Joe Ragan

Click here to read a great story about a young lady with Downs Syndrome becoming homecoming queen.

I am visiting a country in the crossroads of Europe and Asia.  I must admit that my first day has been tremendous.  God is definitely at work here since the conflict…

I will write more later and hope to post some photos soon…

I found this story most disturbing and wonder if our society is heading in this direction.  If so, God help us…

Click here to read the story…

Kyiv is a beautiful city full of green parks.  There are aspects of this city that I miss. However, there is still one thing I don’t miss… the traffic.

Recently, I read a story in a business magazine about traffic in Kyiv.  Remember, this city was built for the most part before cars were readily availabble to people.  According to the magazine, there were 800,000 automobiles registered in the city.  Since then, it has mushroomed to over 1 million.  This means that there is approximately 1 car for every three people of the city’s official population.

Of course, this doesn’t include all the cars from neighboring cities that drive into the city every day and for all the “unofficial” people living in the city with “unofficial” cars.  (People and cars in the city but not registered here…)

Yesterday, I got on a small bus for the 30 minute ride from our office to the apartment were I am staying.  The traffic was so bad that we traveled less than 1 km in more than 30 minutes.  Eventually the bus turned around and traveled a different route and we were eventually on our way.

One brother related to me that his 1 hour journey across town took more than 4 hours recently.

That’s enough to cause one to stop driving all together.

It has been two weeks since Ike struck the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.  I have numerous friends and a couple of family members that live in the area.  As far as I know, all of them survived the devastation, since many rode out the storm further inland.

I know friends in Anahuac who said the area was torn apart and a friend living in Orange suffered damage to the place where she lived.  Ike tore across America, living family members in Columbus and eastern parts of Ohio without electricity for days.

I found some great photos that portray the damage and the great American spirit.  Click here to see.

Riga is a beautiful city, located on the Daugava River and about 12 km from the Baltic Sea.  On my recent trip, a colleague who lives in the city gave me (along with a couple of other singles) a tour of Old Town.  We learned a little of the history of the city that we would not have otherwise learned on our own.

This is a memorial of thier fight with the Soviet Army that tried to stop the revolution from 1991.  It is located near the Parliament building. [Read more →]

I arrived in Kyiv last Monday, Sept 15, then flew to Riga on the 17th for a retreat and then back to Kyiv on Sunday, 21.  I will be in Kyiv until this weekend before I travel to Zaparozhia and other eastern cities.

I will try to post a story on my trip to Riga soon…

I arrived in Kyiv on Monday afternoon.  Extremely long lines at passport control greeted me.  Traffic in the airport has increased dramatically in 5 years.  It is in desparate need of expansion, DESPARATE!!!  I cannot underscore that enough.

Leaving the airport is another problem.  They ran out of parking several years ago, however, it is impossible now to find a parking spot and people are parking everywhere, which then causes problems trying to drive in and out of the airport.

Things won’t get any better any time sooner due to the political turmoil in the country.  It was announced today that the two Orange Revolution parties are at an impasse which means there is not a coalition.  This could result in a third parliamentary election in 3 years.

With this in mind, investors may be apprehensive to invest in the country.  There appears to be no stability here.  Thus, the airport situation doesn’t look any brighter any time soon.

Ultimately, it is the citizens of Ukraine who will be hurt in the long run.

It is 3:30 a.m. where I live.  I am getting ready to fly to Kyiv this am.  After a couple of hours of fitfull sleep (and the phone ringing at 2:30 a.m.!), I am up and packed and almost ready.  A brother in Christ will pick me up shortly to take me to the airport.

I will fly to Vienna (where there is a Starbucks in the airport!) and then onto Kyiv, arriving there this afternoon.  Then on Wednesday, I will fly to Riga, Latvia for a singles conference, a first for CEE (at least since I have been here…).

Afterwards I will spend another 3 weeks in Ukraine visiting churches and schools to help them understand their role in the Great Commission and how they can be involved in fulfilling it.  Please pray for me as I will be traveling a great bit in Ukraine.

Well, my HS alma mater did it!  The beat Celina, at home, which hadn’t been done in almost 10 years.  They are the only team that has beaten Celina every time they have played… a two game winning streak

Read more here.  I can hear the band playing now… The Eye of the Tiger… can you hear it???