Joe Ragan

Today I drove up to Izum to meet colleagues from Kharkov, who were delivering some other colleagues from Budapest who are staying with me the next few days.  It was a nice drive up and didn’t get too bad until I almost got to Izum.

My colleagues were familiar with a place on the south side and so I stopped and waited for them to show up.  The place had a small cafe there and so we enjoyed a great meal that was reasonable.

The colleagues from Budapest piled into my car and we drove back to Donetsk just in time to get ready for the pizza party planned for tonight at my place. I love the chance to meet new people and was pleasantly surprised by all the folks who showed up.

We had some great conversation and fellowship time and then enjoyed pizza.  The pizza was good, but I really enjoyed getting to know some of the new people in attendance and especially the time with some old friends I haven’t seen in a while.

Relationships are important to our lives and I love the opportunity God gives me to spend time with old friends and meeting new ones.  Today was a great day to see that happen!

Last week I shared some scripture that the Lord has been using in my life recently.  I had not planned to write on this subject again so soon, however, in the last 48 hours, the Lord has vividly shown me His love through others.  This love poured out on me has spurred me to even dwell deeper on what God may be saying to me.

I arrived in Donetsk Saturday afternoon.  Two young people, whom I love like my own, met me at the airport.  Their father needed their vehicle, so they called their cousin (who is a taxi driver) and he brought them to the airport to meet me.  We got to my apartment and they wouldn’t let me pay for the ride.  We walked into my apartment and the sister had already prepared lunch for us!  What a great picture of love!

Sunday, my car wouldn’t start.  Dead battery from all the cold weather!  A couple of brothers tried to help me after church to no avail.  I decided to go buy a new battery.  On the way to find a taxi, I saw my neighbor and after sharing my story, he wanted to help.  He wound up staying with me more than 2 hours in sub-freezing temps!  A great picture of caring for your neighbor.

Eventually, I had to call my mechanic, who happens to be a pastor at the church I attend.  He showed up and after more than an hour of charging my battery, the car finally started.  He insisted that I drive my car to his house so that he could put my battery on a charger overnight.  He, also, spent more than 2 hours in the freezing temps to help and after getting to his house, invited me in to warm up with a cup of coffee.  A great picture of people willing to help.

Do I show love to my neighbors?  Do I show love to my brothers and sisters?  What more can I do to help them see Jesus in me?  May I be ever listening to the Father’s voice so that my actions will fulfill, “by this all people will know…”.

After my arrival home in Donetsk on Saturday, it began snowing in the evening and snowed all night.  So, a couple of more inches of snow are on the ground to add to what has already fallen.

I walked to the garage this morning to find my battery dead.  After living in Kazakhstan for 3 winters, you would think that I would have thought about taking the battery out of the car and putting it in my warm apartment, but I didn’t think it would be so cold for so long!

I shoveled the snow around the garage and then headed to the bus stop to catch the bus to church.  I was standing close to the street when a car passed by, covering me with snowy mud from head to toe!  For a moment, I just stood there wondering what just happened.  I tried brushing the mess off of me, but that made it worse.  So, I walked home to change clothes.

The CP team came over for lunch and to meet to do some planning.  Afterwards, a couple of the guys tried to help me get the car started.  No luck and they left.  I decided to go buy a battery when I met one of my neighbors.  He offered to help and we worked for over an hour to get the car started.

Finally, I called my mechanic.  I hate calling him on Sundays as he is also a pastor at the church I attend.  He offered to come and we worked on charging the battery for more than an hour and it finally started.  Almost 4 hours after I first started, meaning that I had been temps around 15 degrees.  My toes and fingers were cold, but not terribly.

The greatest thing that happened during the 4 hours: getting to share a little of my life with my neighbor.  I learned he doesn’t believe in anything spiritual.  He doesn’t call himself an atheist, although he said his father was.  I appreciated his honesty and felt our relationship went to a new level.

I did share with him that while he may not believe in a soul or spirit, he does have a good heart.  He stood outside with me for almost 2 hours.  He replied that he likes to help people, to which I replied, well, then, you believe in good works.  Like I said, it is a starting point at least to build upon.

So, while I may not have preferred to spend 4 hours of a Sunday in 15 degree temps, I found it all worthwhile in getting to know my neighbor.  “By this all people will know…”

At 5 a.m. this morning, my stress level went up.  My taxi driver sent me a text message saying that his car was broken down and he couldn’t take me to the Budapest airport.  I called the taxi company number he sent me.  Almost 5 minutes later, they called to tell me that they didn’t have any drivers available.

So, I had to hunt for a taxi number.  Fortunately, I found one and they said a taxi would be there in 10 minutes.  After 15 minutes I called to find out where the taxi was as my time was running out!  As I was talking to the dispatcher, the taxi showed up.  I quickly got in the cab.

We arrived at the airport and the line was long.  Fortunately, I was able to get my boarding passes at the quick check in, but still had to wait to check my luggage.  There were 3 young Hungarian guys in front of me obviously on a ski team.  They had lots of luggage.  One of the Austrian ticket agents spent the rest of her morning getting them checked in.

Our plane was actually delayed leaving Buda for a couple of passengers, who happened to be these skiers.  They sat in front of me on the plane and I learned that they are biathletes  I had an idea what that meant, but asked one of them to be sure.  It is cross country skiing and rifle shooting.

My dear friends, Antonina and her brother, Artyom, met me at the airport.  They have done this a couple of time now.  They brought me home and Toni had prepared lunch for us.  How great is that?!?  A nice meal with friends waiting for me.

So what did I learn from today?  That even though my stress levels may go up and back down, friendship is what makes life wonderful.  Thanks to the great reminder from Toni and Artyom.

