Весной Отпуск

The spring holiday to Kyiv was a much needed break. It gave me the chance to get better acquainted with some of my friends at the church as well as an opportunity to live completely with Ukrainians and experience village life first hand. Several boys from the youth center also decided to accompany us on this adventure. They were surprisingly well behaved and the trip also gave me an opportunity to get better acquainted with them, as they took to teaching me Russian slang.

The sights in the city are breathtaking and filled with such amazing history. I am always amazed when I see such beautiful architecture and culture, because nothing that we have in the United States really comes close to the splendor of the old world. One of the sights we went to was the Pecherska Lavra, home to one of Kyiv’s ornate churches as well as a monastery that is still operational today. While there, looking upon the ornate architecture, I was reminded of the description of the throne room of Heaven in Revelations chapter 4:

“Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow all around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightenings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back…and they did not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”