of both creating and enjoying all things artistic. I would love to help in continuing to nurture both His people and the works that they create to the glory of God and the enjoyment of all. Because I really do believe it when He said that all of us who are His "are His poema -His masterpiece, His work of art - created in Christ Jesus for good works".

• opportunities to love and care for orphans

In Ukraine, as anywhere, to be an orphan is not an enviable position. I would love to help in being the hands and feet of God to love and - in a very small way - help with the transition into society of those coming out of the orphanage system and thereby not forget that which God considers "true religion, to help orphans and widows in their distress"

So-o-o-o-o...one very, very, very, little, baby-step way that I am beginning to try and fund all this is through the creation of "Redemption Gear". The photo at top is one of the first bags - a second hand purse found at the Goodwill and "redeemed" with love and time to be the cute little purse pictured there. It features a photo of Russian school girls taken on my first trip there in 1992, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. I hope to have more available as well as hats and other items, too.

This is a huge project to me and it leaves me feeling a bit like I am guessing Mary must have felt when she was told that she would give birth to the Son of God, or Abraham when God told him to go to the mountain and sacrifice his only son Isaac or Moses as he was told to lead the children of Israel out of the wilderness. (Please forgive and bear with my horrible comparison that my life and projects are anywhere near their callings...they are a million miles away from my inconsequential efforts, but I think the comparison still holds on a few points...). "Have I really heard God correctly?" I believe so. And my belief is shown in my actions. I will act, not wait for feelings that might today confirm and later question. "How in the world can this work out? They are too many crucial physical details lacking!" One day at a time. For today - it is sufficient to simply surrender and say 'be it unto me as you have said'. "How can I do this when I have so many weaknesses in myself that seem to disqualify me from such a great work?" Yes, yes and yes. But still I will go and attempt it, knowing that I do not go on my own merit, but only in response to the One who sent me.

So, there ya go. This is what has come out of the last few months that have left me ending up cancer free, health insurance free yet debt free, and therefore free to return to Ukraine. I'll keep you posted. :)