Thursday was a good day!  After more than 6 months of being unable to chew on one side of my mouth, the dentist finished the work of putting in 2 implants and a new crown.  A couple of hours later I enjoyed a good (and expensive!) meal at Fridays.

I spent the day outside as the sun was shining and it was above freezing.  It was a day of happiness to see the sun and being able to chew!

This morning I decided to visit the Synagogue in Budapest.  It is a beautiful, old building.  As I got on the tram, the snow began to fall, and by the time I got to the stop I needed, it was coming down quiet heavily.

It was cold, snowy and windy.  The synagogue was fairly cold inside.  It is a big building with 2 balconies.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had the weather cooperated a little more.

I left there to head to a shopping area and while the bus I was on was stopped to pick up passengers, a car slid into the back.  I knew what this would mean and after a couple of minutes, the driver came back and told all of us to get off the bus!  I wasn’t too sure where we were and so I asked a young couple and they spoke English and helped me get to where I was going!  BTW, the little car was no match for the bus!

After being indoors at the shopping center for a couple of hours, I got ready to head back to the place where I am staying and the sun was out.  Most of the sidewalks had been cleared and it was above freezing!  Quite a change from the morning.

By the time I reached the house, the sun was gone and the snow started falling again.  I shoveled some of the snow away from the entrance and then went inside.

Tomorrow (Thursday) I should have 3 new teeth (2 implants and a new crown) in my mouth, which means I will be heading home on Saturday.

The schedules came out today for the BIG 12 Conference.  Wish I could be in Austin later this year for the matchup between WVU and Texas.  Should be an interesting game if Texas can solve its QB issues.

The other great matchup in Austin is Texas playing TCU after Thanksgiving.  That should be packed with emotion as it will be the first time the two teams have played in Austin in a looong time.

Seeing the schedule brought back the realization that Texas and A&M will not be playing on Thanksgiving night.  It makes me all the more thankful for Kim Macklin, who worked some magic to get for her, her husband and me in 2009.  I will remember that game for a long time.

How long till college season begins?!?

I have never been a huge movie buff.  People ask me often if I have seen a certain, “big” movie and more likely than not, I must say no.

The past two nights, while in Budapest, I have watched two movies: The Kite Runner and The Boy in the Striped Pyjames.  I must say that both movie plots were excellent and they are movies worth watching again.  However, both movies have somewhat depressing themes and should not be watched on consecutive nights.

I mostly enjoy comedies and action movies, and these movies do not fit either genre, but are definitely good movies to watch.  Having lived in eastern Europe and been to several concentration camps and at least one Gulag, The Boy in the Striped Pyjames hit home with me.  Having living in central Asia and having met lots of great Afghanis, seeing the Kite Runner made many of their stories from home more alive for me.

So, while I may not be a movie buff, I sure enjoyed the last two movies I have seen.

It is amazing what God will do to help someone “learn” something.  Over the last few weeks, I have been hearing some verses repeated over and over.

It seems that I started it when I met someone for dinner and shared things would be much simpler if we just lived by the two commandments that Jesus gave in Matt 22:37-39: “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

I began to think on these verses and how my life would be impacted if I truly lived out these verses in my life.  I strive to live out verse 37 every day and in every way.  However, I am sure that I fail often in doing all that is asked in the verse.

But what about verse 39: love my neighbors as myself.  What does this entail?  How do I live out this verse!

Sunday, I was at International Baptist Church of Budapest and the pastor preached from John 13:21-38.  Amongst this passage are these verses: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (vss 34-35)

The scripture says, “by this all people will know that you are my disciples…”  Jesus was challenging his disciples, who were fishermen, tax collectors and others, that people in Israel would know that they were disciples of Christ by their love for one another!

Let me apply this to my context for today:  I need to show love for my neighbors, for my friends, for my family because Jesus has loved me first.  And a sign that I am His disciple is that I have love for one another.

It sounds so simple, but so difficult to enact.  Who wants to “love the man going through the trash dumpster” or for the “woman with the baby sitting at the bottom of the steps every day begging”?  Yet, these are the very ones Jesus has commanded me to love!  Oh, how I wish I had that kind of love!

So, maybe the second commandment will become “easier” once I have learned the first one: to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  Maybe that is where I need to focus my mind and my heart at the moment.  To learn to love the Lord with  all my heart, soul and mind.  Then, as this becomes part of my life, the second commandment will become easier and I will truly love my neighbors.

I want people to know (and see) that I am a Jesus follower in more than just words, but by deeds and actions.  I need to live out my faith and love for Jesus.  Then, as scripture promises: by this all people will know…

After church this morning, a group of us went to a great Hungarian restaurant and had lunch.  I decided to go with some Hungarian goulash soup and a Spicy Chicken and pasta dish.

The goulash was delicious!  Maybe the best I have had in Budapest!  The Spicy chicken and pasta dish lived up to its name, it was spicy.  But not so spicy that it detracted from the overall flavor of the food.  There were 3 different colors of peppers served with a bed of wide pasta that had a great flavor that added to the spiciness of the chicken.  However, the portion was so huge that I only ate half of the plate, so I am looking forward to enjoying the rest sometime this week!

After lunch, I took a colleague to Culinaris.  A local store that carries lots of imported foods from around the world. The main reason for going there was to get some Dr Pepper Zero.  As far as I know, it is the only place in town to get it.  I paid 990 forints (around $4.50) for a 2 liter bottle.  I will enjoy every sip of it this week!

This store has lots of other American stuff like Reeces Cups, Pop Tarts, baking items and lots of cereals.  However, I was a good boy and refrained from it all (except the Reeces Cups, which I share with the colleague) and only bought the DP Zero and a bag of coffee from Vienna.  I have learned that I really like Viennese coffee.  It was a good day!